Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky

“ He knew how to unite around himself large masses of human beings, to draw them into a mass movement, and to lead them into struggles. He always stood at the central point of the class struggle. He was charged with energy, with faith, with absolute conviction, transmitting all this not only to those who stood close to him but also to hundreds of thousands and to millions. The international reformists speak of Lenin as the destroyer of socialism, a sectarian, an intolerant spirit, and so forth. Yes, we will admit that Lenin was the destroyer of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties. ”

“ We have the struggle of the British coal miners to keep their wage scale, for those forms of nationalization in the mining industry which they advocate—what's that, an economic or political struggle? When a million coal miners are participating in a struggle which is shaking the whole colossal power of the British Empire—what is that, economics or politics?
We see a colossal economic battle in America for the eight hour day, for labor insurance, demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of workers against the lengthening of the work day—what is it: economics or politics? ”

“ When we consider closely Lenin's role in the labor movement of the last decades the first question that appears is, whether we Marxians ought not to revise our theory regarding the role of single individuals in history. For is it not a fact that Lenin has been a living illustration of the theory of the heroes and the masses and did he not, by the activities of his life, disprove the correctness of the materialist conception of history? We must consider this problem at the very outset in order to relieve ourselves of any false idealistic conceptions that we might entertain. ”

“ It is our aim to prove to the workers that without the creation of a class-militant army, without declaration of decisive war against the bourgeoisie, the workers cannot liberate themselves, they cannot conquer. Thus, the struggle against the whole nationalist ideology, the struggle, against the idea of defending "our" country as such, and the advocacy of the necessity of war for the defense of a socialist country, for our own proletarian state—this is the foundation of our anti-war tactics. ”

“ It is the century-old hatred of the oppressed against the oppressors embodied in a man of iron will and a great, beautiful heart. It is the proletarian urge to power expressed, formulated and led by the greatest leader the working class ever had.
To understand thoroughly Lenin and Leninism one needs to be familiar with Russia, its history, the martyrdom of hundreds and thousands of Russian revolutionaries, and the long, bitter years of oppression suffered by the toiling masses of Russia. Lenin is inseparable from the class struggle of the Russian masses. ”

“ The military ideology of the labor movement brought great changes in the relation of forces. The modern war is not a war of small groups, or small armies. Modern war is a war of masses, a war of nations in the real sense of the word. It is a war of industry against industry. The tactics of the working class in this war, the tactics of its unions, the methods of struggle, play a decisive role in the modern war. ”

“ The interests of proletarian solidarity, and consequently of the proletarian class struggle, demand that we consider the national question not merely in a formal way. We must take into consideration the difference of conception and ideas between the great nation and the small nation. Nothing is so detrimental to the development and consolidation of proletarian solidarity as a sense of national injustice. Nothing calls forth such bitter reactions from the national minorities as the sense of being oppressed by our own proletarian comrades. ”

“ In reality, neutralism or its essence is supposed to keep the trade tunions aside in times of political struggles. But what is political struggle? It is not merely parliamentary speech-fighting. In the political struggle the working class places itself in opposition to other classes. The working class cannot stand aside from the class struggle. If the working class will not conduct a class struggle it will lose those positions already gained. The tactics of political sterility play into the hands of the bourgeoisie and by no means are to the interests of the proletariat. ”

“ And when you find, as you are bound to, that the war is championed by the capitalists, that you are called upon to defend the profits and power of your bosses and exploiters, that it is a war of imperialist robbery and plunder, you will say what Lenin said: Not a cent and not a man for the aggrandizement of our class-enemies! Instead of waging war for capitalism, we shall start war against capitalism, for the overthrow of the power of our bosses and for the establishment of our own rule. ”

“ There are no great differences between Fascism and reformism: Both of them recognize the necessity of saving capitalist relations, and the methods of doing it is a question of secondary importance. But the social basis of both is one and the same. As long as we have in fact a desire to save the capitalist system, all that is against this system, all that undermines this system—and Communism surely does play an "evil" role—is very dangerous and a bitter war against it should be conducted. ”

“ His marvelous knowledge of economics and the social sciences generally, his great analytical mind, his almost superhuman sense for detecting the deep, quiet processes that are constantly taking place within the broad masses, his flexibility of mind, his burning hatred of capitalist oppression and his iron determination to fight the bloody thing to a finish—all these qualities of Lenin take living shape under the pen of Lozovsky, who has succeeded in presenting us with a most illuminating picture of the great Strategian of the Class Struggle. ”

“ Beside creating the self-defense groups and active agitation and propaganda, we advocated the creation of anti-Fascist Committees of Action. These Committees of Action, according to our opinion, had to embrace the workers of all tendencies, because, war and Fascism are of equal interest to the working class as a whole and to all its political groupings. But this idea of creating Committees of Action, the strong agitation and propaganda, the pressure of the whole international proletariat against Fascism—always meets with opposition from the Social-Democrats. ”

“ He who wants the revolution must systematically prepare for it the broad masses, who will, in the process of preparation, create the necessary organs of the struggle.
The Mensheviks were fond of ridiculing the idea of technical preparations for an armed insurrection. According to their conception the center of gravity would lie in the sphere of propaganda, of arming the minds of the workers. To this Lenin's reply was: "He who refuses technically to prepare for the insurrection ultimately rejects the insurrection itself, and transforms the program of the revolution into an empty phrase." ”

“ We see the power of resistance of our enemies, We see the fact of existing footholds in our ranks of the bourgeoisie, and we have to work out methods of future struggle.
No one can tell how long it will take until we will win over this numerically gigantic mass, and will bring it to consciousness of its own interests. The only thing that we Marxians may reply to is the question: Does the labor movement really proceed on the line of eliminating from its body all that now clogs it? ”

“ His tactics were always elastic, which enabled him to utilize even the slightest mistake of his opponent in order to drive a wedge into the ranks of the enemy. He never shunned responsibility, especially in decisive moments of struggle. He always knew what he wanted. The most characteristic feature of the political and moral physiognomy of Lenin, this gigantic concentration of the will of the proletariat, were his extraordinary will power and his all-inclusive spirit. ”

“ If you think that Czarism and Bolshevism are one and the same thing, you should call for the overthrow of Bolshevism. This is logical. But such a call is impossible, because these reformist organizations are full of workers who are instinctively in sympathy with Russia. There was an attempt to help Soviet Russia, even to attempt a boycott against Poland, and there was more or less aid in the time of the famine, all on the background of repudiating the revolution.
The whole reformist labor movement finds itself in this contradiction. ”

“ By the abolition of classes and the class struggle, the State will disappear, but as a result of many years of historical development and not as a result of one single act, as in the conception of the Anarchists. To bring about the situation where there are no classes in society, is possible only by means of a firm dictatorship of the working class, because it is only by means of such a dictatorship that we can break the resistance of the classes that are opposed to the proletariat. ”

“ In the program of the Russian Communist Party there is a very excellent definition of "politics." It is stated: "Politics is concentrated economics." And, in reality, what do we understand by "political struggle?" We understand such a clashing of class forces in which—instead of separate detachments of the workers coming to blows with separate detachments of the bourgeoisie—a class as such meets the other class. Thus, every step of ours, in which the general class formation and methods of struggle are reflected, is in fact, a political struggle. ”