Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

486V. I. LENINthe large cities of Germany, came out into the street, organisedimposing demonstrations of tens of thousands of peopleand inaugurated a broad mass movement, which already, atits very outset, has led to violent acts on the part of theconstitutional authorities, to the use of military force and thebeating up of the, unarmed masses. Struggle grows out ofstruggle! The leaders of the revolutionary proletariat met theseacts of violence proudly and bravely. But here the questioncame up of the attitude towards the democratic (and liberal)bourgeoisie in the struggle for the franchise. The debates on thisquestion between the German revolutionary Social-Democratsand the opportunists (revisionists, as they are called inGermany) bear a remarkably close resemblance to our owndisputes on the subject of the deception of the people by theliberals.The central organ of the German Social-Democratic LabourParty, Vorwärts, published a leading article, the gistand substance of which is clearly expressed in its heading:“The Struggle for the Franchise Is a Class Struggle!” As wasto be expected, this article was received by the opportunistsas a challenge, although it set forth in a positive form onlyestablished Social-Democratic axioms. The gauntlet was takenup. Comrade Südekum, a well-known worker in the fieldof municipal socialism, launched an aggressive campaignagainst this “sectarians’ tactic”, against the “isolation of theproletariat”, against “Social-Democratic support of the BlackHundreds” (the Germans use the milder term—reactionaries).For to a German opportunist too the introduction ofthe class struggle into a cause common to both the proletariatand the liberals means supporting the reactionaries!“The introduction of universal suffrage in Prussia insteadof the present three-class system is not the concern of anysingle class”, wrote Südekum. This, he said, was the affairof “the urban population against the agrarians, of democracyagainst the bureaucracy, of the peasantry against the landlord,of Western Prussia against Eastern Prussia” (i.e.,the industrially and capitalistically advanced part of thecountry against the economically backward part). “Whathas to be done now is to unite on this point all the friends ofthe reform, whatever the other issues which may dividethem.”