Ban on Factions
Encyclopedia
1920 brought about varying splits in the Communist (Bolshevik pre-March 1918) party, angering Lenin. For example, The Democratic Centralists and Workers' Opposition
led by Alexander Shlyapnikov
. Lenin regarded these as distractions within the party when unity was needed in order to neutralise the major crises of 1921, such as the famines, and Kronstadt Rebellion
. Factions were also commencing to criticize Lenin's leadership. Consequently, the 10th Party Congress legislated a "ban on factions" to eliminate factionalism within the party in 1921.
Members of the party were defined as a split if they did not toe the party line after party policy was concluded by the Central Committee and if they showed dissent to that policy. If accused of factionalism members would subsequently be expelled from the Party, such as Leon Trotsky
and Grigory Zinoviev
on November 12 1927. As Lenin stated:
Supporters of Trotsky sometimes claim that this ban was intended to be temporary. But there is no language in the discussion at the 10th Party Congress suggesting that it was intended to be temporary (Protokoly 523-548). A sense of a deficit in democracy was present in calls by Trotsky and The Declaration of 46
echos in 1923, but more significantly the autumn purges of 1921. Every Communist was subpoenaed in front of a purge commission and forced to justify their credentials as a revolutionary, or face being dubbed as a "careerist" or a "class enemy". (i.e. those who joined the Bolshevik Party only because they were now being painted as the "winning" party) Lenin argued this was necessary as to not cause the direction of the revolution to be deviated from its original aims. As T.H. Rigby wrote it would be near inconceivable to believe that opposition was nonexistent amongst the 25% of the party that were deemed "unworthy".
Workers' Opposition
The Workers' Opposition was a faction of the Russian Communist Party that emerged in 1920 as a response to the perceived over-bureaucratisation that was occurring in Soviet Russia.-Membership:...
led by Alexander Shlyapnikov
Alexander Shlyapnikov
Alexander Gavrilovich Shliapnikov was a Russian communist revolutionary, metalworker, and trade union leader. He is best remembered as a memoirist of the October Revolution of 1917 and as the leader of one of the primary opposition movements inside the Russian Communist Party during the decade of...
. Lenin regarded these as distractions within the party when unity was needed in order to neutralise the major crises of 1921, such as the famines, and Kronstadt Rebellion
Kronstadt rebellion
The Kronstadt rebellion was one of many major unsuccessful left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War...
. Factions were also commencing to criticize Lenin's leadership. Consequently, the 10th Party Congress legislated a "ban on factions" to eliminate factionalism within the party in 1921.
Members of the party were defined as a split if they did not toe the party line after party policy was concluded by the Central Committee and if they showed dissent to that policy. If accused of factionalism members would subsequently be expelled from the Party, such as Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
and Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
on November 12 1927. As Lenin stated:
"all members of the Russian Communist Party who are in the slightest degree suspicious or unreliable ... should be got rid of"
Supporters of Trotsky sometimes claim that this ban was intended to be temporary. But there is no language in the discussion at the 10th Party Congress suggesting that it was intended to be temporary (Protokoly 523-548). A sense of a deficit in democracy was present in calls by Trotsky and The Declaration of 46
The Declaration of 46
The Declaration of 46 was a secret letter sent by a group of 46 leading Soviet communists to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party on 15 October 1923...
echos in 1923, but more significantly the autumn purges of 1921. Every Communist was subpoenaed in front of a purge commission and forced to justify their credentials as a revolutionary, or face being dubbed as a "careerist" or a "class enemy". (i.e. those who joined the Bolshevik Party only because they were now being painted as the "winning" party) Lenin argued this was necessary as to not cause the direction of the revolution to be deviated from its original aims. As T.H. Rigby wrote it would be near inconceivable to believe that opposition was nonexistent amongst the 25% of the party that were deemed "unworthy".
External links
- http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1918/xx/principles.htm The Principles of Democracy and Proletarian Dictatorship