Foreword to the 1923 Russian-language Edition

The book World Bolshevism was left unfinished by the late Iulii Osipovich Martov. A life disrupted by exile, constant overwork, serious illness, and the suppression of the independent press in Russia—including the social-democratic Kharkiv journal Mysl’ (Thought), for which these essays were originally intended—deprived the great publicist of the opportunity to finish the major work he had begun.

But the twelve chapters that Martov managed to write in 1919 are of absolutely exceptional interest. These chapters offer the deepest and most penetrating analysis of all that has been written concerning the social, ideological, and psychological origins of Bolshevism as a world phenomenon and about its ideology and the relation of this ideology to Marxism. Martov wields a sharp scalpel of historical analysis to reveal the spiritual connection of the Bolshevik proletarian movement to the movements of the 1871 commune era, to English Chartism, and even further in history to the movement of the Parisian “common poor” during the Great French Revolution. At the same time, his analysis is materialist and framed by the conditions of the class struggle. He thus explains the ideological relationship of movements separated from each other by more than a century of time. And finally, with his usual skill, Martov restores the actual theoretical views of Marx and Engels concerning the essence of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” and the relationship of this dictatorship to the state.

The array of profound matters touched on by Martov in this work are by no means of only academic significance. They are of the most burning practical interest for the political education of all who are convinced that above everything else, all politics should be based on an exhaustive understanding of the social and political phenomena at play. These phenomena will probably continue to play a significant role for a long time in the turbulent postwar events that yesterday shook eastern Europe, today shake the very heart of Europe, and tomorrow might well shake the whole world.

All twelve chapters offered here were written in the first half of 1919, in Moscow. Of these, chapters 1 to 9 were published in nos. 10, 12, 13, and 15 of the Kharkiv journal Mysl’ (Thought) (April–July 1919). Chapter 10 appeared in no. 11 (8 July 1921) and no. 15 (1 September 1921) of Sotsialisticheskii vestnik (Socialist courier), published in Berlin. Somewhat abridged versions of chapters 1 to 5 were also printed in German translation in nos. 46, 48, and 49 (November–December 1920) of the journal Der Sozialist (The Socialist), published in Berlin under the editorship of R[udolf] Breitscheid. Chapters 11 and 12 have never before been published.

We gathered material for the book from Martov’s papers, which were in great disarray. They consisted of: (1) clippings from the journal Mysl’ (Thought); (2) typewritten sheets; and (3) scattered handwritten notes. There were some corrections and additions in Martov’s handwriting on the journal clippings and typewritten sheets. He also provided titles for sections II and III and chapters 6 to 10 and 12—some of these titles (for section II and for chapters 6 to 9) were written in German, clearly in order to assist with the task of publishing them in German. All amendments and additions are included in the text of this version. We have restored those editorial deletions that were clearly only made for the purposes of the German edition.

The editor’s task was very modest. It consisted, mainly, in the selection and verification of material. Further, the editor is responsible for the titles of section I and all five of that section’s chapters, as well as the title of chapter 11 in section III. Finally, I felt it necessary to add—to a very limited extent—a number of endnotes throughout the text.

While reading this work, one should not lose sight of the fact that all of it was written in 1919, and only minor additions were made later. The lived experiences that Martov uses to illustrate his thoughts date to this period, and we felt it was necessary to add the occasional endnote for clarification.

In the appendix we reprint an article by Martov, “Marx and the Problem of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” The article is a valuable addition to and development of those ideas that are touched upon in World Bolshevism. It was published in the Marx “jubilee” issue of the magazine Rabochii Internatsional [The Workers’ International], published under the editorship of Martov in Moscow in 1918.

F. Dan

November 1923