V. I.

Lenin

Concerning Certain Speeches by Workers’ Deputies [3]

What are the basic ideas that should underlie the first speech of a workers’ spokesman in the Duma?

Naturally, the workers will look forward to the first speech
with particular eagerness and particular attention. Naturally, it is in the
first speech that they expect to find the important and fundamental thing,
a concise exposition of the view taken on issues that are of especial
concern to everyone and come particularly into the forefront in the
country’s policies in general and in the practice of the working-class
movement (both political and economic ) in particular.

Among these issues are the following:

(1) Continuity of the activity of the Social-Democratic group
in the Fourth Duma. Continuity implies the preservation of an
inseparable connection with the former Social-Democratic groups of
all the former Dumas, it being particularly necessary to stress the
connection with the Social-Democratic group in the Second Duma—in view of
the well-known attack which the counter-revolution made upon it.

It is important to lay stress on continuity, for, unlike the bourgeois
parties, the worker democrats see something integral and
common in their work in the First, Second, Third and
Fourth Dumas, and will not let themselves be distracted by any turn in
events (or by any development like the coup d’état of June 3) from
fulfilling their tasks, from pursuing their invariable aims.

(2) The second thesis which should go into the first speech of a
workers’ deputy is socialism. Strictly speaking, it consists of two subjects. One is the fact that Russia’s Social-Democratic
Party is a contingent of the international army of the socialist
proletariat. That, in fact, is exactly what Pokrovsky said in the Third
Duma (see his declaration in the verbatim reports, p. 328 of the official
publication, Seventh Sitting, November 16, 1907). It is, of course,
absolutely indispensable to make this point.

But there is another point which is highly important in our day. It is
a reference to the present situation and the tasks of socialism
throughout the world. What are the characteristics of this
situation?
(a) An extreme aggravation of the struggle between the working class and
the bourgeoisie (high cost of living, mass strikes, the
imperialism of the Powers, their fierce competition over markets
and their nearness to war), and (b) the nearness of the realisation of socialism. The working class of the
world is fighting not for recognition of its right to have a socialist
party, but for power , and for the organisation of society along
new lines. It is highly important to say so from the Duma platform, to tell
the workers of Russia about the beginning of the great battles for
socialism in Europe and America, about the nearness of the triumph
(inevitable triumph) of socialism in the civilised world.

(3) The third thesis concerns the Balkan war and Russia’s international
position and foreign policy.

It is impossible to omit this subject, which is the most topical. It
may be subdivided into the following questions:

( a) The Balkan war. The slogan of a Balkan federal republic should also
be proclaimed by the Russian workers’ deputy. Against Slav-Turkish
enmity. For freedom and equal rights for all the peoples
of the Balkans.

( b) Against the interference of other Powers in the Balkan war. It is
absolutely necessary to side with the demonstration for peace which took
place in Basle, at the International Socialist

Congress. [4] War against war! Against all interference! For peace! Such
are the slogans of the workers.

( c) Against the foreign policy of the Russian Government in general,
with particular mention of the “lust” to seize (and of the seizure
already begun) the Bosphorus, Turkish Armenia, Persia, Mongolia.

( d) Against the nationalism of the government, with reference to the
oppressed nationalities: Finland, Poland, the Ukraine, the Jews, etc. It is
highly important to put forward in precise terms the slogan of the
political self-determination of all nationalities, in contrast to
all hedging (such as only “equality”).

( e) Against liberal nationalism, which is not so crude but is
particularly harmful because of its hypocrisy and its “refined” deception
of the people. What are the signs of this liberal (Progressist- Cadet ) nationalism? Chauvinist speeches about the
tasks of the “Slavs”, speeches about the tasks of Russia as a “Great
Power”, speeches about Russia reaching an agreement with Britain and
France so as to be able to plunder other countries.

(4) The fourth thesis is the political position of Russia. The
essential thing here is to describe the existing tyranny and lack of
rights, and reveal the compelling necessity of political liberty.

Special note should be made here of:

( a) The necessity of mentioning the prisons—Kutomara, Algachi, etc. [5] ( b) A reference to the rigging of elections, Bonapartist methods, the
fact that the government is no longer trusted even by those classes (the
landlords and the bourgeoisie) on which the coup d’état of June 3
counted.

The priests were made to vote against their conscience.

The Duma has moved to the right, while the country has moved to the
left.

( c) It is particularly important to state correctly the relationship
between the notorious liquidationist slogan of “freedom of association”
and the objectives of political liberty in general. It is highly
important to point out that freedom of the press, association, assembly and
strikes is absolutely indispensable to the workers, but that it is
precisely in order to bring it about that we must realise the
inseparable connection between it and the general foundations of
political liberty, a radical change in the entire political
system. Not the liberal utopia of freedom of association under the
June Third regime, but a struggle for freedom in general, and for
freedom of association in particular, against this regime all along the line, against the
foundations of this regime.

(5) Fifth thesis: the intolerable plight of the peasantry. The
starvation of 30 million peasants in 1911. The ruin and impoverishment of
the countryside. The government “land distribution system” only makes
things worse . Financial prosperity is so much tinsel, a pretence
of prosperity achieved by extorting dues and befuddling the people with
drink. Even the modest land Bill of the Right-wing peasants (the
“forty-three peasants”) submitted to the Third

Duma [6] has been shelved. The peasants need deliverance from the
oppression of the landlords and of landlordism.

(6) Sixth thesis: three camps in the elections to the Fourth Duma, and
three camps in the country:

( a) The government camp. It is impotent. Rigs elections.

( b) The liberal camp. It is highly important to point out, if only very
briefly, the counter-revolutionary nature of the liberals, who are
against a new revolution. One may quote word for word Gredeskul’s
statement which Pravda reprinted in its issue No. 85 (August 8). [1] “No second popular movement [in other words, no second revolution] was
needed but merely quiet, persevering and confident constitutional
work”. These were Gredeskul’s exact words, and Rech published
them.

Liberal hopes of constitutional reform with the foundations of
the present system retained, and without a broad movement of the
people, are utopia .

( c) The third camp, the democrats. It is led by the working class. One
may say, speaking of the past in the third person, what was said
even by Golos Moskvy , namely, that the working class advanced three slogans during the elections:
(1) a democratic republic; (2) an eight-hour working day;
(3) confiscation of all the landed estates in favour of the peasantry.

(7) Seventh thesis: a reference to the political movement and strikes
in 1912.

( a) It is highly important to point out that the number of
political strikers rose to a million. Resurgence of the entire
emancipation movement.

( b) It is highly important to stress that the workers by their
political strikes set themselves objectives affecting the whole people , that they did not raise particular problems but problems
affecting the whole people .

( c) It is necessary to point out that it is the connection
between political and economic strikes that lends strength and vitality to
the movement.

( d) Mention the workers’ protest against the execution of sailors.

(8) The eighth thesis, an important one following from the whole of the
foregoing and closely linked with it, is the hegemony of the proletariat,
its guiding role, its role as leader. It leads the whole people, the entire
democratic movement. It demands freedom and leads into the battle for
freedom. It sets an example, provides a model. It raises morale. It arouses
a new mood.

(9) The ninth and final thesis: recapitulation and summary. It should
be said, speaking of the class-conscious workers in the third person, that
they are “unshakably loyal” to three principles: first,
socialism; second, “the principles of the old, battle-tested Russian
Social-Democratic Labour Party”—the workers are loyal to it. This
fact should be conveyed; third, the workers are loyal to “their
republican convictions”. It is not a question of an appeal or slogan, but
of loyalty to one’s convictions. (There exist legal republican parties in a
number of monarchies—Britain, Sweden, Italy, Belgium and other
countries.)

P.S. The question may also arise of the need to put for ward
separately “freedom of association”. It should be borne in mind
that the liquidators advocate under this flag the liberal demand for a
constitutional reform while keeping intact the foundations of the June

Third— [2]

---
Notes:
[1]
See pp. 254–55 of this volume.— Ed .

[2]
The manuscript breaks off at this point.— Ed .

[3]
Lenin’s theses “ Concerning Certain Speeches by Workers’ Deputies ” formed the basis of a declaration by the Social-Democratic
group in the Fourth Duma. The manuscript has survived only in part.

The adoption of the declaration was preceded by a bitter fight of the
Bolshevik deputies against the seven Menshevik members of the
group. A. Y. Badayev, a Bolshevik member of the group, wrote in his
recollections:

“Our group devoted a number of meetings to the declaration, which it began
to discuss before the Duma opened. The debate was exceedingly heated and
often lasted till late into the night. On either side not only deputies but
also Party functionaries then in St. Petersburg took part in drafting the
declaration.... After a long and stubborn struggle and a number of heated
clashes with the Mensheviks we at last had all the fundamental demands of
the Bolsheviks incorporated in the declaration.” (A. Badayev, The Bolsheviks in the Duma. Recollections , Moscow, 1954, p. 67, Russ. ed.)

In accordance with Lenin’s directives, the declaration included nearly
all the main provisions of the minimum programme. Nevertheless, the
Mensheviks succeeded in getting the demand for cultural national autonomy
included in the declaration. On December 7 (20), 1912, the declaration was
read in the Duma.

On December 8 (21), 1912, Pravda carried a verbatim report of
the Duma sitting together with the text of the declaration. This
Pravda issue was confiscated for publishing the declaration, and
its editor brought to trial.

[4]
The Extraordinary International Socialist Congress of the Second International took place in Basle on November 24–25, 1912. On the
opening day there was a large anti-war demonstration and an international
protest meeting against the war. On November 25 the Congress unanimously
adopted a manifesto calling on the workers to use the organisation and
might of the proletariat for a revolutionary struggle against the war
danger.

[5]
This refers to the unrest among the political prisoners In the Kutomara
and Algachi prisons. It began in August 1912 owing to the Transbaikal
Military Governor’s order Introducing military rules of treatment of
political prisoners in Nerchinsk penal-servitude prisons. In protest, the
political prisoners at Kutomara declared a fifteen-day hunger strike. The
prison administration retaliated by mass torture. Some of the prisoners,
driven to despair, committed suicide. Similar events took place in Algachi
prison. The summer and autumn of 1912 saw unrest among political prisoners
elsewhere in Russia. In response to these developments there were protest
strikes of workers in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw and Riga. On behalf of
the Social-Democratic and the Trudovik groups in the Fourth Duma, an
interpellation was made concerning the outrages against the
prisoners. Discussion was postponed by a majority vote but was never
resumed.

[6]
This refers to the land Bill which was Introduced by (non-party and
Right-wing) peasant deputies in the Third Duma on May 10 (23), 1908. The
Bill provided for the compulsory alienation, at average market prices, of
landed estates not tilled by their owners them selves. For carrying out the
land reform, it was proposed that local land committees should be set up to
be elected by a general vote. Lenin appraised the Bill in his article “The
Agrarian Debates in the Third Duma”