⧠61. Our old programme, and the question of war in a socialist state

In §12 we explained how the standing army of the bourgeois State is constructed and for what purposes it is used. The socialists of all countries, including the Russian social democrats, used to demand the abolition of standing armies. Instead of a standing army, the socialists wanted the general arming of the people (a citizen army); they demanded the abolition of the officers' caste, and the election of officers by the rank and file.

Let us consider what should be the communists' attitude towards these demands.

The first question that arises in this connexion is, on behalf of what form of social order the before-mentioned demands were made. Were they made for a bourgeois society, or for a socialist society, or for a society in the throes of the struggle between bourgeoisdom and socialism?

The socialist parties adhering to the Second International had no clear ideas concerning the nature of the society in relation to which their programme was drawn up. For the most part, indeed, their programme related to a bourgeois society. What the socialists usually had in their minds as model was the Swiss Republic, where there is no standing army but a national militia.

It is obvious that the army programme of the socialists was unrealizable in bourgeois society, above all during an epoch in which the class struggle was continually growing more acute. To abolish barracks signifies the abolition of the places where the workers and the peasants are trained to become the executioners of their own class brothers. It signifies the abolition of the only places in which it is possible to transform the workers into an army which will be ready to use its weapons against other nations at any moment which may suit the capitalists. To abolish the officers' caste signifies the abolition of the beast tamers who are alone competent to maintain an iron discipline, and who are alone able to subject the armed people to the will of the bourgeois class. The election of officers would enable the armed workers and peasants to choose officers from among themselves, officers who would not be bourgeois. For the bourgeoisie to agree to such proposals would mean that it was consenting to the formation of an army which was intended to subvert its own régime.

The whole history of capitalism in Europe has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate the impossibility of carrying out the old army programme of the socialist party within the framework of bourgeois society, of carrying it out while society is divided into classes and in days when the class struggle is growing more acute. In proportion as the class struggle is intensified do we find that the bourgeois rulers are disinclined to arm the whole nation and are determined to put arms in the hands of their trusted White Guards only. The army programme of the socialists, in so far as they hoped to realize it in the bourgeois régime, was, therefore, nothing but petty-bourgeois utopism.

Is it not possible, however, that the programme was formulated with the definite aim of overthrowing the bourgeois régime? This was not the case. The bourgeoisie wishes to defend itself against the working class, which hopes to seize power. It will therefore never entertain the idea of arming the workers. The bourgeoisie has introduced universal military service and has entrusted the worker-soldier with a rifle only for so long as it can hope that the soldiers drawn from the people will continue to obey the orders of their capitalist rulers. But directly the people thinks of fighting for its own land, the people must be disarmed! All shrewd bourgeois politicians are well aware of this. Conversely, it would be quite unreasonable for the workers and peasants to think of arming the whole nation, when what they wish is to arm themselves that they may overthrow the bourgeoisie and seize power. It follows, therefore, that for the transitional period in which the proletariat is struggling for power, the old army programme of the socialists is futile. Such a programme is only applicable for the very brief period during which the pre-existing bourgeois standing army is being broken up. It is only applicable during the period when the officers' caste is being abolished and when the question of the election of officers by the rank and file arises. In the year 1917, the bolsheviks actually carried out this idea, which was part of their old programme. By suppressing the officers' caste in what had been the tsarist army and in the Kerenskyite army, the bolsheviks deprived that army of its sting, so that it was no longer subject to the bourgeois-landlord class.

On the other hand, for a society in which socialism has been victorious, the old army programme is fully applicable. When the proletariat has overthrown the bourgeoisie and has abolished class in quite a number of countries, it will be possible to carry out a general arming of the people. Then the working population alone will be armed, for in a socialist society all will be workers. It will be possible to do away with barrack life completely. It will also be possible to introduce the election of officers, a method which during the period of accentuated civil war is, except in rare and fortunate cases, unsuitable for the proletarian army.

A very natural question now arises. What need can there be for the general arming of the people in lands where a socialist régime prevails? In certain countries, let us suppose, the bourgeoisie has been conquered; those who were bourgeois have become workers; there can be no question of war between socialist States. But it is necessary to remember that socialism cannot gain the victory simultaneously in all the countries of the world. Some countries will, of course, lag behind the others in the matter of abolishing class and of realizing socialism. In such circumstances, the, countries in which the bourgeoisie has been overthrown and where all the bourgeois have become workers, may have to fight or to be prepared to fight against the bourgeoisies of those States in which the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been established; or they may have to give armed assistance to the proletariat of those lands in which the dictatorship of the working class has been inaugurated but in which the struggle with the bourgeoisie has not yet been carried to a successful issue.