Page:Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky - Lenin, The Great Strategist of the Class War - tr. Alexander Bittleman (1924).pdf/5



F I were asked to tell in a few words what is the most pronounced feature of this pamphlet by A. Lozovsky on "Lenin; the Great Strategian of the Class-War," I should say this: It is a desire to extract from the experiences of Lenin's life as many lessons as is humanly possible for the advancement of the class struggle and for the promotion of the proletarian victory thruout the world.

A. Lozovsky has been prompted to write on Lenin, it seems to me, not merely by a desire to perpetuate Lenin's memory. No. Lenin's name will live in the world as long as toiling masses struggle against exploitation, and as long as oppressed nations and persecuted races tread the path of revolt against their masters in a fight for freedom and human equality. The motive that produced this little book is much more immediate, direct and practical than a mere wish to perpetuate the memory of a great leader. It is an earnest attempt to make Lenin in his death as nearly useful to the working class as he was in his life, and a study of this pamphlet will show that its author has acquitted himself of his task with more than ordinary excellence.

What is it that we are primarily interested in about Lenin? We, I mean those that are part and parcel of the labor movement and of the proletarian class struggle and that are fighting for the dawn of a new day. What do we want to know about Lenin and for what purpose?

Lenin was the founder of a great party, the Communist Party of Russia. He was the leader of the first successful proletarian revolution. He was for over six years the head of the first Workers' and Peasants' Government in the world. He was also the founder and recognized leader of the Communist International. For us, working class militants in the cause of labor, there is a world to learn from the experiences of Lenin as to