Moscow, Mysl Publishing House. 1976. 364 pages. The print run is 4000 copies. Price 1 rub. 68 kopecks.

The leading role of the working class in the modern world revolutionary process, which was initiated by the Great October Socialist Revolution, especially the growing role of the working class in the construction of socialism and communism, as well as in the struggle for the national and social liberation of all peoples, contributes to increasing attention to the history of the working-class movement. Under the leadership of Academician B. N. Ponomarev, a large team of Soviet scientists is preparing a fundamental study, the first two volumes of which have already been published [1] and marked an important milestone in the development of Soviet historiography. This stimulated the expansion of the front and the deepening of research on the history of the international labor movement.

Among the latest works devoted to the history of the struggle of the working class, a prominent place belongs to the book of Professor of the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, Doctor of Historical Sciences I. M. Krivoguz. In its main provisions, it coincides with the first volumes of the multi-volume work " International Labor Movement. Voprosy istorii i teorii", but differs from them not only in its scope, but also in the fact that the author has set himself a much more modest, though very important, task-to characterize the main periods of the international labor movement from its inception to October 1917 and to trace the general patterns of development of the working class struggle. He rightly attributes the beginning of the workers ' struggle against the bourgeoisie and other oppressors to the time of the birth of capitalism and the emergence of the wage - earners, the pre-proletariat. Emphasizing the significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution as the event that marked the beginning of the transformation of the proletariat into the ruling class, the author proceeds from dividing the entire history of the proletarian struggle into two periods: before the October Revolution and after it. Analyzing the path taken by the proletariat from its first speeches to its transformation into the main driving force of the modern era, the author draws on the works of the founders of scientific communism, is guided by the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the class struggle and the great world liberation mission of the proletariat, on the laws of development of the working - class movement. It uses a variety of sources, among which the leading place is occupied by documents of workers 'organizations and the workers' press. He summarizes the achievements of Soviet historiography of the international labor movement and the results of many foreign studies.

Based on the criteria developed by Karl Marx, F. Engels, and V. I. Lenin and the results of many studies, the book analyzes the main periods of the international labor movement up to October 1917. To the first, early period, the author refers the prehistory of the working-class movement, that is, the time before the beginning of the industrial proletariat's actions. The second period is characterized by the emergence of the industrial proletariat, the formation of its class solidarity on a national scale, the creation of the first workers ' organizations and the first independent political actions of the working class in the most developed countries of that time. The third period was marked by the emergence and development of the scientific worldview of the working class - Marxism. This also includes the beginning of the unification of Marxism with the working - class movement, the activity of the Union of Communists - the first international Marxist workers ' party - and the growing socio-political role of the proletariat. The fourth period-from the late 50s to the mid-70s of the XIX century, characterized by the first upsurge of the international labor movement, the author connects with the activities of Marx and Engels, with the First International and the first proletarian revolution - the Paris Commune of 1871. The most important result of this period was the transformation of Marxism into the most influential branch of the international labor movement. In a special, fifth, period, the author highlights the creation and strengthening of the socialist workers ' parties and the Second International - from the mid-70s to the end of the 90s of the XIX century. This period is characterized by

1 " The International Labor Movement. Questions of history and theory". Tt. I-II. M. 1976.

page 186

success in the organization of the working people and in the struggle for the improvement of their condition, and, above all, the establishment of the hegemony of Marxism in the international working - class movement. The author considers the beginning of the sixth period to be the end of the 90s of the XIX century, linking it with the intensification of the class struggle of the proletariat in the conditions of imperialism, the intensification of the struggle of the revolutionary and opportunist trends in the working-class movement, and the emergence of Leninism. The book highlights the growing role of the working class in all the liberation movements of the early twentieth century, its hegemony in the popular revolution in Russia, and the subversive activities of the opportunists that led to the collapse of the Second International and the split of the international labor movement on the eve of the modern era. Special attention is paid to the international significance of Leninism and the activities of Lenin, as well as the revolutionary social democrats of other countries.

Of course, as I. M. Krivoguz notes, any periodization is conditional, but it is of significant interest, since it reflects the main patterns and summarizes the most important features of the development of the international labor movement. Within the above-mentioned periods, the author highlights the stages of the struggle of the working class. I. M. Krivoguz rightly notes that the division into periods and stages "does not fully reflect the uneven growth of the working-class movement, does not always correspond to the periodization of the struggle of the proletariat of individual countries, and the activities of various international and national workers' organizations, from the Second International to branch trade unions, have a relatively low level of development. independent periodization" (p. 257).

The book traces the patterns of development of the international labor movement identified by Marx, Engels, and Lenin: the inextricable connection of the working class with the growth of productive forces, the steady growth of its size and share in the total population; the objective interest of the working class in eliminating all forms of exploitation and oppression, in establishing public ownership of the means of production, and the irreconcilability of its contradictions with the bourgeoisie the historical necessity of the dictatorship of the working class, the deep origins of its growing revolutionary character. The author gives an idea of the steady expansion of the front of the struggle of the working class, the growth of activity, organization and consciousness of the workers, the strengthening of the socio-political role of the proletariat, which became one of the two main classes of bourgeois society, and then the main driving force of the modern world revolutionary process. This reveals the history of the preparation of the working class for the fulfillment of its world-liberation mission. Many of the laws mentioned in the book, which were characteristic of the pre-1917 working-class movement, are also characteristic of the modern international working-class movement, and some of them, for example, the growing role of revolutionary workers ' parties, the interaction of workers in all countries on the basis of proletarian internationalism, have intensified.

The author shows the significance of the social history of the working class for the history of its struggle. It is also rightly pointed out that "for the characterization of the position of the worker and his behavior, his origin was of no small importance" (p.23). The book covers the process of formation of the industrial proletariat (p. 22-31), examines the problems of social development of the working class and the change in its position under imperialism (p.243-248).

One of the central lines of research is the emergence and development of the scientific worldview of the working class, the connection of revolutionary theory with the working - class movement, and the influence of Marxism and its new stage, Leninism, on the development of the international working-class movement. Special attention is paid to the activities of Marx, Engels and Lenin, as well as the role of many of their followers. The author describes the most important speeches of W. Liebknecht, P. Lafargue, J. Guesde and other prominent figures of the working-class movement of various countries, their contribution to Marxist theory, and gives a well-founded concrete historical assessment of the activities of the revolutionary social-democrats of the early 20th century in the international working-class movement and in individual countries. The book reveals the vanguard role of the Bolsheviks led by Lenin in the international labor movement, and shows their connections with the revolutionary social Democrats of other countries.

page 187

I. M. Krivoguz paid much attention to the characterization of trends hostile to Marxism in the working-class movement. He revealed both the similarities and differences of many types of petty - bourgeois and bourgeois socialism, as well as petty-bourgeois revolutionism, and traced the evolution of leftism-from A. Gottschalk and O. Blank to anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists, including the so-called revolutionary anarcho-syndicalists. The book covers in detail the evolution of opportunist trends - trade unionism, possibilism, Lassallianism, various kinds of social reformism. Bernsteinism is characterized by the author as a kind of social reformism associated with imperialism in the context of the hegemony of Marxism in the international labor movement (p. 260, etc.). I. M. Krivoguz regards centrism as a new kind of opportunism that had developed in the international labor movement by 1910, revealing its vile role in Russian social-democracy, where it received a decisive rebuff from Lenin and the Bolsheviks (p. 301), as well as in the Second International - a bloc of centrists with revisionists against the revolutionary social-democrats their responsibility for the crisis and collapse of the Second International. Tracing the struggle against opportunism and leftism, the author convincingly proves that the revolutionary trend in the international labor movement has always had deep origins, expressing the fundamental interests of the working class.

Much attention is paid in the book to the mass movement of workers and their major actions. The author traced the natural process of expansion and development of forms and methods of struggle of the proletariat. Analyzing its results, I. M. Krivoguz notes the successes of the labor movement at the end of the XIX century, the aggravation of labor conflicts, the scope and nature of which testified to the approach of a new era. He traced the correlation between the various directions of the proletarian struggle: for the improvement of the workers ' situation, for democracy, against colonialism, militarism and wars, and for socialism. Among the most important laws of the working-class movement, I. M. Krivoguz refers to "the convergence and interrelation of the economic, political and ideological struggle of the proletariat, the use and improvement of all the means of class struggle" (p.10). It characterizes the concrete correlation of these forms at various stages both on the scale of the world labor movement and in some countries.

The author believes that since the labor movement became truly international, due to the establishment of capitalism and the creation of a world economy, there were three waves of the international labor movement until 1914. The first - from the late 50s to the Paris Commune of 1871, the second - from the 80s to the mid-90s of the XIX century, the third - from the beginning of the XX century, especially under the influence of the people's revolution in Russia. Describing the third upsurge of the international labor movement, he emphasizes that "the culmination of this upsurge was the struggle of the Russian proletariat, which became the hegemon of the popular revolution of 1905-1907 and became the vanguard of the world revolutionary movement" (p.271). The book reveals in detail the enormous significance of the revolution in Russia for the international working-class movement. The next upsurge in the international labor movement began already during the First World War and led to the victory of the working class in Russia.

An important place in the book is occupied by the characteristics of various workers ' organizations, both international and national: the National Association of Chartists, the Union of Communists, and the First International. The author pays special attention to the final stage of the organization's activity. He described various types of workers ' parties and other proletarian organizations in the last third of the nineteenth century. Convincing material confirms Lenin's assessment of the Second International. The book also traces the evolution of many social democratic parties, including the SPD, which have fallen into the swamp of opportunism.

Special attention is paid by I. M. Krivoguz to the disclosure of such an important regularity of the working-class movement as "the emergence of workers' parties and the growth of their role in the class struggle, the development of a new type of revolutionary workers 'party - the highest form of class organization of the proletariat" (p.10). The book emphasizes the world-historical significance of the creation of a new type of revolutionary workers 'party in Russia, which marked the beginning of a radical restructuring of the revolutionary workers' movement, which was completed after the Great October Socialist Revolution.

I. M. Krivoguz examines in detail

page 188

a concrete combination of the international and national tasks of the working class at various stages of its struggle. The forms of international unity of the proletariat generally depend on the peculiarity of their combination, as well as on the degree of development of the working-class movement. This is what the author sees as the reasons for the difference in the composition, structure and forms of activity of the I and II Internationals. He analyzed the interaction of workers in different countries, the process of improving fraternal mutual assistance, its significance for the struggle of workers and the development of proletarian internationalism in practice, the deep historical roots, the vitality and fruitfulness of proletarian solidarity.

The brief historiographical reviews available in all chapters are interesting. With all their laconism, they give an idea of the ideological struggle that unfolded around the problems of the history of the international labor movement, about the most important trends in historiography. The book focuses on Marxist-Leninist literature, especially the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Soviet studies. At the same time, the most important bourgeois concepts in the history of the international labor movement are criticized. The author showed the peculiarities and inconsistency of the social-reformist historiography of the working-class movement, characterized some varieties of leftist historiography. The coverage of the ideological struggle around the problems of the history of the international labor movement makes it possible to better assess the significance of the Marxist-Leninist concept of the history of the struggle of the working class. It seems controversial to combine the characteristics of the first two stages of the wage-worker struggle in one (first) chapter. The boundaries of the fourth and fifth, as well as the fifth and sixth periods of this struggle need further discussion. The arguments of those who attribute the beginning of the fifth period to 1871, and the sixth to 1905, deserve attention.

Unfortunately, the author failed to pay due attention to the role of workers in the struggle for national independence of the peoples of Latin America, as well as to the peculiarities of the formation of the working class and its first actions in the countries of Asia and Latin America. The problems of the trade union movement are also insufficiently covered in the book. This, however, does not prevent us from appreciating the new work of I. M. Krivoguz, which successfully summarizes the extensive material describing the history of the international labor movement in the pre-October era. Being an original scientific work, the book can also serve as a useful guide for anyone interested in the history of the labor movement. It helps to outline ways to further study the history of the international labour movement and helps to strengthen our position in the struggle against bourgeois and social-reformist falsifiers of the historical mission of the working class.

page 189

Permanent link to this publication: