''One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Crisis in Our Party'' () is a work written by
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
and published on May 6/19, 1904. In it Lenin defends his role in the
2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held from July 30 to August 23 (July 17 – August 10, O.S.) 1903, starting in Brussels, Belgium (until August 6) and ending in London, England. Probably as a result of diplomat ...
, held in Brussels and London from July 30 to August 23, 1903. Lenin examines the circumstances that resulted in a split within the party between a
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
("majority") faction, led by himself, and a
Menshevik ("minority") faction, led by
Julius Martov.
Synopsis
Written in 1904 in response to controversies within the Social Democratic Labour Party's Second Congress regarding the status of party membership and organization, Lenin frames this conflicting factionalism within the Party in terms of
dialectics. According to Lenin, there are two conflicting factions within the party: "the revolutionaries", which consists of the majority of party members (the Bolsheviks) and "the opportunists", which are the minority (the Mensheviks).
Response
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...
, a
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
living in Germany at the time, responded to the article in ''
Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy'' (1904). She criticized Lenin's attitude towards
democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...
and wrote about the role of "
spontaneity" among the working class. However, different authors make varying claims about her precise attitude towards Lenin, the Bolshevik faction and the revolutionary situation in Russia.
See also
*
Vladimir Lenin bibliography
References
External links
*
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Crisis in Our Party' by
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
at the
Marxists Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...
1904 non-fiction books
Works by Vladimir Lenin
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