Herman Gorter 1920

Open Letter to Comrade Lenin

Written: 1920;

First Published: Herman Gorter, “Open letter to comrade Lenin, A reply to “left-wing” communism, an infantile disorder,” in Workers’ Dreadnought , London, 12 March-11 June 1921;

Published: Wildcat pamphlet , London, 1989;

Source: Left-Wing Communism Site;

Transcription\HTML Markup: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003;

Proofread: by Chris Clayton 2006.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. The question of the trade unions

3. Parliamentarism

4. Opportunism in the Third International

5. Conclusion



I wish to draw your attention, Comrade Lenin, and that of the reader, to the fact that this letter was written at the time of the triumphant march of the Russians to Warsaw.

I likewise request you, and the reader, to excuse the frequent repetitions. They were unavoidable, owing to the fact that the tactics of the “Lefts” are still unknown to the workers of most countries.

Herman Gorter.