Therefore, in the minimum program of the party program drafted by Lenin in exile 1896, he put forward nine specific goals to realize political freedom (including freedom of the press). Later, in the program of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party drafted by 1899 and 1903, "absolute freedom of the press" (also translated as "unrestricted freedom of the press") [2] was listed as one of the party's short-term goals. This statement was kept until June 19 17, when Lenin wrote the materials to amend party constitution for the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Its wording is: "Freedom of belief, speech, publication, assembly, strike and association are unrestricted." [3]
On the significance of realizing political freedom, Lenin wrote in 1896:
"The most urgent demand of workers and the primary task of the working class to influence state affairs should be to strive for political freedom, that is, to ensure that all people directly participate in state management through laws (constitutions) and that all citizens enjoy the right to assemble freely, discuss their own affairs freely and influence state affairs through various groups and newspapers." [4]
More than 20 years later, in September of 19 17, that is, on the eve of the October Revolution, Lenin once again talked about freedom of the press. His definition is:
"Freedom of the press means that all citizens can express their views freely." [5]
There is obviously continuity of thought in this. In order to fully understand Lenin's freedom of the press, it is necessary to review all his expositions on political freedom (including freedom of the press).
Why did Lenin praise the political freedom of western countries before the October Revolution?
When it comes to Lenin's comments on freedom of the press in western countries, what impresses people most is his fierce criticism and almost complete negation of freedom of the press in the west. Lenin's remarks in this regard were made after the October Revolution, when the newly born Soviet Russia was surrounded by international imperialism and attacked by bourgeois newspapers all over the world. Before Lenin's October Revolution, many words about how people in western countries enjoyed political freedom were hardly quoted. To fully understand Lenin, we must understand this argument. In Lenin's works, "political freedom" is used more frequently than "freedom of the press". The former includes the latter, which usually refers to the six freedoms of speech, publication, belief, assembly, association and strike. Let's take Lenin's evaluation of political freedom in these countries as an example:
Regarding the United States, "freedom is the richest in the United States", "In the United States and other advanced countries, there is no privilege in the Middle Ages, and all citizens are equal in political rights." [6]
As for Britain, Britain has complete political freedom and "is one of the richest, freest and most advanced countries in the world." [7]
As for France, "the workers there have political freedom, their own trade unions, their own newspapers and their own parliamentary representatives." [8]
As for Germany, in a country with political freedom, the conditions of the electoral system are not a problem. German Social Democratic Party ... All party member can naturally decide whether to elect this activist to a certain position in the party. " [9]
Regarding Switzerland, "Swiss people still enjoy peace, happiness and more political freedom." "Maximize democracy in the whole state system and state management institutions". [ 10]
Regarding Belgium, "Belgium has long established a solid constitutional system, and political freedom has long been the wealth of the people. When workers have political freedom, they will have a broad road. " [ 1 1]
It was with the help of political freedom in western countries that Lenin was able to freely publish party newspapers and hold various party meetings abroad. Lenin praised the political freedom of western countries, but also pointed out its incompleteness. But on the whole, this kind of praise is relative because it takes Russia's extreme autocratic system as the negative frame of reference.
If we pay attention to the background of his discussion, we can find that most of them are talking about how this freedom is beneficial to the workers' movement, and its starting point is very similar to that of Marx and Engels when discussing the relationship between freedom of the press and the workers' movement. Lenin believed that the struggle for freedom of the press "will make it possible for us to carry out a broad, open struggle with the masses for socialism." "Make class struggle more conscious and extensive, make the most backward class among the people participate in the struggle, and teach them to learn politics and how to defend their own interests." [ 12]
Lenin's affirmation of western political freedom has a more important understanding significance, that is, the political freedom of the bourgeoisie is the only way for the proletariat to move towards socialism. He wrote: "Except bourgeois freedom and bourgeois progress, there is no other way to make the proletariat and peasants truly free. We should not forget that there is no other means to accelerate the arrival of socialism except full political freedom, and there will be no other means. " [13] Until the eve of the October Revolution, his "State and Revolution" still held this view. He wrote: "When democracy is implemented to the most complete and thorough degree that can be generally imagined, it will change from bourgeois democracy to proletarian democracy." [ 14]
Why did Lenin violently criticize the freedom of the press in the West after the October Revolution?
After the victory of the October Revolution, bourgeois newspapers and news agencies in western countries, under the atmosphere of prejudice and fear against Soviet capitalism, intentionally (out of hostility to capitalism) and unintentionally (for the purpose of pursuing sensational business) cooperated with imperialist armed intervention and the White Guards' rebellion in Russia, spreading many rumors about Soviet Russia and its main leaders Lenin and Trotsky. Even if the facts are reported, most of them. For example, Lenin went back to China via Germany to take part in the struggle directly, but it was reported that he had any special relationship with the German authorities. At the 192 1 party's top ten congress, Lenin summarized the reports of western media on Soviet Russia in recent years, and cited the materials of a citizen group in the United States, pointing out: "These people escaped from various newspapers, all about Russia, about Lenin and Trotsky, and escaped for several months ... They shot Lenin and Trotsky again and again day after day. In this case, Lenin can only draw the following conclusion: "Comrades, the situation is very clear. Newspaper syndicates all over the world-where the freedom of the press, that is, 99% of newspapers are bought by wealthy financial giants-launched an imperialist world March. " [ 15]
In view of the western media's comprehensive slander on Soviet Russia, Lenin had to focus on exposing and criticizing the western press freedom during this period. The repetition rate of this fierce criticism is so high that he said in a letter to British workers: "I have explained this point many times in newspapers and periodicals, and I am tired of repetition." [16] People are impulsive when they are excited. At this time, the discussion may not be calm enough and the words are not properly grasped. But first of all, we must understand Lenin, and anyone should fight back immediately in that situation. Lenin's contemporary exposition on freedom of the press in the West, which we often quote, is listed as follows:
"Freedom of the press means that the rich have the freedom to publish newspapers, that is, capitalists own all newspapers and periodicals. The actual result of this occupation is that newspapers and periodicals are selling themselves all over the world, including the freest countries. " [ 17]
"Capitalism makes newspapers a capitalist enterprise, a tool for the rich to get rich, providing news and entertainment for the rich, and a tool for deceiving and fooling working people." [ 18]
"As long as capital maintains control over newspapers and periodicals (the more developed the democratic system and the * * * system in the world, the more obvious, explicit and shameless this control will be, such as in the United States), this freedom is a scam." [ 19]
"Where there are capitalists in the world, the so-called freedom of the press means the freedom to buy newspapers and writers, that is, the freedom to buy, buy and concoct' public opinion' to help the bourgeoisie." [20]
Here, it is a bit extreme to use "everything", "everything", "99%" or 100% to explain the problem. As Lenin said before, the western workers' movement has gained great living space under the condition of free press. There are newspapers of Marxist political parties, many newspapers sympathetic to the workers' movement, and non-political public media. "The more democracy and harmony develop, the more shameless capital controls the media." This statement is obviously inappropriate. If inferred, it can only lead to the fallacy that democracy and harmony are more free rather than developing.
According to rough statistics, Lenin's criticism of freedom of the press in the West is attributed to the following: false and downright hypocrisy, capital enslaves newspapers, capitalists and the rich, creates bourgeois public opinion, suppresses public opinion, buys newspapers, bribes newspapers, hires obscene writers, poisons people, anesthetizes people, deceives people, blinds people, fools people and diverts people's attention. These judgments are correct on the whole, but we should prevent this simple and arbitrary judgment from analyzing the specific reports of specific newspapers and periodicals, otherwise there may be misjudgment.
Politically, Lenin had to expose and counter the slander of the Soviet regime by the western media at that time, which was a necessary measure to defend the new regime. Ideologically, Lenin's understanding of the basic essence of western capital ruling the media has not changed. Even before the October Revolution, he talked about it, but at that time, the focus was not on this aspect, and there was less discussion.
Lenin's Basic Thought on Press Freedom: Getting rid of Capital
Our thinking is often fixed on Lenin's affirmation and negation of bourgeois freedom of the press, such as quoting the following passage he wrote in 1920 as the basis for affirming freedom of the press:
"From the end of the Middle Ages to the19th century, the slogan" freedom of the press "became a great slogan all over the world. Why? Because it reflects the progressiveness of the bourgeoisie, that is, it reflects the struggle of the bourgeoisie against monks, kings, feudal lords and landlords. " [2 1]
This is the only article written by Lenin after the October Revolution that affirms the freedom of the western press. Lenin's other remarks about freedom of the press in the West after the October Revolution have now become the basis for us to deny bourgeois freedom of the press. In fact, just as Lenin wrote positive words on it, Lenin also said very fierce negative words. No matter before or after the October Revolution, Lenin discussed the slogan of freedom of the press in the sense of recognizing its historical value, but the environment was different. The former pays more attention to its progressive significance, while the latter is stronger than the appropriate limit. Lenin made it very clear here that the time span was "from the end of the Middle Ages to19th century", and when he wrote this passage, it was the beginning of the 20th century.
Lenin's basic understanding of western press freedom is the same. 1905 Before the October Revolution, Lenin wrote when commenting on all kinds of freedom of speech (including freedom of the press):
"In a society based on money and power, in a society where the vast number of workers are poor and a few rich people live a parasitic life, there can be no real and real' freedom'. Mr. Writer, can you leave your bourgeois publisher and be free? Can you get rid of the bourgeois masses who ask you to make obscene novels and pictures and use prostitution to' supplement' the' sacred' stage art? ..... The freedom of bourgeois writers, painters and actresses is only a mask (or disguise) that they rely on for money bags, purchases and maintenance. " [22]
This may be the only time Lenin fundamentally criticized bourgeois freedom before the October Revolution. From the language characteristics and ideological point of view, it is the same as his exposition after the October Revolution, but due to the different background of struggle, this freedom was not complete in Russia at that time. He first wanted to strive for complete bourgeois freedom in politics, so few people talked about this critical discussion. Lenin also talked about his ideal of freedom of the press at that time:
"We hope to establish a free media, and we will definitely establish it. The so-called freedom of the press means not only getting rid of the oppression of the police, but also getting rid of capital, reputation and status, and even getting rid of bourgeois anarchist individualism. " [23]
The four "get rid of" he talked about here, the first two belong to the category of free system, that is, to solve the restriction of feudal autocracy on freedom of publication and the dependence of bourgeois freedom of publication on capital. The latter two "get rid of" belong to the degree of civilization when citizens enjoy freedom of the press. Lenin is still in the stage of trying to get rid of the police oppression, but he thought of the second "getting rid of" and even put forward the third and fourth "getting rid of" in the moral scope as an ideal.
19 17 On the eve of the February Revolution, the first "escape" was actually realized. At that time, Lenin used the revolutionary description of 1905 to express his understanding of the achievements of the upcoming February revolution in freedom of the press: "Freedom of the press has been won. The book and newspaper inspection was simply cancelled. No publisher dares to submit censorship samples to the czar authorities, and the authorities dare not take any measures to interfere. For the first time in Russian history, revolutionary newspapers were freely published in Petersburg and other cities. " [24]
But soon, Lenin was dissatisfied with this freedom of the press. 19 17 On the eve of the October Revolution, he thought: "Capitalists (many social revolutionaries and Mensheviks followed them because of ignorance or conservatism) called the abolition of the censorship of books and newspapers and the freedom of all parties to publish any newspaper' freedom of the press'. In fact, it is not the freedom of the press, but the freedom of the rich bourgeoisie to deceive the oppressed and exploited people. " [25] Because although the Social Revolutionary Party, the Menshevik Party and the Bolshevik Party won three-quarters to four-fifths of the votes in the two capitals at that time, their newspaper distribution share was only one-fourth or one-fifth of the existing newspaper circulation. Capital controls the absolute majority of newspaper circulation with strong economic power, and the media actually operates as a profitable capitalist enterprise. Lenin wrote:
"The problem is not the freedom of the press, but the exploiters have sacred ownership of the printing houses and papers they own! ! ! "[26]
Therefore, Lenin began to plan to realize his second ideal of "getting rid of" freedom of the press, even if newspapers, printing houses, papers and advertisements were liberated from the control of capital.
In realizing the ideal of freedom of the press, Lenin talked from 1896 to "guarantee freedom of the press for all citizens" at present (1965438+September 28th, 2007), emphasizing that freedom of the press "means that all citizens can freely express all their opinions", and the foothold is always how "all citizens" can obtain freedom of the press. In this regard, Lenin's thought on freedom of the press is consistent, and his thinking characteristics have not changed. In order to achieve this goal, he repeatedly stressed the need to deprive capitalists of the ownership of the publishing industry. His thoughts are as follows:
Regarding advertising, he envisaged that it would be monopolized by Soviet countries, and "announced that no newspaper should publish advertisements except those published by Soviet provinces and cities and national newspapers published by Petrograd Central Soviet". [27] In this way, the financial resources of existing newspapers controlled by capitalists have been cut off. Lenin said: "If we can publish large-scale Soviet newspapers with various advertisements, we can fully ensure that more citizens can express their opinions. For example, we can ensure that every group that has collected a certain number of signatures can express their opinions. After such reforms, freedom of the press will actually become more democratic and complete. " [28]
Lenin envisaged that all printing houses and papers would be distributed fairly by Soviet countries, and the distribution scheme was as follows:
First of all, it is for the benefit of most people, especially the benefit of most poor farmers.
Second, it is allocated to the big party that won 10 or 0.2 million/200 thousand votes in the two capitals. The state power that Lenin envisioned at that time was a multi-party system in the same socialist direction. After he returned to Petersburg in April 19 17, he always assumed this. For example, in July 19 17, he wrote: "The change of the ruling class and political parties could have been carried out peacefully within the Soviet Union." [29]191710 wrote: "All political parties are engaged in peaceful struggle within the Soviet Union to ensure that their programs are tested by practice and that political power is transferred peacefully from one political party to another." [30]
Third, it is allocated to smaller political parties and citizen groups with a certain number of members or signatures.
Lenin believed that "only in this way can the distribution of paper and printing plants be fair;" Under the condition that the Soviet Union holds political power, there is no difficulty in implementing this distribution. " [3 1]
The freedom of the press in the general sense, or the freedom of the press in the primitive bourgeois sense, has been changed into the freedom of the press owned by all citizens who are not controlled by capital. Lenin outlined such a brand-new blueprint for freedom of the press with full idealism, which is creative in the history of international sports. Lenin faced the coming revolution, which made it possible for him to carry out his plan. As early as 1906, he imagined such a scene:
"Only when people can truly form associations, assemble, run newspapers, promulgate laws in person, and elect and replace all public officials responsible for enforcing laws and managing the country according to law can people's freedom be guaranteed. In other words, people's freedom can be fully and truly guaranteed only when all state power belongs to the people completely and truly. " [32]
Lenin's practice of realizing the ideal of freedom of the press
On the second day after the victory of the October Revolution, that is,165438+18 October, the Petrograd Revolutionary Military Committee seized a series of newspapers that published the interim government's appeal against the Soviet regime, arrested relevant personnel, and took over the printing houses of these newspapers. However, other bourgeois commercial newspapers and political party newspapers that did not participate in the resistance were published as usual. 165438+1October 9, Lenin signed the decree of the Soviet government on banning hostile newspapers, which pointed out: "the provisional revolutionary Committee had to take a series of measures against various counter-revolutionary newspapers." The decree also promised: "Once the new order is consolidated, all administrative measures that are not conducive to newspapers and periodicals will be abolished; According to the most extensive and progressive regulations in this regard, the press will enjoy full freedom within the scope of being responsible for the law. " The decree announced three situations of closing newspapers and periodicals (all political acts to safeguard political power), and stated that a newspaper organization can be closed temporarily or permanently only according to the decision of the people's Committee. The decree finally announced: "This decree is temporary and will be cancelled by a special decree after public life returns to normal." [33] In this document, Lenin's thoughts on the legalization of newspaper management under socialist conditions are reflected.
At the same time, Lenin basically turned his proletarian freedom of the press into reality. In the month of victory (165438+ 10), the People's Committee promulgated the Notice on the State Monopoly of Advertising, and after making necessary compensation to the original advertising operators (especially the investment of small operators and stock holders), all advertising enterprises were nationalized, and advertisements could only be published by the government and Soviet publications. As Lenin said earlier on September 28th, the main purpose of this measure is to cut off the financial resources of large reactionary newspapers. For small commercial newspapers, it mainly depends on circulation, and there are few advertisements. Lenin explained this decree: "It means that the proletariat, which is striving for state power, may take a gradual approach to the transition to a new social and economic relationship-not to abolish private newspapers and periodicals, but to make them obey the leadership of the state to some extent and bring them into the track of state capitalism. The law stipulates that the state monopolizes the advertising business, which is to imagine that private newspapers are the norm. " [34]
However, the Decree of the Soviet Government on the Prohibition of Hostile Newspapers, though moderate, caused serious differences within the Soviet regime. 165438+ 10 17, at the meeting of the all-Russian central executive Committee, members of the left-wing social revolutionary party and some Bolshevik members opposed this decree. Finally, the meeting passed the Resolution on Publishing by 34 votes to 24 votes, the draft of which was written by Lenin himself. Lenin repeated his thoughts on proletarian press freedom in concise language, which he proved on September 28th:
"The workers' and peasants' governments believe that freedom of the press is to liberate newspapers and periodicals from the oppression of capital, turn paper mills and printing houses into the property of the state, and let every citizen group with a certain number (such as 65438+100000) enjoy equal rights to use a considerable amount of paper and a considerable amount of printing labor." [35]
The resolution also decided to set up a committee to investigate the relationship between newspapers and capital, and to receive private printing houses and stock paper, which were owned by the Soviet Union. "According to the realistic ideological influence of political parties and groups, that is, according to the proportion of their supporters, technical printing means were used." [36] This means that Lenin's idea of freedom of the press according to the influence of Soviet political parties has become law.
However, this resolution and the decree of the Soviet government 1654381October 9 on the prohibition of hostile newspapers and periodicals triggered the members of the Executive Committee of the left-wing social revolutionary Party Central Committee (* * 29 people, And nearly 20 people may attend the meeting in June 1 17) and some members of the Bolshevik Central Executive Committee (*). The former stated that "the resolution adopted by the Central Executive Committee by a majority vote in the newspaper is a clear and violent manifestation of the political terrorism system and the fire of civil war" and they resigned because they "refused to undertake this harmful terrorism system". The latter expressed disagreement with "maintaining a pure Bolshevik government by means of political terror" and resigned because he was "not responsible for this policy". [37] This initial disagreement shows that in view of Russia's long-term autocratic rule, political parties lack the tradition of political cooperation under democratic conditions, and they are always threatened by separatism. It is not easy for all socialist political parties to be in power in Russia and enjoy freedom of the press.
In any case, the publishing policy of Soviet Russia led by Lenin was not to close all bourgeois newspapers and non-Bolshevik newspapers as soon as the revolution was won, but to basically nationalize the reactionary big-capital newspapers and their printing houses on the eve of the revolution, with the state monopolizing the right to distribute advertisements and distributing printing houses and newspapers in proportion to the support rate of socialist parties. Until September 19 18, there were at least 226 bourgeois commercial newspapers and 235 newspapers of non-Bolshevik political parties (social revolutionary party, Menshevik, anarchist, labor party, etc.). ) legally issued in Russia.
With the armed intervention of imperialism and the rebellion of the White Guards at home, Soviet Russia fell into crisis. At this time, the Social Revolutionary Party, unwilling to govern jointly with the Bolsheviks, tried to provoke Germany's attack on Russia and killed the German ambassador to Russia. Menshevik colluded with the rebellious White Guards; The Russian bourgeoisie refused to accept peaceful transformation, and most bourgeois newspapers stood on the opposite side of the new regime at the moment of class decisive battle. In this way, the two political parties in power jointly with the Bolsheviks became illegal political parties, and their newspapers and periodicals lost their legitimacy; The boycott of bourgeois newspapers and periodicals makes it impossible to use and transform bourgeois newspapers and periodicals peacefully. Only in this case, by the end of 19 18, most bourgeois newspapers and non-Bolshevik newspapers had stopped publishing. These newspapers and periodicals did not stop publishing immediately according to an order, but each had its own reasons to stop publishing, one after another. Some newspapers and periodicals were given the opportunity to correct their mistakes when they stopped publishing, but they remained hostile after the resumption of publication and finally stopped publishing. For example, the right-wing Social Revolutionary Party 19 18 was expelled from the Soviet Union in June. When they gave up their attempt to engage in armed struggle with the Soviet Union in February 19 19, the Central Executive Committee cancelled the original expulsion decision, allowed their representatives to participate in Soviet activities, and suggested that the judicial organs release the detained right-wing members of the Social Revolutionary Party.
Another example is the seizure of Menshevik's Forever Forward, which seemed more cautious at that time. The newspaper 19 19 was suspended for publishing an editorial "Stop the Civil War" in February. The decision of the Central Executive Committee pointed out: "The All-Russian Central Executive Committee allows practical criticism of all aspects of the work of the Soviet regime and considers it beneficial." However, just as the Red Army suppressed the White Guards rebellion, publishing such an article is tantamount to supporting the White Guards. The wording of the decision of the Central Executive Committee to suspend the publication of the newspaper is: "Until Mensheviks prove with their own actions that they are determined to make a clean break with Colta and resolutely defend and support the Soviet regime". The decision also pointed out that banning the publication of the newspaper was a temporary measure before Menshevik changed his attitude towards the anti-Soviet government. [38]
The focus of Lenin's thought on freedom of the press after the October Revolution: safeguarding people's actual freedom.
Freedom of the press in the bourgeois sense was announced after the February Revolution. The difference between the October Revolution and the February Revolution in the freedom of the press is that the officially announced freedom of the press has been transformed into the actual freedom of all citizens. After the February Revolution declared freedom of the press, newspapers, printing houses and paper were mostly controlled by big capital, so in essence, not all citizens can enjoy freedom of the press. Lenin's view of freedom of the press in September 19 17 mainly exposed the injustice of this freedom and discussed how to make all citizens enjoy freedom of the press. The measure he proposed is to deprive big capital of the ownership of press and publication. As soon as the October Revolution was won, Lenin put his thoughts into practice. When this ownership was basically transferred to the Soviet Union by legal means, the focus of his discussion in this respect became how to transform the freedom declared in form into actual freedom. Lenin emphasized in the draft party program:
"The difference between bourgeois democracy and parliamentary system and Soviet Union or proletarian democracy is that the former focuses on proclaiming all kinds of freedoms and rights in a grandiose manner, but in fact it does not allow most residents, namely workers and peasants, to fully enjoy these freedoms and rights. On the contrary, proletarian or Soviet democracy does not pay attention to declaring the rights and freedoms of all people. Instead, it focuses on ensuring that the working people oppressed and exploited by capital can effectively participate in state management, and effectively use the best meeting places, the best printing houses and the largest paper storage (storage) to educate those who are ignorant by capitalism. " [39]
1918 the national constitution adopted by the fifth congress of the Soviet union in July 2008 also embodies Lenin's thoughts in his later period. The relevant provisions (article 14) stipulate that in order to "guarantee the actual freedom of workers to express their opinions" and not make "publications depend on capital", all material and technical means should be provided for the working class and poor peasants to publish and distribute newspapers, pamphlets, books and all other publications, and these publications should be distributed freely throughout the country. [40]
19 19 The party program adopted by the Eighth National Congress of Russia (Bolshevik) fully expounded Lenin's thoughts when drafting the party program, and wrote in the party program:
"In the form of bourgeois democracy, political rights and freedoms such as assembly, association and publication are extended to all citizens, but in fact, administrative practice, mainly the economic subordination of workers, always prevents workers from enjoying even a little rights and freedoms under bourgeois democracy. On the contrary, proletarian democracy first does not formally declare rights and freedoms, but actually gives these rights and freedoms to residents of all classes oppressed by capitalism, that is, proletarians and peasants. To this end, the Soviet government will confiscate bourgeois buildings, printing houses and stored paper and hand it over to workers and organizations. " [4 1]
Lenin's thought of "practical freedom" often appears in his exposition. For example, at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in March, he said 19 18: "Turn the focus from form to concrete articles. If it was particularly important to protect the right of assembly in the past, our view on the right of assembly now is that no one can obstruct the assembly now, and the Soviet regime only needs to provide the assembly hall. For the bourgeoisie, it is important to declare general lofty principles. They said,' All citizens have the right to assemble, but they can only assemble in the open air, and we don't provide venues'. We say' less empty talk, more practical work'. We must seize the palace ... we don't talk about the right of assembly. " [42]
Lenin tried his best to safeguard the working people's right to obtain their own publications. Even the newspapers in factories, passenger trains and rural reading rooms must reach several copies. He made an investigation on the situation that there are a large number of newspapers in the party and government organs but the grassroots people can't see them, and pointed out: "There are surprisingly few newspapers for posting, that is, newspapers for the broadest masses. The number of newspapers supplied to "various organs" in the capital and so on-which are likely to be stolen and bureaucratized by "Soviet bureaucrats" (military and non-military)-is staggering. " Capitalism cannot be abolished at once. There is a resurgence among Soviet bureaucrats, that is, Soviet bureaucrats who steal newspapers under various excuses. ..... We should persistently "crack down" on bureaucrats, prevent them from devouring newspapers and books, and reduce the share of bureaucrats ... We can and should always reduce this number. If not, it will be done in party member, but it will be done verbally in party member. " [43]。 On such a specific issue, Lenin's view is still to turn what he said verbally into what he did.
Judging from the above quotation, Lenin put proletarian freedom on the opposite side of bourgeois freedom and advocated changing formal freedom into substantive freedom. Of course, the premise is not to deny bourgeois freedoms per se, but to ensure the recognition of these freedoms.
From another point of view, Lenin was obviously discussing the issue with the principle of "people's sovereignty". He tried to solve the bureaucratic problems that the bourgeois regime could not solve, and made the trustee (the specific master of power) be supervised through various freedom rights obtained by the people. For example, when talking about the democratic principles of the Soviet Union, he wrote: "That is to say, every mass representative and every citizen should be provided with such conditions so that they can participate in the discussion of state laws and participate in elections.