ABSTRACT
Lenin saw the Workers' Opposition as the most difficult problem for the Party. It was in fact reopening the syndicalist debate of 1917. On December 30, the day Lenin blasted Trotsky and officially opened the trade union debate at the Eighth Congress of Soviets, Shlyapnikov presented thesis entitled "The Tasks of the Trade Unions." Lenin had to contend with a group that was gathering mass support and advocating worker control of the economy as well as democracy within the Party, if not the very principles of the November Revolution. To digress briefly, it is of interest to consider the composition of the Workers' Opposition. Its leadership was notable for its lack of top-echelon political figures. The Workers' Opposition was represented by 45 to 50 delegates, a mere handful. The Tenth Congress marks the great divide in the history of the Russian Communist Party. It is from this point on that the dictatorship within the Party was fully and firmly established.
