"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder

"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (Russian: Детская болезнь "левизны" в коммунизме, Detskaya Bolezn' "Levizny" v Kommunizme) is a work by Vladimir Lenin attacking assorted critics of the Bolsheviks who claimed positions to their left. Most of these critics were proponents of ideologies later described as left communism. The book was written in 1920 and published in Russian, German, English and French later in the year. A copy was then distributed to each delegate at the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern, several of whom were mentioned by Lenin in the work. The book is divided into ten chapters and an appendix.

Lenin's manuscript was subtitled "A Popular Exposition of Marxist Strategy and Tactics", but this was not applied to any edition brought out during his lifetime.

Bolsheviks

Lenin argues that the Russian Revolution has considerable international significance and criticises the leaders of the Second International, including Karl Kautsky, for failing to recognize what he thought was the international relevance of soviet power as a revolutionary model. To illustrate their move away from revolutionary politics, he supplies a quote from a 1902 work of Kautsky which concludes that "Western Europe is becoming a bulwark of reaction and absolutism in Russia". Lenin asserts that in a war against the bourgeoisie "iron discipline" is an "essential condition". He continues by describing the circumstances that resulted in the Bolsheviks' successful assumption of state power in Russia.