V. I. Lenin

Preface To The Collected Articles

Against The Stream

The majority of the articles in this publication appeared abroad
in Sotsial-Demokrat (Central Organ of the Russian
Social-Democratic Labour Party-Bolsheviks), which was issued
from the end of 1914 to the beginning of 1917 in
Switzerland. Only one large magazine article is taken from the
periodical Kommunist [1] (only one issue of which appeared in 1915 in Switzerland).

To understand correctly the connection between the individual
articles, one must bear in mind the chronological sequence of
their publication in the newspaper.

The articles are divided into two main categories. One part is
devoted to an appraisal of the war and the political tasks
arising from this appraisal. The other part examines internal
Party relations, the struggle of groups, which for a long time
seemed to short-sighted people to be “chaos” or a “personal conflict”, and which in fact has now led,
as everyone can see, to a demarcation of the real socialists
from the lackeys of the bourgeoisie, the Lieberdans, [2] Martovs
and Co.

Obviously, the first part or first category of articles is
incomparably more important. No class-conscious worker who
wishes to understand the development of the ideas of the international socialist revolution and its first victory on
October 25, 1917, can manage without an acquaintance with these
articles.

N. Lenin

Endnotes

[1]
Kommunist —a magazine organised by Lenin. It was published in Geneva by the editors of the newspaper
Sotsial-Demokrat in 1915. Only one issue (a double issue)
appeared. It contained three articles by Lenin: “ The
Collapse of the Second International”, “ The Voice of an Honest French Socialist ”, and “ Imperialism and
Socialism in Italy” (see present edition, Vol. 21, pp. 205-59, 349-56, 357-66).

Lenin had planned to make Kommunist an international organ of the Left Social-Democrats. But the editors of
Sotsial-Demokrat soon became involved in serious disagreements with Bukharin, Pyatakov and Bosch, which grew
worse after the magazine appeared. In view of this group’s
anti-Party conduct the editors of Sotsial-Demokrat , on
Lenin’s suggestion, announced that they considered it impossible to continue publishing the magazine.

[2]
Lieberdans —ironic nickname for the Menshevik leaders, Lieber and Dan, and their supporters. It caught on after
a satirical article by Demyan Bedny called “The
Lieberdan” had appeared in the Moscow Bolshevik newspaper
Sotsial-Demokrat No. 141, August 25 (September 7), 1917.