Some
Bolsheviks were critical of how Vladimir
Lenin had reduced the debate on policy issues in the Communist
Party after the October Revolution.
In 1921 Alexandra Kollantai (Commissar
for welfare) and Alexander Shlyapnikov
(Commissar for Labour)
formed a faction that became known as the Workers' Opposition.
In 1921
Alexandra
Kollantai
published a pamphlet The Workers' Opposition,
where she called for members of the party to be allowed to discuss
policy issues and for more political freedom for trade
unionists.
She also advocated that before the government attempts to "rid
Soviet institutions of the bureaucracy that lurks within them, the
Party must first rid itself of its own bureaucracy."
At the
Tenth Party Congress in 1922, Vladimir Lenin
proposed a resolution that would ban all factions within the party.
He argued that factions within the party were "harmful"
and encouraged rebellions such as the Kronstadt
Rising. The Party Congress agreed with Lenin and the Workers'
Opposition was dissolved.
(1) Alexandra
Kollantai,
The Workers' Opposition (1921)
The workers ask - who are we? Are we really the prop of
the class dictatorship, or are we just an obedient flock that serves
as a support for those who, having severed all ties with the masses,
carry out their own policy and build up industry without any regard
to our opinions and creative abilities under the reliable cover of
the party label.
(2)
Victor Serge,
Memoirs of a Revolutionary (1963)
The Workers Opposition, led by Shliapnikov, Alexandra
Kollontai, and Medvedev, believed that the revolution was doomed if
the Party failed to introduce radical changes in the organization
of work, restore freedom and authority to the trade unions, and make
an immediate turn towards establishing a true Soviet democracy. I
had long discussions on this question with Shliapnikov. A former metalworker,
he kept about him, even when in power, the mentality, the prejudices,
and even the old clothes he had possessed as a worker. He distrusted
the officials ("that multitude of scavengers") and was sceptical
about the Comintern, seeing too many parasites in it who were only
hungry for money.
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