Lenin CW-Vol. 23.pdf - From Marx to Mao

384 NOTES2324Social-Democratic members of the Third Duma. They also refusedto work in legal organisations—the trade unions, co-operatives andother mass organisations—contending that in conditions of rampantreaction the Party must confine itself exclusively to illegal activity.The otzovists did immense damage to the Party. Their policywould have isolated the Party from the masses and, in the end,would have turned it into a sectarian organisation.Ultimatumism—a variety of otzovism, from which it differedonly in form. The ultimatumists proposed that the Social-DemocraticDuma members be presented with an ultimatum—either theyfully submit to the decisions of the Party Central Committee orbe recalled from the Duma. The ultimatumists failed to appreciatethe need for painstaking work to help the Social-Democratic deputiesovercome their mistakes and adopt a consistent revolutionaryline. Ultimatumism was, in fact, disguised otzovism. Lenin calledFROM MARXTO MAOthe ultimatumists “bashful otzovists”. p. 28Die Neue Zeit (New Times)—theoretical organ of the German Social-⋆Democratic Party, published in Stuttgart from 1883 to 1923; editedby Karl Kautsky up to October 1917 and after that by H. Cunow.Die Neue Zeit was the first to publish several works of Marx andEngels. Engels helped the magazine by his advice and not infrequentlycriticised it for deviating from Marxism. After Engels’sdeath in 1895, Die Neue Zeit threw its pages open to articles by EduardBernstein and other revisionists. It published Bernstein’s “Problemsof Socialism”, which became the starting-point of a revisionistcampaign against Marxism. In the First World War Die Neue ZeitNOT FORCOMMERCIALDISTRIBUTIONtook a Centrist position and gave factual support to the social-chauvinists.p. 35The Internationale Group—a revolutionary organisation of LeftGerman Social-Democrats, founded in the early days of the FirstWorld War by Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring,Clara Zetkin, Julian Marchlewski, Léon Jogiches (Tyszka) andWilhelm Pieck. In April 1915, Rosa Luxemburg and Franz Mehringstarted the Internationale magazine, which served to unite thecore of the Left forces in Germany. A national conference of theseforces was held in Berlin on January 1, 1916, and of officially inauguratedthe Internationale group. It also adopted its platform of “BasicPrinciples” (“Leitsätze”), drawn up by Rosa Luxemburg in cooperationwith Liebknecht, Mehring and Clara Zetkin. In 1915 thegroup issued a number of political leaflets and in 1916 began illegalpublication of its Political Letters signed Spartacus (they appearedregularly up to October 1918), and the group came to be known bythat name.It conducted mass revolutionary propaganda, organised massanti-war demonstrations, directed strike struggles and exposed theimperialist nature of the world war and the treachery of the opportunistSocial-Democratic leaders. However, the Spartacus groupmade serious mistakes on questions of theory and policy: they negatedthe possibility of national liberation wars in the imperialist