Page:Samuel Gompers - Out of Their Own Mouths (1921).djvu/187

 Rh speeches of Lenin dealing with, the revolutionary movement in Great Britain. Here are some passages, as reported in the Bolshevist press:

Lenin protests against the supposition that the peculiar situation of the English labor movement requires that the decision as to the line of conduct of the British Socialist Party should be left in the latter's free judgment. Lenin does not understand why in such a case this Congress and this International are necessary.

Such tactics should be considered one of the worst traditions left by the activity of the II International. The 2nd Congress of the III International will, of course, act differently and will discuss in detail in the proper committee all the conditions of the English labor movement and the tasks resulting therefrom. …

Despite the opinion of Comrade MacLean, the Labor Party does not express the political state of mind of the working class of England as organized in trade-unions; it expresses the views and state of mind of its leaders, who are the most bourgeois, reactionary handmaid of British Imperialism. It is necessary that the party should effectively represent the ideology and interests of the proletariat. …

Furthermore, these traitors are at the head of the Labor Party which presents an unprecedented situation, for the latter expresses the political will of 4,000,000 workmen organized in its ranks. …

You are constantly speaking of the differences between the conditions in England and those in other countries. In so far as you enter the Communist International, you must remember that you must be guided not only by the experience of England but also by general revolutionary experience.

After the speech of Comrade Lenin the theses are put to a vote. Comrade Zinoviev proposed to vote first, and separately, on the thesis relating to the entrance of the