Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1995 23:12:50 -0500
From: Scott-AT-rednet.org (Scott Marshall)
Subject: Re: Anti-trotskyism


Chris:
>On Tue, 25 Jul 1995, Chris Burford wrote:
>
>> Secretary-General. That is why I suggest that the comrades think about 
>> a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in 
>> his stead who in all other respects differs from Comrade Stalin in 
>> having only one advantage, namely, that of being more tolerant, more
>> loyal, more polite and more considerate to the comrades, less
>> capricious, etc. This circumstance may appear to be a negligible 
>> 
>> I am quoting from a pamphlet published by Progress Publishers,
>> Moscow, 1964, with text taken from the English edition of Lenin's
>> collected works.
>> 
>> Does anyone know if there is serious reason to think these passages
>> aprocryphal? 

Scott: 
If you tell me what you mean by aprocryphal maybe I would have an opinion.
To me the intersting thing about these notes of Lenin's is often missed by
those obsessed with his criticism's of both Stalin and Trotsky. What he is
arguing for (these were notes I believe for a speech or letter he never
finalized) was increasing the working class compostion of the central
committee. This was fully in keeping with his themes at that time about
workers inspectorates and workers oversight commissions. Concretely he
called for adding a 'few dozen' workers from the lower paid stratums,
specifically workers who had not been a part of the soviet apparatus and
already learned some of the bad administrative habits and practices. He
further argued that they should be workers and peasants 'more close to the
rank and file' workers.

This is fully in keeping with a constant theme of Lenin's about the ration
of intellectuals to workers in leading bodies of the party. In the 1890's he
argued for one intellectual for every ten workers. Later in the 1910's some
time he wrote that he had greatly underestimated the ability of
intellectuals to screw things up and was revising his formula to one
intelectual for every 25 workers.......<grin>

Scott



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