Pak Chin-sun (박진순), written as "Pak Dinshun".
Delivered at the Second Congress of the Communist International in 1920.
The speech appeared in the Petrograd Pravda, the official newspaper organ of the Petrograd Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), on July 27, 1920.
The First and Second Internationals were in fact merely associations of the masses of Europe and America; they devoted little attention to “the eastern question,” and in general to “the questions of colonial peoples.” The majority of the official leaders of the Second International tried in every way to keep the “colonial questions” in the background and to fence off the western European labor movement from the revolutionary struggle of the enslaved peoples of the colonies; they were afraid to bring up these questions squarely and openly.
Whenever they came to the “eastern problem” the official leaders of the Second International trembled, not less than the bourgeois politicians, who constantly and hypocritically repeated their inclinations toward “democracy,” civilization, and culture. The complex questions of the revolutionary struggle of enslaved colonial peoples, constituting the majority of enslaved mankind, were foreign to the ideologists of parliamentarism. Even at the time of organizing the Communist International, Asia was feebly represented, a fact which could not fail to be reflected in the work on eastern matters.
But the realization of the necessity of conjoint struggle of the toiling masses of the East and the West became stronger and stronger. The great victorious October revolution in Russia first bridged over the chasm between the proletariat of the West and the revolutionary East; Soviet Russia became the connecting link between the two formerly separated worlds. The necessity of conjoint proletarian struggle in the East and West has never been before felt so keenly as at the present moment, when the ruling classes have turned the blossoming fields into a bare wilderness and peaceful villages and cities into ruins; when the working class had resolved to raise the flag of implacable, revolutionary struggle for the power of the toiling masses, and for a new, free life for all mankind.
At the present moment, when the spirit of social revolution hovers over all the earth and when the bourgeoisie is straining all its forces in order for a short time to stave off the hour of its perdition, the Second World Congress of the Communist International should give serious attention to the East, where the fate of the world revolution may be decided. For whoever shall know how to go to the enslaved peoples of the East and make comrades of them will, in union with them, come victorious out of this last war of labor with capital.
A favorable basis for revolution was created in Asia by the sharp economic crisis inevitably associated with the transition from feudalism to capitalism and the barbarous colonial policies of the great imperialistic powers. These politics developed clear-cut nationalist tendencies in the East. Admitting that the first stage of the revolution in the East will be the victory of the liberal bourgeoisie and the nationalistic Intelligentsia, we should nevertheless now prepare our forces for the next stage, drawing from the depths of the peasant masses enslaved by the feudal regime organized forces for an agrarian-social revolution in Asia as soon as possible. The industrial proletariat, if Japan is not taken into consideration, is too weak in Asia for us to cherish serious hopes of an early Communist revolution; but there is no doubt of the success of an agrarian revolution if we are able to grasp the immediate problems of the great bloody struggle.
The Russian proletariat, standing as the vanguard of the world social revolution, could withstand a desperate three-year onslaught of the bourgeoisie of the whole world, only because it knew how to attract the poorest and middle classes of peasantry to its side. The vanguard of the European and American proletariat, uniting around the Communist International, must fight shoulder to shoulder along with the many-millioned masses of the revolutionary East, if it wishes to gain a quick and complete victory over the capitalistic class. The impossibility of this victory without the cooperation of the “colonial” peoples is so clear that further proof is needless. The history of the Second International, that perished ingloriously, showed that so long as the bourgeoisie of the world has a reservoir of power in the colonies in general and Asia in particular, it can resist the most desperate attacks of the insurgent proletariat.
The Communist International, guiding the awakening East in the true path of revolution, will radically put an end to the opportunism and indecision of the proletariat of western countries. But activities must be harmonized in such a manner that the European proletariat may hit its bourgeoisie a blow on the head at the very moment when the revolutionary East delivers a mortal thrust at the heart of capital. The victorious insurrection of the “colonial” people will sign the death warrant of all “indecision” and petty bourgeois trades-unionism. The rapid accomplishment of this task will hasten the day of triumph of the Communist International on a world-wide scale.
It is now asked what forces are propelling the revolution in the East? The majority of the former nobility, liberal bourgeoisie, and petty bourgeois Intelligentsia, who are the intelligent strength of the revolution in Asia, through the experience of long years of struggle with their foreign enslavers, and after painful internal struggle of ideas, have learned that the regeneration of the East is impossible without the domination of the broad masses of workers.
The bankruptcy of the Second International promoted the rapid development of revolutionary ideas in the East, removing every hope of the free existence of the native people without the triumph of the social revolution in Europe, Asia, and other countries.
Two opposing paths are open to the nationalists of Asia: One leads to personal felicity, based upon the loyal sufferings and graudal debasement of wide masses, while the second leads to social revolution, which will deprive them of material privileges to a certain extent but will bring freedom to the native people.
To our great joy, the majority of the nationalists with ideas have proved to be on the side of the revolution.
Of course, there are elements among the revolutionists themselves who will join us Internationalists only for the purpose of national-political liberation. We shall utilize their revolutionary spirit in combating world capital and for the triumph of the social revolution in the whole world; but if the revolution demands it afterwards, we will know how to turn the weapons against the “allies” of yesterday, and the victory undoubtedly will be ours, as the native masses of the East, just liberated from foreign political and economic bondage, will hardly be reconciled to the strong-hand tactics of new masters.
Such a policy- the policy of supporting the national movements in the colonies- is not capable of being carried out by those alleged Socialist governments which fear a “revolt of sentiments of patriotism” in the toiling masses, which have little class consciousness in those countries where the ruling classes pursue a barbarous colonial policy. But the Communist International has no reason to fear this “revolt,” for the vanguard of the international revolutionary proletariat, the ranks of which are growing every hour, fully appreciates its activities and completely approves its far-sighted tactics.
So, although we are not fighting together with thet above-named elements, we can not regard them as comrades with whom we might go to the end of without danger. Without tiring for a minute, we must explain to the wide masses of toilers of the East that national-political enfranchisement alone will not give them that for which they are fighting, and that only social liberation can give them the full guaranty of freedom.
The triumph of the first stage of the revolution in Asia will coincide with the triumph of the social revolution in the West. Proletarian Europe can not be a passive spectator of the sufferings of the vast toiling masses of the East, groaning under the yoke of bourgeois democracy. The European proletariat, filled with the sentiment of international solidarity, will go to their assistance.
Of course, we may predict beforehand that a terrible fight will be started in the bourgeois camp. But the western comrades, you may be sure, will find a cordial, fraternal reception among the proletariat and toiling peasantry of Asia, for the East was always opposed to that foreign intervention which brought chains and slavery with it. The intervention of the Socialistic proletarian West will be a great and even necessary aid to the toiling masses of Asia in their struggle against all exploitation. The proletarian East is thirsting for such “intervention.”
In the Second Congress, which must give the revolutionary proletariat a definite guiding plan for successfully combating world imperialism, of course, we will not forget the great role of the revolutionary East in the international labor movement.
And thus the toiling masses of the East, with the help of the European and American comrades, conquering their foreign and native enslavers, will transform Asia- a country of religious attainments- into a Communistic oasis of revolutionary attainments.
– Pak Dinshun (Pak Chin-sun, 박진순), 1920
This is copied from this book, “The 2nd Congress of the Communist International; as reported and interpreted by the official newspapers of Soviet Russia”. A copy of this book can be found on here: https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=1347F0A146BE04F4BFE8F571F654E843.
Pak Chin-sun’s speech can be found starting on page 134. I have extracted the speech into a separate PDF which can be downloaded here.
A slightly different translation of his speech appears in “Workers of the world and oppressed peoples, unite! Proceedings and documents of the Second Congress, 1920” by John Riddell. This also includes Pak Chin-sun’s theses. His speech can be found on 906 of this particular PDF. (Libgen)
A French translation of his speech and theses can be found here: https://www.marxists.org/francais/pak_chin-sun/index.htm
For more information about Pak Chin-sun (박진순), click here.