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Lenin—An Appreciation
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Marx was the master of the Revolution in
theory. Lenin is the master of the Revolution
in action. But as Marx, the man of theory, had
great capacity for action, so Lenin, the man of
action, has great capacity for theory.
In fact, the dominant form of the activity of
Marx and Lenin is determined, not by peculiar
talent or characteristics, but by the historic
milieu conditioning their activity. This is precisely the mark of the great rebel—that he concentrates upon the fundamental revolutionary
task of his day.
If I were asked what particular phase of Lenin appears to me as decisive, I would answer:
His dynamic capacity to unite theory and practice. This is not as simple a thing as it may
appear. Usually, the Socialist is an opportunist,
who casts aside every real opportunity for immediate revolutionary action, becoming an adept
in bourgeois liberal activity and social-reformism, accepting theory in the facile fashion of an
average Christian accepting his religion—repudiating the revolutionary tasks of Socialism; or
a "revolutionist" becomes an adept in using
formulae, whose action is hampered by the silken
cord of abstract theory, absorbed so much in the
Revolution that the requirements of the immediate revolutionary struggle are allowed to pass
into the years of wasted opportunity—paltering
with the revolutionary tasks of Socialism. Each
of these two types of Socialists evade all actual
problems of the Revolution. Action must be
directed by theory, and theory must become
action. An uncompromising revolutionist, Lenin
has an overwhelming sense of reality. The Revolution to him is not a dress parade of amicable
transformation, of the pacific "penetration" of
Capitalism by Socialism; nor is it the conquest of
Capitalism by the formulation of "revolutionary"
theory and formulae, much as a bourgeois
"idealist" sees in general principles of human
action the means for the emancipation of the
world. No; Lenin conceives the Revolution as
a series of implacable, brutal class struggles; as
a process in which theory and action are inseparably united; as a dynamic movement in which
every opportunity, every crisis, every strength,
weakness and peculiarity of the social alignment
becomes the subject of study and appropriate
action.
Let it not appear from this that Lenin is an
opportunist wavering with each new shift of
the social wind; Lenin has the utmost scorn, and
justly, for the miserable opportunist who shifts
and wavers, hesitates and compromises, and
uses "reality" as a justification. Adapting one's
self to temporarily dominant facts, compromising
with issues and forces fundamentally contrary
to Socialism on the specious plea of "necessary
action," is not to adapt one's self to reality, but
to accept forms instead of substance, the appearance of reality for reality itself. Reality is infinitely deceptive. At the moment when the war
and Czarism constituted the "reality" in Russia,
a new reality appeared and burst forth, the
action of the revolutionary proletariat, the reality
of revolutionary Socialism. Life is consistent
in spite of apparent inconsistency. There must
be consistency in theory and in action, based
upon adapting each to the fundamental facts of
the forces and tendency of Capitalism and the
revolutionary proletariat. Consistency that is
flexible, and flexibility that is consistent, are instruments of the Revolution. When the moment
for "necessary action" comes—revolutionary
action—the opportunist will waver and oppose
this necessary revolutionary action, as did the
majority Socialists in Europe, the "men of action" ; while the man who was accused of not
being "in action," who rejected participation in
certain action as contrary to Socialism and the
class struggle, becomes the director and inspiration of the greatest of all revolutions.
It might make one cynical, if life itself didn't
suppress cynicism in the revolutionary Socialist,
to consider certain reactions toward Lenin. There
are many who consider Lenin a sort of bolt from
the blue, a miraculous product of the Russian
Revolution; there are others who bitterly attacked Lenin, now singing his praises, while they
try to compress Lenin's policy into the small
space of their petty purposes and corrupt ideology ; and there are still others who invoke
Lenin and the proletarian revolution in Russia
while pursuing the petty bourgeois, opportunistic
policy of moderate Socialism which they have
always pursued, and which Lenin condemned,
condemns and will continue to condemn. . . And
Lenin serenely, uncompromisingly, adheres to the
revolutionary theory and action comprising his
fundamental policy for twenty years, disaster
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