THE FIRST EXPERIENCE of the Bolshevik Party with elections was in 190 when the Crarist regime attempted to call elections for the Duma — the Russian name for parliament.
It wasn't a parliament like those of Western Europe because Russia was not a bourgeois republic. Rusala concession to the revolutionary upsurge by baving a maintaining the monarchy.
The Bolsheviks utilised the tactle of boycotting the elections to the Dura, and the Duma was seept away by a general strike in Octoher 1908. The tactic was obviously successful, and Lenin Tarer so analysed it.
consistent with the objective conditions and the revolutionary possibilities in tbe country at the time, which made it wrong to sely of the parliamentary tactics of a moone stable period.
In 1906, when elections were called again, tbe Bolsheviks again hoyported the clection. Later, Lenin admitted that this baycuts had been an error. The Bolsheviks had failed to recognise the ebbing of the revolutionary upsurge as soon as they sbould bave, nod ro make the necessary tactical adjustments, It was a minor tactical error, Lenin wrote, but an error noneheless.
The Rochels howare dod not suced an SaceD aside these elsctions and the Duma was established, In a few months the Czanal goverment telt it was necessary to disband bis Drums and set up a new ooe that would be more loyal. The government called for Bolsbeviks were elected co office as depuries in the second Duma.
In Tune 1907 the second Duma was dissolved. smashed hy a coup d'elal and the Social Democratic deputies were arrested and imprisoned, New elections were called for November 1907. At This time a strong ultra-left faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (to which both the Bolsbeviks and the Mensheviks belonged), embracing the majority of the leadership of the Bolshevik organisation, look the position thar these clections should be barcoled. On the basis of the experience of the second Duma, which had been suasbed, and the successful boycott in 1905 they said that the party should not parricipate in these elections.
Lenin was the obly central Jeader of the Bolsheviks who lavoured participation in these elections. The ultra-left Bolsheviks acre defeared, and the party ran candidates, with the Bolsheviks having a lew deputies elocted to the shied Dhima.
The third Duma lasted until 1912, when elections were called again, for a fourth Duma - the last Durna before the February 1917 revolution.
Bocaase there is more writren about the 1912 elections than the previous ones, an examination of these will demonstrate Lenin's approach to election campaiens and to participetion of tbe Bolsheviks 1r capitalis: parliaments. Unlike the cleonions in 1906 and 1907, the 1912 clections were held during a ranidly growing upsurge of the working-class movement. Consequently, he opportunities existed for a larger wrote an article entitled 'The Election Campaign and the Election Platform" which says in its opening paragraph: "The elections to the Fourth Duma are due to he held next year. The Social Democratic Parly must launch its clection campaign ar once .... Incensified propaganda, agitation, and organisation are on the order of the day, and the forthcoming elections provide a natural, inevitable, topical "pretext" for such work" (Lenin, Collecter Works, vol. 17. page 276). In other words, the elecrion campaign was to be the centre of the party's progaganda offensive. Lenin then goes on to explain the importance of the election platform. It is not created especially for doction times, hut fows fram the peocral programme of the party and the positions that the party has established through the experience of previous years. Then he states:
Very often it may be useful, and sometimes even escalal, 1o give tae ciechon piarsorm DE sOcial democracy a finishing touch hy adding a briel general sagan, a warchward for the elections, stating the most cardinal issues of current political practice, and pro viding a most convenient and most immediate pretext, propaganda. In our poch only the tollowing thr 3 points can make up this watchword, this genera loran: (3) a republic, (2) confiscation of all lando estates, and (9) the eight-hour day' (ibid., page 28L).
In January 1912 (the elections were to be held in November). the Bolsheviks adopted an election platform along the lines proposed by Lenin. The The launching of Pranda was a major victory for the Bolshevik Party. It became the principal instrument for publicising the election campaign and popularising its programme. Reading the articles Lenin wrate a that time, one can see that he viened the promotion of Praves and the buliding of the election campaign 8: an interlicked process. He wrote comprehensive articles about the paper, discussing how many new subscribers there were, haw many were from the working-class districts, ele. Then he nonlysed what parts of the country the subscriptions come from wha: proportion of subscribers were workers, and so on. He followed the development of the paper ver closely along with the development of the election campaigit Al that time the election laws in Russla were extremely restrictive and discriminatory, denying the majority of peasants and workers the vote addition, the laws were very complicared and hard to understand. In the section of bis biography of Scalin covering this period, Trolsky points combining painstaking auction to details with nodacious sweep of thought, Lenin was practicully the as well as subject matter, for comprehensive socalls only Marsist who had boroughly sudied all the possibilities and pitfalls of Stolypin's election laws Not anly was Lenin the party's expert on the electio laus, but he was ill cococe the campuign director Troesky writes, 'Having palitically inspired the elec tion campnigo, he guided it technically day by day. To beip Petersburg, he sent in from abroed articles and prepared emissaries SEENCECI Trorsky. Sralin. nace 2131. That Lenin functioned as
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had to be draws up and to the cinc mission by 17 October, Eleetions vert scheduled for 12 November, Between these dares, he Soviet under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, took political power, There was a socia! revolution, the most momentous in the history of the worid. This posed thie question: should the Bolsheviks cancel the elections for the Constiuent Assembly scheduled foe 12 November? The Bolsheviks decided to permit the clections and keep their own candidates When the Constituent Assembly met the first week in January 1918, rwo months after the new Soviet governinent came to power, the Bolsheviss introduced a resolution in the Assembly calling on the body to support the Soviet government. The Bolsbeviks did bot have a majority, and when the delegates voted this motion down, exposing where they really wood as opponents of the workers" government, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly in the name of the Sovier government. By this time, after two months of revolution and experience, and because of the stand of the other reformist partics on the question of the Soviet government, most of the ilusions of the masses about parlamentarism had been dispelled.
Reviewing this experience later Communion, an Infoerile Disonder, Lenin wrote follows from this is absolutely incontrovertible: it has heen pooved that bourgeois democratic parlament even a few weeka before the victory of a Soviet republic, and even afier such a victory, not only does iot barm the revolutionar proletariat, bur actuaily helps it to prove to the backward masses why suc parlaments deserve to be dispersed, it helps their successful dispersal, and heles bourgcois parliamen tarism to become "politically obsolete" " (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, page 50)
The positive lessons of the Bohevik expericnce ir parlamentarium, along with the negative example of the Westein European parties, mas discussed thor oughly and codified in a set of theres adopted at the Second Congres of the Communist International in 1920. In summary some of the key points included in these theses are: * Bourgeois parliaments or congresses cannot in any way serve as the arena of struggle for reform, or for improving the lot of the working people • Revolutionary socialists repudiate parlamentarism, as a state form, for the class dictarorship of the working class They repudiare the possibility winning over parliament to their side. It is only possible to speak of utilising the capitalist state organisation with theobjectof destroying it. * The fundamental method of struggle of the working class agniost capitalist rule is the method of mass action: parlamentary tactics, although important, are supplementary and subordinate.
The objective of work within elections or capitalis congresses is propaganda to reach workers and othe * Election campaigns sbould not be geared primarily loward geting votes, but should be revolutionary mobilisations involving not only the party leaders anc candidates but the entire party membership. • Refusal to participate in clections in principle is a naive, childish doctrine.
The question of the form of intervention in elections, including boycorts, is a tactical qucation, to he worked our according to the concrete circumThese theses were discussed and passed because of che strong tendency in many of the new, militant hut inexperienced Communist parties adbering to the Third International to reje all forms of parliamen tarism and all participation in any type of legal organisation such as trade union i would like to conclode by refering to Lenin" artitude toward clection campaigns in Western Europe and the United States. He stated thar he knew people said thai this form of parlamentarism was fine in but that in other countries things were difterent. That was the wrong cooclusion, Lenin said Communists in all countries should:
"change, all along the line, in all spheres of life, the old socialise, craft-unionist, syndicalist, parlamentary work into new work, Communist work, in Russia.
:apitalisi SE TORL during clection rimes. The Communists in Westeri Europe and America must learn to create a new non-opportunist bon-carecrist parliamnentarism; the Communis Partics must issue their slogans; real proletarians, with the helo of the unorganised and downtroddes poor, should seatte and distribute leaflets, canas workers* houses and Copyright 1971 Pathtinder Press. the coltages of the rural proletariams and peasants in the remoce villages.... they should po into the most common taverns, penetrate into tbe unions, societies and casual meerings where the common people gather and talk to the people, not in scientific (aed cor in very parliamentary) language, they. should not ar all surive seats in parlament, but should everywhen strive to rouse the minds of the masses and to draw own statements, to utilise the appararus they have ser the pountry they have made and 1o tell the people what Balshevisin is in a way that bas never beeo pos sible (under bourgoois rulc) ourside of elecrion time (not coenting, of course, times of big strikes, when, in Kossa, a surdiar apparntus for widespread popular agitation worked even more intensively).
*Ir is very difficut: ..; but it can and must he done hecause the tasks of Commaniser carnot be fulfille fulfil practical tasks, clasely connecred with all branches of social lif winning branch after branch and sphere after splen from the bourgeoise' (ibid., page 98).
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