Bourgeois Workers Party

[Zanthorus]

I've sometimes heard it said that Lenin described the Labour Party as a "bourgeois workers party", but searching for that term in the Lenin internet archive comes up with nothing. Where exactly did he say this or is this some kind of popular myth? My main reason for wanting to know where the quote is is I don't quite understand how you can have a "bourgeois workers party". It seems pretty contradictory.

[Q]

This reminded me of this article (http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/779/labourparty.php) (this article is worth reading anyway):


The modern left use of the expression ‘bourgeois workers’ party’ probably originates with Lenin’s ‘Imperialism and the split in socialism’ (December 1917), where the form of words used is “bourgeois labour party”.

Which you can find here (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/oct/x01.htm).

And yes, it is a contradiction, but Mike explores in a second article (http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/780/making.php) why these contradictions exist.