第十四章

* No one was more competent to develop this question than Lenin, who knew better than anyone else how to raise Marxism from the level of a science to that of an art.
Marxism is constantly referred to as a science, but as a guide to action, it must also be an art. Science deals with what exists, while art teaches us how to act. Lenin’s main contribution is in developing Marxism as an art. If Marx had died without participating in the founding of the First International he would still be Marx. If Lenin had died without establishing the Bolshevik Party, giving a lead in the 1905 and later in the 1917 Revolution, and founding the Communist International, he would not have been Lenin.
列宁比任何人都清楚如何将马克思主义从科学的水平提高到艺术的水平，他也比任何人都更有能力发展这一课题。
马克思主义总是被说成是一门科学，但作为行动的指南，它也必须是一门艺术。科学处理的是事物的本质，而艺术则教人如何做人。列宁的主要贡献是将马克思主义发展为一种艺术。如果马克思没有参加第一国际的成立就去世了，他仍然会被称为马克思。但是，如果列宁死后没有建立布尔什维克党，没有领导1905年和后来的1917年革命，没有建立共产国际，他就不是那个列宁了。
* Lenin loved to repeat, “Theory, my friend, is grey, but green is the eternal tree of life.” Living reality is always richer in developments, in probabilities, in complications, than any theoretical concept or prognosis, and Lenin therefore derided those who turned Marxism into an icon: “An icon is something you pray to, something you cross yourself before, something you bow down to; but an icon has no effect on practical life and practical politics.” [2] He wrote bitterly in a letter to Inessa Armand, “People for the most part (99 per cent of the bourgeoisie, 98 per cent of the liquidators, about 60-70 per cent of the Bolsheviks) don’t know how to think, they only learn words by heart.” [3]
The main obstacle to a non-dogmatic understanding of Marxism, to its use as a guide to action, is the inclination to substitute the abstract for the concrete. This is one of the most dangerous errors, especially in a pre-revolutionary or revolutionary situation, when historical development is erratic, full of jumps, retreats, and sharp turns.
There is no such thing as abstract truth. Truth is always concrete. [4]
... any abstract truth becomes an empty phrase if it is applied to any concrete situation. It is indisputable that “every strike conceals the hydra of the social revolution.” But it is nonsense to think that we can stride directly from a strike to the revolution. [5]
... every general historical statement applied to a particular case without a special analysis of the conditions of that particular case becomes an empty phrase. [6]
At the same time a clear scientific understanding of the general contours of historical development of the class struggle is essential for a revolutionary leader. He will not be able to keep his bearings and his confidence through the twists and turns of the struggle unless he has a general knowledge of economics and politics. Therefore Lenin repeated many times that strategy and tactics must be based “on an exact appraisal of the objective situation” [7], while at the same time being “shaped after analyzing class relations in their entirety.” [8] In other words they must be based on a clear, confident, theoretical analysis – on science.
Theoretical scepticism is incompatible with revolutionary action. “The important thing is to be confident that the path chosen is the right one, this confidence multiplying a hundred-fold revolutionary energy and revolutionary enthusiasm, which can perform miracles.” [9]
Without understanding the laws of historical development, one cannot maintain a persistent struggle. During the years of toil and disappointment, isolation and suffering, revolutionaries cannot survive without the conviction that their actions fit the requirements of historical advance. In order not to get lost on the twists and turns of the long road, one must stand firm ideologically. Theoretical skepticism and revolutionary relentlessness are not compatible. Lenin’s strength was that he always related theory to the processes of human development. He judged the importance of every theoretical notion in relation to practical needs. Likewise, he tested every practical step for its fit with Marxist theory. He combined theory and practice to perfection. It was hardly an exaggeration for the Bolshevik historian M.N. Pokrovsky to write, “You will not find in Lenin a single purely theoretical work; each has a propaganda aspect.” [10]
Lenin believed in improvisation. But in order for this not to degenerate into simply the shifting impressions of the day, it had to be blended into a general perspective based on well thought out theory. Practice without theory must lead to uncertainty and errors. On the other hand, to study Marxism apart from the struggle is to divorce it from its mainspring – action – and to create useless bookworms. Practice is clarified by revolutionary theory, and theory is verified by practice. The Marxist traditions are assimilated in the minds and blood of men only by struggle.
Theory is the generalisation of the practice of the past. Hence, as Gramsci so well put it, “ideas are not born of other ideas, philosophies of other philosophies; they are a continually renewed expression of real historical development.” [11] To adapt oneself to any new situation without losing one’s own identity, one needs unity of theory and practice.
Lenin knew that no revolutionary organisation can survive without a permanently creative ideological labouratory. He always tried to find an eventual political use for his research. But while he was actually engaged in it, he did not hesitate to take months at a time off from practical politics in order to immerse himself in the British Museum or the Bibliothèque Nationale. [1*]
正如列宁经常喜欢重复的那样，"朋友，理论是灰色的，而永恒的生命之树是绿色的"。现实生活，其发展，其可能性，其困难，总是比任何理论概念或预言更丰富，这就是为什么列宁嘲笑那些把马克思主义变成偶像的人："偶像是一种东西，人们向其祈祷，向其名声致敬，向其鞠躬；但这种偶像对实际生活和实际政治没有影响"。2 在给伊妮莎-阿曼德的信中，他抱怨道。"大多数人（99%的资产阶级，98%的被清洗阶级，60-70%的布尔什维克）不知道如何思考，他们只会背诵。"3
在理解马克思主义时，如果没有教条，并使其成为行动指南，其主要障碍是用抽象的东西代替具体的东西的倾向。这是最危险的错误之一，特别是在革命前和革命的情况下，历史发展遵循一个不系统的过程，充满了跳跃式的前进、退却和突然的转折。
"不存在抽象的真理。真理总是具体的"。4
"每一个抽象的真理，适应于任何具体的情况，都会成为空洞的言辞。毫无疑问，"每一次罢工都包含着社会革命的种子"。但是，认为我们可以从罢工直接迈向革命，那是无稽之谈。"5
"如果不对某一特定情况进行专门研究，任何适应该情况的一般历史陈述都是空谈"。6
同时，对阶级斗争历史发展的总体轮廓有一个科学的认识，对革命领袖来说是必不可少的。如果没有经济和政治的一般知识，任何革命领袖都无法在斗争的十字路口保持自己的方向和信心。这就是为什么列宁强调，战略和战术必须建立在'对客观情况的全面评估'的基础上。7，同时也是 "在分析了整个阶级关系后确定的"。8次重复。换句话说，战略和战术必须建立在明确、可靠的理论审查基础上，换句话说，就是建立在科学基础上。
理论上的怀疑主义与革命行动是不可调和的。"重要的是要对所选道路的正确性有信心。这种信心使革命的能量和努力增加了一百倍，创造了奇迹"。9
不了解历史发展的规律，就不可能维持斗争。在困难、失望、孤立和损失的岁月里，除非革命者认为他们的行动符合历史发展的要求，否则就无法生存。要想在漫长的道路上不迷失方向，就必须在意识形态上有所作为。理论上的怀疑主义和革命的决心是不相容的。列宁的优势在于，他总是将理论与人类的发展联系起来。他根据实际需要来判断所有的理论概念。同样地，他以是否符合马克思主义理论来检验每个实际步骤。布尔什维克历史学家米-尼-波克罗夫斯基说："在列宁的作品中，你找不到一部纯理论的作品；它们都有宣传的一面，这一点也不夸张。10
列宁相信适应性。但在这样做的时候，有必要依靠从深思熟虑的理论中产生的一般观点，以便不被当前的压力所扭曲。没有理论的实践会导致犹豫不决和错误。另一方面，脱离斗争的马克思主义就是把它与它的根本来源--行动--分离开来，制造出无用的书虫。实践被革命的理论所阐明，理论被实践所证实。马克思主义传统只有通过斗争才能被人们内化。
理论是对过去实践的概括。正如葛兰西所说的那样，"思想不是从其他思想中产生的，哲学也不是从其他哲学中产生的；它们是真实历史发展的不断更新的表达"。 11 要想让自己适应任何新的情况而不失去个性，就必须将理论和实践统一起来。
列宁意识到，没有一个不断创新的意识形态实验室，任何革命组织都无法生存。他总是试图在最后为他的研究找到一个政治用途。但当他从事这项研究时，他毫不犹豫地从实际政治中退出，一连几个月把自己关在大英博物馆或国家图书馆里。
* Trotsky expressed the same idea very aptly when he said, “The fundamental Bolshevist prejudice consists precisely in the idea that one can only learn to ride when one is sitting firmly on a horse.” [15] Only in the struggle itself can one learn strategy and tactics. Again and again, Lenin quoted Napoleon: “On s’engage et puis ... on voit.” Rendered freely, this means, “First engage in a serious battle, and then see what happens.”
In war, and especially in the class war in a revolutionary period, the unknowns, not only in the enemy camp, but also in one’s own, are so numerous that sober analysis has to be accompanied by daring improvisation based largely on intuition, on an active, creative imagination.
Marxism differs from all other socialist theories in the remarkable way it combines complete scientific sobriety in the analysis of the objective state of affairs and the objective course of evolution, with the most emphatic recognition of the importance of the revolutionary energy, revolutionary creative genius and revolutionary initiative of the masses – and also, of course, of individuals, groups, organisations and parties that are able to discover an active contact with one or another class. [16]
Lenin constantly stressed that it was necessary to be aware of the thoughts and sentiments of the masses, and he himself excelled in this. As Trotsky said, “The art of revolutionary leadership in its most critical moments consists nine-tenths of knowing how to sense the mood of the masses. An unexcelled ability to detect the mood of the masses was Lenin’s greatest power.” [17]
Only in the struggle itself can the party find out what the masses really think and are able to accomplish. Marxism accepts neither mechanistic determinism, fatalism, nor voluntaristic self-will. Its basis is materialistic dialectics and the principle that the masses discover their own abilities through action. There is nothing in common between Lenin’s realism and pedestrian, passive Realpolitik. Against the latter must be counterposed, as Lenin put it, “the revolutionary dialectics of Marxist realism, which emphasise the urgent tasks of the advanced class, and discover in the existing state of things those elements that will lead to its overthrow.” [18] He was well aware that a sober assessment of the real forces is necessary, and that the revolutionary party itself is a central factor in the balance of forces. The boldness of the party gives confidence to the workers, while irresoluteness may lead the masses into passivity and moods of depression. The only way to determine the balance of forces, and the willingness of the masses to struggle, is by action in which the party gives a lead.
As the revolutionary struggle develops and changes, one must beware of clinging to tactics that have outlasted their usefulness. The most dangerous, devastating mistake a revolutionary leader can commit is to become a captive of those formulae of his that were appropriate yesterday, but do not fit today’s different balance of forces. Too often it happens that, when history takes a sharp turn, even progressive parties are for a time unable to adapt themselves to the new situation and repeat slogans that were formerly correct but have now lost all meaning – losing it as “suddenly” as the sharp turn in history was “sudden”.
托洛茨基也恰如其分地表达了这一观点，他说："这是我的想法。"只有稳稳地坐在马背上才能学会骑马，这种想法是布尔什维克的基本偏见。"15 只有在斗争中才能学会战略和战术。列宁多次回顾了拿破仑的战争哲学。根据记忆转述，这句话的意思是："让我们先进入斗争，然后我们就会看到。"
在战争期间，特别是在革命时期的阶级战争中，不仅在敌人的阵营中，而且在工人阶级的阵营中，未知因素是如此之多，以至于每一个理智的分析都必须伴随着基于直觉、积极和创造性想象力的大胆适应。
"马克思主义与其他所有社会主义理论的不同之处在于，它把对客观情况和客观演变路线的纯科学研究与对群众的革命能量、革命创造智慧和革命主张的重要性--当然还有能够与阶级积极联系的个人、团体、组织和政党的重要性--的最有效的结合。"16
列宁一直强调要了解群众的感受和想法，他本人也以最好的方式将这一点付诸实践。正如托洛茨基所说，"在革命的最关键时刻，革命领导艺术的十分之九是要知道如何感知群众的感受。列宁最大的优势是他对群众感情的超强感知能力"。17
只有在斗争中，党才能了解到群众的真实想法和他们的能力。马克思主义既不承认机械决定论、宿命论，也不承认自愿论。它的基础是唯物主义辩证法和群众通过行动发现自己能力的原则。列宁的现实主义和庸俗、消极的现实政治之间没有任何共同之处。正如列宁所说，"马克思主义现实主义的革命辩证法分析了先锋阶级的直接任务，并在现有局势中发现了将导致其被推翻的因素"，这是现实政治的反面。18它充分认识到，必须对现有的力量进行现实的评估，而革命党本身就是这种力量平衡的核心要素。党的坚定性给了工人信心，而另一方面，优柔寡断导致了群众的被动性和压抑感。确定力量平衡和群众斗争意愿的唯一途径是通过党领导的行动。
随着革命斗争的发展和变化，有必要避免坚持已经失去作用的战术。一个革命领袖可能犯的最危险、最具破坏性的错误是成为他自己设计的公式的俘虏，这些公式在昨天是合适的，但不适合今天的不同力量平衡。通常情况下，当历史发生突然转折时，即使是进步的政党也会一时无法适应新的形势，而重复以前是正确的口号，但现在却像历史进程中的 "突然 "转折一样失去了所有的意义。
* Lenin teaches us that in the complicated chain of political action one must always identify the central link at the moment in question, in order to seize it and give direction to the whole chain.
Every question “runs in a vicious circle” because political life as a whole is an endless chain consisting of an infinite number of links. The whole art of politics lies in finding and taking as firm a grip as we can of the link that is least likely to be struck from our hands, the one that is most important at the given moment, the one that most of all guarantees its possessor the possession of the whole chain. [23]
He often returned to this metaphor and in practice always obeyed the rule that it illustrated; during the most critical periods he was able to set aside all the secondary factors and grasp the most central one. He brushed aside anything that could directly or indirectly divert him from the main issue. As Trotsky aptly put it,
... when the critical hurdle was happily cleared, Lenin would still now and again exclaim: “And yet we quite forgot to do this or that ... ” Or “We missed an opportunity because we were so preoccupied by the main thing ... ” Someone would answer him: “But this question had been posed, and this proposal had been made, only you did not want to hear anything!”
“Didn’t I? Impossible!” he would say, “and I don’t remember a thing.”
At that point he would burst out laughing, with malicious laughter in which there was an admission of “guilt”; and he would make a characteristic gesture of raising his arm and moving it helplessly down, as if resigned: well, one cannot do everything. This “shortcoming” of his was only the obverse side of his talent to mobilise, to the utmost degree, all his inner forces. Precisely this talent made of him the greatest revolutionary in history. [24]
Again Trotsky writes:
Vladimir Ilyich was often criticised by many comrades, and by myself among them, for seemingly not paying attention to secondary matters and certain side issues. I should think that in times of “normal” slow development this might have been a defect in a political leader; but in this lay Comrade Lenin’s pre-eminence as the leader of a new epoch, in which all that is inessential, all that is incidental and secondary recedes into the background, becomes overshadowed, and what remains is only the basic irreconcilable class antagonism in the acute form of civil war. It was Lenin’s peculiar gift, which he possessed to the highest degree, that with his intense revolutionary gaze, he could see and point out to others what was most important, most necessary, and most essential. Those comrades who, like myself, were given the chance to observe Lenin’s activity and the working of his mind at close quarters, could not help but enthusiastically admire – yes, I repeat, enthusiastically admire – the perspicacity, the acuteness of his thought which rejected all that was external, accidental, superficial, and reached to the heart of the matter and grasped the essential methods of action. [25]
He did commit tactical errors – largely because of his concentration on the essential link and because of his long absences from the scene of action. But the other side of the coin was his magnificent strategic grasp. Party strategy was ruthlessly defined from a distance, even if tactical errors of judgement were involved.
In principle, Lenin was right when he insisted on “bending the stick,” one day in one direction, another in the opposite. if all aspects of the workers’ movement had been equally developed, if balanced growth had been the rule, then “stick bending” would have a deleterious effect on the movement. But in real life, the law of uneven development dominates. One aspect of the movement is decisive at any particular time. The key obstacle to advance may be a lack of party cadres, or, on the contrary, the conservatism of the party cadres may cause them to lag behind the advanced section of the class. Perfect synchronisation of all elements would obviate the need for “bending sticks,” but would also render a revolutionary party or a revolutionary leadership superfluous.
列宁告诉我们，在最复杂的政治行动链条中，此刻有必要确定并抓住指导整个链条的基本环节。
"每一个问题都像是'没有尽头的环节'，因为政治生活作为一个整体是由无数个环节组成的无尽的链条。政治的全部艺术在于找到并尽可能紧紧抓住最不可能逃脱我们的环节，抓住目前最重要的环节，抓住比其他任何东西都更能保证其主人对整个链条的所有权的环节。"23
列宁经常提到这个比喻，并总是在实践中应用它所解释的规则；在最关键的时期，他能够抛开所有次要因素，抓住最根本的因素。他摒弃了一切可能直接或间接转移他对主要问题注意力的东西。正如托洛茨基所说的那样，非常恰当。
"即使成功地克服了关键的障碍，列宁偶尔也会嘀咕：'但事实上我们忘记了这个或那个......'或者'我们错过了机会，因为我们太专注于基本问题......'。然后有人会提醒他，'但是这个问题已经提出来了，这个建议也提出来了，然后你说你什么都不想听！'。
"这一次，列宁说：'我？不可能的!我一点都不记得了'。
"然后他就会开始笑，在这故意的笑声中，会有对'错误'的承认，他会做出他特有的手势，无奈地举起又放下，说'我们能做什么，一个人不能做所有的事情'。他的这种 "缺陷 "不过是他最大限度地调动所有内在力量的能力的另一面。这就是使他成为历史上最伟大的革命者的能力"。24
又如托洛茨基所说：
"弗拉基米尔-伊里奇经常受到包括我在内的许多同志的批评，因为他似乎对次要的东西和某些枝节问题漠不关心。 在发展缓慢的'正常'时期，这可能是一个政治领导人的缺点；但在新时代，当所有不必要的东西、所有附带的和次要的东西都退居幕后，失去重要性，只剩下内战，只剩下尖锐形式的基本阶级对立，这就是列宁同志的独特之处。这是他拥有的最高水平的特殊能力，用他小心翼翼的革命目光抓住最重要、最必要、最不可缺少的东西，并将其展示给别人。对于像我这样有幸近距离看到列宁的行动和他的思想运作的同志来说，不可能不热情地钦佩--是的，我说热情地钦佩--他的思想的敏锐性和微妙性，它拒绝外部的、偶然的和表面的东西，通过深入问题的核心来掌握必要的行动方法。"25
列宁有他的战术错误，其中大部分是由于他把注意力集中在主圈上，离开行动现场的时间过长。然而，硬币的另一面是他奇妙的战略洞察力。即使在战术判断上犯了错误，他也能从远处准确地确定党的战略。
当列宁坚持 "弯曲 "的 "棍子 "前一天是这样，后一天是那样的时候，他基本上是对的。如果劳工运动的所有方面都得到了平等的发展，并且有了平衡的增长，那么 "弯曲的棍子 "就会对劳工运动产生不利的影响。但在现实生活中，不均衡发展的规律是适用的。在每一个不同的环境中，运动的某个方面都会变得很重要。向前迈进的主要障碍可能是缺乏党的干部，或者相反，党的干部的保守主义可能导致他们落后于阶级的先锋队。所有元素的完美对应可能会使我们没有必要 "扭动魔杖"，但这同时也意味着革命党或革命领导权将是多余的。
* Apart from a very short interruption in 1905, Lenin spent the 15 years preceding the revolution abroad. His feeling for reality, his grasp of the mood of the workers, did not diminish over time, but increased. His realistic imagination was rooted in deep theoretical understanding, a good memory, and creative thinking. It was nourished by occasional meetings with individuals who came to see him in exile.
His revolutionary intuition was uncanny. Here is just one example, showing how he managed to visualise a whole social-political situation from a single sentence spoken by a worker, which would probably have passed unnoticed by anyone else.
After the July days, thanks to the extremely solicitous attention with which the Kerensky government honored me, I was obliged to go underground ... In a small working-class house in a remote working-class suburb of Petrograd, dinner is being served. The hostess puts bread on the table. The host says: “Look what fine bread. ‘They’ dare not give us bad bread now. And we had almost given up even thinking that we’d ever get good bread in Petrograd again.”
I was amazed at this class appraisal of the July days. My thoughts had been revolving around the political significance of those events, weighing the role they played in the general course of events, analyzing the situation that caused this zigzag in history and the situation it would create, and how we ought to change our slogans and alter our Party apparatus to adapt it to the changed situation. As for bread, I who had not known want, did not give it a thought. I took bread for granted ...
This member of the oppressed class, however, even though one of the well paid and quite intelligent workers, takes the bull by the horns with that astonishing simplicity and straightforwardness, with that firm determination and amazing clarity of outlook from which we intellectuals are so remote as the stars in the sky. The whole world is divided into two camps: “us”, the working people, and “them”, the exploiters. Not a shadow of embarrassment over what had taken place; it was just one of the battles in the long struggle between labour and capital. When you fell trees, chips fly.
“What a painful thing is the ‘exceptionally complicated situation’ created by the revolution,” that’s how the bourgeois intellectual thinks and feels.
“We squeezed ‘them’ a bit; ‘they’ don’t dare to lord it over us as they did before. We’ll squeeze again – and chuck them out altogether,” that’s how the worker thinks and feels. [26]
Krupskaya was absolutely right when she wrote: “Ilyich always had a kind of special instinct – a profound comprehension as to what the working class was experiencing at a given moment.” [27]
除了1905年的短暂间隔外，列宁在革命前的15年里一直在国外。然而，他的现实感，他对工人感受的理解，并没有随着时间的推移而萎缩，相反，它得到了改善。他的现实想象力是建立在他深刻的理论理解、强大的记忆力和创造性的思维能力之上的。而与那些在流亡中来看他的人的不经常的会面，更激发了他的想象力。
列宁的革命直觉是非凡的。我们只需举一个例子来说明这一点，别人可能会不经意地经过这句话，但它却使列宁对整个社会政治形势产生了直观的认识。
"七月天之后，由于克伦斯基政府对我表现出极大的兴趣，我不得不转入地下......。这是在彼得堡一个偏远的工人区的一个小工人家里的晚餐时间。当房东太太把面包放在桌子上时，房东太太说。"看看这个好面包。'他们'不再敢给我们坏面包。我们担心在彼得堡再也见不到好面包了"。
"我对这种对七月天的阶级评价感到非常惊讶。 我自己的思想在事件的政治意义上徘徊，权衡它们在整个事件过程中所扮演的角色，评估导致历史上这种曲折的情况和它将创造的环境，我们应该如何改变我们的口号和党的机制，以适应目前的情况。至于面包，我这个从来都不知道没有面包的人，没有想过这个问题。 我从来没有想过这是一个问题......
"但是这位被压迫阶级的成员，尽管他是高薪和高智商的工人之一，却以惊人的简单和清晰，以坚定的决心和惊人的清晰眼光触及了问题的关键，而我们这些知识分子与之相比，就像天上的星星一样遥远。整个世界被分成了两个阵营。我们 "是劳动人民，"他们 "是剥削者。对七月的事件没有一丝遗憾；它们只是劳工和资本之间长期斗争中的一场战斗。有得必有失"。
，"革命造成的格外复杂的局面，真是令人遗憾"。
另一方面，工人认为并感到：'我们已经把他们压制住了，现在他们再也不敢像以前那样来找我们了。我们将再次挤压他们--并将他们连根拔起'。"26
克鲁普斯卡娅说："伊里奇总是有一种特殊的直觉，对工人阶级在那个时候所经历的事情有一种深刻的理解，"她说得很对。27 
* Ferdinand Lassalle expressed the fundamental requirement of revolutionary politics well. “Every great action begins with a statement of what is.” Lenin often used to repeat in English, “Facts are stubborn things.” Marxism, he said, “takes its stand on the facts, and not on possibilities. A Marxist must, as the foundation of his policy, put only precisely and unquestionably demonstrated facts.” [31] He was always searching for the bridge from the actual to the possible. He was not afraid to look straight into the abyss between the greatness of the tasks facing the movement, and the actual poverty of the same movement. His feet were on the ground, but his head was in the sky.
斐迪南-拉萨尔很好地表达了革命政治的基本要求。"每一项伟大的工作都始于对现有情况的确定"。"事实是顽固的东西，"列宁经常用英语说。"马克思主义不是根据概率，而是根据事实来确定自己的态度。每个马克思主义者都必须把自己的政策完全建立在已被证明是确定的和无可争议的事实之上"。31 同时，列宁一直在寻找事实与概率之间的桥梁。他毫不犹豫地看了看运动面前的巨大任务和同一运动的实际弱点之间的鸿沟。他把脚放在地上，但一直盯着高处。