# PRELIMINARY DRAFT OF AMENDMENTS

TO THE PARTY PROGRAM OF THE RSDLP

Source: ru:PSS/v54

PRELIMINARY DRAFT OF AMENDMENTS

TO THE PARTY PROGRAM OF THE RSDLP

At the end of the principled section of the program (after the words: “according to the standpoint of the proletariat”), insert:

World capitalism has, by now—approximately since the beginning of the 20th century—reached the stage of imperialism. Imperialism, or the era of finance capital, is a highly developed form of capitalist economy in which monopolistic associations of capitalists—syndicates, cartels, trusts—have attained decisive importance; banking capital of immense concentration has merged with industrial capital; the export of capital to foreign countries has grown to enormous proportions; the entire world has already been territorially divided among the wealthiest nations, and an economic partitioning of the world among international trusts has begun.

* Written in the margins of the manuscript to the right of items 8–11. Ed.

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO THE PARTY PROGRAM OF THE RSDLP

Imperialist wars—that is, wars fought for domination over the world, for markets for banking capital, and for the suppression of small and weak nations—are inevitable under such conditions. And indeed, this was precisely the case during the first great imperialist war of 1914–1917.

Moreover, the extremely high level of development of global capitalism as a whole, the replacement of free competition by monopolistic capitalism, the preparation by banks and by alliances of capitalists of apparatuses for the social regulation of the processes of production and distribution of goods, together with the horrors, calamities, devastation, and barbarization brought about by imperialist war—all these factors transform the present stage of capitalist development into an era of proletarian, socialist revolution.

This era has begun.

Only a proletarian, socialist revolution can lead humanity out of the deadlock created by imperialism and imperialist wars. Whatever difficulties the revolution may face, and whatever temporary setbacks or waves of counterrevolution it might encounter, the final victory of the proletariat is inevitable.

Therefore, given the objective conditions of the epoch we are living through, the immediate and comprehensive preparation of the proletariat for revolution, along with a resolute break from that bourgeois perversion of socialism which has gained dominance within the official Social-Democratic parties—in the form of the trend of social-chauvinism (that is, socialism in words but chauvinism in deeds, or the use of the slogan “defense of the fatherland” to shield the interests of capitalists in imperialist wars)—as well as in the form of the so‑called “center” tendency (that is, unprincipled, helpless vacillations between social-chauvinism and revolutionary-internationalist proletarian struggle*)—has become a matter of utmost urgency: seizing political power in order to implement the economic and political measures that constitute the essence of the socialist revolution.

* Text: “revolution, I have resolved to break… through proletarian struggle)” crossed out in the manuscript. Ed.

* * *

The fulfillment of this task, which demands complete trust, the closest fraternal solidarity, and the direct unity of revolutionary action among the working class of all advanced countries, is impossible without an immediate and principled rupture with that bourgeois perversion of socialism which has triumphed at the top echelons of the vast majority of official Social-Democratic parties. On the one hand, this perversion takes the form of social-chauvinism—the socialism of words, the chauvinism of deeds, cloaked under the slogan “defense of the fatherland” to protect the rapacious interests of “one’s own” national bourgeoisie; on the other hand, there exists an equally widespread and international tendency known as the “center,” which advocates unity with the social-chauvinists, seeks to preserve or reform the bankrupt Second International, and vacillates between social-chauvinism and the revolutionary-internationalist struggle of the proletariat for the establishment of a socialist system.

* * *

The experience of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, which gave rise to the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies and numerous similar organizations, thereby confirmed the lesson of the Paris Commune: namely, that the proletariat needs a state during the transitional period toward socialism—but this state* must not be of the ordinary kind; rather, it should be a direct mass organization, encompassing all workers armed and organized, replacing the old instruments of governance: the standing army, the police, and the bureaucracy. Clarifying for the proletariat the tasks of such a state—which would be capable both of

* Text: “Experience of the Russian revolutions… but this state” crossed out in the manuscript. The end of the paragraph happened to remain uncrossed; it was written on a separate page, at the end of which an annotation was added in an unknown hand: “Add: the preparedness of the apparatus regulating production in the form of trusts and concentrated banking” (see V.I. Lenin’s insertion in the ‘Draft Amendments to the Theoretical, Political, and Certain Other Parts of the Program.’ Collected Works, 5th ed., vol. 32, pp. 139–140). Ed.

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO THE PARTY PROGRAM OF THE RSDLP

to consolidate the gains of the revolution overall and to ensure the most peaceful and planned transition to socialism—should constitute one of the principal tasks of the proletarian party, alongside the struggle against those representatives of the bankrupt Second International (1889–1914) who have distorted Marxism and altered socialism in the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Monopolistic capitalism, which during wartime grows with particular speed into state-monopolistic capitalism in a number of advanced countries, signifies a gigantic socialization of production and, consequently, the full preparation of the objective conditions for the creation of a socialist society*.

* * *

In the minimum program, everything from the beginning (from the words “On the Path” up to § 1) should be discarded and replaced with the following:

In the current moment experienced by Russia, when the Provisional Government—belonging to the class of landowners and capitalists and enjoying the trust—albeit an unstable one—of the broad masses of the petty-bourgeois population—has pledged to convene a Constituent Assembly, the immediate task facing the proletarian party is to struggle for a state structure that best ensures both the economic development and the rights of the people in general, as well as the possibility of the most painless transition to socialism in particular.

The party fights and helps the popular masses to immediately strive for a democratic republic, beginning with the free self-organization of the masses from below while simultaneously working to establish not a bourgeois-parliamentary republic—one that particularly safeguards the dominance of capitalists and permits the use of violence against the masses through the preservation of old organs of mass oppression: the police, the standing army, the bureaucracy—but rather a more democratic proletarian–peasant republic, in which the maintenance of these oppressive institutions is impossible and unacceptable, and where state power belongs directly to the armed workers and peasants, all of them.

§ 1. All supreme authority in the state must rest with representatives of the people, elected and removable at any time by the people themselves, forming a single national assembly, a single chamber.

§ 2 — add:
proportional representation in all elections; the complete removability of all delegates and elected officials at any time upon decision of the majority of their constituents.

§ 3 — add:
the absence of any oversight or control from above over the decisions and actions of regional and local self-governments.

§ 9 should be amended as follows:
the right of all nations within the state to freely secede and form their own state. The Republic of the Russian people must attract other peoples or nationalities not by force, but solely through their voluntary consent to create a common state. Unity and fraternal solidarity among workers of all countries brook neither direct nor indirect violence against other nationalities.

§ 11 — amend as follows:
the election of judges and all officials, whether in civil service or in the army, by the people; their complete removability at any time upon decision of the majority of their constituents; payment to all state officials not exceeding the wage of a good worker—300–500 rubles, depending on family size and earnings—and an absolute prohibition on officials combining their salary with income from other sources.

DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO THE PARTY PROGRAM OF THE RSDLP

§ 12 — amend as follows:

replace the police and the standing army with universal arming of the people; workers and employees shall receive pay from capitalists for the time devoted to public service in the all‑people’s militia.

* * *

§ 14 of the political section, § 5 and other parts of the economic section must, like the entire economic section, be thoroughly revised by special commissions composed of professional movement activists and educators.

After the financial clause of the program (following the words “on incomes and inheritances”), insert:

The high stage of capitalist development already attained in banking and in trust‑controlled industries, on the one hand, and, on the other, the devastation wrought by imperialist war—everywhere prompting demands for state and public control over the production and distribution of essential goods—compel the party to call for the nationalization of banks, syndicates (trusts), and the like.

* * *

The agrarian program must either be replaced by an agrarian resolution (see its text separately)* or reworked in accordance with it**.

* * *

The final part of the program (the last two paragraphs, beginning with the words “Striving to achieve”) should be entirely discarded.

* See “Resolution on the Agrarian Question,” Collected Works, 5th ed., vol. 31, pp. 425–428. Ed.

** See “Materials for Revising the Party Program.” Collected Works, 5th ed., vol. 32, pp. 143–144. Ed.

*TO THE PROGRAM

AN IMPROVED VERSION*

The proletarian party cannot confine its aspirations to a bourgeois‑parliamentary democratic republic, which throughout the world preserves and seeks to perpetuate monarchic instruments of mass oppression—namely, the police, the standing army, and privileged bureaucracy.

The party struggles for a more democratic proletarian–peasant republic, in which the police and the standing army are completely abolished and replaced by universal arming of the people, by a nationwide militia; all officials, without exception, become not only elective but also removable at any time upon demand of the majority of their constituents; salaries for all officials, without exception, are set at a level not exceeding the average wage of a good worker; parliamentary representative institutions are gradually replaced by councils of people’s representatives—from different classes and professions or from various localities—simultaneously legislating and enforcing their own laws.

Written in April,

no later than the 28th (May 11), 1917.

First published in 1933.

in the Lenin Collection XXI.

Printed from the manuscript.

NOTES ON QUESTIONS