BolshevismBourgeoisieDemocracySocial DemocracyStrikeWorkers MovementWorking Class

104 THE CLASS STRUGGLE 105 BOLSHEVIKI THE MASTERS to the West European example. 2) demanding a revolutionary mass movement against reaction and against the delusion of peaceful harmony between classes propagated by the liberal bourgeoisie. 3) expressing its activity in a wavering, timid protest on the basis of pseudo constitutional election meetings, thus hoping to bring the revolution into the bed of an absolutist proletarian armistice, under police protection.
The boycott tactics were, on the whole, in harmony with the feelings of the working class and carried the day. They were based upon the strong revolutionary sentiment of the working class that not even reaction had succeeded in destroying.
In the meantime an amalgamation of the two organizations had been accomplished, and the united congress met, in the spring of 1906, in Stockholm. The delegates of the Mensheviki were in the majority, and placed their stamp upon the activity of the whole congress. The boycott was disarmed, and the congress called for immediate participation in the elections that were being held in a number of provinces.
Mensheviki were elected into the controlling offices of the party. The party representation in the first Duma consisted of a few opportunists and six labor representatives who had been elected without the support of the party (or rather against its will. joining the party group after election in response to the pressure of the masses. This was a period of intense proletarian self organization. Countless labor unions, educational societies, and co operative societies were organized. These organizations did not, as in other countries, precede the political class organizations, but were rather an outgrowth of the latter. The labor unions were organized by the party, were socialistic and revolutionary in their conception. They assured their right of existence in the political struggle, and were, more or less, a part of the party organization. The Bolsheviki strove to cement the relations between the two, to preserve a revolutionary spirit, to build up a labor movement on the foundation of class interests, in opposition to draft interests. The Mensheviki opposed this conception.
Their chief aim was the organization of the masses in neutral, non partisan unions, without distinctly proletarian class tendiencies. This conflict was fought out in the Stockholm congress in favor of the Mensheviki.
While the Bolsheviki concentrated their efforts upon carrying out the revolution by a direct struggle of the masses, the Mensheviki made each concrete stage of the revolution the basis of the movement. They were striving, at this time, to make the Duma the center of the revolution, a power that, with the assistance of the masses, would give the death blow to the powers of absolutism. When the first Duma was disrupted by the government, an attempt was made to call a political general strike. But the workers remained indifferent, and the few strikes that did result were the reflection of a general dissatisfaction, rather than a protest.
Meanwhile the organizatory unification the Social Democracy went on. The London Congress (1907) included, besides the Russian, the Polish, the Lettish, and the Jewish (Bund) parties, and represented 150, 000 members. In London the Bolsheviki were again in the majority, and their influence was reflected in each and every motion that was adopted. On every decision the two groups stood on opposing platforms.
On the one hand the revolutionary, on the other hand the revisionistic tendency, each attempted to determine the tactics of the movement. The Mensheviki saw in the Duma a conquest of the Revolution that must be guarded and preserved.
They supported participation in its legislative work, and supported the demand for a responsible government as a new step in the fight for Russian freedom. In the second Duma elections there was a marked tendency among the Mensheviki to unite the revolution with the liberal opposition for the purpose of eliminating the Black Danger. After the election (shortly before the Stockholm Congress) which gave the party sixtyfour seats in the Duma, the Mensheviki made the Duma the center of party activity.
The Bolsheviki insisted that political freedom cannot be secured by parliamentary action so long as the power of the