from the ,google ,print project47 ,,workers ,,party ,,library1 ,vol4 ,i ,,dictatorship vs4 ,,democracy 7,,terrorism ,,and ,,communism7 ,a ,reply to ,karl ,kautsky by ,,leon ,,trotsky ,with a ,preface by ,h4 ,n4 ,,brailsford and ,foreword by ,max ,bedact ,illustration3 ,,workers ,,party ,,of ,,america4 ,,workers ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,unite4 ,published #aibb by ,,workers ,,party ,,of ,,america #gii ,broadway1 ,room #dje ,new ,york ,city ,,contents ,,foreword ,v ,,preface ,,xi ,,introduction #e ,,the ,,balance ,,of ,,power #ab ,,the ,,dictatorship ,,of ,,the ,,proletariat #bj ,,democracy #bh ,,terrorism #dh ,,the ,,paris ,,commune ,,and ,,soviet ,,russia #fi ,,marx ,,and 444 ,,kautsky #ia ,,the ,,working ,,class ,,and ,,its ,,soviet ,,policy #ih ,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,organization ,,of ,,labor #abh ,,karl ,,kautsky1 ,,his ,,school ,,and ,,his ,,book #agg ,,in ,,place ,,of ,,an ,,epilogue #ahh ,foreword ,by ,,max ,,bedact ,in a land where democracy is so deeply entrenched as in our ,united ,states of ,america it may seem futile to try to make friends for a dictatorship1 by a close comparison of the principles of the two--,dictatorship versus ,democracy4 ,but then1 confiding in the inviting gesture of the ,goddess of ,liberty many of our friends and fellow citizens have tested that sacred principle of democracy1 freedom of speech1 a little too freely--and landed in the penitentiary for it4 ,others again1 relying on the not less sacred principle of democracy1 freedom of assembly1 have come in unpleasant contact with a substantial stick of hardwood1 wielded by an unwieldily guardian of the law1 and awoke from the immediate effects of this collision in some jail4 ,again others1 leaning a little too heavily against the democratic principle of freedom of press broke down that pasteboard pillar of democracy1 and incidentally into prison4 ,looking at this side of the bright shining medal of our beloved democracy it seems that there is not the slightest bit of difference between the democracy of capitalist ,america and the dictatorship of ,soviet ,russia4 ,but there is a great difference4 ,the dictatorship in ,russia is bold and upright class rule1 which has as its ultimate object the abolition of all class rule and all dictatorships4 ,our democracy1 on the other hand1 is a ,pecksniffian ,dictatorship1 is hypocrisy incarnate1 promising all liberty in phrases1 but in reality even penalizing free thinking1 consistently working only for one object3 to perpetuate the rule of the capitalist class1 the capitalist dictatorship4 ,dictatorship versus ,democracy is1 therefore1 enough of an open question even in our own country to deserve some consideration4 ,to give food for thought on this subject is the object of the publication of ,trotsky's book4 ,this book is an answer to a book by ,karl ,kautsky1 ,terrorism and ,communism4 ,it is polemical in character4 ,polemical writings are1 as a rule1 only thoroughly understood if one reads both sides of the question4 ,but even if we could not take for granted that the proletarian reader is fully familiar with the question at issue we could not conscientiously advise a worker to get ,kautsky's book4 ,it is really asking our readers to undertake the superhuman task of reading a book which in the guise of a scientific treatise is foully hitting him below the belt1 and then expect him to pay two dollars for it in the bargain4 ,anyhow1 to read ,kautsky's book is an ordeal for any revolutionist4 ,kautsky1 in his book1 tries to prove that the humanitarian instincts of the masses must defeat any attempt to overpower and suppress the bourgeoisie by terrorist means4 ,but to read his book must kill in the proletarian reader the last remnants of those instincts on which ,kautsky's hope for the safety of the bourgeoisie is based4 ,there would even not be enough of those instincts left to save ,kautsky from the utter contempt of the proletarian masses1 a fate he so richly deserves4 ,mr4 ,kautsky was once the foremost exponent of ,marxism4 ,many of those fighting to-day in the front ranks of the proletarian army revered ,kautsky as their teacher4 ,but even in his most glorious days as a ,marxist his was the musty pedantry of the ,german professor1 which was hardly ever penetrated by a live spark of revolutionary spirit4 ,still1 the ,russian revolution of #aije found a friend in him4 ,that revolution did not commit the unpardonable sin of being successful4 ,but when the tornado of the first victorious proletarian revolution swept over ,russia and destroyed in its fury some of the tormentors and exploiters of the working class--then ,kautsky's humanitarianism killed the last remnant of revolutionary spirit and instinct in him and left only a pitiful wreck of an apologist for capitalism1 that was once ,kautsky1 the ,marxist4 ,july1 #aiad4 ,the echoes of the shots fired in ,sarajewo threaten to set the world in flames4 ,will it come1 the seeming inevitable8 ,no6--,a thousand times no6 ,had not the forces of a future order1 had not the ,international of ,labor--the ,second ,international--solemnly declared in #aijg in ,stuttgart1 in #aiaa in ,copenhagen and in #aiab in ,basel3 ,we will fight war by all means at our disposal4 ,let the exploiters start a war4 ,it will begin as a war of capitalist governments against each other2 it will end--it must end--as a war of the working class of the world against world capitalism2 it must end in the proletarian revolution4 ,we1 the socialists of the world1 comrades from ,england and ,russia1 from ,america and ,germany1 from ,france and ,austria2 we comrades from all over the world1 had solemnly promised ourselves3 ,war against war6 ,we had promised ourselves and our cause to answer the call of capitalism for a world war with a call on the proletariat for a world revolution4 ,days passed4 ,july disappeared in the ocean of time4 ,the first days of ,august brought the booming of the cannon to our ears1 messengers of the grim reality of war4 ,and then the news of the collapse of the ,second ,international2 reports of betrayal by the socialists2 betrayal in ,london and ,vienna2 betrayal in ,berlin and ,brussels2 betrayal in ,paris2 betrayal everywhere4 ,what would ,kautsky say to this rank betrayal1 ,kautsky1 the foremost disciple of ,marx1 ,kautsky1 the foremost theoretician of the ,second ,international8 ,will he at least speak up8 ,he did not speak up4 ,commenting on the betrayal he wrote in ,die ,neue ,zeit3 ,die ,kritik der ,waffen hat eingesetzt2 jetzt hat die ,waffe der ,kritik zu schweigen4#a ,with this one sentence ,kautsky replaced ,marxism as the basis of his science with rank and undisguised hypocrisy4 ,from then on although trying to retain the toga of a ,marxist scholar on his shoulders1 with thousands of if's and when's and but's he became the apologist for the betrayal of the ,german ,social-,democracy1 and the betrayal of the ,second ,international4 #a ,the arbitrament of arms is on2 now the weapon of criticism must rest4 ,it is true that his if's and when's and but's did not satisfy the ,executive ,committee of the ,social-,democratic ,party4 ,they hoped for a victory of the imperial army and wanted to secure a full and unmitigated share of the glory of ,his ,majesty's victory4 ,that is why they did not appreciate ,kautsky's excellent service4 ,so they helped the renegade to a cheap martyrdom by removing him from the editorship of ,die ,neue ,zeit4 ,after #aiah it may have dawned upon ,scheidemann and ,ebert how much better ,kautsky served the capitalist cause by couching his betrayal in words that did not lose him outright all the confidence of the proletariat4 ,and ,kautsky himself is now exhausting every effort to prove to ,noske and ,scheidemann how cruelly he was mistreated and how well he deserves to be taken back to their bosom4 ,kautsky's book ,terrorism and ,communism is dictated by hatred of the ,russian revolution4 ,it is influenced by fear of a like revolution in ,germany4 ,it is written with tears for the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie and its pseudo-socialist henchmen who have been sacrificed on the altar of revolution by the proletarian dictatorship in ,russia4 ,kautsky prefers to sacrifice the revolution and the revolutionists on the altar of humanitarianism4 ,the author of ,ethics and the ,materialist ,conception of ,history knows--must know--that humanitarianism under capitalism is capitalist humanitarianism4 ,this humanitarianism mints gold out of the bones1 the blood1 the health and the suffering of the whole working class while it sheds tears about an individual case of cruelty to one human being4 ,this humanitarianism punishes murder with death and beats to death the pacifist who protests against war as an act of mass murder4 ,under the cloak of humanitarian instincts ,kautsky only hides the enemy of the proletarian revolution4 ,the question at issue is not terrorism4 ,it is the dictatorship2 it is revolution itself4 ,if the ,russian proletariat was justified in taking over power it was in duty bound to use all means necessary to keep it4 ,if it is a crime for them to use terrorist means then it was a crime to take a power which they could maintain only by terrorist means4 ,and that is really ,kautsky's point4 ,the crime of the ,bolsheviki is that they took power4 ,if ,kautsky were a mere sentimentalist and yet a revolutionist he could shed tears over the unwillingness of the bourgeoisie to give up power without a struggle4 ,but not being a revolutionist he condemns the proletariat for having taken and maintained power by the only means possible1 by force4 ,kautsky would much prefer to shed crocodile tears over tens of thousands of proletarian revolutionists slaughtered by a successful counter-revolution4 ,he scorns the ,russian ,communists because they robbed him of the opportunity to parade his petit bourgeois and consequently pro-capitalist humanitarian sentiments in a pro-revolutionary cloak4 ,but he must parade them at any cost4 ,so he parades them without disguise as a mourner for the suppressed bourgeoisie in ,russia4 ,trotsky's answer to ,kautsky is not only one side of a controversy4 ,it is one of the literary fruits of the revolution itself4 ,it breathes the breath of revolution4 ,it conquers the gray scholastic theory of the renegade with the irresistible weapon of the revolutionary experience of the ,russian proletariat4 ,it refuses to shed tears over the victims of ,gallifet and shows what alone saved the ,russian revolution from the ,russian ,gallifets1 the ,kolchaks1 ,wrangels1 etc4 ,trotsky's book is not only an answer to ,karl ,kautsky2 it is an answer to the thousands of ,kautskys in the socialist movement the world over who want the proletariat to drown the memory of seas of proletarian blood shed by their treachery in an ocean of tears shed for the suppressed bourgeoisie of ,russia4 ,trotsky's book is one of the most effective weapons in the literary arsenal of the revolutionary proletariat in its fight against the social traitors for leadership of the proletarian masses4 ,,preface ,by ,h4 ,n4 ,,brailsford ,it has been said of the ,bolsheviks that they are more interesting than ,bolshevism4 ,to those who hold to the economic interpretation of history that may seem a heresy4 ,none the less1 ,i believe that the personality not merely of the leaders but also of their party goes far to explain the making and survival of the ,russian ,revolution4 ,to us in the ,west they seem a wholly foreign type4 ,with ,socialist leaders and organizations we and our fathers have been familiar for three-quarters of a century4 ,there has been no lack of talent and even of genius among them4 ,the movement has produced its great theorist in ,marx1 its orator in ,jaures1 its powerful tacticians like ,bebel1 and it has influenced literature in ,morris1 ,anatole ,france and ,shaw4 ,it bred1 however1 no considerable man of action1 and it was left for the ,russians to do what generations of ,western ,socialists had spent their lives in discussing4 ,there was in this ,russian achievement an almost barbaric simplicity and directness4 ,here were man who really believed the formulae of our theorists and the resolutions of our ,congresses4 ,what had become for us a sterilized and almost respectable orthodoxy rang to their ears as a trumpet call to action4 ,the older generation has found it difficult to pardon their sincerity4 ,the rest of us want to understand the miracle4 ,the real audacity of the ,bolsheviks lay in this1 that they made a proletarian revolution precisely in that country which1 of all portions of the civilized world1 seemed the least prepared for it by its economic development4 ,for an agrarian revolt1 for the subdivision of the soil1 even for the overthrow of the old governing class1 ,russia was certainly ready4 ,but any spontaneous revolution1 with its foundations laid in the masses of the peasantry1 would have been individualistic and not communistic4 ,the daring of the ,bolsheviks lay in their belief that the minute minority of the urban working class could1 by its concentration1 its greater intelligence and its relative capacity for organization1 dominate the inert peasant mass1 and give to their outbreak of land-hunger the character and form of a constructive proletarian revolution4 ,the bitter struggle among ,russian parties which lasted from ,march1 #aiag1 down to the defeat of ,wrangel in ,november1 #aibj1 was really an internecine competition among them for the leadership of the peasants4 ,which of these several groups could enlist their confidence1 to the extent of inducing them not merely to fight1 but to accept the discipline1 military and civilian1 necessary for victory8 ,at the start the ,bolsheviks had everything against them4 ,they are nearly all townsmen4 ,they talked in terms of a foreign and very ,german doctrine4 ,few of them1 save ,lenin1 grasped the problems of rural life at all4 ,the landed class should at least have known the peasant better4 ,their chief rivals were the ,social ,revolutionaries1 a party which from its first beginnings had made a cult of the ,russian peasant1 studied him1 idealized him and courted him1 which even seemed in #aiag to have won him4 ,many circumstances explain the success of the ,bolsheviks1 who proved once again in history the capacity of the town1 even when its population is relatively minute1 for swift and concentrated action4 ,they also had the luck to deal with opponents who committed the supreme mistake of invoking foreign aid4 ,but none of these advantages would have availed without an immense superiority of character4 ,the ,slav temperament1 dreamy1 emotional1 undisciplined1 showed itself at its worst in the incorrigible self-indulgence of the more aristocratic ,whites1 while the intellectuals of the moderate ,socialist and ,liberal groups have been ruined for action by their exclusively literary and aesthetic education4 ,the ,bolsheviks may be a less cultivated group1 but1 in their underground life of conspiracy1 they had learned sobriety1 discipline1 obedience1 and mutual confidence4 ,their rigid dogmatic ,marxist faith gives to them the power of action which belongs only to those who believe without criticism or question4 ,their ability to lead depends much less than most ,englishmen suppose1 on their ruthlessness and their readiness to practise the arts of intimidation and suppression4 ,their chief asset is their self-confidence4 ,in every emergency they are always sure that they have the only workable plan4 ,they stand before the rest of ,russia as one man4 ,they never doubt or despair1 and even when they compromise1 they do it with an air of truculence4 ,their survival amid invasion1 famine1 blockade1 and economic collapse has been from first to last a triumph of the unflinching will and the fanatical faith4 ,they have spurred a lazy and demoralized people to notable feats of arms and to still more astonishing feats of endurance4 ,to hypnotize a nation in this fashion is1 perhaps1 the most remarkable feat of the human will in modern times4 ,this book is1 so far1 by far the most typical expression of the ,bolshevik temperament which the revolution has produced4 ,characteristically it is a polemic1 and not a constructive essay4 ,its self-confidence1 its dash1 even its insolence1 are a true expression of the movement4 ,its author bears a world-famous name4 ,everyone can visualize the powerful head1 the singularly handsome features1 the athletic figure of the man4 ,he makes in private talk an impression of decision and definiteness4 ,he is not rapid or expansive in speech1 for everything that he says is calculated and clear cut4 ,one has the sense that one is in the presence of abounding yet disciplined vitality4 ,the background is an office which by its military order and punctuality rebukes the habitual slovenliness of ,russia4 ,on the platform his manner was much quieter than ,i expected4 ,he spoke rather slowly1 in a pleasant tenor voice1 walking to and fro across the stage and choosing his words1 obviously anxious to express his thoughts forcibly but also exactly4 ,a flash of wit and a striking phrase came frequently1 but the manner was emphatically not that of a demagogue4 ,the man1 indeed1 is a natural aristocrat1 and his tendency1 which ,lenin1 the aristocrat by birth1 corrects1 is towards military discipline and authoritative regimentation4 ,there is nothing surprising to-day in the note of authority which one hears in ,trotsky's voice and detects in his writing1 for he is the chief of a considerable army1 which owes everything to his talent for organization4 ,it was at ,brest-,litovsk that he displayed the audacity which is genius4 ,up to that moment there was little in his career to distinguish him from his comrades of the revolutionary under-world--a university course cut short by prison1 an apprenticeship to agitation in ,russia1 some years of exile spent in ,vienna1 ,paris1 and ,new ,york1 the distinction which he shares with ,tchitcherin of sitting in a ,british prison1 a ready wit1 a gift of trenchant speech1 but as yet neither the solid achievement nor the legend which gives confidence4 ,yet this obscure agitator1 handicapped in such a task by his ,jewish birth1 faced the diplomatist and soldiers of the ,central ,empires1 flushed as they were with victory and the insolence of their kind1 forced them into public debate1 staggered them by talking of first principles as though the defeat and impotence of ,russia counted for nothing1 and actually used the negotiations to shout across their heads his summons to their own subjects to revolt4 ,he showed in this astonishing performance the grace and audacity of a matador4 ,this unique bit of drama revealed the persistent belief of the ,bolsheviks in the power of the defiant challenge1 the magnetic effect of sheer will4 ,since this episode his services to the revolution have been more solid but not less brilliant4 ,he had no military knowledge or experience1 yet he took in hand the almost desperate task of creating an army4 ,he has often been compared to ,carnot4 ,but1 save that both had lost officers1 there was little in common between the ,french and the ,russian armies in the early stages of the two revolutions4 ,the ,french army had not been demoralized by defeat1 or wearied by long inaction1 or sapped by destructive propaganda4 ,trotsky had to create his ,red ,army from the foundations4 ,he imposed firm discipline1 and yet contrived to preserve the elan of the revolutionary spirit4 ,hampered by the inconceivable difficulties that arose from ruined railways and decayed industries1 he none the less contrived to make a military machine which overthrew the armies of ,kolchak1 ,denikin and ,wrangel1 with the flower of the old professional officers at their head4 ,as a feat of organization under inordinate difficulties1 his work ranks as the most remarkable performance of the revolution4 ,it is not the business of a preface to anticipate the argument of a book1 still less to obtrude personal opinions4 ,kautsky's labored essay1 to which this book is the brilliant reply1 has been translated into ,english1 and is widely known4 ,the case against the possibility of political democracy in a capitalist society could hardly be better put than in these pages1 and the polemic against purely evolutionary methods is formidable4 ,the ,english reader of to-day is aware1 however1 that the ,russian revolution has not stood still since ,trotsky wrote4 ,we have to realize that1 even in the view of the ,bolsheviks themselves1 the evolution towards ,communism is in ,russia only in its early stages4 ,the recent compromises imply1 at the best1 a very long period of transition1 through controlled capitalist production1 to ,socialism4 ,experience has proved that catastrophic revolution and the seizure of political power do not in themselves avail to make a ,socialist society4 ,the economic development in that direction has actually been retarded1 and ,russia1 under the stress of civil war1 has retrograded into a primitive village system of production and exchange4 ,to every reader's mind the question will be present whether the peculiar temperament of the ,bolsheviks has led them to over-estimate the importance of political power1 to underestimate the inert resistance of the majority1 and to risk too much for the illusion of dictating4 ,to that question history has not yet given the decisive answer4 ,the daemonic will that made the revolution and defended it by achieving the impossible1 may yet vindicate itself against the dull trend of impersonal forces4 ,dictatorship vs4 ,democracy ,introduction ,the origin of this book was the learned brochure by ,kautsky with the same name4 ,my work was begun at the most intense period of the struggle with ,denikin and ,yudenich1 and more than once was interrupted by events at the front4 ,in the most difficult days1 when the first chapters were being written1 all the attention of ,soviet ,russia was concentrated on purely military problems4 ,we were obliged to defend first of all the very possibility of ,socialist economic reconstruction4 ,we could busy ourselves little with industry1 further than was necessary to maintain the front4 ,we were obliged to expose ,kautsky's economic slanders mainly by analogy with his political slanders4 ,the monstrous assertions of ,kautsky--to the effect that the ,russian workers were incapable of labor discipline and economic self-control--could1 at the beginning of this work1 nearly a year ago1 be combatted chiefly by pointing to the high state of discipline and heroism in battle of the ,russian workers at the front created by the civil war4 ,that experience was more than enough to explode these bourgeois slanders4 ,but now a few months have gone by1 and we can turn to facts and conclusions drawn directly from the economic life of ,soviet ,russia4 ,as soon as the military pressure relaxed after the defeat of ,kolchak and ,yudenich and the infliction of decisive blows on ,denikin1 after the conclusion of peace with ,esthonia and the beginning of negotiations with ,lithuania and ,poland1 the whole country turned its mind to things economic4 ,and this one fact1 of a swift and concentrated transference of attention and energy from one set of problems to another--very different1 but requiring not less sacrifice--is incontrovertible evidence of the mighty vigor of the ,soviet order4 ,in spite of political tortures1 physical sufferings and horrors1 the laboring masses are infinitely distant from political decomposition1 from moral collapse1 or from apathy4 ,thanks to a regime which1 though it has inflicted great hardships upon them1 has given their life a purpose and a high goal1 they preserve an extraordinary moral stubbornness and ability unexampled in history1 and concentrate their attention and will on collective problems4 ,to-day1 in all branches of industry1 there is going on an energetic struggle for the establishment of strict labor discipline1 and for the increase of the productivity of labor4 ,the party organizations1 the trade unions1 the factory and workshop administrative committees1 rival one another in this respect1 with the undivided support of the public opinion of the working class as a whole4 ,factory after factory willingly1 by resolution at its general meeting1 increases its working day4 ,petrograd and ,moscow set the example1 and the provinces emulate ,petrograd4 ,communist ,saturdays and ,sundays--that is to say1 voluntary and unpaid work in hours appointed for rest--spread ever wider and wider1 drawing into their reach many1 many hundreds of thousands of working men and women4 ,the industry and productivity of labor at the ,communist ,saturdays and ,sundays1 according to the report of experts and the evidence of figures1 is of a remarkably high standard4 ,voluntary mobilizations for labor problems in the party and in the ,young ,communist ,league are carried out with just as much enthusiasm as hitherto for military tasks4 ,voluntarism supplements and gives life to universal labor service4 ,the ,committees for universal labor service recently set up have spread all over the country4 ,the attraction of the population to work on a mass scale 7clearing snow from the roads1 repairing railway lines1 cutting timber1 chopping and bringing up of wood to the towns1 the simplest building operations1 the cutting of slate and of peat7 become more and more widespread and organized every day4 ,the ever-increasing employment of military formations on the labor front would be quite impossible in the absence of elevated enthusiasm for labor4 ,true1 we live in the midst of a very difficult period of economic depression--exhausted1 poverty-stricken1 and hungry4 ,but this is no argument against the ,soviet regime4 ,all periods of transition have been characterized by just such tragic features4 ,every class society 7serf1 feudal1 capitalist71 having exhausted its vitality1 does not simply leave the arena1 but is violently swept off by an intense struggle1 which immediately brings to its participants even greater privations and sufferings than those against which they rose4 ,the transition from feudal economy to bourgeois society--a step of gigantic importance from the point of view of progress--gave us a terrifying list of martyrs4 ,however the masses of serfs suffered under feudalism1 however difficult it has been1 and is1 for the proletariat to live under capitalism1 never have the sufferings of the workers reached such a pitch as at the epochs when the old feudal order was being violently shattered1 and was yielding place to the new4 ,the ,french ,revolution of the eighteenth century1 which attained its titanic dimensions under the pressure of the masses exhausted with suffering1 itself deepened and rendered more acute their misfortunes for a prolonged period and to an extraordinary extent4 ,can it be otherwise8 ,palace revolutions1 which end merely by personal reshufflings at the top1 can take place in a short space of time1 having practically no effect on the economic life of the country4 ,quite another matter are revolutions which drag into their whirlpool millions of workers4 ,whatever be the form of society1 it rests on the foundation of labor4 ,dragging the mass of the people away from labor1 drawing them for a prolonged period into the struggle1 thereby destroying their connection with production1 the revolution in all these ways strikes deadly blows at economic life1 and inevitably lowers the standard which it found at its birth4 ,the more perfect the revolution1 the greater are the masses it draws in2 and the longer it is prolonged1 the greater is the destruction it achieves in the apparatus of production1 and the more terrible inroads does it make upon public resources4 ,from this there follows merely the conclusion which did not require proof--that a civil war is harmful to economic life4 ,but to lay this at the door of the ,soviet economic system is like accusing a new-born human being of the birth-pangs of the mother who brought him into the world4 ,the problem is to make a civil war a short one2 and this is attained only by resoluteness in action4 ,but it is just against revolutionary resoluteness that ,kautsky's whole book is directed4 99 99 99 99 99 ,since the time that the book under examination appeared1 not only in ,russia1 but throughout the world--and first of all in ,europe--the greatest events have taken place1 or processes of great importance have developed1 undermining the last buttresses of ,kautskianism4 ,in ,germany1 the civil war has been adopting an ever fiercer character4 ,the external strength in organization of the old party and trade union democracy of the working class has not only not created conditions for a more peaceful and humane transition to ,socialism--as follows from the present theory of ,kautsky--but1 on the contrary1 has served as one of the principal reasons for the long-drawn-out character of the struggle1 and its constantly growing ferocity4 ,the more ,german ,social-,democracy became a conservative1 retarding force1 the more energy1 lives1 and blood have had to be spent by the ,german proletariat1 devoted to it1 in a series of systematic attacks on the foundation of bourgeois society1 in order1 in the process of the struggle itself1 to create an actually revolutionary organization1 capable of guiding the proletariat to final victory4 ,the conspiracy of the ,german generals1 their fleeting seizure of power1 and the bloody events which followed1 have again shown what a worthless and wretched masquerade is so-called democracy1 during the collapse of imperialism and a civil war4 ,this democracy that has outlived itself has not decided one question1 has not reconciled one contradiction1 has not healed one wound1 has not warded off risings either of the ,right or of the ,left2 it is helpless1 worthless1 fraudulent1 and serves only to confuse the backward sections of the people1 especially the lower middle-classes4 ,the hope expressed by ,kautsky1 in the conclusion of his book1 that the ,western countries1 the old democracies of ,france and ,england--crowned as they are with victory--will afford us a picture of a healthy1 normal1 peaceful1 truly ,kautskian development of ,socialism1 is one of the most puerile illusions possible4 ,the so-called ,republican democracy of victorious ,france1 at the present moment1 is nothing but the most reactionary1 grasping government that has ever existed in the world4 ,its internal policy is built upon fear1 greed1 and violence1 in just as great a measure as its external policy4 ,on the other hand1 the ,french proletariat1 misled more than any other class has ever been misled1 is more and more entering on the path of direct action4 ,the repressions which the government of the ,republic has hurled upon the ,general ,confederation of ,labor show that even syndicalist ,kautskianism--i4e41 hypocritical compromise--has no legal place within the framework of bourgeois democracy4 ,the revolutionizing of the masses1 the growing ferocity of the propertied classes1 and the disintegration of intermediate groups--three parallel processes which determine the character and herald the coming of a cruel civil war--have been going on before our eyes in full blast during the last few months in ,france4 ,in ,great ,britain1 events1 different in form1 are moving along the self-same fundamental road4 ,in that country1 the ruling class of which is oppressing and plundering the whole world more than ever before1 the formulae of democracy have lost their meaning even as weapons of parliamentary swindling4 ,the specialist best qualified in this sphere1 ,lloyd ,george1 appeals now not to democracy1 but to a union of ,conservative and ,liberal property holders against the working class4 ,in his arguments there remains not a trace of the vague democracy of the ,marxist ,kautsky4 ,lloyd ,george stands on the ground of class realities1 and for this very reason speaks in the language of civil war4 ,the ,british working class1 with that ponderous learning by experience which is its distinguishing feature1 is approaching that stage of its struggle before which the most heroic pages of ,chartism will fade1 just as the ,paris ,commune will grow pale before the coming victorious revolt of the ,french proletariat4 ,precisely because historical events have1 with stern energy1 been developing in these last months their revolutionary logic1 the author of this present work asks himself3 ,does it still require to be published8 ,is it still necessary to confute ,kautsky theoretically8 ,is there still theoretical necessity to justify revolutionary terrorism8 ,unfortunately1 yes4 ,ideology1 by its very essence1 plays in the ,socialist movement an enormous part4 ,even for practical ,england the period has arrived when the working class must exhibit an ever-increasing demand for a theoretical statement of its experiences and its problems4 ,on the other hand1 even the proletarian psychology includes in itself a terrible inertia of conservatism--the more that1 in the present case1 there is a question of nothing less than the traditional ideology of the parties of the ,second ,international which first roused the proletariat1 and recently were so powerful4 ,after the collapse of official social-patriotism 7,scheidemann1 ,victor ,adler1 ,renaudel1 ,vandervelde1 ,henderson1 ,plekhanov1 etc471 international ,kautskianism 7the staff of the ,german ,independents1 ,friedrich ,adler1 ,longuet1 a considerable section of the ,italians1 the ,british ,independent ,labor ,party1 the ,martov group1 etc47 has become the chief political factor on which the unstable equilibrium of capitalist society depends4 ,it may be said that the will of the working masses of the whole of the civilized world1 directly influenced by the course of events1 is at the present moment incomparably more revolutionary than their consciousness1 which is still dominated by the prejudices of parliamentarism and compromise4 ,the struggle for the dictatorship of the working class means1 at the present moment1 an embittered struggle with ,kautskianism within the working class4 ,the lies and prejudices of the policy of compromise1 still poisoning the atmosphere even in parties tending towards the ,third ,international1 must be thrown aside4 ,this book must serve the ends of an irreconcilable struggle against the cowardice1 half-measures1 and hypocrisy of ,kautskianism in all countries4 99 99 99 99 99 ,p4,s4--,to-day 7,may1 #aibj7 the clouds have again gathered over ,soviet ,russia4 ,bourgeois ,poland1 by its attack on the ,ukraine1 has opened the new offensive of world imperialism against the ,soviet ,republic4 ,the gigantic perils again growing up before the revolution1 and the great sacrifices again imposed on the laboring masses by the war1 are once again pushing ,russian ,kautskianism on to the path of open opposition to the ,soviet ,government--i4e41 in reality1 on to the path of assistance to the world murderers of ,soviet ,russia4 ,it is the fate of ,kautskianism to try to help the proletarian revolution when it is in satisfactory circumstances1 and to raise all kinds of obstacles in its way when it is particularly in need of help4 ,kautsky has more than once foretold our destruction1 which must serve as the best proof of his1 ,kautsky's1 theoretical rectitude4 ,in his fall1 this successor of ,marx has reached a stage at which his sole serious political programme consists in speculations on the collapse of the proletarian dictatorship4 ,he will be once again mistaken4 ,the destruction of bourgeois ,poland by the ,red ,army1 guided by ,communist working men1 will appear as a new manifestation of the power of the proletarian dictatorship1 and will thereby inflict a crushing blow on bourgeois scepticism 7,kautskianism7 in the working class movement4 ,in spite of mad confusion of external forms1 watchwords1 and appearances1 history has extremely simplified the fundamental meaning of its own process1 reducing it to a struggle of imperialism against ,communism4 ,pilsudsky is fighting1 not only for the lands of the ,polish magnates in the ,ukraine and in ,white ,russia1 not only for capitalist property and for the ,catholic ,church1 but also for parliamentary democracy and for evolutionary ,socialism1 for the ,second ,international1 and for the right of ,kautsky to remain a critical hanger-on of the bourgeoisie4 ,we are fighting for the ,communist ,international1 and for the international proletarian revolution4 ,the stakes are great on either side4 ,the struggle will be obstinate and painful4 ,we hope for the victory1 for we have every historical right to it4 ,l4 ,,trotsky4 ,moscow1 ,may #bi1 #aibj4 ,dictatorship vs4 ,democracy ,a ,reply to ,karl ,kautsky ,by ,,leon ,,trotsky #a ,,the ,,balance ,,of ,,power ,the argument which is repeated again and again in criticisms of the ,soviet system in ,russia1 and particularly in criticisms of revolutionary attempts to set up a similar structure in other countries1 is the argument based on the balance of power4 ,the ,soviet regime in ,russia is utopian--because it does not correspond to the balance of power4 ,backward ,russia cannot put objects before itself which would be appropriate to advanced ,germany4 ,and for the proletariat of ,germany it would be madness to take political power into its own hands1 as this at the present moment would disturb the balance of power4 ,the ,league of ,nations is imperfect1 but still corresponds to the balance of power4 ,the struggle for the overthrow of imperialist supremacy is utopian--the balance of power only requires a revision of the ,versailles ,treaty4 ,when ,longuet hobbled after ,wilson this took place1 not because of the political decomposition of ,longuet1 but in honor of the law of the balance of power4 ,the ,austrian president1 ,seitz1 and the chancellor1 ,renner1 must1 in the opinion of ,friedrich ,adler1 exercise their bourgeois impotence at the central posts of the bourgeois republic1 for otherwise the balance of power would be infringed4 ,two years before the world war1 ,karl ,renner1 then not a chancellor1 but a ,marxist advocate of opportunism1 explained to me that the regime of ,june #c--that is1 the union of landlords and capitalists crowned by the monarchy--must inevitably maintain itself in ,russia during a whole historical period1 as it answered to the balance of power4 ,what is this balance of power after all--that sacramental formula which is to define1 direct1 and explain the whole course of history1 wholesale and retail8 ,why exactly is it that the formula of the balance of power1 in the mouth of ,kautsky and his present school1 inevitably appears as a justification of indecision1 stagnation1 cowardice and treachery8 ,by the balance of power they understand everything you please3 the level of production attained1 the degree of differentiation of classes1 the number of organized workers1 the total funds at the disposal of the trade unions1 sometimes the results of the last parliamentary elections1 frequently the degree of readiness for compromise on the part of the ministry1 or the degree of effrontery of the financial oligarchy4 ,most frequently1 it means that summary political impression which exists in the mind of a half-blind pedant1 or a so-called realist politician1 who1 though he has absorbed the phraseology of ,marxism1 in reality is guided by the most shallow manoeuvres1 bourgeois prejudices1 and parliamentary tactics4 ,after a whispered conversation with the director of the police department1 an ,austrian ,social-,democratic politician in the good1 and not so far off1 old times always knew exactly whether the balance of power permitted a peaceful street demonstration in ,vienna on ,may ,day4 ,in the case of the ,eberts1 ,scheidemanns and ,davids1 the balance of power was1 not so very long ago1 calculated exactly by the number of fingers which were extended to them at their meeting in the ,reichstag with ,bethmann-,hollweg1 or with ,ludendorff himself4 ,according to ,friedrich ,adler1 the establishment of a ,soviet dictatorship in ,austria would be a fatal infraction of the balance of power2 the ,entente would condemn ,austria to starvation4 ,in proof of this1 ,friedrich ,adler1 at the ,july congress of ,soviets1 pointed to ,hungary1 where at that time the ,hungarian ,renners had not yet1 with the help of the ,hungarian ,adlers1 overthrown the dictatorship of the ,soviets4 ,at the first glance1 it might really seem that ,friedrich ,adler was right in the case of ,hungary4 ,the proletarian dictatorship was overthrown there soon afterwards1 and its place was filled by the ministry of the reactionary ,friedrich4 ,but it is quite justifiable to ask3 ,did the latter correspond to the balance of power8 ,at all events1 ,friedrich and his ,huszar might not even temporarily have seized power had it not been for the ,roumanian army4 ,hence1 it is clear that1 when discussing the fate of the ,soviet ,government in ,hungary1 it is necessary to take account of the balance of power1 at all events in two countries--in ,hungary itself1 and in its neighbor1 ,roumania4 ,but it is not difficult to grasp that we cannot stop at this4 ,if the dictatorship of the ,soviets had been set up in ,austria before the maturing of the ,hungarian crisis1 the overthrow of the ,soviet regime in ,budapest would have been an infinitely more difficult task4 ,consequently1 we have to include ,austria also1 together with the treacherous policy of ,friedrich ,adler1 in that balance of power which determined the temporary fall of the ,soviet ,government in ,hungary4 ,friedrich ,adler himself1 however1 seeks the key to the balance of power1 not in ,russia and ,hungary1 but in the ,west1 in the countries of ,clemenceau and ,lloyd ,george4 ,they have in their hands bread and coal--and really bread and coal1 especially in our time1 are just as foremost factors in the mechanism of the balance of power as cannon in the constitution of ,lassalle4 ,brought down from the heights1 ,adler's idea consists1 consequently1 in this3 that the ,austrian proletariat must not seize power until such time1 as it is permitted to do so by ,clemenceau 7or ,millerand--i4e41 a ,clemenceau of the second order74 ,however1 even here it is permissible to ask3 ,does the policy of ,clemenceau himself really correspond to the balance of power8 ,at the first glance it may appear that it corresponds well enough1 and1 if it cannot be proved1 it is1 at least1 guaranteed by ,clemenceau's gendarmes1 who break up working-class meetings1 and arrest and shoot ,communists4 ,but here we cannot but remember that the terrorist measures of the ,soviet ,government--that is1 the same searches1 arrests1 and executions1 only directed against the counter-revolutionaries--are considered by some people as a proof that the ,soviet ,government does not correspond to the balance of power4 ,in vain would we1 however1 begin to seek in our time1 anywhere in the world1 a regime which1 to preserve itself1 did not have recourse to measures of stern mass repression4 ,this means that hostile class forces1 having broken through the framework of every kind of law--including that of democracy--are striving to find their new balance by means of a merciless struggle4 ,when the ,soviet system was being instituted in ,russia1 not only the capitalist politicians1 but also the ,socialist opportunists of all countries proclaimed it an insolent challenge to the balance of forces4 ,on this score1 there was no quarrel between ,kautsky1 the ,austrian ,count ,czernin1 and the ,bulgarian ,premier1 ,radoslavov4 ,since that time1 the ,austro-,hungarian and ,german monarchies have collapsed1 and the most powerful militarism in the world has fallen into dust4 ,the ,soviet regime has held out4 ,the victorious countries of the ,entente have mobilized and hurled against it all they could4 ,the ,soviet ,government has stood firm4 ,had ,kautsky1 ,friedrich ,adler1 and ,otto ,bauer been told that the system of the dictatorship of the proletariat would hold out in ,russia--first against the attack of ,german militarism1 and then in a ceaseless war with the militarism of the ,entente countries--the sages of the ,second ,international would have considered such a prophecy a laughable misunderstanding of the balance of power4 ,the balance of political power at any given moment is determined under the influence of fundamental and secondary factors of differing degrees of effectiveness1 and only in its most fundamental quality is it determined by the stage of the development of production4 ,the social structure of a people is extraordinarily behind the development of its productive forces4 ,the lower middle-classes1 and particularly the peasantry1 retain their existence long after their economic methods have been made obsolete1 and have been condemned1 by the technical development of the productive powers of society4 ,the consciousness of the masses1 in its turn1 is extraordinarily behind the development of their social relations1 the consciousness of the old ,socialist parties is a whole epoch behind the state of mind of the masses1 and the consciousness of the old parliamentary and trade union leaders1 more reactionary than the consciousness of their party1 represents a petrified mass which history has been unable hitherto either to digest or reject4 ,in the parliamentary epoch1 during the period of stability of social relations1 the psychological factor--without great error--was the foundation upon which all current calculations were based4 ,it was considered that parliamentary elections reflected the balance of power with sufficient exactness4 ,the imperialist war1 which upset all bourgeois society1 displayed the complete uselessness of the old criteria4 ,the latter completely ignored those profound historical factors which had gradually been accumulating in the preceding period1 and have now1 all at once1 appeared on the surface1 and have begun to determine the course of history4 ,the political worshippers of routine1 incapable of surveying the historical process in its complexity1 in its internal clashes and contradictions1 imagined to themselves that history was preparing the way for the ,socialist order simultaneously and systematically on all sides1 so that concentration of production and the development of a ,communist morality in the producer and the consumer mature simultaneously with the electric plough and a parliamentary majority4 ,hence the purely mechanical attitude towards parliamentarism1 which1 in the eyes of the majority of the statesmen of the ,second ,international1 indicated the degree to which society was prepared for ,socialism as accurately as the manometer indicates the pressure of steam4 ,yet there is nothing more senseless than this mechanized representation of the development of social relations4 ,if1 beginning with the productive bases of society1 we ascend the stages of the superstructure--classes1 the ,state1 laws1 parties1 and so on--it may be established that the weight of each additional part of the superstructure is not simply to be added to1 but in many cases to be multiplied by1 the weight of all the preceding stages4 ,as a result1 the political consciousness of groups which long imagined themselves to be among the most advanced1 displays itself1 at a moment of change1 as a colossal obstacle in the path of historical development4 ,to-day it is quite beyond doubt that the parties of the ,second ,international1 standing at the head of the proletariat1 which dared not1 could not1 and would not take power into their hands at the most critical moment of human history1 and which led the proletariat along the road of mutual destruction in the interests of imperialism1 proved a decisive factor of the counter-revolution4 ,the great forces of production--that shock factor in historical development--were choked in those obsolete institutions of the superstructure 7private property and the national ,state7 in which they found themselves locked by all preceding development4 ,engendered by capitalism1 the forces of production were knocking at all the walls of the bourgeois national ,state1 demanding their emancipation by means of the ,socialist organization of economic life on a world scale4 ,the stagnation of social groupings1 the stagnation of political forces1 which proved themselves incapable of destroying the old class groupings1 the stagnation1 stupidity and treachery of the directing ,socialist parties1 which had assumed to themselves in reality the defense of bourgeois society--all these factors led to an elemental revolt of the forces of production1 in the shape of the imperialist war4 ,human technical skill1 the most revolutionary factor in history1 arose with the might accumulated during scores of years against the disgusting conservatism and criminal stupidity of the ,scheidemanns1 ,kautskies1 ,renaudels1 ,vanderveldes and ,longuets1 and1 by means of its howitzers1 machine-guns1 dreadnoughts and aeroplanes1 it began a furious pogrom of human culture4 ,in this way the cause of the misfortunes at present experienced by humanity is precisely that the development of the technical command of men over nature has long ago grown ripe for the socialization of economic life4 ,the proletariat has occupied a place in production which completely guarantees its dictatorship1 while the most intelligent forces in history--the parties and their leaders--have been discovered to be still wholly under the yoke of the old prejudices1 and only fostered a lack of faith among the masses in their own power4 ,in quite recent years ,kautsky used to understand this4 ,the proletariat at the present time has grown so strong1 wrote ,kautsky in his pamphlet1 ,the ,path to ,power1 that it can calmly await the coming war4 ,there can be no more talk of a premature revolution1 now that the proletariat has drawn from the present structure of the ,state such strength as could be drawn therefrom1 and now that its reconstruction has become a condition of the proletariat's further progress4 ,from the moment that the development of productive forces1 outgrowing the framework of the bourgeois national ,state1 drew mankind into an epoch of crises and convulsions1 the consciousness of the masses was shaken by dread shocks out of the comparative equilibrium of the preceding epoch4 ,the routine and stagnation of its mode of living1 the hypnotic suggestion of peaceful legality1 had already ceased to dominate the proletariat4 ,but it had not yet stepped1 consciously and courageously1 on to the path of open revolutionary struggle4 ,it wavered1 passing through the last moment of unstable equilibrium4 ,at such a moment of psychological change1 the part played by the summit--the ,state1 on the one hand1 and the revolutionary ,party on the other--acquires a colossal importance4 ,a determined push from left or right is sufficient to move the proletariat1 for a certain period1 to one or the other side4 ,we saw this in #aiad1 when1 under the united pressure of imperialist governments and ,socialist patriotic parties1 the working class was all at once thrown out of its equilibrium and hurled on to the path of imperialism4 ,we have since seen how the experience of the war1 the contrasts between its results and its first objects1 is shaking the masses in a revolutionary sense1 making them more and more capable of an open revolt against capitalism4 ,in such conditions1 the presence of a revolutionary party1 which renders to itself a clear account of the motive forces of the present epoch1 and understands the exceptional role amongst them of a revolutionary class2 which knows its inexhaustible1 but unrevealed1 powers2 which believes in that class and believes in itself2 which knows the power of revolutionary method in an epoch of instability of all social relations2 which is ready to employ that method and carry it through to the end--the presence of such a party represents a factor of incalculable historical importance4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the ,socialist party1 enjoying traditional influence1 which does not render itself an account of what is going on around it1 which does not understand the revolutionary situation1 and1 therefore1 finds no key to it1 which does not believe in either the proletariat or itself--such a party in our time is the most mischievous stumbling block in history1 and a source of confusion and inevitable chaos4 ,such is now the role of ,kautsky and his sympathizers4 ,they teach the proletariat not to believe in itself1 but to believe its reflection in the crooked mirror of democracy which has been shattered by the jack-boot of militarism into a thousand fragments4 ,the decisive factor in the revolutionary policy of the working class must be1 in their view1 not the international situation1 not the actual collapse of capitalism1 not that social collapse which is generated thereby1 not that concrete necessity of the supremacy of the working class for which the cry arises from the smoking ruins of capitalist civilization--not all this must determine the policy of the revolutionary party of the proletariat--but that counting of votes which is carried out by the capitalist tellers of parliamentarism4 ,only a few years ago1 we repeat1 ,kautsky seemed to understand the real inner meaning of the problem of revolution4 ,yes1 the proletariat represents the sole revolutionary class of the nation1 wrote ,kautsky in his pamphlet1 ,the ,path to ,power4 ,it follows that every collapse of the capitalist order1 whether it be of a moral1 financial1 or military character1 implies the bankruptcy of all the bourgeois parties responsible for it1 and signifies that the sole way out of the blind alley is the establishment of the power of the proletariat4 ,and to-day the party of prostration and cowardice1 the party of ,kautsky1 says to the working class3 ,the question is not whether you to-day are the sole creative force in history2 whether you are capable of throwing aside that ruling band of robbers into which the propertied classes have developed2 the question is not whether anyone else can accomplish this task on your behalf2 the question is not whether history allows you any postponement 7for the present condition of bloody chaos threatens to bury you yourself1 in the near future1 under the last ruins of capitalism74 ,the problem is for the ruling imperialist bandits to succeed--yesterday or to-day--to deceive1 violate1 and swindle public opinion1 by collecting #ea per cent4 of the votes against your #di4 ,perish the world1 but long live the parliamentary majority6 #b ,,the ,,dictatorship ,,of ,,the ,,proletariat ,marx and ,engels hammered out the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat1 which ,engels stubbornly defended in #ahia1 shortly before his death--the idea that the political autocracy of the proletariat is the sole form in which it can realize its control of the state4 ,that is what ,kautsky wrote about ten years ago4 ,the sole form of power for the proletariat he considered to be not a ,socialist majority in a democratic parliament1 but the political autocracy of the proletariat1 its dictatorship4 ,and it is quite clear that1 if our problem is the abolition of private property in the means of production1 the only road to its solution lies through the concentration of ,state power in its entirety in the hands of the proletariat1 and the setting up for the transitional period of an exceptional regime--a regime in which the ruling class is guided1 not by general principles calculated for a prolonged period1 but by considerations of revolutionary policy4 ,the dictatorship is necessary because it is a case1 not of partial changes1 but of the very existence of the bourgeoisie4 ,no agreement is possible on this ground4 ,only force can be the deciding factor4 ,the dictatorship of the proletariat does not exclude1 of course1 either separate agreements1 or considerable concessions1 especially in connection with the lower middle-class and the peasantry4 ,but the proletariat can only conclude these agreements after having gained possession of the apparatus of power1 and having guaranteed to itself the possibility of independently deciding on which points to yield and on which to stand firm1 in the interests of the general ,socialist task4 ,kautsky now repudiates the dictatorship of the proletariat at the very outset1 as the tyranny of the minority over the majority4 ,that is1 he discerns in the revolutionary regime of the proletariat those very features by which the honest ,socialists of all countries invariably describe the dictatorship of the exploiters1 albeit masked by the forms of democracy4 ,abandoning the idea of a revolutionary dictatorship1 ,kautsky transforms the question of the conquest of power by the proletariat into a question of the conquest of a majority of votes by the ,social-,democratic ,party in one of the electoral campaigns of the future4 ,universal suffrage1 according to the legal fiction of parliamentarism1 expresses the will of the citizens of all classes in the nation1 and1 consequently1 gives a possibility of attracting a majority to the side of ,socialism4 ,while the theoretical possibility has not been realized1 the ,socialist minority must submit to the bourgeois majority4 ,this fetishism of the parliamentary majority represents a brutal repudiation1 not only of the dictatorship of the proletariat1 but of ,marxism and of the revolution altogether4 ,if1 in principle1 we are to subordinate ,socialist policy to the parliamentary mystery of majority and minority1 it follows that1 in countries where formal democracy prevails1 there is no place at all for the revolutionary struggle4 ,if the majority elected on the basis of universal suffrage in ,switzerland pass draconian legislation against strikers1 or if the executive elected by the will of a formal majority in ,northern ,america shoots workers1 have the ,swiss and ,american workers the right of protest by organizing a general strike8 ,obviously1 no4 ,the political strike is a form of extra-parliamentary pressure on the national will1 as it has expressed itself through universal suffrage4 ,true1 ,kautsky himself1 apparently1 is ashamed to go as far as the logic of his new position demands4 ,bound by some sort of remnant of the past1 he is obliged to acknowledge the possibility of correcting universal suffrage by action4 ,parliamentary elections1 at all events in principle1 never took the place1 in the eyes of the ,social-,democrats1 of the real class struggle1 of its conflicts1 repulses1 attacks1 revolts2 they were considered merely as a contributory fact in this struggle1 playing a greater part at one period1 a smaller at another1 and no part at all in the period of dictatorship4 ,in #ahia1 that is1 not long before his death1 ,engels1 as we just heard1 obstinately defended the dictatorship of the proletariat as the only possible form of its control of the ,state4 ,kautsky himself more than once repeated this definition4 ,hence1 by the way1 we can see what an unworthy forgery is ,kautsky's present attempt to throw back the dictatorship of the proletariat at us as a purely ,russian invention4 ,who aims at the end cannot reject the means4 ,the struggle must be carried on with such intensity as actually to guarantee the supremacy of the proletariat4 ,if the ,socialist revolution requires a dictatorship--the sole form in which the proletariat can achieve control of the ,state--it follows that the dictatorship must be guaranteed at all cost4 ,to write a pamphlet about dictatorship one needs an ink-pot and a pile of paper1 and possibly1 in addition1 a certain number of ideas in one's head4 ,but in order to establish and consolidate the dictatorship1 one has to prevent the bourgeoisie from undermining the ,state power of the proletariat4 ,kautsky apparently thinks that this can be achieved by tearful pamphlets4 ,but his own experience ought to have shown him that it is not sufficient to have lost all influence with the proletariat1 to acquire influence with the bourgeoisie4 ,it is only possible to safeguard the supremacy of the working class by forcing the bourgeoisie accustomed to rule1 to realize that it is too dangerous an undertaking for it to revolt against the dictatorship of the proletariat1 to undermine it by conspiracies1 sabotage1 insurrections1 or the calling in of foreign troops4 ,the bourgeoisie1 hurled from power1 must be forced to obey4 ,in what way8 ,the priests used to terrify the people with future penalties4 ,we have no such resources at our disposal4 ,but even the priests' hell never stood alone1 but was always bracketed with the material fire of the ,holy ,inquisition1 and with the scorpions of the democratic ,state4 ,is it possible that ,kautsky is leaning to the idea that the bourgeoisie can be held down with the help of the categorical imperative1 which in his last writings plays the part of the ,holy ,ghost8 ,we1 on our part1 can only promise him our material assistance if he decides to equip a ,kantian-humanitarian mission to the realms of ,denikin and ,kolchak4 ,at all events1 there he would have the possibility of convincing himself that the counter-revolutionaries are not naturally devoid of character1 and that1 thanks to their six years' existence in the fire and smoke of war1 their character has managed to become thoroughly hardened4 ,every ,white ,guard has long ago acquired the simple truth that it is easier to hang a ,communist to the branch of a tree than to convert him with a book of ,kautsky's4 ,these gentlemen have no superstitious fear1 either of the principles of democracy or of the flames of hell--the more so because the priests of the church and of official learning act in collusion with them1 and pour their combined thunders exclusively on the heads of the ,bolsheviks4 ,the ,russian ,white ,guards resemble the ,german and all other ,white ,guards in this respect--that they cannot be convinced or shamed1 but only terrorized or crushed4 ,the man who repudiates terrorism in principle--i4e41 repudiates measures of suppression and intimidation towards determined and armed counter-revolution1 must reject all idea of the political supremacy of the working class and its revolutionary dictatorship4 ,the man who repudiates the dictatorship of the proletariat repudiates the ,socialist revolution1 and digs the grave of ,socialism4 99 99 99 99 99 ,at the present time1 ,kautsky has no theory of the social revolution4 ,every time he tries to generalize his slanders against the revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat1 he produces merely a rechauffe of the prejudices of ,jauresism and ,bernsteinism4 ,the revolution of #aghi1 writes ,kautsky1 itself put an end to the most important causes which gave it its harsh and violent character1 and prepared the way for milder forms of the future revolution4 7,page #adj47b ,let us admit this1 though to do so we have to forget the ,june days of #ahdh and the horrors of the suppression of the ,commune4 ,let us admit that the great revolution of the eighteenth century1 which by measures of merciless terror destroyed the rule of absolutism1 of feudalism1 and of clericalism1 really prepared the way for more peaceful and milder solutions of social problems4 ,but1 even if we admit this purely liberal standpoint1 even here our accuser will prove to be completely in the wrong2 for the ,russian ,revolution1 which culminated in the dictatorship of the proletariat1 began with just that work which was done in ,france at the end of the eighteenth century4 ,our forefathers1 in centuries gone by1 did not take the trouble to prepare the democratic way--by means of revolutionary terrorism--for milder manners in our revolution4 ,the ethical mandarin1 ,kautsky1 ought to take these circumstances into account1 and accuse our forefathers1 not us4 #b ,translator's ,note--,for convenience sake1 the references throughout have been altered to fall in the ,english translation of ,kautsky's book4 ,mr4 ,kerridge's translation1 however1 has not been adhered to4 ,kautsky1 however1 seems to make a little concession in this direction4 ,true1 he says1 no man of insight could doubt that a military monarchy like the ,german1 the ,austrian1 or the ,russian could be overthrown only by violent methods4 ,but in this connection there was always less thought 7amongst whom871 of the bloody use of arms1 and more of the working class weapon peculiar to the proletariat--the mass strike4 ,and that a considerable portion of the proletariat1 after seizing power1 would again--as at the end of the eighteenth century--give vent to its rage and revenge in bloodshed could not be expected4 ,this would have meant a complete negation of all progress4 7,page #adg47 ,as we see1 the war and a series of revolutions were required to enable us to get a proper view of what was going on in reality in the heads of some of our most learned theoreticians4 ,it turns out that ,kautsky did not think that a ,romanoff or a ,hohenzollern could be put away by means of conversations2 but at the same time he seriously imagined that a military monarchy could be overthrown by a general strike--i4e41 by a peaceful demonstration of folded arms4 ,in spite of the ,russian revolution1 and the world discussion of this question1 ,kautsky1 it turns out1 retains the anarcho-reformist view of the general strike4 ,we might point out to him that1 in the pages of its own journal1 the ,neue ,zeit1 it was explained twelve years ago that the general strike is only a mobilization of the proletariat and its setting up against its enemy1 the ,state2 but that the strike in itself cannot produce the solution of the problem1 because it exhausts the forces of the proletariat sooner than those of its enemies1 and this1 sooner or later1 forces the workers to return to the factories4 ,the general strike acquires a decisive importance only as a preliminary to a conflict between the proletariat and the armed forces of the opposition--i4e41 to the open revolutionary rising of the workers4 ,only by breaking the will of the armies thrown against it can the revolutionary class solve the problem of power--the root problem of every revolution4 ,the general strike produces the mobilization of both sides1 and gives the first serious estimate of the powers of resistance of the counter-revolution4 ,but only in the further stages of the struggle1 after the transition to the path of armed insurrection1 can that bloody price be fixed which the revolutionary class has to pay for power4 ,but that it will have to pay with blood1 that1 in the struggle for the conquest of power and for its consolidation1 the proletariat will have not only to be killed1 but also to kill--of this no serious revolutionary ever had any doubt4 ,to announce that the existence of a determined life-and-death struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is a complete negation of all progress1 means simply that the heads of some of our most reverend theoreticians take the form of a camera-obscura1 in which objects are represented upside down4 ,but1 even when applied to more advanced and cultured countries with established democratic traditions1 there is absolutely no proof of the justice of ,kautsky's historical argument4 ,as a matter of fact1 the argument itself is not new4 ,once upon a time the ,revisionists gave it a character more based on principle4 ,they strove to prove that the growth of proletarian organizations under democratic conditions guaranteed the gradual and imperceptible--reformist and evolutionary--transition to ,socialist society--without general strikes and risings1 without the dictatorship of the proletariat4 ,kautsky1 at that culminating period of his activity1 showed that1 in spite of the forms of democracy1 the class contradictions of capitalist society grew deeper1 and that this process must inevitably lead to a revolution and the conquest of power by the proletariat4 ,no one1 of course1 attempted to reckon up beforehand the number of victims that will be called for by the revolutionary insurrection of the proletariat1 and by the regime of its dictatorship4 ,but it was clear to all that the number of victims will vary with the strength of resistance of the propertied classes4 ,if ,kautsky desires to say in his book that a democratic upbringing has not weakened the class egoism of the bourgeoisie1 this can be admitted without further parley4 ,if he wishes to add that the imperialist war1 which broke out and continued for four years1 in spite of democracy1 brought about a degradation of morals and accustomed men to violent methods and action1 and completely stripped the bourgeoisie of the last vestige of awkwardness in ordering the destruction of masses of humanity--here also he will be right4 ,all this is true on the face of it4 ,but one has to struggle in real conditions4 ,the contending forces are not proletarian and bourgeois manikins produced in the retort of ,wagner-,kautsky1 but a real proletariat against a real bourgeoisie1 as they have emerged from the last imperialist slaughter4 ,in this fact of merciless civil war that is spreading over the whole world1 ,kautsky sees only the result of a fatal lapse from the experienced tactics of the ,second ,international4 ,in reality1 since the time1 he writes1 that ,marxism has dominated the ,socialist movement1 the latter1 up to the world war1 was1 in spite of its great activities1 preserved from great defeats4 ,and the idea of insuring victory by means of terrorist domination had completely disappeared from its ranks4 ,much was contributed in this connection by the fact that1 at the time when ,marxism was the dominating ,socialist teaching1 democracy threw out firm roots in ,western ,europe1 and began there to change from an end of the struggle to a trustworthy basis of political life4 7,page #ade47 ,in this formula of progress there is not one atom of ,marxism4 ,the real process of the struggle of classes and their material conflicts has been lost in ,marxist propaganda1 which1 thanks to the conditions of democracy1 guarantees1 forsooth1 a painless transition to a new and wiser order4 ,this is the most vulgar liberalism1 a belated piece of rationalism in the spirit of the eighteenth century--with the difference that the ideas of ,condorcet are replaced by a vulgarisation of the ,communist ,manifesto4 ,all history resolves itself into an endless sheet of printed paper1 and the centre of this humane process proves to be the well-worn writing table of ,kautsky4 ,we are given as an example the working-class movement in the period of the ,second ,international1 which1 going forward under the banner of ,marxism1 never sustained great defeats whenever it deliberately challenged them4 ,but did not the whole working-class movement1 the proletariat of the whole world1 and with it the whole of human culture1 sustain an incalculable defeat in ,august1 #aiad1 when history cast up the accounts of all the forces and possibilities of the ,socialist parties1 amongst whom1 we are told1 the guiding role belonged to ,marxism1 on the firm footing of democracy8 ,those parties proved bankrupt4 ,those features of their previous work which ,kautsky now wishes to render permanent--self-adaptation1 repudiation of illegal activity1 repudiation of the open fight1 hopes placed in democracy as the road to a painless revolution--all these fell into dust4 ,in their fear of defeat1 holding back the masses from open conflict1 dissolving the general strike discussions1 the parties of the ,second ,international were preparing their own terrifying defeat2 for they were not able to move one finger to avert the greatest catastrophe in world history1 the four years' imperialist slaughter1 which foreshadowed the violent character of the civil war4 ,truly1 one has to put a wadded night-cap not only over one's eyes1 but over one's nose and ears1 to be able to-day1 after the inglorious collapse of the ,second ,international1 after the disgraceful bankruptcy of its leading party--the ,german ,social-,democracy--after the bloody lunacy of the world slaughter and the gigantic sweep of the civil war1 to set up in contrast to us1 the profundity1 the loyalty1 the peacefulness and the sobriety of the ,second ,international1 the heritage of which we are still liquidating4 #c ,,democracy ,,either ,,democracy1 ,,or ,,civil ,,war ,kautsky has a clear and solitary path to salvation3 democracy4 ,all that is necessary is that every one should acknowledge it and bind himself to support it4 ,the ,right ,socialists must renounce the sanguinary slaughter with which they have been carrying out the will of the bourgeoisie4 ,the bourgeoisie itself must abandon the idea of using its ,noskes and ,lieutenant ,vogels to defend its privileges to the last breath4 ,finally1 the proletariat must once and for all reject the idea of overthrowing the bourgeoisie by means other than those laid down in the ,constitution4 ,if the conditions enumerated are observed1 the social revolution will painlessly melt into democracy4 ,in order to succeed it is sufficient1 as we see1 for our stormy history to draw a nightcap over its head1 and take a pinch of wisdom out of ,kautsky's snuffbox4 ,there exist only two possibilities1 says our sage1 either democracy1 or civil war4 7,page #bbj47 ,yet1 in ,germany1 where the formal elements of democracy are present before our eyes1 the civil war does not cease for a moment4 ,unquestionably1 agrees ,kautsky1 under the present ,national ,assembly ,germany cannot arrive at a healthy condition4 ,but that process of recovery will not be assisted1 but hindered1 if we transform the struggle against the present ,assembly into a struggle against the democratic franchise4 7,page #bcj47 ,as if the question in ,germany really did reduce itself to one of electoral forms and not to one of the real possession of power6 ,the present ,national ,assembly1 as ,kautsky admits1 cannot bring the country to a healthy condition4 ,therefore let us begin the game again at the beginning4 ,but will the partners agree8 ,it is doubtful4 ,if the rubber is not favorable to us1 obviously it is so to them4 ,the ,national ,assembly which is incapable of bringing the country to a healthy condition1 is quite capable1 through the mediocre dictatorship of ,noske1 of preparing the way for the dictatorship of ,ludendorff4 ,so it was with the ,constituent ,assembly which prepared the way for ,kolchak4 ,the historical mission of ,kautsky consists precisely in having waited for the revolution to write his 7n #ath7 book1 which should explain the collapse of the revolution by all the previous course of history1 from the ape to ,noske1 and from ,noske to ,ludendorff4 ,the problem before the revolutionary party is a difficult one3 its problem is to foresee the peril in good time1 and to forestall it by action4 ,and for this there is no other way at present than to tear the power out of the hands of its real possessors1 the agrarian and capitalist magnates1 who are only temporarily hiding behind ,messrs4 ,ebert and ,noske4 ,thus1 from the present ,national ,assembly1 the path divides into two3 either the dictatorship of the imperialist clique1 or the dictatorship of the proletariat4 ,on neither side does the path lead to democracy4 ,kautsky does not see this4 ,he explains at great length that democracy is of great importance for its political development and its education in organization of the masses1 and that through it the proletariat can come to complete emancipation4 ,one might imagine that1 since the day on which the ,erfurt ,programme was written1 nothing worthy of notice had ever happened in the world6 ,yet meanwhile1 for decades1 the proletariat of ,france1 ,germany1 and the other most important countries has been struggling and developing1 making the widest possible use of the institutions of democracy1 and building up on that basis powerful political organizations4 ,this path of the education of the proletariat through democracy to ,socialism proved1 however1 to be interrupted by an event of no inconsiderable importance--the world imperialist war4 ,the class state at the moment when1 thanks to its machinations1 the war broke out succeeded in enlisting the assistance of the guiding organizations of ,social-,democracy to deceive the proletariat and draw it into the whirlpool4 ,so that1 taken as they stand1 the methods of democracy1 in spite of the incontestable benefits which they afford at a certain period1 displayed an extremely limited power of action2 with the result that two generations of the proletariat1 educated under conditions of democracy1 by no means guaranteed the necessary political preparation for judging accurately an event like the world imperialist war4 ,that experience gives us no reasons for affirming that1 if the war had broken out ten or fifteen years later1 the proletariat would have been more prepared for it4 ,the bourgeois democratic state not only creates more favorable conditions for the political education of the workers1 as compared with absolutism1 but also sets a limit to that development in the shape of bourgeois legality1 which skilfully accumulates and builds on the upper strata of the proletariat opportunist habits and law-abiding prejudices4 ,the school of democracy proved quite insufficient to rouse the ,german proletariat to revolution when the catastrophe of the war was at hand4 ,the barbarous school of the war1 social-imperialist ambitions1 colossal military victories1 and unparalleled defeats were required4 ,after these events1 which made a certain amount of difference in the universe1 and even in the ,erfurt ,programme1 to come out with common-places as to meaning of democratic parliamentarism for the education of the proletariat signifies a fall into political childhood4 ,this is just the misfortune which has overtaken ,kautsky4 ,profound disbelief in the political struggle of the proletariat1 he writes1 and in its participation in politics1 was the characteristic of ,proudhonism4 ,to-day there arises a similar 7667 view1 and it is recommended to us as the new gospel of ,socialist thought1 as the result of an experience which ,marx did not1 and could not1 know4 ,in reality1 it is only a variation of an idea which half a century ago ,marx was fighting1 and which he in the end defeated4 7,page #gi47 ,bolshevism proves to be warmed-up ,proudhonism6 ,from a purely theoretical point of view1 this is one of the most brazen remarks in the pamphlet4 ,the ,proudhonists repudiated democracy for the same reason that they repudiated the political struggle generally4 ,they stood for the economic organization of the workers without the interference of the ,state1 without revolutionary outbreaks--for self-help of the workers on the basis of production for profit4 ,as far as they were driven by the course of events on to the path of the political struggle1 they1 as lower middle-class theoreticians1 preferred democracy1 not only to plutocracy1 but to revolutionary dictatorship4 ,what thoughts have they in common with us8 ,while we repudiate democracy in the name of the concentrated power of the proletariat1 the ,proudhonists1 on the other hand1 were prepared to make their peace with democracy1 diluted by a federal basis1 in order to avoid the revolutionary monopoly of power by the proletariat4 ,with more foundation ,kautsky might have compared us with the opponents of the ,proudhonists1 the ,blanquists1 who understood the meaning of a revolutionary government1 but did not superstitiously make the question of seizing it depend on the formal signs of democracy4 ,but in order to put the comparison of the ,communists with the ,blanquists on a reasonable footing1 it would have to be added that1 in the ,workers' and ,soldiers' ,councils1 we had at our disposal such an organization for revolution as the ,blanquists could not even dream of2 in our party we had1 and have1 an invaluable organization of political leadership with a perfected programme of the social revolution4 ,finally1 we had1 and have1 a powerful apparatus of economic transformation in our trade unions1 which stand as a whole under the banner of ,communism1 and support the ,soviet ,government4 ,under such conditions1 to talk of the renaissance of ,proudhonist prejudices in the shape of ,bolshevism can only take place when one has lost all traces of theoretical honesty and historical understanding4 ,,the ,,imperialist ,,transformation ,,of ,,democracy ,it is not for nothing that the word democracy has a double meaning in the political vocabulary4 ,on the one hand1 it means a state system founded on universal suffrage and the other attributes of formal popular government4 ,on the other hand1 by the word democracy is understood the mass of the people itself1 in so far as it leads a political existence4 ,in the second sense1 as in the first1 the meaning of democracy rises above class distinctions4 ,this peculiarity of terminology has its profound political significance4 ,democracy as a political system is the more perfect and unshakable the greater is the part played in the life of the country by the intermediate and less differentiated mass of the population--the lower middle-class of the town and the country4 ,democracy achieved its highest expression in the nineteenth century in ,switzerland and the ,united ,states of ,north ,america4 ,on the other side of the ocean the democratic organization of power in a federal republic was based on the agrarian democracy of the farmers4 ,in the small ,helvetian ,republic1 the lower middle-classes of the towns and the rich peasantry constituted the basis of the conservative democracy of the united cantons4 ,born of the struggle of the ,third ,estate against the powers of feudalism1 the democratic ,state very soon becomes the weapon of defence against the class antagonisms generated within bourgeois society4 ,bourgeois society succeeds in this the more1 the wider beneath it is the layer of the lower middle-class1 the greater is the importance of the latter in the economic life of the country1 and the less advanced1 consequently1 is the development of class antagonism4 ,however1 the intermediate classes become ever more and more helplessly behind historical development1 and1 thereby1 become ever more and more incapable of speaking in the name of the nation4 ,true1 the lower middle-class doctrinaires 7,bernstein and ,company7 used to demonstrate with satisfaction that the disappearance of the middle-classes was not taking place with that swiftness that was expected by the ,marxian school4 ,and1 in reality1 one might agree that1 numerically1 the middle-class elements in the town1 and especially in the country1 still maintain an extremely prominent position4 ,but the chief meaning of evolution has shown itself in the decline in importance on the part of the middle-classes from the point of view of production3 the amount of values which this class brings to the general income of the nation has fallen incomparably more rapidly than the numerical strength of the middle-classes4 ,correspondingly1 falls their social1 political1 and cultural importance4 ,historical development has been relying more and more1 not on these conservative elements inherited from the past1 but on the polar classes of society--i4e41 the capitalist bourgeoisie and the proletariat4 ,the more the middle-classes lost their social importance1 the less they proved capable of playing the part of an authoritative arbitral judge in the historical conflict between capital and labor4 ,yet the very considerable numerical proportion of the town middle-classes1 and still more of the peasantry1 continues to find direct expression in the electoral statistics of parliamentarism4 ,the formal equality of all citizens as electors thereby only gives more open indication of the incapacity of democratic parliamentarism to settle the root questions of historical evolution4 ,an equal vote for the proletariat1 the peasant1 and the manager of a trust formally placed the peasant in the position of a mediator between the two antagonists2 but1 in reality1 the peasantry1 socially and culturally backward and politically helpless1 has in all countries always provided support for the most reactionary1 filibustering1 and mercenary parties which1 in the long run1 always supported capital against labor4 ,absolutely contrary to all the prophecies of ,bernstein1 ,sombart1 ,tugan-,baranovsky1 and others1 the continued existence of the middle classes has not softened1 but has rendered to the last degree acute1 the revolutionary crisis of bourgeois society4 ,if the proletarianization of the lower middle-classes and the peasantry had been proceeding in a chemically purified form1 the peaceful conquest of power by the proletariat through the democratic parliamentary apparatus would have been much more probable than we can imagine at present4 ,just the fact that was seized upon by the partisans of the lower middle-class--its longevity--has proved fatal even for the external forms of political democracy1 now that capitalism has undermined its essential foundations4 ,occupying in parliamentary politics a place which it has lost in production1 the middle-class has finally compromised parliamentarism1 and has transformed it into an institution of confused chatter and legislative obstruction4 ,from this fact alone1 there grew up before the proletariat the problem of seizing the apparatus of state power as such1 independently of the middle-class1 and even against it--not against its interests1 but against its stupidity and its policy1 impossible to follow in its helpless contortions4 ,imperialism1 wrote ,marx of the ,empire of ,napoleon ,,iii1 is the most prostituted1 and1 at the same time1 perfected form of the state which the bourgeoisie1 having attained its fullest development1 transforms into a weapon for the enslavement of labor by capital4 ,this definition has a wider significance than for the ,french ,empire alone1 and includes the latest form of imperialism1 born of the world conflict between the national capitalisms of the great powers4 ,in the economic sphere1 imperialism pre-supposed the final collapse of the rule of the middle-class2 in the political sphere1 it signified the complete destruction of democracy by means of an internal molecular transformation1 and a universal subordination of all democracy's resources to its own ends4 ,seizing upon all countries1 independently of their previous political history1 imperialism showed that all political prejudices were foreign to it1 and that it was equally ready and capable of making use1 after their transformation and subjection1 of the monarchy of ,nicholas ,romanoff or ,wilhelm ,hohenzollern1 of the presidential autocracy of the ,united ,states of ,north ,america1 and of the helplessness of a few hundred chocolate legislators in the ,french parliament4 ,the last great slaughter--the bloody font in which the bourgeois world attempted to be re-baptised--presented to us a picture1 unparalleled in history1 of the mobilization of all state forms1 systems of government1 political tendencies1 religious1 and schools of philosophy1 in the service of imperialism4 ,even many of those pedants who slept through the preparatory period of imperialist development during the last decades1 and continued to maintain a traditional attitude towards ideas of democracy and universal suffrage1 began to feel during the war that their accustomed ideas had become fraught with some new meaning4 ,absolutism1 parliamentary monarchy1 democracy--in the presence of imperialism 7and1 consequently1 in the presence of the revolution rising to take its place71 all the state forms of bourgeois supremacy1 from ,russian ,tsarism to ,north ,american quasi-democratic federalism1 have been given equal rights1 bound up in such combinations as to supplement one another in an indivisible whole4 ,imperialism succeeded by means of all the resources it had at its disposal1 including parliamentarism1 irrespective of the electoral arithmetic of voting1 to subordinate for its own purposes at the critical moment the lower middle-classes of the towns and country and even the upper layers of the proletariat4 ,the national idea1 under the watchword of which the ,third ,estate rose to power1 found in the imperialist war its rebirth in the watchword of national defence4 ,with unexpected clearness1 national ideology flamed up for the last time at the expense of class ideology4 ,the collapse of imperialist illusions1 not only amongst the vanquished1 but--after a certain delay--amongst the victorious also1 finally laid low what was once national democracy1 and1 with it1 its main weapon1 the democratic parliament4 ,the flabbiness1 rottenness1 and helplessness of the middle-classes and their parties everywhere became evident with terrifying clearness4 ,in all countries the question of the control of the ,state assumed first-class importance as a question of an open measuring of forces between the capitalist clique1 openly or secretly supreme and disposing of hundreds of thousands of mobilized and hardened officers1 devoid of all scruple1 and the revolting1 revolutionary proletariat2 while the intermediate classes were living in a state of terror1 confusion1 and prostration4 ,under such conditions1 what pitiful nonsense are speeches about the peaceful conquest of power by the proletariat by means of democratic parliamentarism6 ,the scheme of the political situation on a world scale is quite clear4 ,the bourgeoisie1 which has brought the nations1 exhausted and bleeding to death1 to the brink of destruction--particularly the victorious bourgeoisie--has displayed its complete inability to bring them out of their terrible situation1 and1 thereby1 its incompatibility with the future development of humanity4 ,all the intermediate political groups1 including here first and foremost the social-patriotic parties1 are rotting alive4 ,the proletariat they have deceived is turning against them more and more every day1 and is becoming strengthened in its revolutionary convictions as the only power that can save the peoples from savagery and destruction4 ,however1 history has not at all secured1 just at this moment1 a formal parliamentary majority on the side of the party of the social revolution4 ,in other words1 history has not transformed the nation into a debating society solemnly voting the transition to the social revolution by a majority of votes4 ,on the contrary1 the violent revolution has become a necessity precisely because the imminent requirements of history are helpless to find a road through the apparatus of parliamentary democracy4 ,the capitalist bourgeois calculates3 while ,i have in my hands lands1 factories1 workshops1 banks2 while ,i possess newspapers1 universities1 schools2 while--and this most important of all--,i retain control of the army3 the apparatus of democracy1 however you reconstruct it1 will remain obedient to my will4 ,i subordinate to my interests spiritually the stupid1 conservative1 characterless lower middle-class1 just as it is subjected to me materially4 ,i oppress1 and will oppress1 its imagination by the gigantic scale of my buildings1 my transactions1 my plans1 and my crimes4 ,for moments when it is dissatisfied and murmurs1 ,i have created scores of safety-valves and lightning-conductors4 ,at the right moment ,i will bring into existence opposition parties1 which will disappear to-morrow1 but which to-day accomplish their mission by affording the possibility of the lower middle-class expressing their indignation without hurt therefrom for capitalism4 ,i shall hold the masses of the people1 under cover of compulsory general education1 on the verge of complete ignorance1 giving them no opportunity of rising above the level which my experts in spiritual slavery consider safe4 ,i will corrupt1 deceive1 and terrorize the more privileged or the more backward of the proletariat itself4 ,by means of these measures1 ,i shall not allow the vanguard of the working class to gain the ear of the majority of the working class1 while the necessary weapons of mastery and terrorism remain in my hands4 ,to this the revolutionary proletarian replies3 ,consequently1 the first condition of salvation is to tear the weapons of domination out of the hands of the bourgeoisie4 ,it is hopeless to think of a peaceful arrival to power while the bourgeoisie retains in its hands all the apparatus of power4 ,three times over hopeless is the idea of coming to power by the path which the bourgeoisie itself indicates and1 at the same time1 barricades--the path of parliamentary democracy4 ,there is only one way3 to seize power1 taking away from the bourgeoisie the material apparatus of government4 ,independently of the superficial balance of forces in parliament1 ,i shall take over for social administration the chief forces and resources of production4 ,i shall free the mind of the lower middle-class from their capitalist hypnosis4 ,i shall show them in practice what is the meaning of ,socialist production4 ,then even the most backward1 the most ignorant1 or most terrorized sections of the nation will support me1 and willingly and intelligently will join in the work of social construction4 ,when the ,russian ,soviet ,government dissolved the ,constituent ,assembly1 that fact seemed to the leading ,social-,democrats of ,western ,europe1 if not the beginning of the end of the world1 at all events a rude and arbitrary break with all the previous developments of ,socialism4 ,in reality1 it was only the inevitable outcome of the new position resulting from imperialism and the war4 ,if ,russian ,communism was the first to enter the path of casting up theoretical and practical accounts1 this was due to the same historical reasons which forced the ,russian proletariat to be the first to enter the path of the struggle for power4 ,all that has happened since then in ,europe bears witness to the fact that we drew the right conclusion4 ,to imagine that democracy can be restored in its general purity means that one is living in a pitiful1 reactionary utopia4 ,,the ,,metaphysics ,,of ,,democracy ,feeling the historical ground shaking under his feet on the question of democracy1 ,kautsky crosses to the ground of metaphysics4 ,instead of inquiring into what is1 he deliberates about what ought to be4 ,the principles of democracy--the sovereignty of the people1 universal and equal suffrage1 personal liberties--appear1 as presented to him1 in a halo of moral duty4 ,they are turned from their historical meaning and presented as unalterable and sacred things-in-themselves4 ,this metaphysical fall from grace is not accidental4 ,it is instructive that the late ,plekhanov1 a merciless enemy of ,kantism at the best period of his activity1 attempted at the end of his life1 when the wave of patriotism had washed over him1 to clutch at the straw of the categorical imperative4 ,that real democracy with which the ,german people is now making practical acquaintance ,kautsky confronts with a kind of ideal democracy1 as he would confront a common phenomenon with the thing-in-itself4 ,kautsky indicates with certitude not one country in which democracy is really capable of guaranteeing a painless transition to ,socialism4 ,but he does know1 and firmly1 that such democracy ought to exist4 ,the present ,german ,national ,assembly1 that organ of helplessness1 reactionary malice1 and degraded solicitations1 is confronted by ,kautsky with a different1 real1 true ,national ,assembly1 which possesses all virtues--excepting the small virtue of reality4 ,the doctrine of formal democracy is not scientific ,socialism1 but the theory of so-called natural law4 ,the essence of the latter consists in the recognition of eternal and unchanging standards of law1 which among different peoples and at different periods find a different1 more or less limited and distorted expression4 ,the natural law of the latest history--i4e41 as it emerged from the middle ages--included first of all a protest against class privileges1 the abuse of despotic legislation1 and the other artificial products of feudal positive law4 ,the theoreticians of the1 as yet1 weak ,third ,estate expressed its class interests in a few ideal standards1 which later on developed into the teaching of democracy1 acquiring at the same time an individualist character4 ,the individual is absolute2 all persons have the right of expressing their thoughts in speech and print2 every man must enjoy equal electoral rights4 ,as a battle cry against feudalism1 the demand for democracy had a progressive character4 ,as time went on1 however1 the metaphysics of natural law 7the theory of formal democracy7 began to show its reactionary side--the establishment of an ideal standard to control the real demands of the laboring masses and the revolutionary parties4 ,if we look back to the historical sequence of world concepts1 the theory of natural law will prove to be a paraphrase of ,christian spiritualism freed from its crude mysticism4 ,the ,gospels proclaimed to the slave that he had just the same soul as the slave-owner1 and in this way established the equality of all men before the heavenly tribunal4 ,in reality1 the slave remained a slave1 and obedience became for him a religious duty4 ,in the teaching of ,christianity1 the slave found an expression for his own ignorant protest against his degraded condition4 ,side by side with the protest was also the consolation4 ,christianity told him3--,you have an immortal soul1 although you resemble a pack-horse4 ,here sounded the note of indignation4 ,but the same ,christianity said3--,although you are like a pack-horse1 yet your immortal soul has in store for it an eternal reward4 ,here is the voice of consolation4 ,these two notes were found in historical ,christianity in different proportions at different periods and amongst different classes4 ,but as a whole1 ,christianity1 like all other religions1 became a method of deadening the consciousness of the oppressed masses4 ,natural law1 which developed into the theory of democracy1 said to the worker3 all men are equal before the law1 independently of their origin1 their property1 and their position2 every man has an equal right in determining the fate of the people4 ,this ideal criterion revolutionized the consciousness of the masses in so far as it was a condemnation of absolutism1 aristocratic privileges1 and the property qualification4 ,but the longer it went on1 the more it sent the consciousness to sleep1 legalizing poverty1 slavery and degradation3 for how could one revolt against slavery when every man has an equal right in determining the fate of the nation8 ,rothschild1 who has coined the blood and tears of the world into the gold napoleons of his income1 has one vote at the parliamentary elections4 ,the ignorant tiller of the soil who cannot sign his name1 sleeps all his life without taking his clothes off1 and wanders through society like an underground mole1 plays his part1 however1 as a trustee of the nation's sovereignty1 and is equal to ,rothschild in the courts and at the elections4 ,in the real conditions of life1 in the economic process1 in social relations1 in their way of life1 people became more and more unequal2 dazzling luxury was accumulated at one pole1 poverty and hopelessness at the other4 ,but in the sphere of the legal edifice of the ,state1 these glaring contradictions disappeared1 and there penetrated thither only unsubstantial legal shadows4 ,the landlord1 the laborer1 the capitalist1 the proletarian1 the minister1 the bootblack--all are equal as citizens and as legislators4 ,the mystic equality of ,christianity has taken one step down from the heavens in the shape of the natural1 legal equality of democracy4 ,but it has not yet reached earth1 where lie the economic foundations of society4 ,for the ignorant day-laborer1 who all his life remains a beast of burden in the service of the bourgeoisie1 the ideal right to influence the fate of the nations by means of the parliamentary elections remained little more real than the palace which he was promised in the kingdom of heaven4 ,in the practical interests of the development of the working class1 the ,socialist ,party took its stand at a certain period on the path of parliamentarism4 ,but this did not mean in the slightest that it accepted in principle the metaphysical theory of democracy1 based on extra-historical1 super-class rights4 ,the proletarian doctrines examined democracy as the instrument of bourgeois society entirely adapted to the problems and requirements of the ruling classes2 but as bourgeois society lived by the labor of the proletariat and could not deny it the legalization of a certain part of its class struggle without destroying itself1 this gave the ,socialist ,party the possibility of utilizing1 at a certain period1 and within certain limits1 the mechanism of democracy1 without taking an oath to do so as an unshakable principle4 ,the root problem of the party1 at all periods of its struggle1 was to create the conditions for real1 economic1 living equality for mankind as members of a united human commonwealth4 ,it was just for this reason that the theoreticians of the proletariat had to expose the metaphysics of democracy as a philosophic mask for political mystification4 ,the democratic party at the period of its revolutionary enthusiasm1 when exposing the enslaving and stupefying lie of church dogma1 preached to the masses3--,you are lulled to sleep by promises of eternal bliss at the end of your life1 while here you have no rights and you are bound with the chains of tyranny4 ,the ,socialist ,party1 a few decades later1 said to the same masses with no less right3--,you are lulled to sleep with the fiction of civic equality and political rights1 but you are deprived of the possibility of realizing those rights4 ,conditional and shadowy legal equality has been transformed into the convicts' chain with which each of you is fastened to the chariot of capitalism4 ,in the name of its fundamental task1 the ,socialist ,party mobilized the masses on the parliamentary ground as well as on others2 but nowhere and at no time did any party bind itself to bring the masses to ,socialism only through the gates of democracy4 ,in adapting ourselves to the parliamentary regime1 we stopped at a theoretical exposure of democracy1 because we were still too weak to overcome it in practice4 ,but the path of ,socialist ideas which is visible through all deviations1 and even betrayals1 foreshadows no other outcome but this3 to throw democracy aside and replace it by the mechanism of the proletariat1 at the moment when the latter is strong enough to carry out such a task4 ,we shall bring one piece of evidence1 albeit a sufficiently striking one4 ,parliamentarism1 wrote ,paul ,lafargue in the ,russian review1 ,sozialdemokrat1 in #ahhh1 is a system of government in which the people acquires the illusion that it is controlling the forces of the country itself1 when1 in reality1 the actual power is concentrated in the hands of the bourgeoisie--and not even of the whole bourgeoisie1 but only of certain sections of that class4 ,in the first period of its supremacy the bourgeoisie does not understand1 or1 more correctly1 does not feel1 the necessity for making the people believe in the illusion of self-government4 ,hence it was that all the parliamentary countries of ,europe began with a limited franchise4 ,everywhere the right of influencing the policy of the country by means of the election of deputies belonged at first only to more or less large property holders1 and was only gradually extended to less substantial citizens1 until finally in some countries it became from a privilege the universal right of all and sundry4 ,in bourgeois society1 the more considerable becomes the amount of social wealth1 the smaller becomes the number of individuals by whom it is appropriated4 ,the same takes place with power3 in proportion as the mass of citizens who possess political rights increases1 and the number of elected rulers increases1 the actual power is concentrated and becomes the monopoly of a smaller and smaller group of individuals4 ,such is the secret of the majority4 ,for the ,marxist1 ,lafargue1 parliamentarism remains as long as the supremacy of the bourgeoisie remains4 ,on the day1 writes ,lafargue1 when the proletariat of ,europe and ,america seizes the ,state1 it will have to organize a revolutionary government1 and govern society as a dictatorship1 until the bourgeoisie has disappeared as a class4 ,kautsky in his time knew this ,marxist estimate of parliamentarism1 and more than once repeated it himself1 although with no such ,gallic sharpness and lucidity4 ,the theoretical apostasy of ,kautsky lies just in this point3 having recognized the principle of democracy as absolute and eternal1 he has stepped back from materialist dialectics to natural law4 ,that which was exposed by ,marxism as the passing mechanism of the bourgeoisie1 and was subjected only to temporary utilization with the object of preparing the proletarian revolution1 has been newly sanctified by ,kautsky as the supreme principle standing above classes1 and unconditionally subordinating to itself the methods of the proletarian struggle4 ,the counter-revolutionary degeneration of parliamentarism finds its most perfect expression in the deification of democracy by the decaying theoreticians of the ,second ,international4 ,,the ,,constituent ,,assembly ,speaking generally1 the attainment of a majority in a democratic parliament by the party of the proletariat is not an absolute impossibility4 ,but such a fact1 even if it were realized1 would not introduce any new principle into the course of events4 ,the intermediate elements of the intelligentsia1 under the influence of the parliamentary victory of the proletariat1 might possibly display less resistance to the new regime4 ,but the fundamental resistance of the bourgeoisie would be decided by such facts as the attitude of the army1 the degree to which the workers were armed1 the situation in the neighboring states3 and the civil war would develop under the pressure of these most real circumstances1 and not by the mobile arithmetic of parliamentarism4 ,our party has never refused to lead the way for proletarian dictatorship through the gates of democracy1 having clearly summed up in its mind certain agitational and political advantages of such a legalized transition to the new regime4 ,hence1 our attempt to call the ,constituent ,assembly4 ,the ,russian peasant1 only just awakened by the revolution to political life1 found himself face to face with half a dozen parties1 each of which apparently had made up its mind to confuse his mind4 ,the ,constituent ,assembly placed itself across the path of the revolutionary movement1 and was swept aside4 ,the opportunist majority in the ,constituent ,assembly represented only the political reflection of the mental confusion and indecision which reigned amidst the middle-classes in the town and country and amidst the more backward elements of the proletariat4 ,if we take the viewpoint of isolated historical possibilities1 one might say that it would have been more painless if the ,constituent ,assembly had worked for a year or two1 had finally discredited the ,socialist-,revolutionaries and the ,mensheviks by their connection with the ,cadets1 and had thereby led to the formal majority of the ,bolsheviks1 showing the masses that in reality only two forces existed3 the revolutionary proletariat1 led by the ,communists1 and the counter-revolutionary democracy1 headed by the generals and the admirals4 ,but the point is that the pulse of the internal relations of the revolution was beating not at all in time with the pulse of the development of its external relations4 ,if our party had thrown all responsibility on to the objective formula of the course of events the development of military operations might have forestalled us4 ,german imperialism might have seized ,petrograd1 the evacuation of which the ,kerensky ,government had already begun4 ,the fall of ,petrograd would at that time have meant a death-blow to the proletariat1 for all the best forces of the revolution were concentrated there1 in the ,baltic ,fleet and in the ,red capital4 99 99 99 99 99 ,our party may be accused1 therefore1 not of going against the course of historical development1 but of having taken at a stride several political steps4 ,it stepped over the heads of the ,mensheviks and the ,socialist-,revolutionaries1 in order not to allow ,german imperialism to step across the head of the ,russian proletariat and conclude peace with the ,entente on the back of the revolution before it was able to spread its wings over the whole world4 ,from the above it will not be difficult to deduce the answers to the two questions with which ,kautsky pestered us4 ,firstly3 ,why did we summon the ,constituent ,assembly when we had in view the dictatorship of the proletariat8 ,secondly3 ,if the first ,constituent ,assembly which we summoned proved backward and not in harmony with the interests of the revolution1 why did we reject the idea of a new ,assembly8 ,the thought at the back of ,kautsky's mind is that we repudiated democracy1 not on the ground of principle1 but only because it proved against us4 ,in order to seize this insinuation by its long ears1 let us establish the facts4 ,the watchword1 ,all power to the ,soviets1 was put forward by our ,party at the very beginning of the revolution--i4e41 long before1 not merely the decree as to the dissolution of the ,constituent ,assembly1 but the decree as to its convocation4 ,true1 we did not set up the ,soviets in opposition to the future ,constituent ,assembly1 the summoning of which was constantly postponed by the ,government of ,kerensky1 and consequently became more and more problematical4 ,but in any case1 we did not consider the ,constituent ,assembly1 after the manner of the democrats1 as the future master of the ,russian land1 who would come and settle everything4 ,we explained to the masses that the ,soviets1 the revolutionary organizations of the laboring masses themselves1 can and must become the true masters4 ,if we did not formally repudiate the ,constituent ,assembly beforehand1 it was only because it stood in contrast1 not to the power of the ,soviets1 but to the power of ,kerensky himself1 who1 in his turn1 was only a screen for the bourgeoisie4 ,at the same time we did decide beforehand that1 if1 in the ,constituent ,assembly1 the majority proved in our favor1 that body must dissolve itself and hand over the power to the ,soviets--as later on the ,petrograd ,town ,council did1 elected as it was on the basis of the most democratic electoral franchise4 ,in my book on the ,october ,revolution1 ,i tried to explain the reasons which made the ,constituent ,assembly the out-of-date reflection of an epoch through which the revolution had already passed4 ,as we saw the organization of revolutionary power only in the ,soviets1 and at the moment of the summoning of the ,constituent ,assembly the ,soviets were already the de facto power1 the question was inevitably decided for us in the sense of the violent dissolution of the ,constituent ,assembly1 since it would not dissolve itself in favor of the ,government of the ,soviets4 ,but why1 asks ,kautsky1 did you not summon a new ,constituent ,assembly8 ,because we saw no need for it4 ,if the first ,constituent ,assembly could still play a fleeting progressive part1 conferring a sanction upon the ,soviet regime in its first days1 convincing for the middle-class elements1 now1 after two years of victorious proletarian dictatorship and the complete collapse of all democratic attempts in ,siberia1 on the shores of the ,white ,sea1 in the ,ukraine1 and in the ,caucasus1 the power of the ,soviets truly does not need the blessing of the faded authority of the ,constituent ,assembly4 ,are we not right in that case to conclude1 asks ,kautsky in the tone of ,lloyd ,george1 that the ,soviet ,government rules by the will of the minority1 since it avoids testing its supremacy by universal suffrage8 ,here is a blow that misses its mark4 ,if the parliamentary regime1 even in the period of peaceful1 stable development1 was a rather crude method of discovering the opinion of the country1 and in the epoch of revolutionary storm completely lost its capacity to follow the course of the struggle and the development of revolutionary consciousness1 the ,soviet regime1 which is more closely1 straightly1 honestly bound up with the toiling majority of the people1 does achieve meaning1 not in statically reflecting a majority1 but in dynamically creating it4 ,having taken its stand on the path of revolutionary dictatorship1 the working class of ,russia has thereby declared that it builds its policy in the period of transition1 not on the shadowy art of rivalry with chameleon-hued parties in the chase for peasant votes1 but on the actual attraction of the peasant masses1 side by side with the proletariat1 into the work of ruling the country in the real interests of the laboring masses4 ,such democracy goes a little deeper down than parliamentarism4 ,to-day1 when the main problem--the question of life and death--of the revolution consists in the military repulse of the various attacks of the ,white ,guard bands1 does ,kautsky imagine that any form of parliamentary majority is capable of guaranteeing a more energetic1 devoted1 and successful organization of revolutionary defence8 ,the conditions of the struggle are so defined1 in a revolutionary country throttled by the criminal ring of the blockade1 that all the middle-class groups are confronted only with the alternative of ,denikin or the ,soviet ,government4 ,what further proof is needed when even parties1 which stand for compromise in principle1 like the ,mensheviks and the ,socialist-,revolutionaries1 have split along that very line8 ,when suggesting to us the election of a ,constituent ,assembly1 does ,kautsky propose the stopping of the civil war for the purpose of the elections8 ,by whose decision8 ,if he intends for this purpose to bring into motion the authority of the ,second ,international1 we hasten to inform him that that institution enjoys in ,denikin's camp only a little more authority than it does in ours4 ,but to the extent that the civil war between the ,workers' and ,peasants' ,army and the imperialist bands is still going on1 the elections must of necessity be limited to ,soviet territory4 ,does ,kautsky desire to insist that we should allow the parties which support ,denikin to come out into the open8 ,empty and contemptible chatter6 ,there is not one government1 at any time and under any conditions1 which would allow its enemies to mobilize hostile forces in the rear of its armies4 ,a not unimportant place in the discussion of the question is occupied by the fact that the flower of the laboring population is at present on active service4 ,the foremost workers and the most class-conscious peasants1 who take the first place at all elections1 as in all important political activities1 directing the public opinion of the workers1 are at present fighting and dying as commanders1 commissars1 or rank and file in the ,red ,army4 ,if the most democratic governments in the bourgeois states1 whose regime is founded on parliamentarism1 consider it impossible to carry on elections to parliament in wartime1 it is all the more senseless to demand such elections during the war of the ,soviet ,republic1 the regime of which is not for one moment founded on parliamentarism4 ,it is quite sufficient that the revolutionary government of ,russia1 in the most difficult months and times1 never stood in the way of periodic re-elections of its own elective institutions--the local and central ,soviets4 ,finally1 as a last argument--the last and the least--we have to present to the notice of ,kautsky that even the ,russian ,kautskians1 the ,mensheviks like ,martov and ,dan1 do not consider it possible to put forward at the present moment a demand for a ,constituent ,assembly1 postponing it to better times in the future4 ,will there be any need of it then8 ,of this one may be permitted to doubt4 ,when the civil war is over1 the dictatorship of the working class will disclose all its creative energy1 and will1 in practice1 show the most backward masses what it can give them4 ,by means of a systematically applied universal labor service1 and a centralized organization of distribution1 the whole population of the country will be drawn into the general ,soviet system of economic arrangement and self-government4 ,the ,soviets themselves1 at present the organs of government1 will gradually melt into purely economic organizations4 ,under such conditions it is doubtful whether any one will think of erecting1 over the real fabric of ,socialist society1 an archaic crown in the shape of the ,constituent ,assembly1 which would only have to register the fact that everything necessary has already been constituted before it and without it4#c #c ,in order to charm us in favor of a ,constituent ,assembly ,kautsky brings forward an argument based on the rate of exchange to the assistance of his argument1 based on the categorical imperative4 ,russia requires1 he writes1 the help of foreign capital1 but this help will not come to the ,soviet ,republic if the latter does not summon a ,constituent ,assembly1 and does not give freedom of the ,press2 not because the capitalists are democratic idealists--to ,tsarism they gave without any hesitation many milliards--but because they have no business faith in a revolutionary government4 7,page #bah47 ,there are scraps of truth in this rubbish4 ,the ,stock ,exchange did really support the government of ,kolchak when it relied for support on the ,constituent ,assembly4 ,from its experience of ,kolchak the ,stock ,exchange became confirmed in its conviction that the mechanism of bourgeois democracy can be utilized in capitalist interests1 and then thrown aside like a worn-out pair of puttees4 ,it is quite possible that the ,stock ,exchange would again give a parliamentary loan on the guarantee of a ,constituent ,assembly1 believing1 on the basis of its former experience1 that such a body would prove only an intermediate step to capitalist dictatorship4 ,we do not propose to buy the business faith of the ,stock ,exchange at such a price1 and decidedly prefer the faith which is aroused in the realist ,stock ,exchange by the weapon of the ,red ,army4 #d ,,terrorism ,the chief theme of ,kautsky's book is terrorism4 ,the view that terrorism is of the essence of revolution ,kautsky proclaims to be a widespread delusion4 ,it is untrue that he who desires revolution must put up with terrorism4 ,as far as he1 ,kautsky1 is concerned1 he is1 generally speaking1 for revolution1 but decidedly against terrorism4 ,from there1 however1 complications begin4 ,the revolution brings us1 ,kautsky complains1 a bloody terrorism carried out by ,socialist governments4 ,the ,bolsheviks in ,russia first stepped on to this path1 and were1 consequently1 sternly condemned by all ,socialists who had not adopted the ,bolshevik point of view1 including the ,socialists of the ,german ,majority4 ,but as soon as the latter found themselves threatened in their supremacy1 they had recourse to the methods of the same terrorist regime which they attacked in the ,east4 7,page #i47 ,it would seem that from this follows the conclusion that terrorism is much more profoundly bound up with the nature of revolution than certain sages think4 ,but ,kautsky makes an absolutely opposite conclusion4 ,the gigantic development of ,white and ,red terrorism in all the last revolutions--the ,russian1 the ,german1 the ,austrian1 and the ,hungarian--is evidence to him that these revolutions turned aside from their true path and turned out to be not the revolution they ought to have been according to the theoretical visions of ,kautsky4 ,without going into the question whether terrorism as such is immanent to the revolution as such1 let us consider a few of the revolutions as they pass before us in the living history of mankind4 ,let us first regard the religious ,reformation1 which proved the watershed between the ,middle ,ages and modern history3 the deeper were the interests of the masses that it involved1 the wider was its sweep1 the more fiercely did the civil war develop under the religious banner1 and the more merciless did the terror become on the other side4 ,in the seventeenth century ,england carried out two revolutions4 ,the first1 which brought forth great social upheavals and wars1 brought amongst other things the execution of ,king ,charles ,i1 while the second ended happily with the accession of a new dynasty4 ,the ,british bourgeoisie and its historians maintain quite different attitudes to these two revolutions3 the first is for them a rising of the mob--the ,great ,rebellion2 the second has been handed down under the title of the ,glorious ,revolution4 ,the reason for this difference in estimates was explained by the ,french historian1 ,augustin ,thierry4 ,in the first ,english revolution1 in the ,great ,rebellion1 the active force was the people2 while in the second it was almost silent4 ,hence1 it follows that1 in surroundings of class slavery1 it is difficult to teach the oppressed masses good manners4 ,when provoked to fury they use clubs1 stones1 fire1 and the rope4 ,the court historians of the exploiters are offended at this4 ,but the great event in modern bourgeois history is1 none the less1 not the ,glorious ,revolution1 but the ,great ,rebellion4 ,the greatest event in modern history after the ,reformation and the ,great ,rebellion1 and far surpassing its two predecessors in significance1 was the great ,french ,revolution of the eighteenth century4 ,to this classical revolution there was a corresponding classical terrorism4 ,kautsky is ready to forgive the terrorism of the ,jacobins1 acknowledging that they had no other way of saving the republic4 ,but by this justification after the event no one is either helped or hindered4 ,the ,kautskies of the end of the eighteenth century 7the leaders of the ,french ,girondists7 saw in the ,jacobins the personification of evil4 ,here is a comparison1 sufficiently instructive in its banality1 between the ,jacobins and the ,girondists from the pen of one of the bourgeois ,french historians3 ,both one side and the other desired the republic4 ,but the ,girondists desired a free1 legal1 and merciful republic4 ,the ,montagnards desired a despotic and terrorist republic4 ,both stood for the supreme power of the people2 but the ,girondist justly understood all by the people1 while the ,montagnards considered only the working class to be the people4 ,that was why only to such persons1 in the opinion of the ,montagnards1 did the supremacy belong4 ,the antithesis between the noble champions of the ,constituent ,assembly and the bloodthirsty agents of the revolutionary dictatorship is here outlined fairly clearly1 although in the political terms of the epoch4 ,the iron dictatorship of the ,jacobins was evoked by the monstrously difficult position of revolutionary ,france4 ,here is what the bourgeois historian says of this period3 ,foreign troops had entered ,french territory from four sides4 ,in the north1 the ,british and the ,austrians1 in ,alsace1 the ,prussians1 in ,dauphine and up to ,lyons1 the ,piedmontese1 in ,roussillon the ,spaniards4 ,and this at a time1 when civil war was raging at four different points3 in ,normandy1 in the ,vendee1 at ,lyons1 and at ,toulon4 7,page #agf74 ,to this we must add internal enemies in the form of numerous secret supporters of the old regime1 ready by all methods to assist the enemy4 ,the severity of the proletarian dictatorship in ,russia1 let us point out here1 was conditioned by no less difficult circumstances4 ,there was one continuous front1 on the north and south1 in the east and west4 ,besides the ,russian ,white ,guard armies of ,kolchak1 ,denikin and others1 there are attacking ,soviet ,russia1 simultaneously or in turn3 ,germans1 ,austrians1 ,czecho-,slovaks1 ,serbs1 ,poles1 ,ukrainians1 ,roumanians1 ,french1 ,british1 ,americans1 ,japanese1 ,finns1 ,esthonians1 ,lithuanians4444 ,in a country throttled by a blockade and strangled by hunger1 there are conspiracies1 risings1 terrorist acts1 and destruction of roads and bridges4 ,the government which had taken on itself the struggle with countless external and internal enemies had neither money1 nor sufficient troops1 nor anything except boundless energy1 enthusiastic support on the part of the revolutionary elements of the country1 and the gigantic courage to take all measures necessary for the safety of the country1 however arbitrary and severe they were4 ,in such words did once upon a time ,plekhanov describe the government of the--,jacobins4 7,sozial-demokrat1 a quarterly review of literature and politics4 ,book ,i1 ,february1 #ahij1 ,london4 ,the article on ,the ,centenary of the ,great ,revolution1 pages #f-g74 ,let us now turn to the revolution which took place in the second half of the nineteenth century1 in the country of democracy--in the ,united ,states of ,north ,america4 ,although the question was not the abolition of property altogether1 but only of the abolition of property in negroes1 nevertheless1 the institutions of democracy proved absolutely powerless to decide the argument in a peaceful way4 ,the southern states1 defeated at the presidential elections in #ahfj1 decided by all possible means to regain the influence they had hitherto exerted in the question of slave-owning2 and uttering1 as was right1 the proper sounding words about freedom and independence1 rose in a slave-owners' insurrection4 ,hence inevitably followed all the later consequences of civil war4 ,at the very beginning of the struggle1 the military government in ,baltimore imprisoned in ,fort ,mac,henry a few citizens1 sympathizers with the slave-holding ,south1 in spite of ,habeas ,corpus4 ,the question of the lawfulness or the unlawfulness of such action became the object of fierce disputes between so-called high authorities4 ,the judge of the ,supreme ,court1 decided that the ,president had neither the right to arrest the operation of ,habeas ,corpus nor to give plenipotentiary powers to that end to the military authorities4 ,such1 in all probability1 is the correct ,constitutional solution of the question1 says one of the first historians of the ,american ,civil ,war4 ,but the state of affairs was to such a degree critical1 and the necessity of taking decisive measures against the population of ,baltimore so great1 that not only the ,government but the people of the ,united ,states also supported the most energetic measures4#d #d 7,the ,history of the ,american ,war1 by ,fletcher1 ,lieut4-,colonel in the ,scots ,guards1 ,st4 ,petersburg1 #ahfg1 page #ie47 ,some goods that the rebellious ,south required were secretly supplied by the merchants of the ,north4 ,naturally1 the ,northerners had no other course but to introduce methods of repression4 ,on ,august #f1 #ahfa1 the ,president confirmed a resolution of ,congress as to the confiscation of property used for insurrectionary purposes4 ,the people1 in the shape of the most democratic elements1 were in favor of extreme measures4 ,the ,republican ,party had a decided majority in the ,north1 and persons suspected of secessionism1 i4e41 of sympathizing with the rebellious ,southern states1 were subjected to violence4 ,in some northern towns1 and even in the states of ,new ,england1 famous for their order1 the people frequently burst into the offices of newspapers which supported the revolting slave-owners and smashed their printing presses4 ,it occasionally happened that reactionary publishers were smeared with tar1 decorated with feathers1 and carried in such array through the public squares until they swore an oath of loyalty to the ,union4 ,the personality of a planter smeared in tar bore little resemblance to the end-in-itself2 so that the categorical imperative of ,kautsky suffered in the civil war of the states a considerable blow4 ,but this is not all4 ,the government1 on its part1 the historian tells us1 adopted repressive measures of various kinds against publications holding views opposed to its own3 and in a short time the hitherto free ,american press was reduced to a condition scarcely superior to that prevailing in the autocratic ,european ,states4 ,the same fate overtook the freedom of speech4 ,in this way1 ,lieut4-,colonel ,fletcher continues1 the ,american people at this time denied itself the greater part of its freedom4 ,it should be observed1 he moralizes1 that the majority of the people was to such an extent occupied with the war1 and to such a degree imbued with the readiness for any kind of sacrifice to attain its end1 that it not only did not regret its vanished liberties1 but scarcely even noticed their disappearance4#e #e ,fletcher's ,history of the ,american ,war1 pages #afb-afd4 ,infinitely more ruthlessly did the bloodthirsty slave-owners of the ,south employ their uncontrollable hordes4 ,wherever there was a majority in favor of slavery1 writes the ,count of ,paris1 public opinion behaved despotically to the minority4 ,all who expressed pity for the national banner 444 were forced to be silent4 ,but soon this itself became insufficient2 as in all revolutions1 the indifferent were forced to express their loyalty to the new order of things4444 ,those who did not agree to this were given up as a sacrifice to the hatred and violence of the mass of the people4444 ,in each centre of growing civilization 7,south-,western states7 vigilance committees were formed1 composed of all those who had been distinguished by their extreme views in the electoral struggle4444 ,a tavern was the usual place of their sessions1 and a noisy orgy was mingled with a contemptible parody of public forms of justice4 ,a few madmen sitting around a desk on which gin and whisky flowed judged their present and absent fellow citizens4 ,the accused1 even before having been questioned1 could see the rope being prepared4 ,he who did not appear at the court learned his sentence when falling under the bullets of the executioner concealed in the forest4444 ,this picture is extremely reminiscent of the scenes which day by day took place in the camps of ,denikin1 ,kolchak1 ,yudenich1 and the other heroes of ,anglo-,franco-,american democracy4 ,we shall see later how the question of terrorism stood in regard to the ,paris ,commune of #ahga4 ,in any case1 the attempts of ,kautsky to contrast the ,commune with us are false at their very root1 and only bring the author to a juggling with words of the most petty character4 ,the institution of hostages apparently must be recognized as immanent in the terrorism of the civil war4 ,kautsky is against terrorism and against the institution of hostages1 but in favor of the ,paris ,commune4 7,n4,b4--,the ,commune existed fifty years ago47 ,yet the ,commune took hostages4 ,a difficulty arises4 ,but what does the art of exegesis exist for8 ,the decree of the ,commune concerning hostages and their execution in reply to the atrocities of the ,versaillese arose1 according to the profound explanation of ,kautsky1 from a striving to preserve human life1 not to destroy it4 ,a marvellous discovery6 ,it only requires to be developed4 ,it could1 and must1 be explained that in the civil war we destroyed ,white ,guards in order that they should not destroy the workers4 ,consequently1 our problem is not the destruction of human life1 but its preservation4 ,but as we have to struggle for the preservation of human life with arms in our hands1 it leads to the destruction of human life--a puzzle the dialectical secret of which was explained by old ,hegel1 without reckoning other still more ancient sages4 ,the ,commune could maintain itself and consolidate its position only by a determined struggle with the ,versaillese4 ,the latter1 on the other hand1 had a large number of agents in ,paris4 ,fighting with the agents of ,thiers1 the ,commune could not abstain from destroying the ,versaillese at the front and in the rear4 ,if its rule had crossed the bounds of ,paris1 in the provinces it would have found--during the process of the civil war with the ,army of the ,national ,assembly--still more determined foes in the midst of the peaceful population4 ,the ,commune when fighting the royalists could not allow freedom of speech to royalist agents in the rear4 ,kautsky1 in spite of all the happenings in the world to-day1 completely fails to realize what war is in general1 and the civil war in particular4 ,he does not understand that every1 or nearly every1 sympathizer with ,thiers in ,paris was not merely an opponent of the ,communards in ideas1 but an agent and spy of ,thiers1 a ferocious enemy ready to shoot one in the back4 ,the enemy must be made harmless1 and in wartime this means that he must be destroyed4 ,the problem of revolution1 as of war1 consists in breaking the will of the foe1 forcing him to capitulate and to accept the conditions of the conqueror4 ,the will1 of course1 is a fact of the physical world1 but in contradistinction to a meeting1 a dispute1 or a congress1 the revolution carries out its object by means of the employment of material resources--though to a less degree than war4 ,the bourgeoisie itself conquered power by means of revolts1 and consolidated it by the civil war4 ,in the peaceful period1 it retains power by means of a system of repression4 ,as long as class society1 founded on the most deep-rooted antagonisms1 continues to exist1 repression remains a necessary means of breaking the will of the opposing side4 ,even if1 in one country or another1 the dictatorship of the proletariat grew up within the external framework of democracy1 this would by no means avert the civil war4 ,the question as to who is to rule the country1 i4e41 of the life or death of the bourgeoisie1 will be decided on either side1 not by references to the paragraphs of the constitution1 but by the employment of all forms of violence4 ,however deeply ,kautsky goes into the question of the food of the anthropopithecus 7see page #abb et seq4 of his book7 and other immediate and remote conditions which determine the cause of human cruelty1 he will find in history no other way of breaking the class will of the enemy except the systematic and energetic use of violence4 ,the degree of ferocity of the struggle depends on a series of internal and international circumstances4 ,the more ferocious and dangerous is the resistance of the class enemy who have been overthrown1 the more inevitably does the system of repression take the form of a system of terror4 ,but here ,kautsky unexpectedly takes up a new position in his struggle with ,soviet terrorism4 ,he simply waves aside all reference to the ferocity of the counter-revolutionary opposition of the ,russian bourgeoisie4 ,such ferocity1 he says1 could not be noticed in ,november1 #aiag1 in ,petrograd and ,moscow1 and still less more recently in ,budapest4 7,page #adi47 ,with such a happy formulation of the question1 revolutionary terrorism merely proves to be a product of the blood-thirstiness of the ,bolsheviks1 who simultaneously abandoned the traditions of the vegetarian anthropopithecus and the moral lessons of ,kautsky4 ,the first conquest of power by the ,soviets at the beginning of ,november1 #aiag 7new style71 was actually accomplished with insignificant sacrifices4 ,the ,russian bourgeoisie found itself to such a degree estranged from the masses of the people1 so internally helpless1 so compromised by the course and the result of the war1 so demoralized by the regime of ,kerensky1 that it scarcely dared show any resistance4 ,in ,petrograd the power of ,kerensky was overthrown almost without a fight4 ,in ,moscow its resistance was dragged out1 mainly owing to the indecisive character of our own actions4 ,in the majority of the provincial towns1 power was transferred to the ,soviet on the mere receipt of a telegram from ,petrograd or ,moscow4 ,if the matter had ended there1 there would have been no word of the ,red ,terror4 ,but in ,november1 #aiag1 there was already evidence of the beginning of the resistance of the propertied classes4 ,true1 there was required the intervention of the imperialist governments of the ,west in order to give the ,russian counter-revolution faith in itself1 and to add ever-increasing power to its resistance4 ,this can be shown from facts1 both important and insignificant1 day by day during the whole epoch of the ,soviet revolution4 ,kerensky's ,staff felt no support forthcoming from the mass of the soldiery1 and was inclined to recognize the ,soviet ,government1 which had begun negotiations for an armistice with the ,germans4 ,but there followed the protest of the military missions of the ,entente1 followed by open threats4 ,the ,staff was frightened2 incited by ,allied officers1 it entered the path of opposition4 ,this led to armed conflict and to the murder of the chief of the field staff1 ,general ,dukhonin1 by a group of revolutionary sailors4 ,in ,petrograd1 the official agents of the ,entente1 especially the ,french ,military ,mission1 hand in hand with the ,s4,r4s and the ,mensheviks1 openly organized the opposition1 mobilizing1 arming1 inciting against us the cadets1 and the bourgeois youth generally1 from the second day of the ,soviet revolution4 ,the rising of the junkers on ,november #aj brought about a hundred times more victims than the revolution of ,november #g4 ,the campaign of the adventurers ,kerensky and ,krasnov against ,petrograd1 organized at the same time by the ,entente1 naturally introduced into the struggle the first elements of savagery4 ,nevertheless1 ,general ,krasnov was set free on his word of honor4 ,the ,yaroslav rising 7in the summer of #aiah7 which involved so many victims1 was organized by ,savinkov on the instructions of the ,french ,embassy1 and with its resources4 ,archangel was captured according to the plans of ,british naval agents1 with the help of ,british warships and aeroplanes4 ,the beginning of the empire of ,kolchak1 the nominee of the ,american ,stock ,exchange1 was brought about by the foreign ,czecho-,slovak ,corps maintained by the resources of the ,french ,government4 ,kaledin and ,krasnov 7liberated by us71 the first leaders of the counter-revolution on the ,don1 could enjoy partial success only thanks to the open military and financial aid of ,germany4 ,in the ,ukraine the ,soviet power was overthrown in the beginning of #aiah by ,german militarism4 ,the ,volunteer ,army of ,denikin was created with the financial and technical help of ,great ,britain and ,france4 ,only in the hope of ,british intervention and of ,british military support was ,yudenich's army created4 ,the politicians1 the diplomats1 and the journalists of the ,entente have for two years on end been debating with complete frankness the question of whether the financing of the civil war in ,russia is a sufficiently profitable enterprise4 ,in such circumstances1 one needs truly a brazen forehead to seek the reason for the sanguinary character of the civil war in ,russia in the malevolence of the ,bolsheviks1 and not in the international situation4 ,the ,russian proletariat was the first to enter the path of the social revolution1 and the ,russian bourgeoisie1 politically helpless1 was emboldened to struggle against its political and economic expropriation only because it saw its elder sister in all countries still in power1 and still maintaining economic1 political1 and1 to a certain extent1 military supremacy4 ,if our ,november revolution had taken place a few months1 or even a few weeks1 after the establishment of the rule of the proletariat in ,germany1 ,france1 and ,england1 there can be no doubt that our revolution would have been the most peaceful1 the most bloodless of all possible revolutions on this sinful earth4 ,but this historical sequence--the most natural at the first glance1 and1 in any case1 the most beneficial for the ,russian working class--found itself infringed--not through our fault1 but through the will of events4 ,instead of being the last1 the ,russian proletariat proved to be the first4 ,it was just this circumstance1 after the first period of confusion1 that imparted desperation to the character of the resistance of the classes which had ruled in ,russia previously1 and forced the ,russian proletariat1 in a moment of the greatest peril1 foreign attacks1 and internal plots and insurrections1 to have recourse to severe measures of ,state terror4 ,no one will now say that those measures proved futile4 ,but1 perhaps1 we are expected to consider them intolerable8 ,the working class1 which seized power in battle1 had as its object and its duty to establish that power unshakeably1 to guarantee its own supremacy beyond question1 to destroy its enemies' hankering for a new revolution1 and thereby to make sure of carrying out ,socialist reforms4 ,otherwise there would be no point in seizing power4 ,the revolution logically does not demand terrorism1 just as logically it does not demand an armed insurrection4 ,what a profound commonplace6 ,but the revolution does require of the revolutionary class that it should attain its end by all methods at its disposal--if necessary1 by an armed rising3 if required1 by terrorism4 ,a revolutionary class which has conquered power with arms in its hands is bound to1 and will1 suppress1 rifle in hand1 all attempts to tear the power out of its hands4 ,where it has against it a hostile army1 it will oppose to it its own army4 ,where it is confronted with armed conspiracy1 attempt at murder1 or rising1 it will hurl at the heads of its enemies an unsparing penalty4 ,perhaps ,kautsky has invented other methods8 ,or does he reduce the whole question to the degree of repression1 and recommend in all circumstances imprisonment instead of execution8 ,the question of the form of repression1 or of its degree1 of course1 is not one of principle4 ,it is a question of expediency4 ,in a revolutionary period1 the party which has been thrown from power1 which does not reconcile itself with the stability of the ruling class1 and which proves this by its desperate struggle against the latter1 cannot be terrorized by the threat of imprisonment1 as it does not believe in its duration4 ,it is just this simple but decisive fact that explains the widespread recourse to shooting in a civil war4 ,or1 perhaps1 ,kautsky wishes to say that execution is not expedient1 that classes cannot be cowed4 ,this is untrue4 ,terror is helpless--and then only in the long run--if it is employed by reaction against a historically rising class4 ,but terror can be very efficient against a reactionary class which does not want to leave the scene of operations4 ,intimidation is a powerful weapon of policy1 both internationally and internally4 ,war1 like revolution1 is founded upon intimidation4 ,a victorious war1 generally speaking1 destroys only an insignificant part of the conquered army1 intimidating the remainder and breaking their will4 ,the revolution works in the same way3 it kills individuals1 and intimidates thousands4 ,in this sense1 the ,red ,terror is not distinguishable from the armed insurrection1 the direct continuation of which it represents4 ,the ,state terror of a revolutionary class can be condemned morally only by a man who1 as a principle1 rejects 7in words7 every form of violence whatsoever--consequently1 every war and every rising4 ,for this one has to be merely and simply a hypocritical ,quaker4 ,but1 in that case1 in what do your tactics differ from the tactics of ,tsarism8 we are asked1 by the high priests of ,liberalism and ,kautskianism4 ,you do not understand this1 holy men8 ,we shall explain to you4 ,the terror of ,tsarism was directed against the proletariat4 ,the gendarmerie of ,tsarism throttled the workers who were fighting for the ,socialist order4 ,our ,extraordinary ,commissions shoot landlords1 capitalists1 and generals who are striving to restore the capitalist order4 ,do you grasp this 444 distinction8 ,yes8 ,for us ,communists it is quite sufficient4 ,,freedom ,,of ,,the ,,press ,one point particularly worries ,kautsky1 the author of a great many books and articles--the freedom of the ,press4 ,is it permissible to suppress newspapers8 ,during war all institutions and organs of the ,state and of public opinion become1 directly or indirectly1 weapons of warfare4 ,this is particularly true of the ,press4 ,no government carrying on a serious war will allow publications to exist on its territory which1 openly or indirectly1 support the enemy4 ,still more so in a civil war4 ,the nature of the latter is such that each of the struggling sides has in the rear of its armies considerable circles of the population on the side of the enemy4 ,in war1 where both success and failure are repaid by death1 hostile agents who penetrate into the rear are subject to execution4 ,this is inhumane1 but no one ever considered war a school of humanity--still less civil war4 ,can it be seriously demanded that1 during a civil war with the ,white ,guards of ,denikin1 the publications of parties supporting ,denikin should come out unhindered in ,moscow and ,petrograd8 ,to propose this in the name of the freedom of the ,press is just the same as1 in the name of open dealing1 to demand the publication of military secrets4 ,a besieged city1 wrote a ,communard1 ,arthur ,arnould of ,paris1 cannot permit within its midst that hopes for its fall should openly be expressed1 that the fighters defending it should be incited to treason1 that the movements of its troops should be communicated to the enemy4 ,such was the position of ,paris under the ,commune4 ,such is the position of the ,soviet ,republic during the two years of its existence4 ,let us1 however1 listen to what ,kautsky has to say in this connection4 ,the justification of this system 7i4e41 repressions in connection with the ,press7 is reduced to the naive idea that an absolute truth 767 exists1 and that only the ,communists possess it 7674 ,similarly1 continues ,kautsky1 it reduces itself to another point of view1 that all writers are by nature liars 767 and that only ,communists are fanatics for truth 7674 ,in reality1 liars and fanatics for what they consider truth are to be found in all camps4 ,and so on1 and so on1 and so on4 7,page #agf47 ,in this way1 in ,kautsky's eyes1 the revolution1 in its most acute phase1 when it is a question of the life and death of classes1 continues as hitherto to be a literary discussion with the object of establishing 444 the truth4 ,what profundity6444 ,our truth1 of course1 is not absolute4 ,but as in its name we are1 at the present moment1 shedding our blood1 we have neither cause nor possibility to carry on a literary discussion as to the relativity of truth with those who criticize us with the help of all forms of arms4 ,similarly1 our problem is not to punish liars and to encourage just men amongst journalists of all shades of opinion1 but to throttle the class lie of the bourgeoisie and to achieve the class truth of the proletariat1 irrespective of the fact that in both camps there are fanatics and liars4 ,the ,soviet ,government1 ,kautsky thunders1 has destroyed the sole remedy that might militate against corruption3 the freedom of the ,press4 ,control by means of unlimited freedom of the ,press alone could have restrained those bandits and adventurers who will inevitably cling like leeches to every unlimited1 uncontrolled power4 7,page #ahh47 ,and so on4 ,the ,press as a trusty weapon of the struggle with corruption6 ,this liberal recipe sounds particularly pitiful when one remembers the two countries with the greatest freedom of the ,press--,north ,america and ,france--which1 at the same time1 are countries of the most highly developed stage of capitalist corruption4 ,feeding on the old scandal of the political ante-rooms of the ,russian revolution1 ,kautsky imagines that without ,cadet and ,menshevik freedom the ,soviet apparatus is honey-combed with bandits and adventurers4 ,such was the voice of the ,mensheviks a year or eighteen months ago4 ,now even they will not dare to repeat this4 ,with the help of ,soviet control and party selection1 the ,soviet ,government1 in the intense atmosphere of the struggle1 has dealt with the bandits and adventurers who appeared on the surface at the moment of the revolution incomparably better than any government whatsoever1 at any time whatsoever4 ,we are fighting4 ,we are fighting a life-and-death struggle4 ,the ,press is a weapon not of an abstract society1 but of two irreconcilable1 armed and contending sides4 ,we are destroying the ,press of the counter-revolution1 just as we destroyed its fortified positions1 its stores1 its communications1 and its intelligence system4 ,are we depriving ourselves of ,cadet and ,menshevik criticisms of the corruption of the working class8 ,in return we are victoriously destroying the very foundations of capitalist corruption4 ,but ,kautsky goes further to develop his theme4 ,he complains that we suppress the newspapers of the ,s4,r4s and the ,mensheviks1 and even--such things have been known--arrest their leaders4 ,are we not dealing here with shades of opinion in the proletarian or the ,socialist movement8 ,the scholastic pedant does not see facts beyond his accustomed words4 ,the ,mensheviks and ,s4,r4s for him are simply tendencies in ,socialism1 whereas1 in the course of the revolution1 they have been transformed into an organization which works in active co-operation with the counter-revolution and carries on against us an open war4 ,the army of ,kolchak was organized by ,socialist ,revolutionaries 7how that name savours to-day of the charlatan671 and was supported by ,mensheviks4 ,both carried on--and carry on--against us1 for a year and a half1 a war on the ,northern front4 ,the ,mensheviks who rule the ,caucasus1 formerly the allies of ,hohenzollern1 and to-day the allies of ,lloyd ,george1 arrested and shot ,bolsheviks hand in hand with ,german and ,british officers4 ,the ,mensheviks and ,s4,r4s of the ,kuban ,rada organized the army of ,denikin4 ,the ,esthonian ,mensheviks who participate in their government were directly concerned in the last advance of ,yudenich against ,petrograd4 ,such are these tendencies in the ,socialist movement4 ,kautsky considers that one can be in a state of open and civil war with the ,mensheviks and ,s4,r4s1 who1 with the help of the troops they themselves have organized for ,yudenich1 ,kolchak and ,denikin1 are fighting for their shade of opinions in ,socialism1 and at the same time to allow those innocent shades of opinion freedom of the ,press in our rear4 ,if the dispute with the ,s4,r4s and the ,mensheviks could be settled by means of persuasion and voting--that is1 if there were not behind their backs the ,russian and foreign imperialists--there would be no civil war4 ,kautsky1 of course1 is ready to condemn--an extra drop of ink--the blockade1 and the ,entente support of ,denikin1 and the ,white ,terror4 ,but in his high impartiality he cannot refuse the latter certain extenuating circumstances4 ,the ,white ,terror1 you see1 does not infringe their own principles1 while the ,bolsheviks1 making use of the ,red ,terror1 betray the principle of the sacredness of human life which they themselves proclaimed4 7,page #baj47 ,what is the meaning of the principle of the sacredness of human life in practice1 and in what does it differ from the commandment1 ,thou shalt not kill1 ,kautsky does not explain4 ,when a murderer raises his knife over a child1 may one kill the murderer to save the child8 ,will not thereby the principle of the sacredness of human life be infringed8 ,may one kill the murderer to save oneself8 ,is an insurrection of oppressed slaves against their masters permissible8 ,is it permissible to purchase one's freedom at the cost of the life of one's jailers8 ,if human life in general is sacred and inviolable1 we must deny ourselves not only the use of terror1 not only war1 but also revolution itself4 ,kautsky simply does not realize the counter-revolutionary meaning of the principle which he attempts to force upon us4 ,elsewhere we shall see that ,kautsky accuses us of concluding the ,brest-,litovsk peace3 in his opinion we ought to have continued war4 ,but what then becomes of the sacredness of human life8 ,does life cease to be sacred when it is a question of people talking another language1 or does ,kautsky consider that mass murders organized on principles of strategy and tactics are not murders at all8 ,truly it is difficult to put forward in our age a principle more hypocritical and more stupid4 ,as long as human labor-power1 and1 consequently1 life itself1 remain articles of sale and purchase1 of exploitation and robbery1 the principle of the sacredness of human life remains a shameful lie1 uttered with the object of keeping the oppressed slaves in their chains4 ,we used to fight against the death penalty introduced by ,kerensky1 because that penalty was inflicted by the courts-martial of the old army on soldiers who refused to continue the imperialist war4 ,we tore this weapon out of the hands of the old courts-martial1 destroyed the courts-martial themselves1 and demobilized the old army which had brought them forth4 ,destroying in the ,red ,army1 and generally throughout the country1 counter-revolutionary conspirators who strive by means of insurrections1 murders1 and disorganization1 to restore the old regime1 we are acting in accordance with the iron laws of a war in which we desire to guarantee our victory4 ,if it is a question of seeking formal contradictions1 then obviously we must do so on the side of the ,white ,terror1 which is the weapon of classes which consider themselves ,christian1 patronize idealist philosophy1 and are firmly convinced that the individuality 7their own7 is an end-in-itself4 ,as for us1 we were never concerned with the ,kantian-priestly and vegetarian-,quaker prattle about the sacredness of human life4 ,we were revolutionaries in opposition1 and have remained revolutionaries in power4 ,to make the individual sacred we must destroy the social order which crucifies him4 ,and this problem can only be solved by blood and iron4 ,there is another difference between the ,white ,terror and the ,red1 which ,kautsky to-day ignores1 but which in the eyes of a ,marxist is of decisive significance4 ,the ,white ,terror is the weapon of the historically reactionary class4 ,when we exposed the futility of the repressions of the bourgeois ,state against the proletariat1 we never denied that by arrests and executions the ruling class1 under certain conditions1 might temporarily retard the development of the social revolution4 ,but we were convinced that they would not be able to bring it to a halt4 ,we relied on the fact that the proletariat is the historically rising class1 and that bourgeois society could not develop without increasing the forces of the proletariat4 ,the bourgeoisie to-day is a falling class4 ,it not only no longer plays an essential part in production1 but by its imperialist methods of appropriation is destroying the economic structure of the world and human culture generally4 ,nevertheless1 the historical persistence of the bourgeoisie is colossal4 ,it holds to power1 and does not wish to abandon it4 ,thereby it threatens to drag after it into the abyss the whole of society4 ,we are forced to tear it off1 to chop it away4 ,the ,red ,terror is a weapon utilized against a class1 doomed to destruction1 which does not wish to perish4 ,if the ,white ,terror can only retard the historical rise of the proletariat1 the ,red ,terror hastens the destruction of the bourgeoisie4 ,this hastening--a pure question of acceleration--is at certain periods of decisive importance4 ,without the ,red ,terror1 the ,russian bourgeoisie1 together with the world bourgeoisie1 would throttle us long before the coming of the revolution in ,europe4 ,one must be blind not to see this1 or a swindler to deny it4 ,the man who recognizes the revolutionary historic importance of the very fact of the existence of the ,soviet system must also sanction the ,red ,terror4 ,kautsky1 who1 during the last two years1 has covered mountains of paper with polemics against ,communism and ,terrorism1 is obliged1 at the end of his pamphlet1 to recognize the facts1 and unexpectedly to admit that the ,russian ,soviet ,government is to-day the most important factor in the world revolution4 ,however one regards the ,bolshevik methods1 he writes1 the fact that a proletarian government in a large country has not only reached power1 but has retained it for two years up to the present time1 amidst great difficulties1 extraordinarily increases the sense of power amongst the proletariat of all countries4 ,for the actual revolution the ,bolsheviks have thereby accomplished a great work--grosses geleistet4 7,page #bcc47 ,this announcement stuns us as a completely unexpected recognition of historical truth from a quarter whence we had long since ceased to await it4 ,the ,bolsheviks have accomplished a great historical task by existing for two years against the united capitalist world4 ,but the ,bolsheviks held out not only by ideas1 but by the sword4 ,kautsky's admission is an involuntary sanctioning of the methods of the ,red ,terror1 and at the same time the most effective condemnation of his own critical concoction4 ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,the ,,war ,kautsky sees one of the reasons for the extremely bloody character of the revolution in the war and in its hardening influence on manners4 ,quite undeniable4 ,that influence1 with all the consequences that follow from it1 might have been foreseen earlier--approximately in the period when ,kautsky was not certain whether one ought to vote for the war credits or against them4 ,imperialism has violently torn society out of its condition of unstable equilibrium1 he wrote five years ago in our ,german book--,the ,war and the ,international4 ,it has blown up the sluices with which ,social-,democracy held back the current of the revolutionary energy of the proletariat1 and has directed that current into its own channels4 ,this monstrous historical experiment1 which at one blow has broken the back of the ,socialist ,international1 represents a deadly danger for bourgeoisie society itself4 ,the hammer has been taken from the hand of the worker1 and has been replaced by the sword4 ,the worker1 bound hand and foot by the mechanism of capitalist society1 has suddenly burst out of its midst1 and is learning to put the aims of the community higher than his own domestic happiness and than life itself4 ,with this weapon1 which he himself has forged1 in his hand1 the worker is placed in a position in which the political destiny of the ,state depends directly on him4 ,those who in former times oppressed and despised him now flatter and caress him4 ,at the same time he is entering into intimate relations with those same guns which1 according to ,lassalle1 constitute the most important integral part of the constitution4 ,he crosses the boundaries of states1 participates in violent requisitions1 and under his blows towns pass from hand to hand4 ,changes take place such as the last generation did not dream of4 ,if the most advanced workers were aware that force was the mother of law1 their political thought still remained saturated with the spirit of opportunism and self-adaptation to bourgeois legality4 ,to-day the worker has learned in practice to despise that legality1 and violently to destroy it4 ,the static moments in his psychology are giving place to the dynamic4 ,heavy guns are knocking into his head the idea that1 in cases where it is impossible to avoid an obstacle1 there remains the possibility of destroying it4 ,nearly the whole adult male population is passing through this school of war1 terrible in its social realism1 which is bringing forth a new type of humanity4 ,over all the criteria of bourgeois society--its law1 its morality1 its religion--is now raised the fist of iron necessity4 ',necessity knows no law' was the declaration of the ,german ,chancellor 7,august #d1 #aiad74 ,monarchs come out into the market-place to accuse one another of lying in the language of fishwives2 governments break promises they have solemnly made1 while the national church binds its ,lord ,god like a convict to the national cannon4 ,is it not obvious that these circumstances must create important alterations in the psychology of the working class1 radically curing it of that hypnosis of legality which was created by the period of political stagnation8 ,the propertied classes will soon1 to their sorrow1 have to be convinced of this4 ,the proletariat1 after passing through the school of war1 at the first serious obstacle within its own country will feel the necessity of speaking with the language of force4 ',necessity knows no law1' he will throw in the face of those who attempt to stop him by laws of bourgeois legality4 ,and the terrible economic necessity which will arise during the course of this war1 and particularly at its end1 will drive the masses to spurn very many laws4 7,page #ef-eg47 ,all this is undeniable4 ,but to what is said above one must add that the war has exercised no less influence on the psychology of the ruling classes4 ,as the masses become more insistent in their demands1 so the bourgeoisie has become more unyielding4 ,in times of peace1 the capitalists used to guarantee their interests by means of the peaceful robbery of hired labor4 ,during the war they served those same interests by means of the destruction of countless human lives4 ,this has imparted to their consciousness as a master class a new ,napoleonic trait4 ,the capitalists during the war became accustomed to send to their death millions of slaves--fellow-countrymen and colonials--for the sake of coal1 railway1 and other profits4 ,during the war there emerged from the ranks of the bourgeoisie--large1 middle1 and small--hundreds of thousands of officers1 professional fighters1 men whose character has received the hardening of battle1 and has become freed from all external restraints3 qualified soldiers1 ready and able to defend the privileged position of the bourgeoisie which produced them with a ferocity which1 in its way1 borders on heroism4 ,the revolution would probably be more humane if the proletariat had the possibility of buying off all this band1 as ,marx once put it4 ,but capitalism during the war has imposed upon the toilers too great a load of debt1 and has too deeply undermined the foundations of production1 for us to be able seriously to contemplate a ransom in return for which the bourgeoisie would silently make its peace with the revolution4 ,the masses have lost too much blood1 have suffered too much1 have become too savage1 to accept a decision which economically would be beyond their capacity4 ,to this there must be added other circumstances working in the same direction4 ,the bourgeoisie of the conquered countries has been embittered by defeat1 the responsibility for which it is inclined to throw on the rank and file--on the workers and peasants who proved incapable of carrying on the great national war to a victorious conclusion4 ,from this point of view1 one finds very instructive those explanations1 unparalleled for their effrontery1 which ,ludendorff gave to the ,commission of the ,national ,assembly4 ,the bands of ,ludendorff are burning with the desire to take revenge for their humiliation abroad on the blood of their own proletariat4 ,as for the bourgeoisie of the victorious countries1 it has become inflated with arrogance1 and is more than ever ready to defend its social position with the help of the bestial methods which guaranteed its victory4 ,we have seen that the bourgeoisie is incapable of organizing the division of the booty amongst its own ranks without war and destruction4 ,can it1 without a fight1 abandon its booty altogether8 ,the experience of the last five years leaves no doubt whatsoever on this score3 if even previously it was absolutely utopian to expect that the expropriation of the propertied classes--thanks to democracy--would take place imperceptibly and painlessly1 without insurrections1 armed conflicts1 attempts at counter-revolution1 and severe repression1 the state of affairs we have inherited from the imperialist war predetermines1 doubly and trebly1 the tense character of the civil war and the dictatorship of the proletariat4 #e ,,the ,,paris ,,commune ,,and ,,soviet ,,russia ,the short episode of the first revolution carried out by the proletariat for the proletariat ended in the triumph of its enemy4 ,this episode--from ,march #ah to ,may #bh--lasted seventy-two days4--,the ,paris ,commune of ,march #ah1 #ahga1 ,p4 ,l4 ,lavrov1 ,petrograd4 ',kolos' ,publishing ,house1 #aiai1 pp4 #afj4 ,,the ,,immaturity ,,of ,,the ,,socialist ,,parties ,,in ,,the ,,commune4 ,the ,paris ,commune of #ahga was the first1 as yet weak1 historic attempt of the working class to impose its supremacy4 ,we cherished the memory of the ,commune in spite of the extremely limited character of its experience1 the immaturity of its participants1 the confusion of its programme1 the lack of unity amongst its leaders1 the indecision of their plans1 the hopeless panic of its executive organs1 and the terrifying defeat fatally precipitated by all these4 ,we cherish in the ,commune1 in the words of ,lavrov1 the first1 though still pale1 dawn of the proletarian republic4 ,quite otherwise with ,kautsky4 ,devoting a considerable part of his book to a crudely tendencious contrast between the ,commune and the ,soviet power1 he sees the main advantages of the ,commune in features that we find are its misfortune and its fault4 ,kautsky laboriously proves that the ,paris ,commune of #ahga was not artificially prepared1 but emerged unexpectedly1 taking the revolutionaries by surprise--in contrast to the ,november revolution1 which was carefully prepared by our party4 ,this is incontestable4 ,not daring clearly to formulate his profoundly reactionary ideas1 ,kautsky does not say outright whether the ,paris revolutionaries of #ahga deserve praise for not having foreseen the proletarian insurrection1 and for not having foreseen the inevitable and consciously gone to meet it4 ,however1 all ,kautsky's picture was built up in such a way as to produce in the reader just this idea3 the ,communards were simply overtaken by misfortune 7the ,bavarian philistine1 ,vollmar1 once expressed his regret that the ,communards had not gone to bed instead of taking power into their hands71 and1 therefore1 deserve pity4 ,the ,bolsheviks consciously went to meet misfortune 7the conquest of power71 and1 therefore1 there is no forgiveness for them either in this or the future world4 ,such a formulation of the question may seem incredible in its internal inconsistency4 ,none the less1 it follows quite inevitably from the position of the ,kautskian ,independents1 who draw their heads into their shoulders in order to see and foresee nothing2 and1 if they do move forward1 it is only after having received a preliminary stout blow in the rear4 ,to humiliate ,paris1 writes ,kautsky1 not to give it self-government1 to deprive it of its position as capital1 to disarm it in order afterwards to attempt with greater confidence a monarchist coup d'etat--such was the most important task of the ,national ,assembly and the chief of the executive power it elected1 ,thiers4 ,out of this situation arose the conflict which led to the ,paris insurrection4 ,it is clear how different from this was the character of the coup d'etat carried out by the ,bolsheviks1 which drew its strength from the yearning for peace2 which had the peasantry behind it2 which had in the ,national ,assembly against it1 not monarchists1 but ,s4,r4s and ,menshevik ,social-,democrats4 ,the ,bolsheviks came to power by means of a well-prepared coup d'etat2 which at one blow handed over to them the whole machinery of the ,state--immediately utilized in the most energetic and merciless manner for the purpose of suppressing their opponents1 amongst them their proletarian opponents4 ,no one1 on the other hand1 was more surprised by the insurrection of the ,commune than the revolutionaries themselves1 and for a considerable number amongst them the conflict was in the highest degree undesirable4 7,page #ef47 ,in order more clearly to realize the actual sense of what ,kautsky has written here of the ,communards1 let us bring forward the following evidence4 ,on ,march #a1 #ahga1 writes ,lavrov1 in his very instructive book on the ,commune1 six months after the fall of the ,empire1 and a few days before the explosion of the ,commune1 the guiding personalities in the ,paris ,international still had no definite political programme4 7,pages #fd-fe47 ,after ,march #ah1 writes the same author1 ,paris was in the hands of the proletariat1 but its leaders1 overwhelmed by their unexpected power1 did not take the most elementary measures4 7,page #ga47 ',your part is too big for you to play1 and your sole aim is to get rid of responsibility1' said one member of the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard4 ,in this was a great deal of truth1 writes the ,communard and historian of the ,commune1 ,lissagaray4 ,but at the moment of action itself the absence of preliminary organization and preparation is very often a reason why parts are assigned to men which are too big for them to play4 7,brussels1 #ahgf2 page #ajf47 ,from this one can already see 7later on it will become still more obvious7 that the absence of a direct struggle for power on the part of the ,paris ,socialists was explained by their theoretical shapelessness and political helplessness1 and not at all by higher considerations of tactics4 ,we have no doubt that ,kautsky's own loyalty to the traditions of the ,commune will be expressed mainly in that extraordinary surprise with which he will greet the proletarian revolution in ,germany as a conflict in the highest degree undesirable4 ,we doubt1 however1 whether this will be ascribed by posterity to his credit4 ,in reality1 one must describe his historical analogy as a combination of confusion1 omission1 and fraudulent suggestion4 ,the intentions which were entertained by ,thiers towards ,paris were entertained by ,miliukov1 who was openly supported by ,tseretelli and ,chernov1 towards ,petrograd4 ,all of them1 from ,kornilov to ,potressov1 affirmed day after day that ,petrograd had alienated itself from the country1 had nothing in common with it1 was completely corrupted1 and was attempting to impose its will upon the community4 ,to overthrow and humiliate ,petrograd was the first task of ,miliukov and his assistants4 ,and this took place at a period when ,petrograd was the true centre of the revolution1 which had not yet been able to consolidate its position in the rest of the country4 ,the former president of the ,duma1 ,rodzianko1 openly talked about handing over ,petrograd to the ,germans for educative purposes1 as ,riga had been handed over4 ,rodzianko only called by its name what ,miliukov was trying to carry out1 and what ,kerensky assisted by his whole policy4 ,miliukov1 like ,thiers1 wished to disarm the proletariat4 ,more than that1 thanks to ,kerensky1 ,chernov1 and ,tseretelli1 the ,petrograd proletariat was to a considerable extent disarmed in ,july1 #aiag4 ,it was partially re-armed during ,kornilov's march on ,petrograd in ,august4 ,and this new arming was a serious element in the preparation of the ,november insurrection4 ,in this way1 it is just the points in which ,kautsky contrasts our ,november revolution to the ,march revolt of the ,paris workers that1 to a very large extent1 coincide4 ,in what1 however1 lies the difference between them8 ,first of all1 in the fact that ,thiers' criminal plans succeeded3 ,paris was throttled by him1 and tens of thousands of workers were destroyed4 ,miliukov1 on the other hand1 had a complete fiasco3 ,petrograd remained an impregnable fortress of the proletariat1 and the leader of the bourgeoisie went to the ,ukraine to petition that the ,kaiser's troops should occupy ,russia4 ,for this difference we were to a considerable extent responsible--and we are ready to bear the responsibility4 ,there is a capital difference also in the fact--that this told more than once in the further course of events--that1 while the ,communards began mainly with considerations of patriotism1 we were invariably guided by the point of view of the international revolution4 ,the defeat of the ,commune led to the practical collapse of the ,first ,international4 ,the victory of the ,soviet power has led to the creation of the ,third ,international4 ,but ,marx--on the eve of the insurrection--advised the ,communards not to revolt1 but to create an organization6 ,one might understand ,kautsky if he adduced this evidence in order to show that ,marx had insufficiently gauged the acuteness of the situation in ,paris4 ,but ,kautsky attempts to exploit ,marx's advice as a proof of his condemnation of insurrection in general4 ,like all the mandarins of ,german ,social-,democracy1 ,kautsky sees in organization first and foremost a method of hindering revolutionary action4 ,but limiting ourselves to the question of organization as such1 we must not forget that the ,november revolution was preceded by nine months of ,kerensky's ,government1 during which our party1 not without success1 devoted itself not only to agitation1 but also to organization4 ,the ,november revolution took place after we had achieved a crushing majority in the ,workers' and ,soldiers' ,councils of ,petrograd1 ,moscow1 and all the industrial centres in the country1 and had transformed the ,soviets into powerful organizations directed by our party4 ,the ,communards did nothing of the kind4 ,finally1 we had behind us the heroic ,commune of ,paris1 from the defeat of which we had drawn the deduction that revolutionaries must foresee events and prepare for them4 ,for this also we are to blame4 ,kautsky requires his extensive comparison of the ,commune and ,soviet ,russia only in order to slander and humiliate a living and victorious dictatorship of the proletariat in the interests of an attempted dictatorship1 in the already fairly distant past4 ,kautsky quotes with extreme satisfaction the statement of the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard on ,march #ai in connection with the murder of the two generals by the soldiery4 ,we say indignantly3 the bloody filth with the help of which it is hoped to stain our honor is a pitiful slander4 ,we never organized murder1 and never did the ,national ,guard take part in the execution of crime4 ,naturally1 the ,central ,committee had no cause to assume responsibility for murders with which it had no concern4 ,but the sentimental1 pathetic tone of the statement very clearly characterises the political timorousness of these men in the face of bourgeois public opinion4 ,nor is this surprising4 ,the representatives of the ,national ,guard were men in most cases with a very modest revolutionary past4 ,not one well-known name1 writes ,lissagaray4 ,they were petty bourgeois shop-keepers1 strangers to all but limited circles1 and1 in most cases1 strangers hitherto to politics4 7,page #gj47 ,the modest and1 to some extent1 fearful sense of terrible historical responsibility1 and the desire to get rid of it as soon as possible1 writes ,lavrov of them1 is evident in all the proclamations of this ,central ,committee1 into the hands of which the destiny of ,paris had fallen4 7,page #gg47 ,after bringing forward1 to our confusion1 the declamation concerning bloodshed1 ,kautsky later on follows ,marx and ,engels in criticizing the indecision of the ,commune4 ,if the ,parisians 7i4e41 the ,communards7 had persistently followed up the tracts of ,thiers1 they would1 perhaps1 have managed to seize the government4 ,the troops falling back from ,paris would not have shown the least resistance 444 but they let ,thiers go without hindrance4 ,they allowed him to lead away his troops and reorganize them at ,versailles1 to inspire a new spirit in1 and strengthen1 them4 7,page #di47 ,kautsky cannot understand that it was the same men1 and for the very same reasons1 who published the statement of ,march #ai quoted above1 who allowed ,thiers to leave ,paris with impunity and gather his forces4 ,if the ,communards had conquered with the help of resources of a purely moral character1 their statement would have acquired great weight4 ,but this did not take place4 ,in reality1 their sentimental humaneness was simply the obverse of their revolutionary passivity4 ,the men who1 by the will of fate1 had received power in ,paris1 could not understand the necessity of immediately utilizing that power to the end1 of hurling themselves after ,thiers1 and1 before he recovered his grasp of the situation1 of crushing him1 of concentrating the troops in their hands1 of carrying out the necessary weeding-out of the officer class1 of seizing the provinces4 ,such men1 of course1 were not inclined to severe measures with counter-revolutionary elements4 ,the one was closely bound up with the other4 ,thiers could not be followed up without arresting ,thiers' agents in ,paris and shooting conspirators and spies4 ,when one considered the execution of counter-revolutionary generals as an indelible crime1 one could not develop energy in following up troops who were under the direction of counter-revolutionary generals4 ,in the revolution in the highest degree of energy is the highest degree of humanity4 ,just the men1 ,lavrov justly remarks1 who hold human life and human blood dear must strive to organize the possibility for a swift and decisive victory1 and then to act with the greatest swiftness and energy1 in order to crush the enemy4 ,for only in this way can we achieve the minimum of inevitable sacrifice and the minimum of bloodshed4 7,page #bbe47 ,the statement of ,march #ai will1 however1 be considered with more justice if we examine it1 not as an unconditional confession of faith1 but as the expression of transient moods the day after an unexpected and bloodless victory4 ,being an absolute stranger to the understanding of the dynamics of revolution1 and the internal limitations of its swiftly-developing moods1 ,kautsky thinks in lifeless schemes1 and distorts the perspective of events by arbitrarily selected analogies4 ,he does not understand that soft-hearted indecision is generally characteristic of the masses in the first period of the revolution4 ,the workers pursue the offensive only under the pressure of iron necessity1 just as they have recourse to the ,red ,terror only under the threat of destruction by the ,white ,guards4 ,that which ,kautsky represents as the result of the peculiarly elevated moral feeling of the ,parisian proletariat in #ahga is1 in reality1 merely a characteristic of the first stage of the civil war4 ,a similar phenomenon could have been witnessed in our case4 ,in ,petrograd we conquered power in ,november1 #aiag1 almost without bloodshed1 and even without arrests4 ,the ministers of ,kerensky's ,government were set free very soon after the revolution4 ,more1 the ,cossack ,general1 ,krasnov1 who had advanced on ,petrograd together with ,kerensky after the power had passed to the ,soviet1 and who had been made prisoner by us at ,gatchina1 was set free on his word of honor the next day4 ,this was generosity quite in the spirit of the first measures of the ,commune4 ,but it was a mistake4 ,afterwards1 ,general ,krasnov1 after fighting against us for about a year in the ,south1 and destroying many thousands of ,communists1 again advanced on ,petrograd1 this time in the ranks of ,yudenich's army4 ,the proletarian revolution assumed a more severe character only after the rising of the junkers in ,petrograd1 and particularly after the rising of the ,czecho-,slovaks on the ,volga organized by the ,cadets1 the ,s4,r4s1 and the ,mensheviks1 after their mass executions of ,communists1 the attempt on ,lenin's life1 the murder of ,uritsky1 etc41 etc4 ,the same tendencies1 only in an embryonic form1 we see in the history of the ,commune4 ,driven by the logic of the struggle1 it took its stand in principle on the path of intimidation4 ,the creation of the ,committee of ,public ,safety was dictated1 in the case of many of its supporters1 by the idea of the ,red ,terror4 ,the ,committee was appointed to cut off the heads of traitors 7,journal ,officiel ,no4 #abc71 to avenge treachery 7,no4 #abd74 ,under the head of intimidatory decrees we must class the order to seize the property of ,thiers and of his ministers1 to destroy ,thiers' house1 to destroy the ,vendome column1 and especially the decree on hostages4 ,for every captured ,communard or sympathizer with the ,commune shot by the ,versaillese1 three hostages were to be shot4 ,the activity of the ,prefecture of ,paris controlled by ,raoul ,rigault had a purely terroristic1 though not always a useful1 purpose4 ,the effect of all these measures of intimidation was paralyzed by the helpless opportunism of the guiding elements in the ,commune1 by their striving to reconcile the bourgeoisie with the fait accompli by the help of pitiful phrases1 by their vacillations between the fiction of democracy and the reality of dictatorship4 ,the late ,lavrov expresses the latter idea splendidly in his book on the ,commune4 ,the ,paris of the rich bourgeois and the poor proletarians1 as a political community of different classes1 demanded1 in the name of liberal principles1 complete freedom of speech1 of assembly1 of criticism of the government1 etc4 ,the ,paris which had accomplished the revolution in the interests of the proletariat1 and had before it the task of realizing this revolution in the shape of institutions1 ,paris1 as the community of the emancipated working-class proletariat1 demanded revolutionary--i4e41 dictatorial1 measures against the enemies of the new order4 7,pages #adc-add47 ,if the ,paris ,commune had not fallen1 but had continued to exist in the midst of a ceaseless struggle1 there can be no doubt that it would have been obliged to have recourse to more and more severe measures for the suppression of the counter-revolution4 ,true1 ,kautsky would not then have had the possibility of contrasting the humane ,communards with the inhumane ,bolsheviks4 ,but in return1 probably1 ,thiers1 would not have had the possibility of inflicting his monstrous bloodletting upon the proletariat of ,paris4 ,history1 possibly1 would not have been the loser4 ,,the ,,irresponsible ,,central ,,committee ,,and ,,the ,,democratic ,,commune ,on ,march #ai1 ,kautsky informs us1 in the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard1 some demanded a march on ,versailles1 others an appeal to the electors1 and a third party the adoption first of all of revolutionary measures2 as if every one of these steps1 he proceeds very learnedly to inform us1 were not equally necessary1 and as if one excluded the other4 7,page #gb47 ,further on1 ,kautsky1 in connection with these disputes in the ,commune1 presents us with various warmed-up platitudes as to the mutual relations of reform and revolution4 ,in reality1 the following was the situation4 ,if it were decided to march on ,versailles1 and to do this without losing an hour it was necessary immediately to reorganize the ,national ,guard1 to place at its head the best fighting elements of the ,paris proletariat1 and thereby temporarily to weaken ,paris from the revolutionary point of view4 ,but to organize elections in ,paris1 while at the same time sending out of its walls the flower of the working class1 would have been senseless from the point of view of the revolutionary party4 ,theoretically1 a march on ,versailles and elections to the ,commune1 of course1 did not exclude each other in the slightest degree1 but in practice they did exclude each other3 for the success of the elections1 it was necessary to postpone the attack2 for the attack to succeed1 the elections must be put off4 ,finally1 leading the proletariat out to the field and thereby temporarily weakening ,paris1 it was essential to obtain some guarantee against the possibility of counter-revolutionary attempts in the capital2 for ,thiers would not have hesitated at any measures to raise a white revolt in the rear of the ,communards4 ,it was essential to establish a more military--i4e41 a more stringent regime in the capital4 ,they had to fight1 writes ,lavrov1 against many internal foes with whom ,paris was full1 who only yesterday had been rioting around the ,exchange and the ,vendome ,square1 who had their representatives in the administration and in the ,national ,guard1 who possessed their press1 and their meetings1 who almost openly maintained contact with the ,versaillese1 and who became more determined and more audacious at every piece of carelessness1 at every check of the ,commune4 7,page #hg47 ,it was necessary1 side by side with this1 to carry out revolutionary measures of a financial and generally of an economic character3 first and foremost1 for the equipment of the revolutionary army4 ,all these most necessary measures of revolutionary dictatorship could with difficulty be reconciled with an extensive electoral campaign4 ,but ,kautsky has not the least idea of what a revolution is in practice4 ,he thinks that theoretically to reconcile is the same as practically to accomplish4 ,the ,central ,committee appointed ,march #bb as the day of elections for the ,commune2 but1 not sure of itself1 frightened at its own illegality1 striving to act in unison with more legal institutions1 entered into ridiculous and endless negotiations with a quite helpless assembly of mayors and deputies of ,paris1 showing its readiness to divide power with them if only an agreement could be arrived at4 ,meanwhile precious time was slipping by4 ,marx1 on whom ,kautsky1 through old habit1 tries to rely1 did not under any circumstances propose that1 at one and the same time1 the ,commune should be elected and the workers should be led out into the field for the war4 ,in his letter to ,kugelmann1 ,marx wrote1 on ,april #ab1 #ahga1 that the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard had too soon given up its power in favor of the ,commune4 ,kautsky1 in his own words1 does not understand this opinion of ,marx4 ,it is quite simple4 ,marx at any rate understood that the problem was not one of chasing legality1 but of inflicting a fatal blow upon the enemy4 ,if the ,central ,committee had consisted of real revolutionaries1 says ,lavrov1 and rightly1 it ought to have acted differently4 ,it would have been quite unforgivable for it to have given the enemy ten days' respite before the election and assembly of the ,commune1 while the leaders of the proletariat refused to carry out their duty and did not recognize that they had the right immediately to lead the proletariat4 ,as it was1 the feeble immaturity of the popular parties created a ,committee which considered those ten days of inaction incumbent upon it4 7,page #gh47 ,the yearning of the ,central ,committee to hand over power as soon as possible to a legal ,government was dictated1 not so much by the superstitions of former democracy1 of which1 by the way1 there was no lack1 as by fear of responsibility4 ,under the plea that it was a temporary institution1 the ,central ,committee avoided the taking of the most necessary and absolutely pressing measures1 in spite of the fact that all the material apparatus of power was centred in its hands4 ,but the ,commune itself did not take over political power in full from the ,central ,committee1 and the latter continued to interfere in all business quite unceremoniously4 ,this created a dual ,government1 which was extremely dangerous1 particularly under military conditions4 ,on ,may #c the ,central ,committee sent deputies to the ,commune demanding that the ,ministry for ,war should be placed under its control4 ,again there arose1 as ,lissagaray writes1 the question as to whether the ,central ,committee should be dissolved1 or arrested1 or entrusted with the administration of the ,ministry for ,war4 ,here was a question1 not of the principles of democracy1 but of the absence1 in the case of both parties1 of a clear programme of action1 and of the readiness1 both of the irresponsible revolutionary organizations in the shape of the ,central ,committee and of the democratic organization of the ,commune1 to shift the responsibility on to the other's shoulders1 while at the same time not entirely renouncing power4 ,these were political relations which it might seem no one could call worthy of imitation4 ,but the ,central ,committee1 ,kautsky consoles himself1 never attempted to infringe the principle in virtue of which the supreme power must belong to the delegates elected by universal suffrage4 ,in this respect the ,paris ,commune was the direct antithesis of the ,soviet ,republic4 7,page #gd47 ,there was no unity of government1 there was no revolutionary decision1 there existed a division of power1 and1 as a result1 there came swift and terrible destruction4 ,but to counter-balance this--is it not comforting8--there was no infringement of the principle of democracy4 ,,the ,,democratic ,,commune ,,and ,,the ,,revolutionary ,,dictatorship ,comrade ,lenin has already pointed out to ,kautsky that attempts to depict the ,commune as the expression of formal democracy constitute a piece of absolute theoretical swindling4 ,the ,commune1 in its tradition and in the conception of its leading political party--the ,blanquists--was the expression of the dictatorship of the revolutionary city over the country4 ,so it was in the great ,french ,revolution2 so it would have been in the revolution of #ahga if the ,commune had not fallen in the first days4 ,the fact that in ,paris itself a ,government was elected on the basis of universal suffrage does not exclude a much more significant fact--namely1 that of the military operations carried on by the ,commune1 one city1 against peasant ,france1 that is the whole country4 ,to satisfy the great democrat1 ,kautsky1 the revolutionaries of the ,commune ought1 as a preliminary1 to have consulted1 by means of universal suffrage1 the whole population of ,france as to whether it permitted them to carry on a war with ,thiers' bands4 ,finally1 in ,paris itself the elections took place after the bourgeoisie1 or at least its most active elements1 had fled1 and after ,thiers' troops had been evacuated4 ,the bourgeoisie that remained in ,paris1 in spite of all its impudence1 was still afraid of the revolutionary battalions1 and the elections took place under the auspices of that fear1 which was the forerunner of what in the future would have been inevitable--namely1 of the ,red ,terror4 ,but to console oneself with the thought that the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard1 under the dictatorship of which--unfortunately a very feeble and formalist dictatorship--the elections to the ,commune were held1 did not infringe the principle of universal suffrage1 is truly to brush with the shadow of a broom4 ,amusing himself by barren analogies1 ,kautsky benefits by the circumstance that his reader is not acquainted with the facts4 ,in ,petrograd1 in ,november1 #aiag1 we also elected a ,commune 7,town ,council7 on the basis of the most democratic voting1 without limitations for the bourgeoisie4 ,these elections1 being boycotted by the bourgeoisie parties1 gave us a crushing majority4 ,the democratically elected ,council voluntarily submitted to the ,petrograd ,soviet--i4e41 placed the fact of the dictatorship of the proletariat higher than the principle of universal suffrage1 and1 after a short time1 dissolved itself altogether by its own act1 in favor of one of the sections of the ,petrograd ,soviet4 ,thus the ,petrograd ,soviet--that true father of the ,soviet regime--has upon itself the seal of a formal democratic benediction in no way less than the ,paris ,commune4#f #f ,it is not without interest to observe that in the ,communal elections of #ahga in ,paris there participated #bcj1jjj electors4 ,at the ,town elections of ,november1 #aiag1 in ,petrograd1 in spite of the boycott of the election on the part of all parties except ourselves and the ,left ,social ,revolutionaries1 who had no influence in the capital1 there participated #cij1jjj electors4 ,in ,paris1 in #ahga1 the population numbered two millions4 ,in ,petrograd1 in ,november1 #aiag1 there were not more than two millions4 ,it must be noticed that our electoral system was infinitely more democratic4 ,the ,central ,committee of the ,national ,guard carried out the elections on the basis of the electoral law of the empire4 ,at the elections of ,march #bf1 eighty members were elected to the ,commune4 ,of these1 fifteen were members of the government party 7,thiers71 and six were bourgeois radicals who were in opposition to the ,government1 but condemned the rising 7of the ,paris workers74 ,the ,soviet ,republic1 ,kautsky teaches us1 would never have allowed such counter-revolutionary elements to stand as candidates1 let alone be elected4 ,the ,commune1 on the other hand1 out of respect for democracy1 did not place the least obstacle in the way of the election of its bourgeois opponents4 7,page #gd47 ,we have already seen above that here ,kautsky completely misses the mark4 ,first of all1 at a similar stage of development of the ,russian ,revolution1 there did not take place democratic elections to the ,petrograd ,commune1 in which the ,soviet ,government placed no obstacle in the way of the bourgeois parties2 and if the ,cadets1 the ,s4,r4s and the ,mensheviks1 who had their press which was openly calling for the overthrow of the ,soviet ,government1 boycotted the elections1 it was only because at that time they still hoped soon to make an end of us with the help of armed force4 ,secondly1 no democracy expressing all classes was actually to be found in the ,paris ,commune4 ,the bourgeois deputies--,conservatives1 ,liberals1 ,gambettists--found no place in it4 ,nearly all these individuals1 says ,lavrov1 either immediately or very soon1 left the ,council of the ,commune4 ,they might have been representatives of ,paris as a free city under the rule of the bourgeoisie1 but were quite out of place in the ,council of the ,commune1 which1 willy-nilly1 consistently or inconsistently1 completely or incompletely1 did represent the revolution of the proletariat1 and an attempt1 feeble though it might be1 of building up forms of society corresponding to that revolution4 7,pages #aaa-aab47 ,if the ,petrograd bourgeoisie had not boycotted the municipal elections1 its representatives would have entered the ,petrograd ,council4 ,they would have remained there up to the first ,social ,revolutionary and ,cadet rising1 after which--with the permission or without the permission of ,kautsky--they would probably have been arrested if they did not leave the ,council in good time1 as at a certain moment did the bourgeois members of the ,paris ,commune4 ,the course of events would have remained the same3 only on their surface would certain episodes have worked out differently4 ,in supporting the democracy of the ,commune1 and at the same time accusing it of an insufficiently decisive note in its attitude to ,versailles1 ,kautsky does not understand that the ,communal elections1 carried out with the ambiguous help of the lawful mayors and deputies1 reflected the hope of a peaceful agreement with ,versailles4 ,this is the whole point4 ,the leaders were anxious for a compromise1 not for a struggle4 ,the masses had not yet outlived their illusions4 ,undeserved revolutionary reputations had not yet had time to be exposed4 ,everything taken together was called democracy4 ,we must rise above our enemies by moral force4444 preached ,vermorel4 ,we must not infringe liberty and individual life4444 ,striving to avoid fratricidal war1 ,vermorel called upon the liberal bourgeoisie1 whom hitherto he had so mercilessly exposed1 to set up a lawful ,government1 recognized and respected by the whole population of ,paris4 ,the ,journal ,officiel1 published under the editorship of the ,internationalist ,longuet1 wrote3 ,the sad misunderstanding1 which in the ,june days 7#ahdh7 armed two classes of society against each other1 cannot be renewed4444 ,class antagonism has ceased to exist4444 7,march #cj47 ,and1 further3 ,now all conflicts will be appeased1 because all are inspired with a feeling of solidarity1 because never yet was there so little social hatred and social antagonism4 7,april #c47 ,at the session of the ,commune of ,april #be1 ,jourde1 and not without foundation1 congratulated himself on the fact that the ,commune had never yet infringed the principle of private property4 ,by this means they hoped to win over bourgeois public opinion and find the path to compromise4 ,such a doctrine1 says ,lavrov1 and rightly1 did not in the least disarm the enemies of the proletariat1 who understood excellently with what its success threatened them1 and only sapped the proletarian energy and1 as it were1 deliberately blinded it in the face of its irreconcilable enemies4 7,page #acg47 ,but this enfeebling doctrine was inextricably bound up with the fiction of democracy4 ,the form of mock legality it was that allowed them to think that the problem would be solved without a struggle4 ,as far as the mass of the population is concerned1 writes ,arthur ,arnould1 a member of the ,commune1 it was to a certain extent justified in the belief in the existence of1 at the very least1 a hidden agreement with the ,government4 ,unable to attract the bourgeoisie1 the compromisers1 as always1 deceived the proletariat4 ,the clearest evidence of all that1 in the conditions of the inevitable and already beginning civil war1 democratic parliamentarism expressed only the compromising helplessness of the leading groups1 was the senseless procedure of the supplementary elections to the ,commune of ,april #f4 ,at this moment1 it was no longer a question of voting1 writes ,arthur ,arnould4 ,the situation had become so tragic that there was not either the time or the calmness necessary for the correct functioning of the elections4444 ,all persons devoted to the ,commune were on the fortifications1 in the forts1 in the foremost detachments4444 ,the people attributed no importance whatever to these supplementary elections4 ,the elections were in reality merely parliamentarism4 ,what was required was not to count voters1 but to have soldiers3 not to discover whether we had lost or gained in the ,commune of ,paris1 but to defend ,paris from the ,versaillese4 ,from these words ,kautsky might have observed why in practice it is not so simple to combine class war with interclass democracy4 ,the ,commune is not a ,constituent ,assembly1 wrote in his book1 ,milliere1 one of the best brains of the ,commune4 ,it is a military ,council4 ,it must have one aim1 victory2 one weapon1 force2 one law1 the law of social salvation4 ,they could never understand1 ,lissagaray accuses the leaders1 that the ,commune was a barricade1 and not an administration4 ,they began to understand it in the end1 when it was too late4 ,kautsky has not understood it to this day4 ,there is no reason to believe that he will ever understand it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,commune was the living negation of formal democracy1 for in its development it signified the dictatorship of working class ,paris over the peasant country4 ,it is this fact that dominates all the rest4 ,however much the political doctrinaires1 in the midst of the ,commune itself1 clung to the appearances of democratic legality1 every action of the ,commune1 though insufficient for victory1 was sufficient to reveal its illegal nature4 ,the ,commune--that is to say1 the ,paris ,city ,council--repealed the national law concerning conscription4 ,it called its official organ ,the ,official ,journal of the ,french ,republic4 ,though cautiously1 it still laid hands on the ,state ,bank4 ,it proclaimed the separation of ,church and ,state1 and abolished the ,church ,budgets4 ,it entered into relations with various embassies4 ,and so on1 and so on4 ,it did all this in virtue of the revolutionary dictatorship4 ,but ,clemenceau1 young democrat as he was then1 would not recognize that virtue4 ,at a conference with the ,central ,committee1 ,clemenceau said3 ,the rising had an unlawful beginning4444 ,soon the ,committee will become ridiculous1 and its decrees will be despised4 ,besides1 ,paris has not the right to rise against ,france1 and must unconditionally accept the authority of the ,assembly4 ,the problem of the ,commune was to dissolve the ,national ,assembly4 ,unfortunately it did not succeed in doing so4 ,to-day ,kautsky seeks to discover for its criminal intentions some mitigating circumstances4 ,he points out that the ,communards had as their opponents in the ,national ,assembly the monarchists1 while we in the ,constituent ,assembly had against us 444 ,socialists1 in the persons of the ,s4,r4s1 and the ,mensheviks4 ,a complete mental eclipse6 ,kautsky talks about the ,mensheviks and the ,s4,r4s1 but forgets our sole serious foe--the ,cadets4 ,it was they who represented our ,russian ,thiers party--i4e41 a bloc of property owners in the name of property3 and ,professor ,miliukov did his utmost to imitate the little great man4 ,very soon indeed--long before the ,october ,revolution--,miliukov began to seek his ,gallifet in the generals ,kornilov1 ,alexeiev1 then ,kaledin1 ,krasnov1 in turn4 ,and after ,kolchak had thrown aside all political parties1 and had dissolved the ,constituent ,assembly1 the ,cadet ,party1 the sole serious bourgeois party1 in its essence monarchist through and through1 not only did not refuse to support him1 but on the contrary devoted more sympathy to him than before4 ,the ,mensheviks and the ,s4,r4s played no independent role amongst us--just like ,kautsky's party during the revolutionary events in ,germany4 ,they based their whole policy upon a coalition with the ,cadets1 and thereby put the ,cadets in a position to dictate quite irrespective of the balance of political forces4 ,the ,socialist-,revolutionary and ,menshevik ,parties were only an intermediary apparatus for the purpose of collecting1 at meetings and elections1 the political confidence of the masses awakened by the revolution1 and for handing it over for disposal by the counter-revolutionary imperialist party of the ,cadets--independently of the issue of the elections4 ,the purely vassal-like dependence of the ,s4,r4s and ,menshevik majority on the ,cadet minority itself represented a very thinly-veiled insult to the idea of democracy4 ,but this is not all4 ,in all districts of the country where the regime of democracy lived too long1 it inevitably ended in an open coup d'etat of the counter-revolution4 ,so it was in the ,ukraine1 where the democratic ,rada1 having sold the ,soviet ,government to ,german imperialism1 found itself overthrown by the monarchist ,skoropadsky4 ,so it was in the ,kuban1 where the democratic ,rada found itself under the heel of ,denikin4 ,so it was--and this was the most important experiment of our democracy--in ,siberia1 where the ,constituent ,assembly1 with the formal supremacy of the ,s4,r4s and the ,mensheviks1 in the absence of the ,bolsheviks1 and the de facto guidance of the ,cadets1 led in the end to the dictatorship of the ,tsarist ,admiral ,kolchak4 ,so it was1 finally1 in the north1 where the ,constituent ,assembly government of the ,socialist-,revolutionary ,chaikovsky became merely a tinsel decoration for the rule of counter-revolutionary generals1 ,russian and ,british4 ,so it was1 or is1 in all the small ,border ,states--in ,finland1 ,esthonia1 ,latvia1 ,lithuania1 ,poland1 ,georgia1 ,armenia--where1 under the formal banner of democracy1 there is being consolidated the supremacy of the landlords1 the capitalists1 and the foreign militarists4 ,,the ,,paris ,,worker ,,of #ahga ,,and ,,the ,,petrograd ,,proletarian ,,of #aiag ,one of the most coarse1 unfounded1 and politically disgraceful comparisons which ,kautsky makes between the ,commune and ,soviet ,russia is touching the character of the ,paris worker in #ahga and the ,russian proletarian of #aiag-ai4 ,the first ,kautsky depicts as a revolutionary enthusiast capable of a high measure of self-sacrifice2 the second1 as an egoist and a coward1 an irresponsible anarchist4 ,the ,parisian worker has behind him too definite a past to need revolutionary recommendations--or protection from the praises of the present ,kautsky4 ,none the less1 the ,petrograd proletarian has not1 and cannot have1 any reason for avoiding a comparison with his heroic elder brother4 ,the continuous three years' struggle of the ,petrograd workers--first for the conquest of power1 and then for its maintenance and consolidation--represents an exceptional story of collective heroism and self-sacrifice1 amidst unprecedented tortures in the shape of hunger1 cold1 and constant perils4 ,kautsky1 as we can discover in another connection1 takes for contrast with the flower of the ,communards the most sinister elements of the ,russian proletariat4 ,in this respect also he is in no way different from the bourgeois sycophants1 to whom dead ,communards always appear infinitely more attractive than the living4 ,the ,petrograd proletariat seized power four and a half decades after the ,parisian4 ,this period has told enormously in our favor4 ,the petty bourgeois craft character of old and partly of new ,paris is quite foreign to ,petrograd1 the centre of the most concentrated industry in the world4 ,the latter circumstances has extremely facilitated our tasks of agitation and organization1 as well as the setting up of the ,soviet system4 ,our proletariat did not have even a faint measure of the rich revolutionary traditions of the ,french proletariat4 ,but1 instead1 there was still very fresh in the memory of the older generation of our workers1 at the beginning of the present revolution1 the great experiment of #aije1 its failure1 and the duty of vengeance it had handed down4 ,the ,russian workers had not1 like the ,french1 passed through a long school of democracy and parliamentarism1 which at a certain epoch represented an important factor in the political education of the proletariat4 ,but1 on the other hand1 the ,russian working class had not had seared into its soul the bitterness of dissolution and the poison of scepticism1 which up to a certain1 and--let us hope--not very distant moment1 still restrain the revolutionary will of the ,french proletariat4 ,the ,paris ,commune suffered a military defeat before economic problems had arisen before it in their full magnitude4 ,in spite of the splendid fighting qualities of the ,paris workers1 the military fate of the ,commune was at once determined as hopeless4 ,indecision and compromise-mongering above brought about collapse below4 ,the pay of the ,national ,guard was issued on the basis of the existence of #afb1jjj rank and file and #f1ejj officers2 the number of those who actually went into battle1 especially after the unsuccessful sortie of ,april #c1 varied between twenty and thirty thousand4 ,these facts do not in the least compromise the ,paris workers1 and do not give us the right to consider them cowards and deserters--although1 of course1 there was no lack of desertion4 ,for a fighting army there must be1 first of all1 a centralized and accurate apparatus of administration4 ,of this the ,commune had not even a trace4 ,the ,war ,department of the ,commune1 was1 in the expression of one writer1 as it were a dark room1 in which all collided4 ,the office of the ,ministry was filled with officers and ordinary ,guards1 who demanded military supplies and food1 and complained that they were not relieved4 ,they were sent to the garrison4444 ,one battalion remained in the trenches for #bj and #cj days1 while others were constantly in reserve4444 ,this carelessness soon killed any discipline4 ,courageous men soon determined to rely only on themselves2 others avoided service4 ,in the same way did officers behave4 ,one would leave his post to go to the help of a neighbor who was under fire2 others went away to the city4444 7,lavrov1 page #ajj47 ,such a regime could not remain unpunished2 the ,commune was drowned in blood4 ,but in this connection ,kautsky has a marvelous solution4 ,the waging of war1 he says1 sagely shaking his head1 is1 after all1 not a strong side of the proletariat4 7,page #gf47 ,this aphorism1 worthy of ,pangloss1 is fully on a level with the other great remark of ,kautsky1 namely1 that the ,international is not a suitable weapon to use in wartime1 being in its essence an instrument of peace4 ,in these two aphorisms1 in reality1 may be found the present ,kautsky1 complete1 in his entirety--i4e41 just a little over a round zero4 ,the waging of war1 do you see1 is on the whole1 not a strong side of the proletariat1 the more that the ,international itself was not created for wartime4 ,kautsky's ship was built for lakes and quiet harbors1 not at all for the open sea1 and not for a period of storms4 ,if that ship has sprung a leak1 and has begun to fill1 and is now comfortably going to the bottom1 we must throw all the blame upon the storm1 the unnecessary mass of water1 the extraordinary size of the waves1 and a series of other unforeseen circumstances for which ,kautsky did not build his marvelous instrument4 ,the international proletariat put before itself as its problem the conquest of power4 ,independently of whether civil war1 generally1 belongs to the inevitable attributes of revolution1 generally1 this fact remains unquestioned--that the advance of the proletariat1 at any rate in ,russia1 ,germany1 and parts of former ,austro-,hungary1 took the form of an intense civil war not only on internal but also on external fronts4 ,if the waging of war is not the strong side of the proletariat1 while the workers' ,international is suited only for peaceful epochs1 then we may as well erect a cross over the revolution and over ,socialism2 for the waging of war is a fairly strong side of the capitalist ,state1 which without a war will not admit the workers to supremacy4 ,in that case there remains only to proclaim the so-called ,socialist democracy to be merely the accompanying feature of capitalist society and bourgeois parliamentarism--i4e41 openly to sanction what the ,eberts1 ,schneidermanns1 ,renaudels1 carry out in practice and what ,kautsky still1 it seems1 protests against in words4 ,the waging of war was not a strong side of the ,commune4 ,quite so2 that was why it was crushed4 ,and how mercilessly crushed6 ,we have to recall the proscriptions of ,sulla1 ,antony1 and ,octavius1 wrote in his time the very moderate liberal1 ,fiaux1 to meet such massacres in the history of civilized nations4 ,the religious wars under the last ,valois1 the night of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 the ,reign of ,terror were1 in comparison with it1 child's play4 ,in the last week of ,may alone1 in ,paris1 #ag1jjj corpses of the insurgent ,federals were picked up 444 the killing was still going on about ,june #ae4 ,the waging of war1 after all1 is not the strong side of the proletariat4 ,it is not true6 ,the ,russian workers have shown that they are capable of wielding the instrument of war as well4 ,we see here a gigantic step forward in comparison with the ,commune4 ,it is not a renunciation of the ,commune--for the traditions of the ,commune consist not at all in its helplessness--but the continuation of its work4 ,the ,commune was weak4 ,to complete its work we have become strong4 ,the ,commune was crushed4 ,we are inflicting blow after blow upon the executioners of the ,commune4 ,we are taking vengeance for the ,commune1 and we shall avenge it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,out of #afg1jjj ,national ,guards who received pay1 only twenty or thirty thousand went into battle4 ,these figures serve as interesting material for conclusions as to the role of formal democracy in a revolutionary epoch4 ,the vote of the ,paris ,commune was decided1 not at the elections1 but in the battles with the troops of ,thiers4 ,one hundred and sixty-seven thousand ,national ,guards represented the great mass of the electorate4 ,but in reality1 in the battles1 the fate of the ,commune was decided by twenty or thirty thousand persons2 the most devoted fighting minority4 ,this minority did not stand alone3 it simply expressed1 in a more courageous and self-sacrificing manner1 the will of the majority4 ,but none the less it was a minority4 ,the others who hid at the critical moment were not hostile to the ,commune2 on the contrary1 they actively or passively supported it1 but they were less politically conscious1 less decisive4 ,on the arena of political democracy1 their lower level of political consciousness afforded the possibility of their being deceived by adventurers1 swindlers1 middle-class cheats1 and honest dullards who really deceived themselves4 ,but1 at the moment of open class war1 they1 to a greater or lesser degree1 followed the self-sacrificing minority4 ,it was this that found its expression in the organization of the ,national ,guard4 ,if the existence of the ,commune had been prolonged1 this relationship between the advance guard and the mass of the proletariat would have grown more and more firm4 ,the organization which would have been formed and consolidated in the process of the open struggle1 as the organization of the laboring masses1 would have become the organization of their dictatorship--the ,council of ,deputies of the armed proletariat4 #f ,,marx ,,and 444 ,,kautsky4 ,kautsky loftily sweeps aside ,marx's views on terror1 expressed by him in the ,neue ,rheinische ,zeitung--as at that time1 do you see1 ,marx was still very young1 and consequently his views had not yet had time to arrive at that condition of complete enfeeblement which is so clearly to be observed in the case of certain theoreticians in the seventh decade of their life4 ,as a contrast to the green ,marx of #ahdh-di 7the author of the ,communist ,manifesto67 ,kautsky quotes the mature ,marx of the epoch of the ,paris ,commune--and the latter1 under the pen of ,kautsky1 loses his great lion's mane1 and appears before us as an extremely respectable reasoner1 bowing before the holy places of democracy1 declaiming on the sacredness of human life1 and filled with all due reverence for the political charms of ,schneidermann1 ,vandervelde1 and particularly of his own physical grandson1 ,jean ,longuet4 ,in a word1 ,marx1 instructed by the experience of life1 proves to be a well-behaved ,kautskian4 ,from the deathless ,civil ,war in ,france1 the pages of which have been filled with a new and intense life in our own epoch1 ,kautsky has quoted only those lines in which the mighty theoretician of the social revolution contrasted the generosity of the ,communards with the bourgeois ferocity of the ,versaillese4 ,kautsky has devastated these lines and made them commonplace4 ,marx1 as the preacher of detached humanity1 as the apostle of general love of mankind6 ,just as if we were talking about ,buddha or ,leo ,tolstoy4444 ,it is more than natural that1 against the international campaign which represented the ,communards as souteneurs and the women of the ,commune as prostitutes1 against the vile slanders which attributed to the conquered fighters ferocious features drawn from the degenerate imagination of the victorious bourgeoisie1 ,marx should emphasize and underline those features of tenderness and nobility which not infrequently were merely the reverse side of indecision4 ,marx was ,marx4 ,he was neither an empty pedant1 nor1 all the more1 the legal defender of the revolution3 he combined a scientific analysis of the ,commune with its revolutionary apology4 ,he not only explained and criticised--he defended and struggled4 ,but1 emphasizing the mildness of the ,commune which failed1 ,marx left no doubt possible concerning the measures which the ,commune ought to have taken in order not to fail4 ,the author of the ,civil ,war accuses the ,central ,committee--i4e41 the then ,council of ,national ,guards' ,deputies1 of having too soon given up its place to the elective ,commune4 ,kautsky does not understand the reason for such a reproach4 ,this conscientious non-understanding is one of the symptoms of ,kautsky's mental decline in connection with questions of the revolution generally4 ,the first place1 according to ,marx1 ought to have been filled by a purely fighting organ1 a centre of the insurrection and of military operations against ,versailles1 and not the organized self-government of the labor democracy4 ,for the latter the turn would come later4 ,marx accuses the ,commune of not having at once begun an attack against the ,versailles1 and of having entered upon the defensive1 which always appears more humane1 and gives more possibilities of appealing to moral law and the sacredness of human life1 but in conditions of civil war never leads to victory4 ,marx1 on the other hand1 first and foremost wanted a revolutionary victory4 ,nowhere1 by one word1 does he put forward the principle of democracy as something standing above the class struggle4 ,on the contrary1 with the concentrated contempt of the revolutionary and the ,communist1 ,marx--not the young editor of the ,rhine ,paper1 but the mature author of ,capital3 our genuine ,marx with the mighty leonine mane1 not as yet fallen under the hands of the hairdressers of the ,kautsky school--with what concentrated contempt he speaks about the artificial atmosphere of parliamentarism in which physical and spiritual dwarfs like ,thiers seem giants6 ,the ,civil ,war1 after the barren and pedantic pamphlet of ,kautsky1 acts like a storm that clears the air4 ,in spite of ,kautsky's slanders1 ,marx had nothing in common with the view of democracy as the last1 absolute1 supreme product of history4 ,the development of bourgeois society itself1 out of which contemporary democracy grew up1 in no way represents that process of gradual democratization which figured before the war in the dreams of the greatest ,socialist illusionist of democracy--,jean ,jaures--and now in those of the most learned of pedants1 ,karl ,kautsky4 ,in the empire of ,napoleon ,,iii1 ,marx sees the only possible form of government in the epoch in which the bourgeoisie has already lost the possibility of governing the people1 while the working class has not yet acquired it4 ,in this way1 not democracy1 but ,bonapartism1 appears in ,marx's eyes as the final form of bourgeois power4 ,learned men may say that ,marx was mistaken1 as the ,bonapartist empire gave way for half a century to the ,democratic ,republic4 ,but ,marx was not mistaken4 ,in essence he was right4 ,the ,third ,republic has been the period of the complete decay of democracy4 ,bonapartism has found in the ,stock ,exchange ,republic of ,poincare-,clemenceau1 a more finished expression than in the ,second ,empire4 ,true1 the ,third ,republic was not crowned by the imperial diadem2 but in return there loomed over it the shadow of the ,russian ,tsar4 ,in his estimate of the ,commune1 ,marx carefully avoids using the worn currency of democratic terminology4 ,the ,commune was1 he writes1 not a parliament1 but a working institution1 and united in itself both executive and legislative power4 ,in the first place1 ,marx puts forward1 not the particular democratic form of the ,commune1 but its class essence4 ,the ,commune1 as is known1 abolished the regular army and the police1 and decreed the confiscation of ,church property4 ,it did this in the right of the revolutionary dictatorship of ,paris1 without the permission of the general democracy of the ,state1 which at that moment formally had found a much more lawful expression in the ,national ,assembly of ,thiers4 ,but a revolution is not decided by votes4 ,the ,national ,assembly1 says ,marx1 was nothing more nor less than one of the episodes of that revolution1 the true embodiment of which was1 nevertheless1 armed ,paris4 ,how far this is from formal democracy6 ,it only required that the ,communal order of things1 says ,marx1 should be set up in ,paris and in the secondary centres1 and the old central government would in the provinces also have yielded to the self-government of the producers4 ,marx1 consequently1 sees the problem of revolutionary ,paris1 not in appealing from its victory to the frail will of the ,constituent ,assembly1 but in covering the whole of ,france with a centralized organization of ,communes1 built up not on the external principles of democracy but on the genuine self-government of the producers4 ,kautsky has cited as an argument against the ,soviet ,constitution the indirectness of elections1 which contradicts the fixed laws of bourgeois democracy4 ,marx characterizes the proposed structure of labor ,france in the following words3--,the management of the general affairs of the village communes of every district was to devolve on the ,assembly of plenipotentiary delegates meeting in the chief town of the district2 while the district assemblies were in turn to send delegates to the ,national ,assembly sitting in ,paris4 ,marx1 as we can see1 was not in the least degree disturbed by the many degrees of indirect election1 in so far as it was a question of the ,state organization of the proletariat itself4 ,in the framework of bourgeois democracy1 indirectness of election confuses the demarcation line of parties and classes2 but in the self-government of the producers--i4e41 in the class proletarian ,state1 indirectness of election is a question not of politics1 but of the technical requirements of self-government1 and within certain limits may present the same advantages as in the realm of trade union organization4 ,the ,philistines of democracy are indignant at the inequality in representation of the workers and peasants which1 in the ,soviet ,constitution1 reflects the difference in the revolutionary roles of the town and the country4 ,marx writes3 ,the ,commune desired to bring the rural producers under the intellectual leadership of the central towns of their districts1 and there to secure to them1 in the workmen of the towns1 the natural guardians of their interests4 ,the question was not one of making the peasant equal to the worker on paper1 but of spiritually raising the peasant to the level of the worker4 ,all questions of the proletarian ,state ,marx decides according to the revolutionary dynamics of living forces1 and not according to the play of shadows upon the market-place screen of parliamentarism4 ,in order to reach the last confines of mental collapse1 ,kautsky denies the universal authority of the ,workers' ,councils on the ground that there is no legal boundary between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie4 ,in the indeterminate nature of the social divisions ,kautsky sees the source of the arbitrary authority of the ,soviet dictatorship4 ,marx sees directly the contrary4 ,the ,commune was an extremely elastic form of the ,state1 while all former forms of government had suffered from narrowness4 ,its secret consists in this1 that in its very essence it was the government of the working class1 the result of the struggle between the class of producers and the class of appropriators1 the political form1 long sought1 under which there could be accomplished the economic emancipation of labor4 ,the secret of the ,commune consisted in the fact that by its very essence it was a government of the working class4 ,this secret1 explained by ,marx1 has remained1 for ,kautsky1 even to this day1 a mystery sealed with seven seals4 ,the ,pharisees of democracy speak with indignation of the repressive measures of the ,soviet ,government1 of the closing of newspapers1 of arrests and shooting4 ,marx replies to the vile abuse of the lackeys of the ,press and to the reproaches of the well-intentioned bourgeois doctrinaries1 in connection with the repressive measures of the ,commune in the following words3--,not satisfied with their open waging of a most bloodthirsty war against ,paris1 the ,versaillese strove secretly to gain an entry by corruption and conspiracy4 ,could the ,commune at such a time without shamefully betraying its trust1 have observed the customary forms of liberalism1 just as if profound peace reigned around it8 ,had the government of the ,commune been akin in spirit to that of ,thiers1 there would have been no more occasion to suppress newspapers of the party of order in ,paris than there was to suppress newspapers of the ,commune at ,versailles4 ,in this way1 what ,kautsky demands in the name of the sacred foundations of democracy ,marx brands as a shameful betrayal of trust4 ,concerning the destruction of which the ,commune is accused1 and of which now the ,soviet ,government is accused1 ,marx speaks as of an inevitable and comparatively insignificant episode in the titanic struggle of the new-born order with the old in its collapse4 ,destruction and cruelty are inevitable in any war4 ,only sycophants can consider them a crime in the war of the slaves against their oppressors1 the only just war in history4 7,marx47 ,yet our dread accuser ,kautsky1 in his whole book1 does not breathe a word of the fact that we are in a condition of perpetual revolutionary self-defence1 that we are waging an intensive war against the oppressors of the world1 the only just war in history4 ,kautsky yet again tears his hair because the ,soviet ,government1 during the ,civil ,war1 has made use of the severe method of taking hostages4 ,he once again brings forward pointless and dishonest comparisons between the fierce ,soviet ,government and the humane ,commune4 ,clear and definite in this connection sounds the opinion of ,marx4 ,when ,thiers1 from the very beginning of the conflict1 had enforced the humane practice of shooting down captured ,communards1 the ,commune1 to protect the lives of those prisoners1 had nothing left for it but to resort to the ,prussian custom of taking hostages4 ,the lives of the hostages had been forfeited over and over again by the continued shooting of the prisoners on the part of the ,versaillese4 ,how could their lives be spared any longer after the blood-bath with which ,mac,mahon's ,pretorians celebrated their entry into ,paris8 ,how otherwise we shall ask together with ,marx1 can one act in conditions of civil war1 when the counter-revolution1 occupying a considerable portion of the national territory1 seizes wherever it can the unarmed workers1 their wives1 their mothers1 and shoots or hangs them3 how otherwise can one act than to seize as hostages the beloved or the trusted of the bourgeoisie1 thus placing the whole bourgeois class under the ,damocles' sword of mutual responsibility8 ,it would not be difficult to show1 day by day through the history of the civil war1 that all the severe measures of the ,soviet ,government were forced upon it as measures of revolutionary self-defense4 ,we shall not here enter into details4 ,but1 to give though it be but a partial criterion for valuing the conditions of the struggle1 let us remind the reader that1 at the moment when the ,white ,guards1 in company with their ,anglo-,french allies1 shoot every ,communist without exception who falls into their hands1 the ,red ,army spares all prisoners without exception1 including even officers of high rank4 ,fully grasping its historical task1 filled with the heroic decision to remain equal to that task1 ,marx wrote1 the working class may reply with a smile of calm contempt to the vile abuse of the lackeys of the ,press and to the learned patronage of well-intentioned bourgeois doctrinaires1 who utter their ignorant stereotyped common-places1 their characteristic nonsense1 with the profound tone of oracles of scientific immaculateness4 ,if the well-intentioned bourgeois doctrinaires sometimes appear in the guise of retired theoreticians of the ,second ,international1 this in no way deprives their characteristic nonsense of the right of remaining nonsense4 #g ,,the ,,working ,,class ,,and ,,its ,,soviet ,,policy ,,the ,,russian ,,proletariat ,the initiative in the social revolution proved1 by the force of events1 to be imposed1 not upon the old proletariat of ,western ,europe1 with its mighty economic and political organization1 with its ponderous traditions of parliamentarism and trade unionism1 but upon the young working-class of a backward country4 ,history1 as always1 moved along the line of least resistance4 ,the revolutionary epoch burst upon us through the least barricaded door4 ,those extraordinary1 truly superhuman1 difficulties which were thus flung upon the ,russian proletariat have prepared1 hastened1 and to a considerable extent assisted the revolutionary work of the ,west ,european proletariat which still lies before us4 ,instead of examining the ,russian ,revolution in the light of the revolutionary epoch that has arrived throughout the world1 ,kautsky discusses the theme of whether or no the ,russian proletariat has taken power into its hands too soon4 ,for ,socialism1 he explains1 there is necessary a high development of the people1 a high morale amongst the masses1 strongly-developed social instincts1 sentiments of solidarity1 etc4 ,such a form of morale1 ,kautsky further informs us1 was very highly developed amongst the proletariat of the ,paris ,commune4 ,it is absent amongst the masses which at the present time set the tone amongst the ,bolshevik proletariat4 7,page #agg47 ,for ,kautsky's purpose1 it is not sufficient to fling mud at the ,bolsheviks as a political party before the eyes of his readers4 ,knowing that ,bolshevism has become amalgamated with the ,russian proletariat1 ,kautsky makes an attempt to fling mud at the ,russian proletariat as a whole1 representing it as an ignorant1 greedy mass1 without any ideals1 which is guided only by the instincts and impulses of the moment4 ,throughout his booklet ,kautsky returns many times to the question of the intellectual and moral level of the ,russian workers1 and every time only to deepen his characterization of them as ignorant1 stupid and barbarous4 ,to bring about the most striking contrasts1 ,kautsky adduces the example of how a workshop committee in one of the war industries during the ,commune decided upon compulsory night duty in the works for one worker so that it might be possible to distribute repaired arms by night4 ,as under present circumstances it is absolutely necessary to be extremely economical with the resources of the ,commune1 the regulation read1 the night duty will be rendered without payment4444 ,truly1 ,kautsky concludes1 these working men did not regard the period of their dictatorship as an opportune moment for the satisfaction of their personal interests4 7,page #ij47 ,quite otherwise is the case with the ,russian working class4 ,that class has no intelligence1 no stability1 no ideals1 no steadfastness1 no readiness for self-sacrifice1 and so on4 ,it is just as little capable of choosing suitable plenipotentiary leaders for itself1 ,kautsky jeers1 as ,munchausen was able to drag himself from the swamp by means of his own hair4 ,this comparison of the ,russian proletariat with the impostor ,munchausen dragging himself from the swamp is a striking example of the brazen tone in which ,kautsky speaks of the ,russian working class4 ,he brings extracts from various speeches and articles of ours in which undesirable phenomena amongst the working class are shown up1 and attempts to represent matters in such a way as if the life of the ,russian proletariat between #aiag-bj--;i4e41 in the greatest of revolutionary epochs--is fully described by passivity1 ignorance1 and egotism4 ,kautsky1 forsooth1 does not know1 has never heard1 cannot guess1 may not imagine1 that during the civil war the ,russian proletariat had more than one occasion of freely giving its labour1 and even of establishing unpaid guard duties--not of one worker for the space of one night1 but of tens of thousands of workers for the space of a long series of disturbed nights4 ,in the days and weeks of ,yudenich's advance on ,petrograd1 one telephonogram of the ,soviet was sufficient to ensure that many thousands of workers should spring to their posts in all the factories1 in all the wards of the city4 ,and this not in the first days of the ,petrograd ,commune1 but after a two years' struggle in cold and hunger4 ,two or three times a year our party mobilizes a high proportion of its numbers for the front4 ,scattered over a distance of #h1jjj versts1 they die and teach others to die4 ,and when1 in hungry and cold ,moscow1 which has given the flower of its workers to the front1 a ,party ,week is proclaimed1 there pour into our ranks from the proletarian masses1 in the space of seven days1 #ae1jjj persons4 ,and at what moment8 ,at the moment when the danger of the destruction of the ,soviet ,government had reached its most acute point4 ,at the moment when ,orel had been taken1 and ,denikin was approaching ,tula and ,moscow1 when ,yudenich was threatening ,petrograd4 ,at that most painful moment1 the ,moscow proletariat1 in the course of a week1 gave to the ranks of our party #ae1jjj men1 who only waited a new mobilization for the front4 ,and it can be said with certainty that never yet1 with the exception of the week of the ,november rising in #aiag1 was the ,moscow proletariat so single-minded in its revolutionary enthusiasm1 and in its readiness for devoted struggle1 as in those most difficult days of peril and self-sacrifice4 ,when our party proclaimed the watchword of ,subbotniks and ,voskresniks 7,communist ,saturdays and ,sundays71 the revolutionary idealism of the proletariat found for itself a striking expression in the shape of voluntary labor4 ,at first tens and hundreds1 later thousands1 and now tens and hundreds of thousands of workers every week give up several hours of their labor without reward1 for the sake of the economic reconstruction of the country4 ,and this is done by half-starved people1 in torn boots1 in dirty linen--because the country has neither boots nor soap4 ,such1 in reality1 is that ,bolshevik proletariat to whom ,kautsky recommends a course of self-sacrifice4 ,the facts of the situation1 and their relative importance1 will appear still more vividly before us if we recall that all the egoist1 bourgeois1 coarsely selfish elements of the proletariat--all those who avoid service at the front and in the ,subbotniks1 who engage in speculation and in weeks of starvation incite the workers to strikes--all of them vote at the ,soviet elections for the ,mensheviks2 that is1 for the ,russian ,kautskies4 ,kautsky quotes our words to the effect that1 even before the ,november ,revolution1 we clearly realized the defects in education of the ,russian proletariat1 but1 recognizing the inevitability of the transference of power to the working class1 we considered ourselves justified in hoping that during the struggle itself1 during its experience1 and with the ever-increasing support of the proletariat of other countries1 we should deal adequately with our difficulties1 and be able to guarantee the transition of ,russia to the ,socialist order4 ,in this connection1 ,kautsky asks3 ,would ,trotsky undertake to get on a locomotive and set it going1 in the conviction that he would during the journey have time to learn and to arrange everything8 ,one must preliminarily have acquired the qualities necessary to drive a locomotive before deciding to set it going4 ,similarly the proletariat ought beforehand to have acquired those necessary qualities which make it capable of administering industry1 once it had to take it over4 7,page #agc47 ,this instructive comparison would have done honor to any village clergyman4 ,none the less1 it is stupid4 ,with infinitely more foundation one could say3 ,will ,kautsky dare to mount a horse before he has learned to sit firmly in the saddle1 and to guide the animal in all its steps8 ,we have foundations for believing that ,kautsky would not make up his mind to such a dangerous purely ,bolshevik experiment4 ,on the other hand1 we fear that1 through not risking to mount the horse1 ,kautsky would have considerable difficulty in learning the secrets of riding on horse-back4 ,for the fundamental ,bolshevik prejudice is precisely this3 that one learns to ride on horse-back only when sitting on the horse4 ,concerning the driving of the locomotive1 this principle is at first sight not so evident2 but none the less it is there4 ,no one yet has learned to drive a locomotive sitting in his study4 ,one has to get up on to the engine1 to take one's stand in the tender1 to take into one's hands the regulator1 and to turn it4 ,true1 the engine allows training manoeuvres only under the guidance of an old driver4 ,the horse allows of instructions in the riding school only under the guidance of experienced trainers4 ,but in the sphere of ,state administration such artificial conditions cannot be created4 ,the bourgeoisie does not build for the proletariat academies of ,state administration1 and does not place at its disposal1 for preliminary practice1 the helm of the ,state4 ,and besides1 the workers and peasants learn even to ride on horse-back not in the riding school1 and without the assistance of trainers4 ,to this we must add another consideration1 perhaps the most important4 ,no one gives the proletariat the opportunity of choosing whether it will or will not mount the horse1 whether it will take power immediately or postpone the moment4 ,under certain conditions the working class is bound to take power1 under the threat of political self-annihilation for a whole historical period4 ,once having taken power1 it is impossible to accept one set of consequences at will and refuse to accept others4 ,if the capitalist bourgeoisie consciously and malignantly transforms the disorganization of production into a method of political struggle1 with the object of restoring power to itself1 the proletariat is obliged to resort to ,socialization1 independently of whether this is beneficial or otherwise at the given moment4 ,and1 once having taken over production1 the proletariat is obliged1 under the pressure of iron necessity1 to learn by its own experience a most difficult art--that of organizing ,socialist economy4 ,having mounted the saddle1 the rider is obliged to guide the horse--on the peril of breaking his neck4 99 99 99 99 99 ,to give his high-souled supporters1 male and female1 a complete picture of the moral level of the ,russian proletariat1 ,kautsky adduces1 on page #agb of his book1 the following mandate1 issued1 it is alleged1 by the ,murzilovka ,soviet3 ,the ,soviet hereby empowers ,comrade ,gregory ,sareiev1 in accordance with his choice and instructions1 to requisition and lead to the barracks1 for the use of the ,artillery ,division stationed in ,murzilovka1 ,briansk ,county1 sixty women and girls from the bourgeois and speculating class1 ,september #af1 #aiah4 7,what are the ,bolshevists doing8 ,published by ,dr4 ,nath4 ,wintch-,malejeff4 ,lausanne1 #aiai4 ,page #aj47 ,without having the least doubt of the forged character of this document and the lying nature of the whole communication1 ,i gave instructions1 however1 that careful inquiry should be made1 in order to discover what facts and episodes lay at the root of this invention4 ,a carefully carried out investigation showed the following3-- 7#a7 ,in the ,briansk ,county there is absolutely no village by the name of ,murzilovka4 ,there is no such village in the neighboring counties either4 ,the most similar in name is the village of ,muraviovka1 ,briansk ,county2 but no artillery division has ever been stationed there1 and altogether nothing ever took place which might be in any way connected with the above document4 7#b7 ,the investigation was also carried on along the line of the artillery units4 ,absolutely nowhere were we able to discover even an indirect allusion to a fact similar to that adduced by ,kautsky from the words of his inspirer4 7#c7 ,finally the investigation dealt with the question of whether there had been any rumors of this kind on the spot4 ,here1 too1 absolutely nothing was discovered2 and no wonder4 ,the very contents of the forgery are in too brutal a contrast with the morals and public opinion of the foremost workers and peasants who direct the work of the ,soviets1 even in the most backward regions4 ,in this way1 the document must be described as a pitiful forgery1 which might be circulated only by the most malignant sycophants in the most yellow of the gutter press4 ,while the investigation described above was going on1 ,comrade ,zinovieff showed me a number of a ,swedish paper 7,svenska ,dagbladet7 of ,november #i1 #aiai1 in which was printed the facsimile of a mandate running as follows3-- ,mandate4 ,the bearer of this1 ,comrade ,karaseiev1 has the right of socializing in the town of ,ekaterinodar 7obliterated7 girls aged from #af to #cf at his pleasure4--,,glavkom ,,ivashcheff4 ,this document is even more stupid and impudent than that quoted by ,kautsky4 ,the town of ,ekaterinodar--the centre of the ,kuban--was1 as is well known1 for only a very short time in the hands of the ,soviet ,government4 ,apparently the author of the forgery1 not very well up in his revolutionary chronology1 rubbed out the date on this document1 lest by some chance it should appear that ,glavkom ,ivashcheff socialized the ,ekaterinodar women during the reign of ,denikin's militarism there4 ,that the document might lead into error the thick-witted ,swedish bourgeois is not at all amazing4 ,but for the ,russian reader it is only too clear that the document is not merely a forgery1 but drawn up by a foreigner1 dictionary in hand4 ,it is extremely curious that the names of both the socializers of women1 ,gregory ,sareiev and ,karaseiev sound absolutely non-,russia4 ,the ending eiev in ,russian names is found rarely1 and only in definite combinations4 ,but the accuser of the ,bolsheviks himself1 the author of the ,english pamphlet on whom ,kautsky bases his evidence1 has a name that does actually end in eiev4 ,it seems obvious that this ,anglo-,bulgarian police agent1 sitting in ,lausanne1 creates socializers of women1 in the fullest sense of the word1 after his own likeness and image4 ,kautsky1 at any rate1 has original inspirers and assistants6 ,,soviets1 ,,trade ,,unions1 ,,and ,,the ,,party ,the ,soviets1 as a form of the organization of the working class1 represents for ,kautsky1 in relation to the party and professional organizations of more developed countries1 not a higher form of organization1 but first and foremost a substitute 7,notbehelf71 arising out of the absence of political organizations4 7,page #fh47 ,let us grant that this is true in connection with ,russia4 ,but then1 why have ,soviets sprung up in ,germany8 ,ought one not absolutely to repudiate them in the ,ebert ,republic8 ,we note1 however1 that ,hilferding1 the nearest sympathizer of ,kautsky1 proposes to include the ,soviets in the ,constitution4 ,kautsky is silent4 ,the estimate of ,soviets as a primitive organization is true to the extent that the open revolutionary struggle is more primitive than parliamentarism4 ,but the artificial complexity of the latter embraces only the upper strata1 insignificant in their size4 ,on the other hand1 revolution is only possible where the masses have their vital interests at stake4 ,the ,november ,revolution raised on to their feet such deep layers as the pre-revolutionary ,social-,democracy could not even dream of4 ,however wide were the organizations of the party and the trade unions in ,germany1 the revolution immediately proved incomparably wider than they4 ,the revolutionary masses found their direct representation in the most simple and generally comprehensive delegate organization--in the ,soviet4 ,one may admit that the ,council of ,deputies falls behind both the party and the trade union in the sense of the clearness of its programme1 or the exactness of its organization4 ,but it is far and away in front of the party and the trade unions in the size of the masses drawn by it into the organized struggle2 and this superiority in quality gives the ,soviet undeniable revolutionary preponderance4 ,the ,soviet embraces workers of all undertakings1 of all professions1 of all stages of cultural development1 all stages of political consciousness--and thereby objectively is forced to formulate the general interests of the proletariat4 ,the ,communist ,manifesto viewed the problem of the ,communist just in this sense--namely1 the formulating of the general historical interests of the working class as a whole4 ,the ,communists are only distinguished from other proletarian parties1 in the words of the ,manifesto1 by this3 that in the different national struggles of the proletariat they point out1 and bring to the fore1 the common interests of the proletariat1 independently of nationality2 and again that1 in the different stages of evolution through which the struggle between the proletariat and bourgeoisie passes1 they constantly represent the interests of the movement taken as a whole4 ,in the form of the all-embracing class organization of the ,soviets1 the movement takes itself as a whole4 ,hence it is clear why the ,communists could and had to become the guiding party in the ,soviets4 ,but hence also is seen all the narrowness of the estimate of ,soviets as substitutes for the party 7,kautsky71 and all the stupidity of the attempt to include the ,soviets1 in the form of an auxiliary lever1 in the mechanism of bourgeois democracy4 7,hilferding47 ,the ,soviets are the organization of the proletarian revolution1 and have purpose either as an organ of the struggle for power or as the apparatus of power of the working class4 ,unable to grasp the revolutionary role of the ,soviets1 ,kautsky sees their root defects in that which constitutes their greatest merit4 ,the demarcation of the bourgeois from the worker1 he writes1 can never be actually drawn4 ,there will always be something arbitrary in such demarcation1 which fact transforms the ,soviet idea into a particularly suitable foundation for dictatorial and arbitrary rule1 but renders it unfitted for the creation of a clear1 systematically built-up constitution4 7,page #agj47 ,class dictatorship1 according to ,kautsky1 cannot create for itself institutions answering to its nature1 because there do not exist lines of demarcation between the classes4 ,but in that case1 what happens to the class struggle altogether8 ,surely it was just1 in the existence of numerous transitional stages between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat1 that the lower middle-class theoreticians always found their principal argument against the principle of the class struggle8 ,for ,kautsky1 however1 doubts as to principle begin just at the point where the proletariat1 having overcome the shapelessness and unsteadiness of the intermediate class1 having brought one part of them over to its side and thrown the remainder into the camp of the bourgeoisie1 has actually organized its dictatorship in the ,soviet ,constitution4 ,the very reason why the ,soviets an absolutely irreplaceable apparatus in the proletarian ,state is that their framework is elastic and yielding1 with the result that not only social but political changes in the relationship of classes and sections can immediately find their expression in the ,soviet apparatus4 ,beginning with the largest factories and works1 the ,soviets then draw into their organization the workers of private workshops and shop-assistants1 proceed to enter the village1 organize the peasants against the landowners1 and finally the lower and middle-class sections of the peasantry against the richest4 ,the ,labor ,state collects numerous staffs of employees1 to a considerable extent from the ranks of the bourgeoisie and the bourgeois educated classes4 ,to the extent that they become disciplined under the ,soviet regime1 they find representation in the ,soviet system4 ,expanding--and at certain moments contracting--in harmony with the expansion and contraction of the social positions conquered by the proletariat1 the ,soviet system remains the ,state apparatus of the social revolution1 in its internal dynamics1 its ebbs and flows1 its mistakes and successes4 ,with the final triumph of the social revolution1 the ,soviet system will expand and include the whole population1 in order thereby to lose the characteristics of a form of ,state1 and melt away into a mighty system of producing and consuming co-operation4 ,if the party and the trade unions were organizations of preparation for the revolution1 the ,soviets are the weapon of the revolution itself4 ,after its victory1 the ,soviets become the organs of power4 ,the role of the party and the unions1 without decreasing is nevertheless essentially altered4 ,in the hands of the party is concentrated the general control4 ,it does not immediately administer1 since its apparatus is not adapted for this purpose4 ,but it has the final word in all fundamental questions4 ,further1 our practice has led to the result that1 in all moot questions1 generally--conflicts between departments and personal conflicts within departments--the last word belongs to the ,central ,committee of the party4 ,this affords extreme economy of time and energy1 and in the most difficult and complicated circumstances gives a guarantee for the necessary unity of action4 ,such a regime is possible only in the presence of the unquestioned authority of the party1 and the faultlessness of its discipline4 ,happily for the revolution1 our party does possess in an equal measure both of these qualities4 ,whether in other countries which have not received from their past a strong revolutionary organization1 with a great hardening in conflict1 there will be created just as authoritative a ,communist ,party by the time of the proletarian revolution1 it is difficult to foretell2 but it is quite obvious that on this question1 to a very large extent1 depends the progress of the ,socialist revolution in each country4 ,the exclusive role of the ,communist ,party under the conditions of a victorious proletarian revolution is quite comprehensible4 ,the question is of the dictatorship of a class4 ,in the composition of that class there enter various elements1 heterogeneous moods1 different levels of development4 ,yet the dictatorship pre-supposes unity of will1 unity of direction1 unity of action4 ,by what other path then can it be attained8 ,the revolutionary supremacy of the proletariat pre-supposes within the proletariat itself the political supremacy of a party1 with a clear programme of action and a faultless internal discipline4 ,the policy of coalitions contradicts internally the regime of the revolutionary dictatorship4 ,we have in view1 not coalitions with bourgeois parties1 of which of course there can be no talk1 but a coalition of ,communists with other ,socialist organizations1 representing different stages of backwardness and prejudice of the laboring masses4 ,the revolution swiftly reveals all that is unstable1 wears out all that is artificial2 the contradictions glossed over in a coalition are swiftly revealed under the pressure of revolutionary events4 ,we have had an example of this in ,hungary1 where the dictatorship of the proletariat assumed the political form of the coalition of the ,communists with disguised ,opportunists4 ,the coalition soon broke up4 ,the ,communist ,party paid heavily for the revolutionary instability and the political treachery of its companions4 ,it is quite obvious that for the ,hungarian ,communists it would have been more profitable to have come to power later1 after having afforded to the ,left ,opportunists the possibility of compromising themselves once and for all4 ,it is quite another question as to how far this was possible4 ,in any case1 a coalition with the ,opportunists1 only temporarily hiding the relative weakness of the ,hungarian ,communists1 at the same time prevented them from growing stronger at the expense of the ,opportunists2 and brought them to disaster4 ,the same idea is sufficiently illustrated by the example of the ,russian revolution4 ,the coalition of the ,bolsheviks with the ,left ,socialist ,revolutionists1 which lasted for several months1 ended with a bloody conflict4 ,true1 the reckoning for the coalition had to be paid1 not so much by us ,communists as by our disloyal companions4 ,apparently1 such a coalition1 in which we were the stronger side and1 therefore1 were not taking too many risks in the attempt1 at one definite stage in history1 to make use of the extreme ,left-wing of the bourgeois democracy1 tactically must be completely justified4 ,but1 none the less1 the ,left ,s4,r4 episode quite clearly shows that the regime of compromises1 agreements1 mutual concessions--for that is the meaning of the regime of coalition--cannot last long in an epoch in which situations alter with extreme rapidity1 and in which supreme unity in point of view is necessary in order to render possible unity of action4 ,we have more than once been accused of having substituted for the dictatorship of the ,soviets the dictatorship of our party4 ,yet it can be said with complete justice that the dictatorship of the ,soviets became possible only by means of the dictatorship of the party4 ,it is thanks to the clarity of its theoretical vision and its strong revolutionary organization that the party has afforded to the ,soviets the possibility of becoming transformed from shapeless parliaments of labor into the apparatus of the supremacy of labor4 ,in this substitution of the power of the party for the power of the working class there is nothing accidental1 and in reality there is no substitution at all4 ,the ,communists express the fundamental interests of the working class4 ,it is quite natural that1 in the period in which history brings up those interests1 in all their magnitude1 on to the order of the day1 the ,communists have become the recognized representatives of the working class as a whole4 ,but where is your guarantee1 certain wise men ask us1 that it is just your party that expresses the interests of historical development8 ,destroying or driving underground the other parties1 you have thereby prevented their political competition with you1 and consequently you have deprived yourselves of the possibility of testing your line of action4 ,this idea is dictated by a purely liberal conception of the course of the revolution4 ,in a period in which all antagonisms assume an open character1 and the political struggle swiftly passes into a civil war1 the ruling party has sufficient material standard by which to test its line of action1 without the possible circulation of ,menshevik papers4 ,noske crushes the ,communists1 but they grow4 ,we have suppressed the ,mensheviks and the ,s4,r4s--and they have disappeared4 ,this criterion is sufficient for us4 ,at all events1 our problem is not at every given moment statistically to measure the grouping of tendencies2 but to render victory for our tendency secure4 ,for that tendency is the tendency of the revolutionary dictatorship2 and in the course of the latter1 in its internal friction1 we must find a sufficient criterion for self-examination4 ,the continuous independence of the trade union movement1 in the period of the proletarian revolution1 is just as much an impossibility as the policy of coalition4 ,the trade unions become the most important economic organs of the proletariat in power4 ,thereby they fall under the leadership of the ,communist ,party4 ,not only questions of principle in the trade union movement1 but serious conflicts of organization within it1 are decided by the ,central ,committee of our party4 ,the ,kautskians attack the ,soviet ,government as the dictatorship of a section of the working class4 ,if only1 they say1 the dictatorship was carried out by the whole class6 ,it is not easy to understand what actually they imagine when they say this4 ,the dictatorship of the proletariat1 in its very essence1 signifies the immediate supremacy of the revolutionary vanguard1 which relies upon the heavy masses1 and1 where necessary1 obliges the backward tail to dress by the head4 ,this refers also to the trade unions4 ,after the conquest of power by the proletariat1 they acquire a compulsory character4 ,they must include all industrial workers4 ,the party1 on the other hand1 as before1 includes in its ranks only the most class-conscious and devoted2 and only in a process of careful selection does it widen its ranks4 ,hence follows the guiding role of the ,communist minority in the trade unions1 which answers to the supremacy of the ,communist ,party in the ,soviets1 and represents the political expression of the dictatorship of the proletariat4 ,the trade unions become the direct organizers of social production4 ,they express not only the interests of the industrial workers1 but the interests of industry itself4 ,during the first period1 the old currents in trade unionism more than once raised their head1 urging the unions to haggle with the ,soviet ,state1 lay down conditions for it1 and demand from it guarantees4 ,the further we go1 however1 the more do the unions recognize that they are organs of production of the ,soviet ,state1 and assume responsibility for its fortunes--not opposing themselves to it1 but identifying themselves with it4 ,the unions become the organizers of labor discipline4 ,they demand from the workers intensive labor under the most difficult conditions1 to the extent that the ,labor ,state is not yet able to alter those conditions4 ,the unions become the apparatus of revolutionary repression against undisciplined1 anarchical1 parasitic elements in the working class4 ,from the old policy of trade unionism1 which at a certain stage is inseparable from the industrial movement within the framework of capitalist society1 the unions pass along the whole line on to the new path of the policy of revolutionary ,communism4 ,,the ,,peasant ,,policy ,the ,bolsheviks hoped1 ,kautsky thunders1 to overcome the substantial peasants in the villages by granting political rights exclusively to the poorest peasants4 ,they then again granted representation to the substantial peasantry4 7,page #baf47 ,kautsky enumerates the external contradictions of our peasant policy1 not dreaming to inquire into its general direction1 and into the internal contradictions visible in the economic and political situation of the country4 ,in the ,russian peasantry as it entered the ,soviet order there were three elements3 the poor1 living to a considerable extent by the sale of their labor-power1 and forced to buy additional food for their requirements2 the middle peasants1 whose requirements were covered by the products of their farms1 and who were able to a limited extent to sell their surplus2 and the upper layer--i4e41 the rich peasants1 the vulture 7kulak7 class1 which systematically bought labor-power and sold their agricultural produce on a large scale4 ,it is quite unnecessary to point out that these groups are not distinguished by definite symptoms or by homogeneousness throughout the country4 ,still1 on the whole1 and generally speaking1 the peasant poor represented the natural and undeniable allies of the town proletariat1 whilst the vulture class represented its just as undeniable and irreconcilable enemies4 ,the most hesitation was principally to be observed amongst the widest1 the middle section of the peasantry4 ,had not the country been so exhausted1 and if the proletariat had had the possibility of offering to the peasant masses the necessary quantity of commodities and cultural requirements1 the adaptation of the toiling majority of the peasantry to the new regime would have taken place much less painfully4 ,but the economic disorder of the country1 which was not the result of our land or food policy1 but was generated by the causes which preceded the appearance of that policy1 robbed the town for a prolonged period of any possibility of giving the village the products of the textile and metal-working industries1 imported goods1 and so on4 ,at the same time1 industry could not entirely cease drawing from the village all1 albeit the smallest quantity1 of its food resources4 ,the proletariat demanded of the peasantry the granting of food credits1 economic subsidies in respect of values which it is only now about to create4 ,the symbol of those future values was the credit symbol1 now finally deprived of all value4 ,but the peasant mass is not very capable of historical detachment4 ,bound up with the ,soviet ,government by the abolition of landlordism1 and seeing in it a guarantee against the restoration of ,tsarism1 the peasantry at the same time not infrequently opposes the collection of corn1 considering it a bad bargain so long as it does not itself receive printed calico1 nails1 and kerosine4 ,the ,soviet ,government naturally strove to impose the chief weight of the food tax upon the upper strata of the village4 ,but1 in the unformed social conditions of the village1 the influential peasantry1 accustomed to lead the middle peasants in its train1 found scores of methods of passing on the food tax from itself to the wide masses of the peasantry1 thereby placing them in a position of hostility and opposition to the ,soviet power4 ,it was necessary to awaken in the lower ranks of the peasantry suspicion and hostility towards the speculating upper strata4 ,this purpose was served by the ,committees of ,poverty4 ,they were built up of the rank and file1 of elements who in the last epoch were oppressed1 driven into a dark corner1 deprived of their rights4 ,of course1 in their midst there turned out to be a certain number of semi-parasitic elements4 ,this served as the chief text for the demagogues amongst the populist ,socialists1 whose speeches found a grateful echo in the hearts of the village vultures4 ,but the mere fact of the transference of power to the village poor had an immeasurable revolutionary significance4 ,for the guidance of the village semi-proletarians1 there were despatched from the towns parties from amongst the foremost workers1 who accomplished invaluable work in the villages4 ,the ,committees of ,poverty became shock battalions against the vulture class4 ,enjoying the support of the ,state1 they thereby obliged the middle section of the peasantry to choose1 not only between the ,soviet power and the power of the landlords1 but between the dictatorship of the proletariat and the semi-proletarian elements of the village on the one hand1 and the yoke of the rich speculators on the other4 ,by a series of lessons1 some of which were very severe1 the middle peasantry was obliged to become convinced that the ,soviet regime1 which had driven away the landlords and bailiffs1 in its turn imposes new duties upon the peasantry1 and demands sacrifices from them4 ,the political education of tens of millions of the middle peasantry did not take place as easily and smoothly as in the school-room1 and it did not give immediate and unquestionable results4 ,there were risings of the middle peasants1 uniting with the speculators1 and always in such cases falling under the leadership of ,white ,guard landlords2 there were abuses committed by local agents of the ,soviet ,government1 particularly by those of the ,committees of ,poverty4 ,but the fundamental political end was attained4 ,the powerful class of rich peasantry1 if it was not finally annihilated1 proved to be shaken to its foundations1 with its self-reliance undermined4 ,the middle peasantry1 remaining politically shapeless1 just as it is economically shapeless1 began to learn to find its representative in the foremost worker1 as before it found it in the noisy village speculator4 ,once this fundamental result was achieved1 the ,committees of ,poverty1 as temporary institutions1 as a sharp wedge driven into the village masses1 had to yield their place to the ,soviets1 in which the village poor are represented side by side with the middle peasantry4 ,the ,committees of ,poverty existed about six months1 from ,june to ,december1 #aiah4 ,in their institution1 as in their abolition1 ,kautsky sees nothing but the waverings of ,soviet policy4 ,yet at the same time he himself has not even a suspicion of any practical lessons to be drawn4 ,and after all1 how should he think of them8 ,experience such as we are acquiring in this respect knows no precedent2 and questions and problems such as the ,soviet ,government is now solving in practice have no solution in books4 ,what ,kautsky calls contradictions in policy are1 in reality1 the active manoeuvring of the proletariat in the spongy1 undivided1 peasant mass4 ,the sailing ship has to manoeuvre before the wind2 yet no one will see contradictions in the manoeuvres which finally bring the ship to harbor4 ,in questions as to agricultural communes and ,soviet farms1 there could also be found not a few contradictions1 in which1 side by side with individual mistakes1 there are expressed various stages of the revolution4 ,what quantity of land shall the ,soviet ,state leave for itself in the ,ukraine1 and what quantity shall it hand over to the peasants2 what policy shall it lay down for the agricultural communes2 in what form shall it give them support1 so as not to make them the nursery for parasitism2 in what form is control to be organized over them--all these are absolutely new problems of ,socialist economic construction1 which have been settled beforehand neither theoretically nor practically1 and in the settling of which the general principles of our programme have even yet to find their actual application and their testing in practice1 by means of inevitable temporary deviations to right or left4 ,but even the very fact that the ,russian proletariat has found support in the peasantry ,kautsky turns against us4 ,this has introduced into the ,soviet regime an economically reactionary element which was spared 767 the ,paris ,commune1 as its dictatorship did not rely on peasant ,soviets4 ,as if in reality we could accept the heritage of the feudal and bourgeois order with the possibility of excluding from it at will an economically reactionary element6 ,nor is this all4 ,having poisoned the ,soviet regime by its reactionary element1 the peasantry has deprived us of its support4 ,to-day it hates the ,bolsheviks4 ,all this ,kautsky knows very certainly from the radios of ,clemenceau and the squibs of the ,mensheviks4 ,in reality1 what is true is that wide masses of the peasantry are suffering from the absence of the essential products of industry4 ,but it is just as true that every other regime--and there were not a few of them1 in various parts of ,russia1 during the last three years--proved infinitely more oppressive for the shoulders of the peasantry4 ,neither monarchical nor democratic governments were able to increase their stores of manufactured goods4 ,both of them found themselves in need of the peasant's corn and the peasant's horses4 ,to carry out their policy1 the bourgeois governments--including the ,kautskian-,menshevik variety--made use of a purely bureaucratic apparatus1 which reckons with the requirements of the peasant's farm to an infinitely less degree than the ,soviet apparatus1 which consists of workers and peasants4 ,as a result1 the middle peasant1 in spite of his waverings1 his dissatisfaction1 and even his risings1 ultimately always comes to the conclusion that1 however difficult it is for him at present under the ,bolsheviks1 under every other regime it would be infinitely more difficult for him4 ,it is quite true that the ,commune was spared peasant support4 ,but in return the ,commune was not spared annihilation by the peasant armies of ,thiers6 ,whereas our army1 four-fifths of whom are peasants1 is fighting with enthusiasm and with success for the ,soviet ,republic4 ,and this one fact1 controverting ,kautsky and those inspiring him1 gives the best possible verdict on the peasant policy of the ,soviet ,government4 ,,the ,,soviet ,,government ,,and ,,the ,,experts ,the ,bolsheviks at first thought they could manage without the intelligentsia1 without the experts1 ,kautsky narrates to us4 7,page #aia47 ,but then1 becoming convinced of the necessity of the intelligentsia1 they abandoned their severe repressions1 and attempted to attract them to work by all sorts of measures1 incidentally by giving them extremely high salaries4 ,in this way1 ,kautsky says ironically1 the true path1 the true method of attracting experts consists in first of all giving them a thorough good hiding4 7 ,page #aib47 ,quite so4 ,with all due respect to all philistines1 the dictatorship of the proletariat does just consist in giving a hiding to the classes that were previously supreme1 before forcing them to recognize the new order and to submit to it4 ,the professional intelligentsia1 brought up with a prejudice about the omnipotence of the bourgeoisie1 long would not1 could not1 and did not believe that the working class is really capable of governing the country2 that it seized power not by accident2 and that the dictatorship of the proletariat is an insurmountable fact4 ,consequently1 the bourgeois intelligentsia treated its duties to the ,labor ,state extremely lightly1 even when it entered its service2 and it considered that to receive money from ,wilson1 ,clemenceau or ,mirbach for anti-,soviet agitation1 or to hand over military secrets and technical resources to ,white ,guards and foreign imperialists1 is a quite natural and obvious course under the regime of the proletariat4 ,it became necessary to show it in practice1 and to show it severely1 that the proletariat had not seized power in order to allow such jokes to be played off at its expense4 ,in the severe penalties adopted in the case of the intelligentsia1 our bourgeois idealist sees the consequence of a policy which strove to attract the educated classes1 not by means of persuasion1 but by means of kicks from before and behind4 7,page #aic47 ,in this way1 ,kautsky seriously imagines that it is possible to attract the bourgeois intelligentsia to the work of ,socialist construction by means of mere persuasion--and this in conditions when1 in all other countries1 there is still supreme the bourgeoisie which hesitates at no methods of terrifying1 flattering1 or buying over the ,russian intelligentsia and making it a weapon for the transformation of ,russia into a colony of slaves4 ,instead of analyzing the course of the struggle1 ,kautsky1 when dealing with the intelligentsia1 gives once again merely academical recipes4 ,it is absolutely false that our party had the idea of managing without the intelligentsia1 not realizing to the full its importance for the economic and cultural work that lay before us4 ,on the contrary4 ,when the struggle for the conquest and consolidation of power was in full blast1 and the majority of the intelligentsia was playing the part of a shock battalion of the bourgeoisie1 fighting against us openly or sabotaging our institutions1 the ,soviet power fought mercilessly with the experts1 precisely because it knew their enormous importance from the point of view of organization so long as they do not attempt to carry on an independent democratic policy and execute the orders of one of the fundamental classes of society4 ,only after the opposition of the intelligentsia had been broken by a severe struggle did the possibility open before us of enlisting the assistance of the experts4 ,we immediately entered that path4 ,it proved not as simple as it might have seemed at first4 ,the relations which existed under capitalist conditions between the working man and the director1 the clerk and the manager1 the soldier and the officer1 left behind a very deep class distrust of the experts2 and that distrust had become still more acute during the first period of the civil war1 when the intelligentsia did its utmost to break the labor revolution by hunger and cold4 ,it was not easy to outlive this frame of mind1 and to pass from the first violent antagonism to peaceful collaboration4 ,the laboring masses had gradually to become accustomed to see in the engineer1 the agricultural expert1 the officer1 not the oppressor of yesterday but the useful worker of to-day--a necessary expert1 entirely under the orders of the ,workers' and ,peasants' ,government4 ,we have already said that ,kautsky is wrong when he attributes to the ,soviet ,government the desire to replace experts by proletarians4 ,but that such a desire was bound to spring up in wide circles of the proletariat cannot be denied4 ,a young class which had proved to its own satisfaction that it was capable of overcoming the greatest obstacles in its path1 which had torn to pieces the veil of mystery which had hitherto surrounded the power of the propertied classes1 which had realized that all good things on the earth were not the direct gift of heaven--that a revolutionary class was naturally inclined1 in the person of the less mature of its elements1 at first to over-estimate its capacity for solving each and every problem1 without having recourse to the aid of experts educated by the bourgeoisie4 ,it was not merely yesterday that we began the struggle with such tendencies1 in so far as they assumed a definite character4 ,to-day1 when the power of the ,soviets has been set on a firm footing1 we said at the ,moscow ,city ,conference on ,march #bh1 #aiah1 the struggle with sabotage must express itself in the form of transforming the saboteurs of yesterday into the servants1 executive officials1 technical guides1 of the new regime1 wherever it requires them4 ,if we do not grapple with this1 if we do not attract all the forces necessary to us and enlist them in the ,soviet service1 our struggle of yesterday with sabotage would thereby be condemned as an absolutely vain and fruitless struggle4 ,just as in dead machines1 so into those technical experts1 engineers1 doctors1 teachers1 former officers1 there is sunk a certain portion of our national capital1 which we are obliged to exploit and utilize if we want to solve the root problems standing before us4 ,democratization does not at all consist--as every ,marxist learns in his ,a ,b ,c--in abolishing the meaning of skilled forces1 the meaning of persons possessing special knowledge1 and in replacing them everywhere and anywhere by elective boards4 ,elective boards1 consisting of the best representatives of the working class1 but not equipped with the necessary technical knowledge1 cannot replace one expert who has passed through the technical school1 and who knows how to carry out the given technical work4 ,that flood-tide of the collegiate principle which is at present to be observed in all spheres is the quite natural reaction of a young1 revolutionary1 only yesterday oppressed class1 which is throwing out the one-man principle of its rulers of yesterday--the landlords and the generals--and everywhere is appointing its elected representatives4 ,this1 ,i say1 is quite a natural and1 in its origin1 quite a healthy revolutionary reaction2 but it is not the last word in the economic constructive work of the proletatarian proletarian class4 ,the next step must consist in the self-limitation of the collegiate principle1 in a healthy and necessary act of self-limitation by the working class1 which knows where the decisive word can be spoken by the elected representatives of the workers themselves1 and where it is necessary to give way to a technical specialist1 who is equipped with certain knowledge1 on whom a great measure of responsibility must be laid1 and who must be kept under careful political control4 ,but it is necessary to allow the expert freedom to act1 freedom to create2 because no expert1 be he ever so little gifted or capable1 can work in his department when subordinate in his own technical work to a board of men who do not know that department4 ,political1 collegiate and ,soviet control everywhere and anywhere2 but for the executive functions1 we must appoint technical experts1 put them in responsible positions1 and impose responsibility upon them4 ,those who fear this are quite unconsciously adopting an attitude of profound internal distrust towards the ,soviet regime4 ,those who think that the enlisting of the saboteurs of yesterday in the administration of technically expert posts threatens the very foundations of the ,soviet regime1 do not realize that it is not through the work of some engineer or of some general of yesterday that the ,soviet regime may stumble--in the political1 in the revolutionary1 in the military sense1 the ,soviet regime is unconquerable4 ,but it may stumble through its own incapacity to grapple with the problems of creative organization4 ,the ,soviet regime is bound to draw from the old institutions all that was vital and valuable in them1 and harness it on to the new work4 ,if1 comrades1 we do not accomplish this1 we shall not deal successfully with our principal problems2 for it would be absolutely impossible for us to bring forth from our masses1 in the shortest possible time1 all the necessary experts1 and throw aside all that was accumulated in the past4 ,as a matter of fact1 it would be just the same as if we said that all the machines which hitherto had served to exploit the workers were now to be thrown aside4 ,it would be madness4 ,the enlisting of scientific experts is for us just as essential as the administration of the resources of production and transport1 and all the wealth of the country generally4 ,we must1 and in addition we must immediately1 bring under our control all the technical experts we possess1 and introduce in practice for them the principle of compulsory labor2 at the same time leaving them a wide margin of activity1 and maintaining over them careful political control4#g #g ,labor1 ,discipline1 and ,order will save the ,socialist ,soviet ,republic 7,moscow1 #aiah74 ,kautsky knows this pamphlet1 as he quotes from it several times4 ,this1 however1 does not prevent him passing over the passage quoted above1 which makes clear the attitude of the ,soviet ,government to the intelligentsia4 ,the question of experts was particularly acute1 from the very beginning1 in the ,war ,department4 ,here1 under the pressure of iron necessity1 it was solved first4 ,in the sphere of administration of industry and transport1 the necessary forms of organization are very far from being attained1 even to this day4 ,we must seek the reason in the fact that during the first two years we were obliged to sacrifice the interests of industry and transport to the requirements of military defence4 ,the extremely changeable course of the civil war1 in its turn1 threw obstacles in the way of the establishment of regular relations with the experts4 ,qualified technicians of industry and transport1 doctors1 teachers1 professors1 either went away with the retreating armies of ,kolchak and ,denikin1 or were compulsorily evacuated by them4 ,only now1 when the civil war is approaching its conclusion1 is the intelligentsia in its mass making its peace with the ,soviet ,government1 or bowing before it4 ,economic problems have acquired first-class importance4 ,one of the most important amongst them is the problem of the scientific organization of production4 ,before the experts there opens a boundless field of activity4 ,they are being accorded the independence necessary for creative work4 ,the general control of industry on a national scale is concentrated in the hands of the ,party of the proletariat4 ,,the ,,internal ,,policy ,,of ,,the ,,soviet ,,government ,the ,bolsheviks1 ,kautsky mediates1 acquired the force necessary for the seizure of political power through the fact that1 amongst the political parties in ,russia1 they were the most energetic in their demands for peace--peace at any price1 a separate peace--without interesting themselves as to the influence this would have on the general international situation1 as to whether this would assist the victory and world domination of the ,german military monarchy1 under the protection of which they remained for a long time1 just like ,indian or ,irish rebels or ,italian anarchists4 7,page #ec47 ,of the reasons for our victory1 ,kautsky knows only the one that we stood for peace4 ,he does not explain the ,soviet ,government has continued to exist now that it has again mobilized a most important proportion of the soldiers of the imperial army1 in order for two years successfully to combat its political enemies4 ,the watchword of peace undoubtedly played an enormous part in our struggle2 but precisely because it was directed against the imperialist war4 ,the idea of peace was supported most strongly of all1 not by the tired soldiers1 but by the foremost workers1 for whom it had the import1 not for a rest1 but of a pitiless struggle against the exploiters4 ,it was those same workers who1 under the watchword of peace1 later laid down their lives on the ,soviet fronts4 ,the affirmation that we demanded peace without reckoning on the effect it would have on the international situation is a belated echo of ,cadet and ,menshevik slanders4 ,the comparison of us with the ,germanophile nationalists of ,india and ,ireland seeks its justification in the fact that ,german imperialism did actually attempt to make use of us as it did the ,indians and the ,irish4 ,but the chauvinists of ,france spared no efforts to make use of ,liebknecht and ,luxemburg--even of ,kautsky and ,bernstein--in their own interests4 ,the whole question is1 did we allow ourselves to be utilized8 ,did we1 by our conduct1 give the ,european workers even the shadow of a ground to place us in the same category as ,german imperialism8 ,it is sufficient to remember the course of the ,brest negotiations1 their breakdown1 and the ,german advance of ,february1 #aiah1 to reveal all the cynicism of ,kautsky's accusation4 ,in reality1 there was no peace for a single day between ourselves and ,german imperialism4 ,on the ,ukrainian and ,caucasian fronts1 we1 in the measure of our then extremely feeble energies1 continued to wage war without openly calling it such4 ,we were too weak to organize war along the whole ,russo-,german front4 ,we maintained persistently the fiction of peace1 utilizing the fact that the chief ,german forces were drawn away to the west4 ,if ,german imperialism did prove sufficiently powerful1 in #aiag-ah1 to impose upon us the ,brest ,peace1 after all our efforts to tear that noose from our necks1 one of the principal reasons was the disgraceful behavior of the ,german ,social-,democratic ,party1 of which ,kautsky remained an integral and essential part4 ,the ,brest ,peace was pre-determined on ,august #d1 #aiad4 ,at that moment1 ,kautsky not only did not declare war against ,german militarism1 as he later demanded from the ,soviet ,government1 which was in #aiah still powerless from a military point of view2 ,kautsky actually proposed voting for the ,war ,credits1 under certain conditions2 and generally behaved in such a way that for months it was impossible to discover whether he stood for the ,war or against it4 ,and this political coward1 who at the decisive moment gave up the principal positions of ,socialism1 dares to accuse us of having found ourselves obliged1 at a certain moment1 to retreat--not in principle1 but materially4 ,and why8 ,because we were betrayed by the ,german ,social-,democracy1 corrupted by ,kautskianism--i4e41 by political prostitution disguised by theories4 ,we did concern ourselves with the international situation6 ,in reality1 we had a much more profound criterion by which to judge the international situation2 and it did not deceive us4 ,already before the ,february ,revolution the ,russian ,army no longer existed as a fighting force4 ,its final collapse was pre-determined4 ,if the ,february ,revolution had not taken place1 ,tsarism would have come to an agreement with the ,german monarchy4 ,but the ,february ,revolution which prevented that finally destroyed the army built on a monarchist basis1 precisely because it was a revolution4 ,a month sooner or later the army was bound to fall to pieces4 ,the military policy of ,kerensky was the policy of an ostrich4 ,he closed his eyes to the decomposition of the army1 talked sounding phrases1 and uttered verbal threats against ,german imperialism4 ,in such conditions1 we had only one way out3 to take our stand on the platform of peace1 as the inevitable conclusion from the military powerlessness of the revolution1 and to transform that watchword into the weapon of revolutionary influence on all the peoples of ,europe4 ,that is1 instead of1 together with ,kerensky1 peacefully awaiting the final military catastrophe--which might bury the revolution in its ruins--we proposed to take possession of the watchword of peace and to lead after it the proletariat of ,europe--and first and foremost the workers of ,austro-,germany4 ,it was in the light of this view that we carried on our peace negotiations with the ,central ,empires1 and it was in the light of this that we drew up our ,notes to the governments of the ,entente4 ,we drew out the negotiations as long as we could1 in order to give the ,european working masses the possibility of realizing the meaning of the ,soviet ,government and its policy4 ,the ,january strike of #aiah in ,germany and ,austria showed that our efforts had not been in vain4 ,that strike was the first serious premonition of the ,german ,revolution4 ,the ,german ,imperialists understood then that it was just we who represented for them a deadly danger4 ,this is very strikingly shown in ,ludendorff's book4 ,true1 they could not risk any longer coming out against us in an open crusade4 ,but wherever they could fight against us secretly deceiving the ,german workers with the help of the ,german ,social-,democracy1 they did so2 in the ,ukraine1 on the ,don1 in the ,caucasus4 ,in ,central ,russia1 in ,moscow1 ,count ,mirbach from the very first day of his arrival stood as the centre of counter-revolutionary plots against the ,soviet ,government--just as ,comrade ,yoffe in ,berlin was in the closest possible touch with the revolution4 ,the ,extreme ,left group of the ,german revolutionary movement1 the party of ,karl ,liebknecht and ,rosa ,luxemburg1 all the time went hand in hand with us4 ,the ,german revolution at once took on the form of ,soviets1 and the ,german proletariat1 in spite of the ,brest ,peace1 did not for a moment entertain any doubts as to whether we were with ,liebknecht or ,ludendorff4 ,in his evidence before the ,reichstag ,commission in ,november1 #aiai1 ,ludendorff explained how the ,high ,command demanded the creation of an institution with the object of disclosing the connection of revolutionary tendencies in ,germany with ,russia4 ,yoffe arrived in ,berlin1 and in various towns there were set up ,russian consulates4 ,this had the most painful consequences in the army and navy4 ,kautsky1 however1 has the audacity to write that if matters did come to a ,german revolution1 truly it is not the ,bolsheviks who are responsible for it4 7,page #afb47 ,even if we had had the possibility in #aiag-ah1 by means of revolutionary abstention1 of supporting the old ,imperial ,army instead of hastening its destruction1 we should have merely been assisting the ,entente1 and would have covered up by our aid its brigands' peace with ,germany1 ,austria1 and all the countries of the world generally4 ,with such a policy we should at the decisive moment have proved absolutely disarmed in the face of the ,entente--still more disarmed than ,germany is to-day4 ,whereas1 thanks to the ,november ,revolution and the ,brest ,peace we are to-day the only country which opposes the ,entente rifle in hand4 ,by our international policy1 we not only did not assist the ,hohenzollern to assume a position of world domination2 on the contrary1 by our ,november ,revolution we did more than anyone else to prepare his overthrow4 ,at the same time1 we gained a military breathing-space1 in the course of which we created a large and strong army1 the first army of the proletariat in history1 with which to-day not all the unleashed hounds of the ,entente can cope4 ,the most critical moment in our international situation arose in the autumn of #aiah1 after the destruction of the ,german armies4 ,in the place of two mighty camps1 more or less neutralizing each other1 there stood before us the victorious ,entente1 at the summit of its world power1 and there lay broken ,germany1 whose ,junker blackguards would have considered it a happiness and an honor to spring at the throat of the ,russian proletariat for a bone from the kitchen of ,clemenceau4 ,we proposed peace to the ,entente1 and were again ready--for we were obliged--to sign the most painful conditions4 ,but ,clemenceau1 in whose imperialist rapacity there have remained in their full force all the characteristics of lower-middle-class thick-headedness1 refused the ,junkers their bone1 and at the same time decided at all costs to decorate the ,invalides with the scalps of the leaders of the ,soviet ,republic4 ,by this policy ,clemenceau did us not a small service4 ,we defended ourselves successfully1 and held out4 ,what1 then1 was the guiding principle of our external policy1 once the first months of existence of the ,soviet ,government had made clear the considerable vitality as yet of the capitalist governments of ,europe8 ,just that which ,kautsky accepts to-day uncomprehendingly as an accidental result--to hold out6 ,we realized too clearly that the very fact of the existence of the ,soviet ,government is an event of the greatest revolutionary importance2 and this realization dictated to us our concessions and our temporary retirements--not in principle but in practical conclusions from a sober estimate of our own forces4 ,we retreated like an army which gives up to the enemy a town1 and even a fortress1 in order1 having retreated1 to concentrate its forces not only for defence but for an advance4 ,we retreated like strikers amongst whom to-day energies and resources have been exhausted1 but who1 clenching their teeth1 are preparing for a new struggle4 ,if we were not filled with an unconquerable belief in the world significance of the ,soviet dictatorship1 we should not have accepted the most painful sacrifices at ,brest-,litovsk4 ,if our faith had proved to be contradicted by the actual course of events1 the ,brest ,peace would have gone down to history as the futile capitulation of a doomed regime4 ,that is how the situation was judged then1 not only by the ,kuehlmanns1 but also by the ,kautskies of all countries4 ,but we proved right in our estimate1 as of our weakness then1 so of our strength in the future4 ,the existence of the ,ebert ,republic1 with its universal suffrage1 its parliamentary swindling1 its freedom of the ,press1 and its murder of labor leaders1 is merely a necessary link in the historical chain of slavery and scoundrelism4 ,the existence of the ,soviet ,government is a fact of immeasurable revolutionary significance4 ,it was necessary to retain it1 utilizing the conflict of the capitalist nations1 the as yet unfinished imperialist war1 the self-confident effrontery of the ,hohenzollern bands1 the thick-wittedness of the world-bourgeoisie as far as the fundamental questions of the revolution were concerned1 the antagonism of ,america and ,europe1 the complication of relations within the ,entente4 ,we had to lead our yet unfinished ,soviet ship over the stormy waves1 amid rocks and reefs1 completing its building and armament en route4 ,kautsky has the audacity to repeat the accusation that we did not1 at the beginning of #aiah1 hurl ourselves unarmed against our mighty foe4 ,had we done this we would have been crushed4#h ,the first great attempt of the proletariat to seize power would have suffered defeat4 ,the revolutionary wing of the ,european proletariat would have been dealt the severest possible blow4 ,the ,entente would have made peace with the ,hohenzollern over the corpse of the ,russian ,revolution1 and the world capitalist reaction would have received a respite for a number of years4 ,when ,kautsky says that1 concluding the ,brest ,peace1 we did not think of its influence on the fate of the ,german ,revolution1 he is uttering a disgraceful slander4 ,we considered the question from all sides1 and our sole criterion was the interests of the international revolution4 #h ,the ,vienna ,arbeiterzeitung opposes1 as is fitting1 the wise ,russian ,communists to the foolish ,austrians4 ,did not ,trotsky1 the paper writes1 with a clear view and understanding of possibilities1 sign the ,brest-,litovsk peace of violence1 notwithstanding that it served for the consolidation of ,german imperialism8 ,the ,brest ,peace was just as harsh and shameful as is the ,versailles ,peace4 ,but does this mean that ,trotsky had to be rash enough to continue the war against ,germany8 ,would not the fate of the ,russian ,revolution long ago have been sealed8 ,trotsky bowed before the unalterable necessity of signing the shameful treaty in anticipation of the ,german revolution4 ,the honor of having foreseen all the consequences of the ,brest ,peace belongs to ,lenin4 ,but this1 of course1 alters nothing in the argument of the organ of the ,viennese ,kautskians4 ,we came to the conclusion that those interests demanded that the only ,soviet ,government in the world should be preserved4 ,and we proved right4 ,whereas ,kautsky awaited our fall1 if not with impatience1 at least with certainty2 and on this expected fall built up his whole international policy4 ,the minutes of the session of the ,coalition ,government of ,november #ai1 #aiah1 published by the ,bauer ,ministry1 run3--,first1 a continuation of the discussion as to the relations of ,germany and the ,soviet ,republic4 ,haase advises a policy of procrastination4 ,kautsky agrees with ,haase3 decision must be postponed4 ,the ,soviet ,government will not last long4 ,it will inevitably fall in the course of a few weeks4444 ,in this way1 at the time when the situation of the ,soviet ,government was really extremely difficult--for the destruction of ,german militarism had given the ,entente1 it seemed1 the full possibility of finishing with us in the course of a few weeks--at that moment ,kautsky not only does not hasten to our aid1 and even does not merely wash his hands of the whole affair2 he participates in active treachery against revolutionary ,russia4 ,to aid ,scheidemann in his role of watch-dog of the bourgeoisie1 instead of the programme role assigned to him of its grave-digger1 ,kautsky himself hastens to become the grave-digger of the ,soviet ,government4 ,but the ,soviet ,government is alive4 ,it will outlive all its grave-diggers4 #h ,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,organization ,,of ,,labor ,,the ,,soviet ,,government ,,and ,,industry ,if1 in the first period of the ,soviet revolution1 the principal accusation of the bourgeois world was directed against our savagery and blood-thirstiness1 later1 when that argument1 from frequent use1 had become blunted1 and had lost its force1 we were made responsible chiefly for the economic disorganization of the country4 ,in harmony with his present mission1 ,kautsky methodically translates into the language of pseudo-,marxism all the bourgeois charges against the ,soviet ,government of destroying the industrial life of ,russia4 ,the ,bolsheviks began socialization without a plan4 ,they socialized what was not ready for socialization4 ,the ,russian working class1 altogether1 is not yet prepared for the administration of industry2 and so on1 and so on4 ,repeating and combining these accusations1 ,kautsky1 with dull obstinacy1 hides the real cause for our economic disorganization3 the imperialist slaughter1 the civil war1 and the blockade4 ,soviet ,russia1 from the first months of its existence1 found itself deprived of coal1 oil1 metal1 and cotton4 ,first the ,austro-,german and then the ,entente imperialisms1 with the assistance of the ,russian ,white ,guards1 tore away from ,soviet ,russia the ,donetz coal and metal-working region1 the oil districts of the ,caucasus1 ,turkestan with its cotton1 ,ural with its richest deposits of metals1 ,siberia with its bread and meat4 ,the ,donetz area had usually supplied our industry with #id per cent4 of its coal and #gd per cent4 of its crude ore4 ,the ,ural supplied the remaining #bj per cent4 of the ore and #d per cent4 of the coal4 ,both these regions1 during the civil war1 were cut off from us4 ,we were deprived of half a milliard poods of coal imported from abroad4 ,simultaneously1 we were left without oil3 the oilfields1 one and all1 passed into the hands of our enemies4 ,one needs to have a truly brazen forehead to speak1 in face of these facts1 of the destructive influence of premature1 barbarous1 etc41 socialization4 ,an industry which is completely deprived of fuel and raw materials--whether that industry belongs to a capitalist trust or to the ,labor ,state1 whether its factories be socialized or not--its chimneys will not smoke in either case without coal or oil4 ,something might be learned about this1 say1 in ,austria2 and for that matter in ,germany itself4 ,a weaving factory administered according to the best ,kautskian methods--if we admit that anything at all can be administered by ,kautskian methods1 except one's own inkstand--will not produce prints if it is not supplied with cotton4 ,and we were simultaneously deprived both of ,turkestan and ,american cotton4 ,in addition1 as has been pointed out1 we had no fuel4 ,of course1 the blockade and the civil war came as the result of the proletarian revolution in ,russia4 ,but it does not at all follow from this that the terrible devastation caused by the ,anglo-,american-,french blockade and the robber campaigns of ,kolchak and ,denikin have to be put down to the discredit of the ,soviet methods of economic organization4 ,the imperialist war that preceded the revolution1 with its all-devouring material and technical demands1 imposed a much greater strain on our young industry than on the industry of more powerful capitalist countries4 ,our transport suffered particularly severely4 ,the exploitation of the railways increased considerably2 the wear and tear correspondingly2 while repairs were reduced to a strict minimum4 ,the inevitable hour of ,nemesis was brought nearer by the fuel crisis4 ,our almost simultaneous loss of the ,donetz coal1 foreign coal1 and the oil of the ,caucasus1 obliged us in the sphere of transport to have recourse to wood4 ,and1 as the supplies of wood fuel were not in the least calculated with a view to this1 we had to stoke our boilers with recently stored raw wood1 which has an extremely destructive effect on the mechanism of locomotives that are already worn out4 ,we see1 in consequence1 that the chief reasons for the collapse of transport preceded ,november1 #aiag4 ,but even those reasons which are directly or indirectly bound up with the ,november ,revolution fall under the heading of political consequences of the revolution2 and in no circumstances do they affect ,socialist economic methods4 ,the influence of political disturbances in the economic sphere was not limited only to questions of transport and fuel4 ,if world industry1 during the last decade1 was more and more becoming a single organism1 the more directly does this apply to national industry4 ,on the other hand1 the war and the revolution were mechanically breaking up and tearing asunder ,russian industry in every direction4 ,the industrial ruin of ,poland1 the ,baltic fringe1 and later of ,petrograd1 began under ,tsarism and continued under ,kerensky1 embracing ever new and newer regions4 ,endless evacuations simultaneous with the destruction of industry1 of necessity meant the destruction of transport also4 ,during the civil war1 with its changing fronts1 evacuations assumed a more feverish and consequently a still more destructive character4 ,each side temporarily or permanently evacuated this or that industrial centre1 and took all possible steps to ensure that the most important industrial enterprises could not be utilized by the enemy3 all valuable machines were carried off1 or at any rate their most delicate parts1 together with the technical and best workers4 ,the evacuation was followed by a re-evacuation1 which not infrequently completed the destruction both of the property transferred and of the railways4 ,some most important industrial areas--especially in the ,ukraine and in the ,urals--changed hands several times4 ,to this it must be added that1 at the time when the destruction of technical equipment was being accomplished on an unprecedented scale1 the supply of machines from abroad1 which hitherto played a decisive part in our industry1 had completely ceased4 ,but not only did the dead elements of production--buildings1 machines1 rails1 fuel1 and raw material--suffer terrible losses under the combined blows of the war and the revolution4 ,not less1 if not more1 did the chief factor of industry1 its living creative force--the proletariat--suffer4 ,the proletariat was consolidating the ,november revolution1 building and defending the apparatus of ,soviet power1 and carrying on a ceaseless struggle with the ,white ,guards4 ,the skilled workers are1 as a rule1 at the same time the most advanced4 ,the civil war tore away many tens of thousands of the best workers for a long time from productive labor1 swallowing up many thousands of them for ever4 ,the ,socialist revolution placed the chief burden of its sacrifices upon the proletarian vanguard1 and consequently on industry4 ,all the attention of the ,soviet ,state has been directed1 for the two and a half years of its existence1 to the problem of military defence4 ,the best forces and its principal resources were given to the front4 ,in any case1 the class struggle inflicts blows upon industry4 ,that accusation1 long before ,kautsky1 was levelled at it by all the philosophers of the social harmony4 ,during simple economic strikes the workers consume1 and do not produce4 ,still more powerful1 therefore1 are the blows inflicted upon economic life by the class struggle in its severest form--in the form of armed conflicts4 ,but it is quite clear that the civil war cannot be classified under the heading of ,socialist economic methods4 ,the reasons enumerated above are more than sufficient to explain the difficult economic situation of ,soviet ,russia4 ,there is no fuel1 there is no metal1 there is no cotton1 transport is destroyed1 technical equipment is in disorder1 living labor-power is scattered over the face of the country1 and a high percentage of it has been lost to the front--is there any need to seek supplementary reasons in the economic ,utopianism of the ,bolsheviks in order to explain the fall of our industry8 ,on the contrary1 each of the reasons quoted alone is sufficient to evoke the question3 how is it possible at all that1 under such conditions1 factories and workshops should continue to function8 ,and yet they do continue principally in the shape of war industry1 which is at present living at the expense of the rest4 ,the ,soviet ,government was obliged to re-create it1 just like the army1 out of fragments4 ,war industry1 set up again under these conditions of unprecedented difficulty1 has fulfilled and is fulfilling its duty3 the ,red ,army is clothed1 shod1 equipped with its rifle1 its machine gun1 its cannon1 its bullet1 its shell1 its aeroplane1 and all else that it requires4 ,as soon as the dawn of peace made its appearance--after the destruction of ,kolchak1 ,yudenich1 and ,denikin--we placed before ourselves the problem of economic organization in the fullest possible way4 ,and already1 in the course of three or four months of intensive work in this sphere1 it has become clear beyond all possibility of doubt that1 thanks to its most intimate connection with the popular masses1 the elasticity of its apparatus1 and its own revolutionary initiative1 the ,soviet ,government disposes of such resources and methods for economic reconstruction as no other government ever had or has to-day4 ,true1 before us there arose quite new questions and new difficulties in the sphere of the organization of labor4 ,socialist theory had no answers to these questions1 and could not have them4 ,we had to find the solution in practice1 and test it in practice4 ,kautskianism is a whole epoch behind the gigantic economic problems being solved at present by the ,soviet ,government4 ,in the form of ,menshevism1 it constantly throws obstacles in our way1 opposing the practical measures of our economic reconstruction by bourgeois prejudices and bureaucratic-intellectual scepticism4 ,to introduce the reader to the very essence of the questions of the organization of labor1 as they stand at present before us1 we quote below the report of the author of this book at the ,third ,all-,russian ,congress of ,trade ,unions4 ,with the object of the fullest possible elucidation of the question1 the text of the speech is supplemented by considerable extracts from the author's reports at the ,all-,russian ,congress of ,economic ,councils and at the ,ninth ,congress of the ,communist ,party4 ,,report ,,on ,,the ,,organization ,,of ,,labor ,comrades1 the internal civil war is coming to an end4 ,on the western front1 the situation remains undecided4 ,it is possible that the ,polish bourgeoisie will hurl a challenge at its fate4444 ,but even in this case--we do not seek it--the war will not demand of us that all-devouring concentration of forces which the simultaneous struggle on four fronts imposed upon us4 ,the frightful pressure of the war is becoming weaker4 ,economic requirements and problems are more and more coming to the fore4 ,history is bringing us1 along the whole line1 to our fundamental problem--the organization of labor on new social foundations4 ,the organization of labor is in its essence the organization of the new society3 every historical form of society is in its foundation a form of organization of labor4 ,while every previous form of society was an organization of labor in the interests of a minority1 which organized its ,state apparatus for the oppression of the overwhelming majority of the workers1 we are making the first attempt in world history to organize labor in the interests of the laboring majority itself4 ,this1 however1 does not exclude the element of compulsion in all its forms1 both the most gentle and the extremely severe4 ,the element of ,state compulsion not only does not disappear from the historical arena1 but on the contrary will still play1 for a considerable period1 an extremely prominent part4 ,as a general rule1 man strives to avoid labor4 ,love for work is not at all an inborn characteristic3 it is created by economic pressure and social education4 ,one may even say that man is a fairly lazy animal4 ,it is on this quality1 in reality1 that is founded to a considerable extent all human progress2 because if man did not strive to expend his energy economically1 did not seek to receive the largest possible quantity of products in return for a small quantity of energy1 there would have been no technical development or social culture4 ,it would appear1 then1 from this point of view that human laziness is a progressive force1 ,old ,antonio ,labriola1 the ,italian ,marxist1 even used to picture the man of the future as a happy and lazy genius4 ,we must not1 however1 draw the conclusion from this that the party and the trade unions must propagate this quality in their agitation as a moral duty4 ,no1 no6 ,we have sufficient of it as it is4 ,the problem before the social organization is just to bring laziness within a definite framework1 to discipline it1 and to pull mankind together with the help of methods and measures invented by mankind itself4 ,,compulsory ,,labor ,,service ,the key to economic organization is labor-power1 skilled1 elementarily trained1 semi-trained1 untrained1 or unskilled4 ,to work out methods for its accurate registration1 mobilization1 distribution1 productive application1 means practically to solve the problem of economic construction4 ,this is a problem for a whole epoch--a gigantic problem4 ,its difficulty is intensified by the fact that we have to reconstruct labor on ,socialist foundations in conditions of hitherto unknown poverty and terrifying misery4 ,the more our machine equipment is worn out1 the more disordered our railways grow1 the less hope there is for us of receiving machines to any significant extent from abroad in the near future1 the greater is the importance acquired by the question of living labor-power4 ,at first sight it would seem that there is plenty of it4 ,but how are we to get at it8 ,how are we to apply it8 ,how are we productively to organize it8 ,even with the cleaning of snow drifts from the railway tracks1 we were brought face to face with very big difficulties4 ,it was absolutely impossible to meet those difficulties by means of buying labor-power on the market1 with the present insignificant purchasing power of money1 and in the most complete absence of manufactured products4 ,our fuel requirements cannot be satisfied1 even partially1 without a mass application1 on a scale hitherto unknown1 of labor-power to work on wood1 fuel1 peat1 and combustible slate4 ,the civil war has played havoc with our railways1 our bridges1 our buildings1 our stations4 ,we require at once tens and hundreds of thousands of hands to restore order to all this4 ,for production on a large scale in our timber1 peat1 and other enterprises1 we require housing for our workers1 if they be only temporary huts4 ,hence1 again1 the necessity of devoting a considerable amount of labor-power to building work4 ,many workers are required to organize river navigation2 and so on1 and so forth4444 ,capitalist industry utilizes auxiliary labor-power on a large scale1 in the shape of peasants employed on industry for only part of the year4 ,the village1 throttled by the grip of landlessness1 always threw a certain surplus of labor-power on to the market4 ,the ,state obliged it to do this by its demand for taxes4 ,the market offered the peasant manufactured goods4 ,to-day1 we have none of this4 ,the village has acquired more land2 there is not sufficient agricultural machinery2 workers are required for the land2 industry can at present give practically nothing to the village2 and the market no longer has an attractive influence on labor-power4 ,yet labor-power is required--required more than at any time before4 ,not only the worker1 but the peasant also1 must give to the ,soviet ,state his energy1 in order to ensure that laboring ,russia1 and with it the laboring masses1 should not be crushed4 ,the only way to attract the labor-power necessary for our economic problems is to introduce compulsory labor service4 ,the very principle of compulsory labor service is for the ,communist quite unquestionable4 ,he who works not1 neither shall he eat4 ,and as all must eat1 all are obliged to work4 ,compulsory labor service is sketched in our ,constitution and in our ,labor ,code4 ,but hitherto it has always remained a mere principle4 ,its application has always had an accidental1 impartial1 episodic character4 ,only now1 when along the whole line we have reached the question of the economic rebirth of the country1 have problems of compulsory labor service arisen before us in the most concrete way possible4 ,the only solution of economic difficulties that is correct from the point of view both of principle and of practice is to treat the population of the whole country as the reservoir of the necessary labor-power--an almost inexhaustible reservoir--and to introduce strict order into the work of its registration1 mobilization1 and utilization4 ,how are we practically to begin the utilization of labor-power on the basis of compulsory military service8 ,hitherto only the ,war ,department has had any experience in the sphere of the registration1 mobilization1 formation1 and transference from one place to another of large masses4 ,these technical methods and principles were inherited by our ,war ,department1 to a considerable extent1 from the past4 ,in the economic sphere there is no such heritage2 since in that sphere there existed the principle of private property1 and labor-power entered each factory separately from the market4 ,it is consequently natural that we should be obliged1 at any rate during the first period1 to make use of the apparatus of the ,war ,department on a large scale for labor mobilizations4 ,we have set up special organizations for the application of the principle of compulsory labor service in the centre and in the districts3 in the provinces1 the counties1 and the rural districts1 we have already compulsory labor committees at work4 ,they rely for the most part on the central and local organs of the ,war ,department4 ,our economic centres--the ,supreme ,economic ,council1 the ,people's ,commissariat for ,agriculture1 the ,people's ,commissariat for ,ways and ,communications1 the ,people's ,commissariat for ,food--work out estimates of the labor-power they require4 ,the ,chief ,committee for ,compulsory ,labor ,service receives these estimates1 co-ordinates them1 brings them into agreement with the local resources of labor-power1 gives corresponding directions to its local organs1 and through them carries out labor mobilizations4 ,within the boundaries of regions1 provinces1 and counties1 the local bodies carry out this work independently1 with the object of satisfying local economic requirements4 ,all this organization is at present only in the embryo stage4 ,it is still very imperfect4 ,but the course we have adopted is unquestionably the right one4 ,if the organization of the new society can be reduced fundamentally to the reorganization of labor1 the organization of labor signifies in its turn the correct introduction of general labor service4 ,this problem is in no way met by measures of a purely departmental and administrative character4 ,it touches the very foundations of economic life and the social structure4 ,it finds itself in conflict with the most powerful psychological habits and prejudices4 ,the introduction of compulsory labor service pre-supposes1 on the one hand1 a colossal work of education1 and1 on the other1 the greatest possible care in the practical method adopted4 ,the utilization of labor-power must be to the last degree economical4 ,in our labor mobilizations we have to reckon with the economic and social conditions of every region1 and with the requirements of the principal occupation of the local population--i4e41 of agriculture4 ,we have1 if possible1 to make use of the previous auxiliary occupations and part-time industries of the local population4 ,we have to see that the transference of mobilized labor-power should take place over the shortest possible distances--i4e41 to the nearest sectors of the labor front4 ,we must see that the number of workers mobilized correspond to the breadth of our economic problem4 ,we must see that the workers mobilized be supplied in good time with the necessary implements of production1 and with food4 ,we must see that at their head be placed experienced and business-like instructors4 ,we must see that the workers mobilized become convinced on the spot that their labor-power is being made use of cautiously and economically and is not being expended haphazard4 ,wherever it is possible1 direct mobilization must be replaced by the labor task--i4e41 by the imposition on the rural district of an obligation to supply1 for example1 in such a time such a number of cubic sazhens of wood1 or to bring up by carting to such a station so many poods of cast-iron1 etc4 ,in this sphere1 it is essential to study experience as it accumulates with particular care1 to allow a great measure of elasticity to the economic apparatus1 to show more attention to local interests and social peculiarities of tradition4 ,in a word1 we have to complete1 ameliorate1 perfect1 the system1 methods1 and organs for the mobilization of labor-power4 ,but at the same time it is necessary once for all to make clear to ourselves that the principle itself of compulsory labor service has just so radically and permanently replaced the principle of free hiring as the socialization of the means of production has replaced capitalist property4 ,,the ,,militarization ,,of ,,labor ,the introduction of compulsory labor service is unthinkable without the application1 to a greater or less degree1 of the methods of militarization of labor4 ,this term at once brings us into the region of the greatest possible superstitions and outcries from the opposition4 ,to understand what militarization of labor in the ,workers' ,state means1 and what its methods are1 one has to make clear to oneself in what way the army itself was militarized--for1 as we all know1 in its first days the army did not at all possess the necessary military qualities4 ,during these two years we mobilized for the ,red ,army nearly as many soldiers as there are members in our trade unions4 ,but the members of the trade unions are workers1 while in the army the workers constitute about #ae per cent41 the remainder being a peasant mass4 ,and1 none the less1 we can have no doubt that the true builder and militarizer of the ,red ,army has been the foremost worker1 pushed forward by the party and the trade union organization4 ,whenever the situation at the front was difficult1 whenever the recently-mobilized peasant mass did not display sufficient stability1 we turned on the one hand to the ,central ,committee of the ,communist ,party1 and on the other to the ,all-,russian ,council of ,trade ,unions4 ,from both these sources the foremost workers were sent to the front1 and there built the ,red ,army after their own likeness and image--educating1 hardening1 and militarizing the peasant mass4 ,this fact must be kept in mind to-day with all possible clearness because it throws the best possible light on the meaning of militarization in the workers' and peasants' ,state4 ,the militarization of labor has more than once been put forward as a watchword and realized in separate branches of economic life in the bourgeois countries1 both in the ,west and in ,russia under ,tsarism4 ,but our militarization is distinguished from those experiments by its aims and methods1 just as much as the class-conscious proletariat organized for emancipation is distinguished from the class-conscious bourgeoisie organized for exploitation4 ,from the confusion1 semi-unconscious and semi-deliberate1 of two different historical forms of militarization--the proletarian or ,socialist and the bourgeois--there spring the greater part of the prejudices1 mistakes1 protests1 and outcries on this subject4 ,it is on such a confusion of meanings that the whole position of the ,mensheviks1 our ,russian ,kautskies1 is founded1 as it was expressed in their theoretical resolution moved at the present ,congress of ,trade ,unions4 ,the ,mensheviks attacked not only the militarization of labor1 but general labor service also4 ,they reject these methods as compulsory4 ,they preach that general labor service means a low productivity of labor1 while militarization means senseless scattering of labor-power4 ,compulsory labor always is unproductive labor1--such is the exact phrase in the ,menshevik resolution4 ,this affirmation brings us right up to the very essence of the question4 ,for1 as we see1 the question is not at all whether it is wise or unwise to proclaim this or that factory militarized1 or whether it is helpful or otherwise to give the military revolutionary tribunal powers to punish corrupt workers who steal materials and instruments1 so precious to us1 or who sabotage their work4 ,no1 the ,mensheviks have gone much further into the question4 ,affirming that compulsory labor is always unproductive1 they thereby attempt to cut the ground from under the feet of our economic reconstruction in the present transitional epoch4 ,for it is beyond question that to step from bourgeois anarchy to ,socialist economy without a revolutionary dictatorship1 and without compulsory forms of economic organization1 is impossible4 ,in the first paragraph of the ,menshevik resolution we are told that we are living in the period of transition from the capitalist method of production to the ,socialist4 ,what does this mean8 ,and1 first of all1 whence does this come8 ,since what time has this been admitted by our ,kautskians8 ,they accused us--and this formed the foundation of our differences--of ,socialist ,utopianism2 they declared--and this constituted the essence of their political teaching--that there can be no talk about the transition to ,socialism in our epoch1 and that our revolution is a bourgeois revolution1 and that we ,communists are only destroying capitalist economy1 and that we are not leading the country forward but are throwing it back4 ,this was the root difference--the most profound1 the most irreconcilable--from which all the others followed4 ,now the ,mensheviks tell us incidentally1 in the introductory paragraph of their resolution1 as something that does not require proof1 that we are in the period of transition from capitalism to ,socialism4 ,and this quite unexpected admission1 which1 one might think1 is extremely like a complete capitulation1 is made the more lightly and carelessly that1 as the whole resolution shows1 it imposes no revolutionary obligations on the ,mensheviks4 ,they remain entirely captive to the bourgeois ideology4 ,after recognizing that we are on the road to ,socialism1 the ,mensheviks with all the greater ferocity attack those methods without which1 in the harsh and difficult conditions of the present day1 the transition to ,socialism cannot be accomplished4 ,compulsory labor1 we are told1 is always unproductive4 ,we ask what does compulsory labor mean here1 that is1 to what kind of labor is it opposed8 ,obviously1 to free labor4 ,what are we to understand1 in that case1 by free labor8 ,that phrase was formulated by the progressive philosophers of the bourgeoisie1 in the struggle against unfree1 i4e41 against the serf labor of peasants1 and against the standardized and regulated labor of the craft guilds4 ,free labor meant labor which might be freely bought in the market2 freedom was reduced to a legal fiction1 on the basis of freely-hired slavery4 ,we know of no other form of free labor in history4 ,let the very few representatives of the ,mensheviks at this ,congress explain to us what they mean by free1 non-compulsory labor1 if not the market of labor-power4 ,history has known slave labor4 ,history has known serf labor4 ,history has known the regulated labor of the mediaeval craft guilds4 ,throughout the world there now prevails hired labor1 which the yellow journalists of all countries oppose1 as the highest possible form of liberty1 to ,soviet slavery4 ,we1 on the other hand1 oppose capitalist slavery by socially-regulated labor on the basis of an economic plan1 obligatory for the whole people and consequently compulsory for each worker in the country4 ,without this we cannot even dream of a transition to ,socialism4 ,the element of material1 physical1 compulsion may be greater or less2 that depends on many conditions--on the degree of wealth or poverty of the country1 on the heritage of the past1 on the general level of culture1 on the condition of transport1 on the administrative apparatus1 etc41 etc4 ,but obligation1 and1 consequently1 compulsion1 are essential conditions in order to bind down the bourgeois anarchy1 to secure socialization of the means of production and labor1 and to reconstruct economic life on the basis of a single plan4 ,for the ,liberal1 freedom in the long run means the market4 ,can or cannot the capitalist buy labor-power at a moderate price--that is for him the sole measure of the freedom of labor4 ,that measure is false1 not only in relation to the future but also in connection with the past4 ,it would be absurd to imagine that1 during the time of bondage-right1 work was carried entirely under the stick of physical compulsion1 as if an overseer stood with a whip behind the back of every peasant4 ,mediaeval forms of economic life grew up out of definite conditions of production1 and created definite forms of social life1 with which the peasant grew accustomed1 and which he at certain periods considered just1 or at any rate unalterable4 ,whenever he1 under the influence of a change in material conditions1 displayed hostility1 the ,state descended upon him with its material force1 thereby displaying the compulsory character of the organization of labor4 ,the foundations of the militarization of labor are those forms of ,state compulsion without which the replacement of capitalist economy by the ,socialist will for ever remain an empty sound4 ,why do we speak of militarization8 ,of course1 this is only an analogy--but an analogy very rich in content4 ,no social organization except the army has ever considered itself justified in subordinating citizens to itself in such a measure1 and to control them by its will on all sides to such a degree1 as the ,state of the proletarian dictatorship considers itself justified in doing1 and does4 ,only the army--just because in its way it used to decide questions of the life or death of nations1 ,states1 and ruling classes--was endowed with powers of demanding from each and all complete submission to its problems1 aims1 regulations1 and orders4 ,and it achieved this to the greater degree1 the more the problems of military organization coincided with the requirements of social development4 ,the question of the life or death of ,soviet ,russia is at present being settled on the labor front2 our economic1 and together with them our professional and productive organizations1 have the right to demand from their members all that devotion1 discipline1 and executive thoroughness1 which hitherto only the army required4 ,on the other hand1 the relation of the capitalist to the worker1 is not at all founded merely on the free contract1 but includes the very powerful elements of ,state regulation and material compulsion4 ,the competition of capitalist with capitalist imparted a certain very limited reality to the fiction of freedom of labor2 but this competition1 reduced to a minimum by trusts and syndicates1 we have finally eliminated by destroying private property in the means of production4 ,the transition to ,socialism1 verbally acknowledged by the ,mensheviks1 means the transition from anarchical distribution of labor-power--by means of the game of buying and selling1 the movement of market prices and wages--to systematic distribution of the workers by the economic organizations of the county1 the province1 and the whole country4 ,such a form of planned distribution pre-supposes the subordination of those distributed to the economic plan of the ,state4 ,and this is the essence of compulsory labor service1 which inevitably enters into the programme of the ,socialist organization of labor1 as its fundamental element4 ,if organized economic life is unthinkable without compulsory labor service1 the latter is not to be realized without the abolition of fiction of the freedom of labor1 and without the substitution for it of the obligatory principle1 which is supplemented by real compulsion4 ,that free labor is more productive than compulsory labor is quite true when it refers to the period of transition from feudal society to bourgeois society4 ,but one needs to be a ,liberal or--at the present day--a ,kautskian1 to make that truth permanent1 and to transfer its application to the period of transition from the bourgeois to the ,socialist order4 ,if it were true that compulsory labor is unproductive always and under every condition1 as the ,menshevik resolution says1 all our constructive work would be doomed to failure4 ,for we can have no way to ,socialism except by the authoritative regulation of the economic forces and resources of the country1 and the centralized distribution of labor-power in harmony with the general ,state plan4 ,the ,labor ,state considers itself empowered to send every worker to the place where his work is necessary4 ,and not one serious ,socialist will begin to deny to the ,labor ,state the right to lay its hand upon the worker who refuses to execute his labor duty4 ,but the whole point is that the ,menshevik path of transition to ,socialism is a milky way1 without the bread monopoly1 without the abolition of the market1 without the revolutionary dictatorship1 and without the militarization of labor4 ,without general labor service1 without the right to order and demand fulfilment of orders1 the trade unions will be transformed into a mere form without a reality2 for the young ,socialist ,state requires trade unions1 not for a struggle for better conditions of labor--that is the task of the social and ,state organizations as a whole--but to organize the working class for the ends of production1 to educate1 discipline1 distribute1 group1 retain certain categories and certain workers at their posts for fixed periods--in a word1 hand in hand with the ,state to exercise their authority in order to lead the workers into the framework of a single economic plan4 ,to defend1 under such conditions1 the freedom of labor means to defend fruitless1 helpless1 absolutely unregulated searches for better conditions1 unsystematic1 chaotic changes from factory to factory1 in a hungry country1 in conditions of terrible disorganization of the transport and food apparatus4444 ,what except the complete collapse of the working-class and complete economic anarchy could be the result of the stupid attempt to reconcile bourgeois freedom of labor with proletarian socialization of the means of production8 ,consequently1 comrades1 militarization of labor1 in the root sense indicated by me1 is not the invention of individual politicians or an invention of our ,war ,department1 but represents the inevitable method of organization and disciplining of labor-power during the period of transition from capitalism to ,socialism4 ,and if the compulsory distribution of labor-power1 its brief or prolonged retention at particular industries and factories1 its regulation within the framework of the general ,state economic plan--if these forms of compulsion lead always and everywhere1 as the ,menshevik resolution states1 to the lowering of productivity1 then you can erect a monument over the grave of ,socialism4 ,for we cannot build ,socialism on decreased production4 ,every social organization is in its foundation an organization of labor1 and if our new organization of labor leads to a lowering of its productivity1 it thereby most fatally leads to the destruction of the ,socialist society we are building1 whichever way we twist and turn1 whatever measures of salvation we invent4 ,that is why ,i stated at the very beginning that the ,menshevik argument against militarization leads us to the root question of general labor service and its influence on the productivity of labor4 ,it is true that compulsory labor is always unproductive8 ,we have to reply that that is the most pitiful and worthless ,liberal prejudice4 ,the whole question is3 who applies the principle of compulsion1 over whom1 and for what purpose8 ,what ,state1 what class1 in what conditions1 by what methods8 ,even the serf organization was in certain conditions a step forward1 and led to the increase in the productivity of labor4 ,production has grown extremely under capitalism1 that is1 in the epoch of the free buying and selling of labor-power on the market4 ,but free labor1 together with the whole of capitalism1 entered the stage of imperialism and blew itself up in the imperialist war4 ,the whole economic life of the world entered a period of bloody anarchy1 monstrous perturbations1 the impoverishment1 dying out1 and destruction of masses of the people4 ,can we1 under such conditions1 talk about the productivity of free labor1 when the fruits of that labor are destroyed ten times more quickly than they are created8 ,the imperialistic war1 and that which followed it1 displayed the impossibility of society existing any longer on the foundation of free labor4 ,or perhaps someone possesses the secret of how to separate free labor from the delirium tremens of imperialism1 that is1 of turning back the clock of social development half a century or a century8 ,if it were to turn out that the planned1 and consequently compulsory1 organization of labor which is arising to replace imperialism led to the lowering of economic life1 it would mean the destruction of all our culture1 and a retrograde movement of humanity back to barbarism and savagery4 ,happily1 not only for ,soviet ,russia but for the whole of humanity1 the philosophy of the low productivity of compulsory labor--everywhere and under all conditions--is only a belated echo of ancient ,liberal melodies4 ,the productivity of labor is the total productive meaning of the most complex combination of social conditions1 and is not in the least measured or pre-determined by the legal form of labor4 ,the whole of human history is the history of the organization and education of collective man for labor1 with the object of attaining a higher level of productivity4 ,man1 as ,i have already permitted myself to point out1 is lazy2 that is1 he instinctively strives to receive the largest possible quantity of products for the least possible expenditure of energy4 ,without such a striving1 there would have been no economic development4 ,the growth of civilization is measured by the productivity of human labor1 and each new form of social relations must pass through a test on such lines4 ,free1 that is1 freely-hired labor1 did not appear all at once upon the world1 with all the attributes of productivity4 ,it acquired a high level of productivity only gradually1 as a result of a prolonged application of methods of labor organization and labor education4 ,into that education there entered the most varying methods and practices1 which in addition changed from one epoch to another4 ,first of all the bourgeoisie drove the peasant from the village to the high road with its club1 having preliminarily robbed him of his land1 and when he would not work in the factory it branded his forehead with red-hot irons1 hung him1 sent him to the gallows2 and in the long run it taught the tramp who had been shaken out of his village to stand at the lathe in the factory4 ,at this stage1 as we see1 free labor is little different as yet from convict labor1 both in its material conditions and in its legal aspect4 ,at different times the bourgeoisie combined the red-hot irons of repression in different proportions with methods of moral influence1 and1 first of all1 the teaching of the priest4 ,as early as the sixteenth century1 it reformed the old religion of ,catholicism1 which defended the feudal order1 and adapted for itself a new religion in the form of the ,reformation1 which combined the free soul with free trade and free labor4 ,it found for itself new priests1 who became the spiritual shop-assistants1 pious counter-jumpers of the bourgeoisie4 ,the school1 the press1 the market-place1 and parliament were adapted by the bourgeoisie for the moral fashioning of the working-class4 ,different forms of wages--day-wages1 piece wages1 contract and collective bargaining--all these are merely changing methods in the hands of the bourgeoisie for the labor mobilization of the proletariat4 ,to this there are added all sorts of forms for encouraging labor and exciting ambition4 ,finally1 the bourgeoisie learned how to gain possession even of the trade unions--i4e41 the organizations of the working class itself2 and it made use of them on a large scale1 particularly in ,great ,britain1 to discipline the workers4 ,it domesticated the leaders1 and with their help inoculated the workers with the fiction of the necessity for peaceful organic labor1 for a faultless attitude to their duties1 and for a strict execution of the laws of the bourgeois ,state4 ,the crown of all this work is ,taylorism1 in which the elements of the scientific organization of the process of production are combined with the most concentrated methods of the system of sweating4 ,from all that has been said above1 it is clear that the productivity of freely-hired labor is not something that appeared all at once1 perfected1 presented by history on a salver4 ,no1 it was the result of a long and stubborn policy of repression1 education1 organization1 and encouragement1 applied by the bourgeoisie in its relations with the working class4 ,step by step it learned to squeeze out of the workers ever more and more of the products of labor2 and one of the most powerful weapons in its hand turned out to be the proclamation of free hiring as the sole free1 normal1 healthy1 productive1 and saving form of labor4 ,a legal form of labor which would of its own virtue guarantee its productivity has not been known in history1 and cannot be known4 ,the legal superstructure of labor corresponds to the relations and current ideas of the epoch4 ,the productivity of labor is developed1 on the basis of the development of technical forces1 by labor education1 by the gradual adaptation of the workers to the changed methods of production and the new form of social relations4 ,the creation of ,socialist society means the organization of the workers on new foundations1 their adaptation to those foundations1 and their labor re-education1 with the one unchanging end of the increase in the productivity of labor4 ,the working class1 under the leadership of its vanguard1 must itself re-educate itself on the foundations of ,socialism4 ,whoever has not understood this is ignorant of the ,a ,b ,c of ,socialist construction4 ,what methods have we1 then1 for the re-education of the workers8 ,infinitely wider than the bourgeoisie has--and1 in addition1 honest1 direct1 open methods1 infected neither by hypocrisy nor by lies4 ,the bourgeoisie had to have recourse to deception1 representing its labor as free1 when in reality it was not merely socially-imposed1 but actually slave labor4 ,for it was the labor of the majority in the interests of the minority4 ,we1 on the other hand1 organize labor in the interests of the workers themselves1 and therefore we can have no motives for hiding or masking the socially compulsory character of our labor organization4 ,we need the fairy stories neither of the priests1 nor of the ,liberals1 nor of the ,kautskians4 ,we say directly and openly to the masses that they can save1 rebuild1 and bring to a flourishing condition a ,socialist country only by means of hard work1 unquestioning discipline and exactness in execution on the part of every worker4 ,the chief of our resources is moral influence--propaganda not only in word but in deed4 ,general labor service has an obligatory character2 but this does not mean at all that it represents violence done to the working class4 ,if compulsory labor came up against the opposition of the majority of the workers it would turn out a broken reed1 and with it the whole of the ,soviet order4 ,the militarization of labor1 when the workers are opposed to it1 is the ,state slavery of ,arakcheyev4 ,the militarization of labor by the will of the workers themselves is the ,socialist dictatorship4 ,that compulsory labor service and the militarization of labor do not force the will of the workers1 as free labor used to do1 is best shown by the flourishing1 unprecedented in the history of humanity1 of labor voluntarism in the form of ,subbotniks 7,communist ,saturdays74 ,such a phenomenon there never was before1 anywhere or at any time4 ,by their own voluntary labor1 freely given--once a week and oftener--the workers clearly demonstrate not only their readiness to bear the yoke of compulsory labor but their eagerness to give the ,state besides that a certain quantity of additional labor4 ,the ,subbotniks are not only a splendid demonstration of ,communist solidarity1 but also the best possible guarantee for the successful introduction of general labor service4 ,such truly ,communist tendencies must be shown up in their true light1 extended1 and developed with the help of propaganda4 ,the chief spiritual weapon of the bourgeoisie is religion2 ours is the open explanation to the masses of the exact position of things1 the extension of scientific and technical knowledge1 and the initiation of the masses into the general economic plan of the ,state1 on the basis of which there must be brought to bear all the labor-power at the disposal of the ,soviet regime4 ,political economy provided us with the principal substance of our agitation in the period we have just left3 the capitalist social order was a riddle1 and we explained that riddle to the masses4 ,to-day1 social riddles are explained to the masses by the very mechanism of the ,soviet order1 which draws the masses into all branches of administration4 ,political economy will more and more pass into the realms of history4 ,there move forward into the foreground the sciences which study nature and the methods of subordinating it to man4 ,the trade unions must organize scientific and technical educational work on the widest possible scale1 so that every worker in his own branch of industry should find the impulses for theoretical work of the brain1 while the latter should again return him to labor1 perfecting it and making him more productive4 ,the press as a whole must fall into line with the economic problems of the country--not in that sense alone in which this is being done at present--i4e41 not in the sense of a mere general agitation in favor of a revival of labor--but in the sense of the discussion and the weighing of concrete economic problems and plans1 ways and means of their solution1 and1 most important of all1 the testing and criticism of results already achieved4 ,the newspapers must from day to day follow the production of the most important factories and other enterprises1 registering their successes and failures encouraging some and pillorying others4444 ,russian capitalism1 in consequence of its lateness1 its lack of independence1 and its resulting parasitic features1 has had much less time than ,european capitalism technically to educate the laboring masses1 to train and discipline them for production4 ,that problem is now in its entirety imposed upon the industrial organizations of the proletariat4 ,a good engineer1 a good mechanic1 and a good carpenter1 must have in the ,soviet ,republic the same publicity and fame as hitherto was enjoyed by prominent agitators1 revolutionary fighters1 and1 in the most recent period1 the most courageous and capable commanders and commissaries4 ,greater and lesser leaders of technical development must occupy the central position in the public eye4 ,bad workers must be made ashamed of doing their work badly4 ,we still retain1 and for a long time will retain1 the system of wages4 ,the further we go1 the more will its importance become simply to guarantee to all members of society all the necessaries of life2 and thereby it will cease to be a system of wages4 ,but at present we are not sufficiently rich for this4 ,our main problem is to raise the quantity of products turned out1 and to this problem all the remainder must be subordinated4 ,in the present difficult period the system of wages is for us1 first and foremost1 not a method for guaranteeing the personal existence of any separate worker1 but a method of estimating what that individual worker brings by his labor to the ,labor ,republic4 ,consequently1 wages1 in the form both of money and of goods1 must be brought into the closest possible touch with the productivity of individual labor4 ,under capitalism1 the system of piece-work and of grading1 the application of the ,taylor system1 etc41 have as their object to increase the exploitation of the workers by the squeezing-out of surplus value4 ,under ,socialist production1 piece-work1 bonuses1 etc41 have as their problem to increase the volume of social product1 and consequently to raise the general well-being4 ,those workers who do more for the general interest than others receive the right to a greater quantity of the social product than the lazy1 the careless1 and the disorganizers4 ,finally1 when it rewards some1 the ,labor ,state cannot but punish others--those who are clearly infringing labor solidarity1 undermining the common work1 and seriously impairing the ,socialist renaissance of the country4 ,repression for the attainment of economic ends is a necessary weapon of the ,socialist dictatorship4 ,all the measures enumerated above--and together with them a number of others--must assist the development of rivalry in the sphere of production4 ,without this we shall never rise above the average1 which is a very unsatisfactory level4 ,at the bottom of rivalry lies the vital instinct--the struggle for existence--which in the bourgeois order assumes the character of competition4 ,rivalry will not disappear even in the developed ,socialist society2 but with the growing guarantee of the necessary requirements of life rivalry will acquire an ever less selfish and purely idealist character4 ,it will express itself in a striving to perform the greatest possible service for one's village1 county1 town1 or the whole of society1 and to receive in return renown1 gratitude1 sympathy1 or1 finally1 just internal satisfaction from the consciousness of work well done4 ,but in the difficult period of transition1 in conditions of the extreme shortage of material goods1 and the as yet insufficiently developed state of social solidarity1 rivalry must inevitably be to a greater or less degree bound up with a striving to guarantee for oneself one's own requirements4 ,this1 comrades1 is the sum of resources at the disposal of the ,labor ,state in order to raise the productivity of labor4 ,as we see1 there is no ready-made solution here4 ,we shall find it written in no book4 ,for there could not be such a book4 ,we are now only beginning1 together with you1 to write that book in the sweat and the blood of the workers4 ,we say3 working men and women1 you have crossed to the path of regulated labor4 ,only along that road will you build the ,socialist society4 ,before you there lies a problem which no one will settle for you3 the problem of increasing production on new social foundations4 ,unless you solve that problem1 you will perish4 ,if you solve it1 you will raise humanity by a whole head4 ,,labor ,,armies ,the question of the application of armies to labor purposes1 which has acquired amongst us an enormous importance from the point of view of principle1 was approached by us by the path of practice1 not at all on the foundations of theoretical consideration4 ,on certain borders of ,soviet ,russia1 circumstances had arisen which had left considerable military forces free for an indefinite period4 ,to transfer them to other active fronts1 especially in the winter1 was difficult in consequence of the disorder of railway transport4 ,such1 for example1 proved the position of the ,third ,army1 distributed over the provinces of the ,ural and the ,ural area4 ,the leading workers of that army1 understanding that as yet it could not be demobilized1 themselves raised the question of its transference to labor work4 ,they sent to the centre a more or less worked-out draft decree for a labor army4 ,the problem was novel and difficult4 ,would the ,red soldiers work8 ,would their work be sufficiently productive8 ,would it pay for itself8 ,in this connection there were doubts even in our own ranks4 ,needless to say1 the ,mensheviks struck up a chorus of opposition4 ,the same ,abramovich1 at the ,congress of ,economic ,councils called in ,january or the beginning of ,february--that is to say1 when the whole affair was still in draft stage--foretold that we should suffer an inevitable failure1 for the whole undertaking was senseless1 an ,arakcheyev ,utopia1 etc41 etc4 ,we considered the matter otherwise4 ,of course the difficulties were great1 but they were not distinguishable in principle from many other difficulties of ,soviet constructive work4 ,let us consider in fact what was the organism of the ,third ,army4 ,taken all in all1 one rifle division and one cavalry division--a total of fifteen regiments--and1 in addition1 special units4 ,the remaining military formations had already been transformed to other armies and fronts4 ,but the apparatus of military administration had remained untouched as yet1 and we considered it probable that in the spring we should have to transfer it along the ,volga to the ,caucasus front1 against ,denikin1 if by that time he were not finally broken4 ,on the whole1 in the ,third ,army there remained about #abj1jjj ,red soldiers in administrative posts1 institutions1 military units1 hospitals1 etc4 ,in this general mass1 mainly peasant in its composition1 there were reckoned about #af1jjj ,communists and members of the organization of sympathizers--to a considerable extent workers of the ,ural4 ,in this way1 in its composition and structure1 the ,third ,army represented a peasant mass bound together into a military organization under the leadership of the foremost workers4 ,in the army there worked a considerable number of military specialists1 who carried out important military functions while remaining under the general control of the ,communists4 ,if we consider the ,third ,army from this general point of view1 we shall see that it represents in miniature the whole of ,soviet ,russia4 ,whether we take the ,red ,army as a whole1 or the organization of the ,soviet regime in the county1 province1 or the whole ,republic1 including the economic organs1 we shall find everywhere the same scheme of organization3 millions of peasants drawn into new forms of political1 economic1 and social life by the organized workers1 who occupy a controlling position in all spheres of ,soviet construction4 ,to posts requiring special knowledge1 we send experts of the bourgeois school4 ,they are given the necessary independence1 but control over their work remains in the hands of the working class1 in the person of its ,communist ,party4 ,the introduction of general labor service is again only conceivable for us as the mobilization of mainly peasant labor-power under the guidance of the most advanced workers4 ,in this way there were not1 and could not1 be any obstacles in principle in the way of application of the army to labor4 ,in other words1 the opposition in principle to labor armies1 on the part of those same ,mensheviks1 was in reality opposition to compulsory labor generally1 and consequently against general labor service and against ,soviet methods of economic reconstruction as a whole4 ,this opposition did not trouble us a great deal4 ,naturally1 the military apparatus as such is not adapted directly to the process of labor4 ,but we had no illusions about that4 ,control had to remain in the hands of the appropriate economic organs2 the army supplied the necessary labor-power in the form of organized1 compact units1 suitable in the mass for the execution of the simplest homogeneous types of work3 the freeing of roads from snow1 the storage of fuel1 building work1 organization of cartage1 etc41 etc4 ,to-day we have already had considerable experience in the work of the labor application of the army1 and can give not merely a preliminary or hypothetical estimate4 ,what are the conclusions to be drawn from that experience8 ,the ,mensheviks have hastened to draw them4 ,the same ,abramovich1 again1 announced at the ,miners' ,congress that we had become bankrupt1 that the labor armies represent parasitic formations1 in which there are #ajj officials for every ten workers4 ,is this true8 ,no4 ,this is the irresponsible and malignant criticism of men who stand on one side1 do not know the facts1 collect only fragments and rubbish1 and are concerned in any way and every way either to declare our bankruptcy or to prophecy it4 ,in reality1 the labor armies have not only not gone bankrupt1 but1 on the contrary1 have had important successes1 have displayed their fidelity1 are developing and are becoming stronger and stronger4 ,just those prophets have gone bankrupt who foretold that nothing would come of the whole plan1 that nobody would begin to work1 and that the ,red soldiers would not go to the labor front but would simply scatter to their homes4 ,these criticisms were dictated by a philistine scepticism1 lack of faith in the masses1 lack of faith in bold initiative1 and organization4 ,but did we not hear exactly the same criticism1 at bottom1 when we had recourse to extensive mobilizations for military problems8 ,then too we were frightened1 we were terrified by stories of mass desertion1 which was absolutely inevitable1 it was alleged1 after the imperialist war4 ,naturally1 desertion there was1 but considered by the test of experience it proved not at all on such a mass scale as was foretold2 it did not destroy the army2 the bond of morale and organization--,communist voluntarism and ,state compulsion combined--allowed us to carry out mobilizations of millions to carry through numerous formations and redistributions1 and to solve the most difficult military problems4 ,in the long run1 the army was victorious4 ,in relation to labor problems1 on the foundation of our military experience1 we awaited the same results2 and we were not mistaken4 ,the ,red soldiers did not scatter when they were transformed from military to labor service1 as the sceptics prophesied4 ,thanks to our splendidly-organized agitation1 the transference itself took place amidst great enthusiasm4 ,true1 a certain portion of the soldiers tried to leave the army1 but this always happens when a large military formation is transferred from one front to another1 or is sent from the rear to the front--in general when it is shaken up--and when potential desertion becomes active4 ,but immediately the political sections1 the press1 the organs of struggle with desertion1 etc41 entered into their rights2 and to-day the percentage of deserters from our labor armies is in no way higher than in our armies on active service4 ,the statement that the armies1 in view of their internal structure1 can produce only a small percentage of workers1 is true only to a certain extent4 ,as far as the ,third ,army is concerned1 ,i have already pointed out that it retained its complete apparatus of administration side by side with an extremely insignificant number of military units4 ,while we--owing to military and not economic considerations--retained untouched the staff of the army and its administrative apparatus1 the percentage of workers produced by the army was actually extremely low4 ,from the general number of #abj1jjj ,red soldiers1 #ba proved to be employed in administrative and economic work2 #af were engaged in daily detail work 7guards1 etc47 in connection with the large number of army institutions and stores2 the number of sick1 mainly typhus cases1 together with the medico-sanitary personnel1 was about #ac2 about #be were not available for various reasons 7detachment1 leave1 absence without leave1 etc474 ,in this way1 the total personnel available for work constitutes no more than #bc2 this is the maximum of what can be drawn for labor from the given army4 ,actually1 at first1 there worked only about #ad1 mainly drawn from the two divisions1 rifle and cavalry1 which still remained with the army4 ,but as soon as it was clear that ,denikin had been crushed1 and that we should not have to send the ,third ,army down the ,volga in the spring to assist the forces on the ,caucasus front1 we immediately entered upon the disbanding of the clumsy army apparatus and a more regular adaptation of the army institutions to problems of labor4 ,although this work is not yet complete1 it has already had time to give some very significant results4 ,at the present moment 7,march1 #aibj71 the former ,third ,army gives about #ch of its total composition as workers4 ,as for the military units of the ,ural military area working side by side with it1 they already provide #di of their number as workers4 ,this result is not so bad1 if we compare it with the amount of work done in factories and workshops1 amongst which in the case of many quite recently1 in the case of some even to-day1 absence from work for legal and illegal reasons reached #ej and over4#i ,to this one must add that workers in factories and workshops are not infrequently assisted by the adult members of their family1 while the ,red soldiers have no auxiliary force but themselves4 #i ,since that time this percentage has been considerably lowered 7,june1 #aibj74 ,if we take the case of the #ai-year-olds1 who have been mobilized in the ,ural with the help of the military apparatus--principally for wood fuel work--we shall find that1 out of their general number of over #cj1jjj1 over #ge attend work4 ,this is already a very great step forward4 ,it shows that1 using the military apparatus for mobilization and formation1 we can introduce such alterations in the construction of purely labor units as guarantee an enormous increase in the percentage of those who participate directly in the material process of production4 ,finally1 in connection with the productivity of military labor1 we can also now judge on the basis of experience4 ,during the first days1 the productivity of labor in the principal departments of work1 in spite of the great moral enthusiasm1 was in reality very low1 and might seem completely discouraging when one reads the first labor communiques4 ,thus1 for the preparation of a cubic sazhen of wood1 at first1 one had to reckon thirteen to fifteen labor days2 whereas the standard--true1 rarely attained at the present day--is reckoned at three days4 ,one must add1 in addition1 that artistes in this sphere are capable1 under favorable conditions1 of producing one cubic sazhen per day per man4 ,what happened in reality8 ,the military units were quartered far from the forest to be felled4 ,in many cases it was necessary to march to and from work #f to #h versts1 which swallowed up a considerable portion of the working day4 ,there were not sufficient axes and saws on the spot4 ,many ,red soldiers1 born in the plains1 did not know the forests1 had never felled trees1 had never chopped or sawed them up4 ,the provincial and county ,timber ,committees were very far from knowing at first how to use the military units1 how to direct them where they were required1 how to equip them as they should be equipped4 ,it is not wonderful that all this had as its result an extremely low level of productivity4 ,but after the most crying defects in organization were eliminated1 results were achieved that were much more satisfactory4 ,thus1 according to the most recent data1 in that same ,first ,labor ,army1 four and a half working days are now devoted to one sazhen of wood1 which is not so far from the present standard4 ,what is most comforting1 however1 is the fact that the productivity of labor systematically increases1 in the measure of the improvement of its conditions4 ,while as to what can be achieved in this respect1 we have a brief but very rich experience in the ,moscow ,engineer ,regiment4 ,the ,chief ,board of ,military ,engineers1 which controlled this experiment1 began with fixing the standard of production as three working days for a cubic sazhen of wood4 ,this standard soon proved to be surpassed4 ,in ,january there were spent on a cubic sazhen of wood two and one-third working days2 in ,february1 #b4a2 in ,march1 #a4e2 which represents an exclusively high level of productivity4 ,this result was achieved by moral influence1 by the exact registration of the individual work of each man1 by the awakening of labor pride1 by the distribution of bonuses to the workers who produced more than the average result--or1 to speak in the language of the trade unions1 by a sliding scale adaptable to all individual changes in the productivity of labor4 ,this experiment1 carried out almost under laboratory conditions1 clearly indicates the path along which we have to go in future4 ,at present we have functioning a series of labor armies--the ,first1 the ,petrograd1 the ,ukrainian1 the ,caucasian1 the ,south ,volga1 the ,reserve4 ,the latter1 as is known1 assisted considerably to raise the traffic capacity of the ,kazan-,ekaterinburg ,railway2 and1 wherever the experiment of the adaptation of military units for labor problems was carried out with any intelligence at all1 the results showed that this method is unquestionably live and correct4 ,the prejudice concerning the inevitably parasitic nature of military organization--under each and every condition--proves to be shattered4 ,the ,soviet ,army reproduces within itself the tendencies of the ,soviet social order4 ,we must not think in the petrifying terms of the last epoch3 militarism1 military organization1 the unproductiveness of compulsory labor4 ,we must approach the phenomena of the new epoch without any prejudices1 and with eyes wide open2 and we must remember that ,saturday exists for man1 and not vice versa2 that all forms of organization1 including the military1 are only weapons in the hands of the working class in power1 which has both the right and the possibility of adapting1 altering1 refashioning1 those weapons1 until it has achieved the requisite result4 ,,the ,,single ,,economic ,,plan ,the widest possible application of the principle of general labor service1 together with measures for the militarization of labor1 can play a decisive part only in case they are applied on the basis of a single economic plan covering the whole country and all branches of productive activity4 ,this plan must be drawn up for a number of years1 for the whole epoch that lies before us4 ,it is naturally broken up into separate periods or stages1 corresponding to the inevitable stages in the economic rebirth of the country4 ,we shall have to begin with the most simple and at the same time most fundamental problems4 ,we have first of all to afford the working class the very possibility of living--though it be in the most difficult conditions--and thereby to preserve our industrial centres and save the towns4 ,this is the point of departure4 ,if we do not wish to melt the town into agriculture1 and transform the whole country into a peasant ,state1 we must support our transport1 even at the minimum level1 and secure bread for the towns1 fuel and raw materials for industry1 fodder for the cattle4 ,without this we shall not make one step forward4 ,consequently1 the first part of the plan comprises the improvement of transport1 or1 in any case1 the prevention of its further deterioration and the preparation of the most necessary supplies of food1 raw materials1 and fuel4 ,the whole of the next period will be in its entirety filled with the concentration and straining of labor-power to solve these root problems2 and only in this way shall we lay the foundations for all that is to come4 ,it was such a problem1 incidentally1 that we put before our labor armies4 ,whether the first or the following periods will be measured by months or by years1 it is fruitless at present to guess4 ,this depends on many reasons1 beginning with the international situation and ending with the degree of single-mindedness and steadfastness of the working class4 ,the second period is the period of machine-building in the interests of transport and the storage of raw material and fuel4 ,here the core is in the locomotive4 ,at the present time the repairing of locomotives is carried on in too haphazard a fashion1 swallowing up energies and resources beyond all measure4 ,we must reorganize the repairing of our rolling-stock1 on the basis of the mass production of spare parts4 ,to-day1 when the whole network of the railways and the factories is in the hands of one master1 the ,labor ,state1 we can and must fix single types of locomotives and trucks for the whole country1 standardize their constituent parts1 draw all the necessary factories into the work of the mass production of spare parts1 reduce repairing to the simple replacing of worn-out parts by new1 and thereby make it possible to build new locomotives on a mass scale out of spare parts4 ,now that the sources of fuel and raw material are again open to us1 we must concentrate our exclusive attention on the building of locomotives4 ,the third period will be one of machine-building in the interests of the production of articles of primary necessity4 ,finally1 the fourth period1 reposing on the conquests of the first three1 will allow us to begin the production of articles of personal or secondary significance on the widest possible scale4 ,this plan has great significance1 not only as a general guide for the practical work of our economic organs1 but also as a line along which propaganda amongst the laboring masses in connection with our economic problems is to proceed4 ,our labor mobilization will not enter into real life1 will not take root1 if we do not excite the living interest of all that is honest1 class-conscious1 and inspired in the working class4 ,we must explain to the masses the whole truth as to our situation and as to our views for the future2 we must tell them openly that our economic plan1 with the maximum of exertion on the part of the workers1 will neither to-morrow nor the day after give us a land flowing with milk and honey3 for during the first period our chief work will consist in preparing the conditions for the production of the means of production4 ,only after we have secured1 though on the smallest possible scale1 the possibility of rebuilding the means of transport and production1 shall we pass on to the production of articles for general consumption4 ,in this way the fruit of their labor1 which is the direct object of the workers1 in the shape of articles for personal consumption1 will arrive only in the last1 the fourth1 stage of our economic plan2 and only then shall we have a serious improvement in our life4 ,the masses1 who for a prolonged period will still bear all the weight of labor and of privation1 must realize to the full the inevitable internal logic of this economic plan if they are to prove capable of carrying it out4 ,the sequence of the four economic periods outlined above must not be understood too absolutely4 ,we do not1 of course1 propose to bring completely to a standstill our textile industry3 we could not do this for military considerations alone4 ,but in order that our attention and our forces should not be distracted under the pressure of requirements and needs crying to us from all quarters1 it is essential to make use of the economic plan as the fundamental criterion1 and separate the important and the fundamental from the auxiliary and secondary4 ,needless to say1 under no circumstances are we striving for a narrow national ,communism3 the raising of the blockade1 and the ,european revolution all the more1 would introduce the most radical alterations in our economic plan1 cutting down the stages of its development and bringing them together4 ,but we do not know when these events will take place2 and we must act in such a way that we can hold out and become stronger under the most unfavorable circumstances--that is to say1 in face of the slowest conceivable development of the ,european and the world revolution4 ,in case we are able actually to establish trading relations with the capitalist countries1 we shall again be guided by the economic plan sketched above4 ,we shall exchange part of our raw material for locomotives or for necessary machines1 but under no circumstances for clothing1 boots1 or colonial products3 our first item is not articles of consumption1 but the implements of transport and production4 ,we should be short-sighted sceptics1 and the most typical bourgeois curmudgeons1 if we imagined that the rebirth of our economic life will take the form of a gradual transition from the present economic collapse to the conditions that preceded that collapse1 i4e41 that we shall reascend the same steps by which we descended1 and only after a certain1 quite prolonged1 period will be able to raise our ,socialist economy to the level at which it stood on the eve of the imperialist war4 ,such a conception would not only be not consoling1 but absolutely incorrect4 ,economic collapse1 which destroyed and broke up in its path an incalculable quantity of values1 also destroyed a great deal that was poor and rotten1 that was absolutely senseless2 and thereby it cleared the path for a new method of reconstruction1 corresponding to that technical equipment which world economy now possesses4 ,if ,russian capitalism developed not from stage to stage1 but leaping over a series of stages1 and instituted ,american factories in the midst of primitive steppes1 the more is such a forced march possible for ,socialist economy4 ,after we have conquered our terrible misery1 have accumulated small supplies of raw material and food1 and have improved our transport1 we shall be able to leap over a whole series of intermediate stages1 benefiting by the fact that we are not bound by the chains of private property1 and that therefore we are able to subordinate all undertakings and all the elements of economic life to a single ,state plan4 ,thus1 for example1 we shall undoubtedly be able to enter the period of electrification1 in all the chief branches of industry and in the sphere of personal consumption1 without passing through the age of steam4 ,the programme of electrification is already drawn up in a series of logically consequent stages1 corresponding to the fundamental stages of the general economic plan4 ,a new war may slow down the realization of our economic intentions2 our energy and persistence can and must hasten the process of our economic rebirth4 ,but1 whatever be the rate at which economic events unfold themselves in the future1 it is clear that at the foundation of all our work--labor mobilization1 militarization of labor1 ,subbotniks1 and other forms of ,communist labor voluntarism--there must lie the single economic plan4 ,and the period that is upon us requires from us the complete concentration of all our energies on the first elementary problems3 food1 fuel1 raw material1 transport4 ,not to allow our attention to be distracted1 not to dissipate our forces1 not to waste our energies4 ,such is the sole road to salvation4 ,,collegiate ,,and ,,one-,,man ,,management ,the ,mensheviks attempt to dwell on yet another question which seems favorable to their desire once again to ally themselves with the working class4 ,this is the question of the method of administration of industrial enterprises--the question of the collegiate 7board7 or the one-man principle4 ,we are told that the transference of factories to single directors instead of to a board is a crime against the working class and the ,socialist revolution4 ,it is remarkable that the most zealous defenders of the ,socialist revolution against the principle of one-man management are those same ,mensheviks who quite recently still considered that the idea of a ,socialist revolution was an insult to history and a crime against the working class4 ,the first who must plead guilty in the face of the ,socialist revolution is our ,party ,congress1 which expressed itself in favor of the principle of one-man management in the administration of industry1 and above all in the lowest grades1 in the factories and plants4 ,it would be the greatest possible mistake1 however1 to consider this decision as a blow to the independence of the working class4 ,the independence of the workers is determined and measured not by whether three workers or one are placed at the head of a factory1 but by factors and phenomena of a such more profound character--the construction of the economic organs with the active assistance of the trade unions2 the building up of all ,soviet organs by means of the ,soviet congresses1 representing tens of millions of workers2 the attraction into the work of administration1 or control of administration1 of those who are administered4 ,it is in such things that the independence of the working class can be expressed4 ,and if the working class1 on the foundation of its existence1 comes through its congresses1 ,soviet party and trade union1 to the conclusion that it is better to place one person at the head of a factory1 and not a board1 it is making a decision dictated by the independence of the working class4 ,it may be correct or incorrect from the point of view of the technique of administration1 but it is not imposed upon the proletariat1 it is dictated by its own will and pleasure4 ,it would consequently be a most crying error to confuse the question as to the supremacy of the proletariat with the question of boards of workers at the head of factories4 ,the dictatorship of the proletariat is expressed in the abolition of private property in the means of production1 in the supremacy over the whole ,soviet mechanism of the collective will of the workers1 and not at all in the form in which individual economic enterprises are administered4 ,here it is necessary to reply to another accusation directed against the defenders of the one-man principle4 ,our opponents say3 ,this is the attempt of the ,soviet militarists to transfer their experience in the military sphere to the sphere of economics4 ,possibly in the army the one-man principle is satisfactory1 but it does not suit economical work4 ,such a criticism is incorrect in every way4 ,it is untrue that in the army we began with the one-man principle3 even now we are far from having completely adopted it4 ,it is also untrue that in defence of one-man forms of administration of our economic enterprises with the attraction of experts1 we took our stand only on the foundation of our military experience4 ,in reality1 in this question we took our stand1 and continue to do so on purely ,marxist views of the revolutionary problems and creative duties of the proletariat when it has taken power into its own hands4 ,the necessity of making use of technical knowledge and methods accumulated in the past1 the necessity of attracting experts and of making use of them on a wide scale1 in such a way that our technique should go not backwards but forwards--all this was understood and recognized by us1 not only from the very beginning of the revolution1 but even long before ,october4 ,i consider that if the civil war had not plundered our economic organs of all that was strongest1 most independent1 most endowed with initiative1 we should undoubtedly have entered the path of one-man management in the sphere of economic administration much sooner1 and much less painfully4 ,some comrades look on the apparatus of industrial administration first and foremost as on a school4 ,this is1 of course1 absolutely erroneous4 ,the task of administration is to administer4 ,if a man desires and is able to learn administration1 let him go to school1 to the special courses of instruction3 let him go as an assistant1 watching and acquiring experience3 but a man who is appointed to control a factory is not going to school1 but to a responsible post of economic administration4 ,and1 even if we look at this question in the limited1 and therefore incorrect light of a school1 ,i will say that when the one-man principle prevails the school is ten times better3 because just as you cannot replace one good worker by three immature workers1 similarly1 having placed a board of three immature workers in a responsible post1 you deprive them of the possibility of realizing their own defects4 ,each looks to the others when decisions are being made1 and blames the others when success is not forthcoming4 ,that this is not a question of principle for the opponents of the one-man principle is shown best of all by their not demanding the collegiate principle for the actual workshops1 jobs1 and pits4 ,they even say with indignation that only a madman can demand that a board of three or five should manage a workshop4 ,there must be one manager1 and one only4 ,why8 ,if collegiate administration is a school1 why do we not require an elementary school8 ,why should we not introduce boards into the workshops8 ,and1 if the collegiate principle is not a sacred gospel for the workshops1 why is it compulsory for the factories8 ,abramovich said here that1 as we have few experts--thanks to the ,bolsheviks1 he repeats after ,kautsky--we shall replace them by boards of workers4 ,that is nonsense4 ,no board of persons who do not know the given business can replace one man who knows it4 ,a board of lawyers will not replace one switchman4 ,a board of patients will not replace the doctor4 ,the very idea is incorrect4 ,a board in itself does not give knowledge to the ignorant4 ,it can only hide the ignorance of the ignorant4 ,if a person is appointed to a responsible administrative post1 he is under the watch1 not only of others but of himself1 and sees clearly what he knows and what he does not know4 ,but there is nothing worse than a board of ignorant1 badly-prepared workers appointed to a purely practical post1 demanding expert knowledge4 ,the members of the board are in a state of perpetual panic and mutual dissatisfaction1 and by their helplessness introduce hesitation and chaos into all their work4 ,the working class is very deeply interested in raising its capacity for administration1 that is1 in being educated2 but this is attained in the sphere of industry by the periodical report of the administrative body of a factory before the whole factory1 and the discussion of the economic plan for the year or for the current month4 ,all the workers who display serious interest in the work of industrial organization are registered by the directors of the undertaking1 or by special commissions2 are taken through appropriate courses closely bound up with the practical work of the factory itself2 and are then appointed1 first to less responsible1 and then to more responsible posts4 ,in such a way we shall embrace many thousands1 and1 in the future1 tens of thousands4 ,but the question of threes and fives interests1 not the laboring masses1 but the more backward1 weaker1 less fitted for independent work1 section of the ,soviet labor bureaucracy4 ,the foremost1 intelligent1 determined administrator naturally strives to take the factory into his hands as a whole1 and to show both to himself and to others that he can carry out his work4 ,while if that administrator is a weakling1 who does not stand very steadily on his feet1 he attempts to associate another with himself1 for in the company of another his own weakness will be unnoticed4 ,in such a collegiate principle there is a very dangerous foundation--the extinction of personal responsibility4 ,if a worker is capable but not experienced1 he naturally requires a guide3 under his control he will learn1 and to-morrow we shall appoint him the foreman of a little factory4 ,that is the way by which he will go forward4 ,in an accidental board1 in which the strength and the weakness of each are not clear1 the feeling of responsibility inevitably disappears4 ,our resolution speaks of a systematic approach to the one-man principle--naturally1 not by one stroke of the pen4 ,variants and combinations are possible here4 ,where the worker can manage alone1 let us put him in charge of the factory and give him an expert as an assistant4 ,where there is a good expert1 let us put him in charge and give him as assistants two or three of the workers4 ,finally1 where a board has in practice shown its capacity for work1 let us preserve it4 ,this is the sole serious attitude to take up1 and only in such a way shall we reach the correct organization of production4 ,there is another consideration of a social and educational character which seems to me most important4 ,our guiding layer of the working class is too thin4 ,that layer which knew underground work1 which long carried on the revolutionary struggle1 which was abroad1 which read much in prisons and in exile1 which had political experience and a broad outlook1 is the most precious section of the working class4 ,then there is a younger generation which has consciously been making the revolution1 beginning with #aiag4 ,this is a very valuable section of the working class4 ,wherever we cast our eye--on ,soviet construction1 on the trade unions1 on the front of the civil war--everywhere we find the principal part being played by this upper layer of the proletariat4 ,the chief work of the ,soviet ,government during these two and a half years consisted in manoeuvring and throwing the foremost section of the workers from one front to another4 ,the deeper layers of the working class1 which emerged from the peasant mass1 are revolutionarily inclined1 but are still too poor in initiative4 ,the disease of our ,russian peasant is the herd instinct1 the absence of personality3 in other words1 the same quality that used to be extolled by our reactionary ,populists1 and that ,leo ,tolstoy extolled in the character of ,platon ,karatayev3 the peasant melting into his village community1 subjecting himself to the land4 ,it is quite clear that ,socialist economy is founded not on ,platon ,karatayev1 but on the thinking worker endowed with initiative4 ,that personal initiative it is necessary to develop in the worker4 ,the personal basis under the bourgeoisie meant selfish individualism and competition4 ,the personal basis under the working class is in contradiction neither to solidarity nor to brotherly co-operation4 ,socialist solidarity can rely neither on absence of personality nor on the herd instinct4 ,and it is just absence of personality that is frequently hidden behind the collegiate principle4 ,in the working class there are many forces1 gifts1 and talents4 ,they must be brought out and displayed in rivalry4 ,the one-man principle in the administrative and technical sphere assists this4 ,that is why it is higher and more fruitful than the collegiate principle4 ,,conclusion ,,of ,,the ,,report ,comrades1 the arguments of the ,menshevik orators1 particularly of ,abramovich1 reflect first of all their complete detachment from life and its problems4 ,an observer stands on the bank of a river which he has to swim over1 and deliberates on the qualities of the water and on the strength of the current4 ,he has to swim over3 that is his task6 ,but our ,kautskian stands first on one foot and then on the other4 ,we do not deny1 he says1 the necessity of swimming over1 but at the same time1 as realists1 we see the danger--and not only one1 but several3 the current is swift1 there are submerged stones1 people are tired1 etc41 etc4 ,but when they tell you that we deny the very necessity of swimming over1 that is not true--no1 not under any circumstances4 ,twenty-three years ago we did not deny the necessity of swimming over4444 ,and on this is built all1 from beginning to end4 ,first1 say the ,mensheviks1 we do not deny1 and never did deny1 the necessity of self-defence3 consequently we do not repudiate the army4 ,secondly1 we do not repudiate in principle general labor service4 ,but1 after all1 where is there anyone in the world1 with the exception of small religious sects1 who denies self-defence in principle6 ,nevertheless1 the matter does not move one step forward as a result of your abstract admission4 ,when it came to a real struggle1 and to the creation of a real army against the real enemies of the working class1 what did you do then8 ,you opposed1 you sabotaged--while not repudiating self-defence in principle4 ,you said and wrote in your papers3 ,down with the civil war6 at the time when we were surrounded by ,white ,guards1 and the knife was at our throat4 ,now you1 approving our victorious self-defence after the event1 transfer your critical gaze to new problems1 and attempt to teach us4 ,in general1 we do not repudiate the principle of general labor service1 you say1 but 444 without legal compulsion4 ,yet in these very words there is a monstrous internal contradiction6 ,the idea of obligatory service itself includes the element of compulsion4 ,a man is obliged1 he is bound to do something4 ,if he does not do it1 obviously he will suffer compulsion1 a penalty4 ,here we approach the question of what penalty4 ,abramovich says3 ,economic pressure1 yes2 but not legal compulsion4 ,comrade ,holtzman1 the representative of the ,metal ,workers' ,union1 excellently demonstrated all the scholasticism of this idea4 ,even under the capitalism1 that is to say under the regime of free labor1 economic pressure is inseparable from legal compulsion4 ,still more so now4 ,in my report ,i attempted to explain that the adaptation of the workers on new social foundations to new forms of labor1 and the attainment of a higher level of productivity of labor1 are possible only by means of the simultaneous application of various methods--economic interest1 legal compulsion1 the influence of an internally co-ordinated economic organization1 the power of repression1 and1 first and last1 moral influence1 agitation1 propaganda1 and the general raising of the cultural level4 ,only by the combination of all these methods can we attain a high level of ,socialist economy4 ,if even under capitalism economic interest is inevitably combined with legal compulsion1 behind which stands the material force of the ,state1 in the ,soviet ,state--that is1 the ,state of transition to ,socialism--we can draw no water-tight compartment at all between economic and legal compulsion4 ,all our most important industries are in the hands of the ,state4 ,when we say to the turner ,ivanov1 ,you are bound at once to work at the ,sormovo factory2 if you refuse1 you will not receive your ration1 what are we to call it8 ,economic pressure or legal compulsion8 ,he cannot go to another factory1 for all factories are in the hands of the ,state1 which will not allow such a change4 ,consequently1 economic pressure melts here into the pressure of ,state compulsion4 ,abramovich apparently would like us1 as regulators of the distribution of labor-power1 to make use only of such means as the raising of wages1 bonuses1 etc41 in order to attract the necessary workers to our most important factories4 ,apparently that comprises all his thoughts on the subject4 ,but if we put the question in this way1 every serious worker in the trade union movement will understand it is pure utopia4 ,we cannot hope for a free influx of labor-power from the market1 for to achieve this the ,state would need to have in its hands sufficiently extensive reserves of manoeuvre1 in the form of food1 housing1 and transport1 i4e41 precisely those conditions which we have yet only to create4 ,without systematically-organized transference of labor-power on a mass scale1 according to the demands of the economic organization1 we shall achieve nothing4 ,here the moment of compulsion arises before us in all its force of economic necessity4 ,i read you a telegram from ,ekaterinburg dealing with the work of the ,first ,labor ,army4 ,it says that there have passed through the ,ural ,committee for ,labor ,service over #d1jjj workers4 ,whence have they appeared8 ,mainly from the former ,third ,army4 ,they were not allowed to go to their homes1 but were sent where they were required4 ,from the army they were handed over to the ,committee for ,labor ,service1 which distributed them according to their categories and sent them to the factories4 ,this1 from the ,liberal point of view1 is violence to the freedom of the individual4 ,yet an overwhelming majority of the workers went willingly to the labor front1 as hitherto to the military1 realizing that the common interest demanded this4 ,part went against their will4 ,these were compelled4 ,naturally1 it is quite clear that the ,state must1 by means of the bonus system1 give the better workers better conditions of existence4 ,but this not only does not exclude1 but on the contrary pre-supposes1 that the ,state and the trade unions--without which the ,soviet ,state will not build up industry--acquire new rights of some kind over the worker4 ,the worker does not merely bargain with the ,soviet ,state3 no1 he is subordinated to the ,soviet ,state1 under its orders in every direction--for it is his ,state4 ,if1 ,abramovich says1 we were simply told that it is a question of industrial discipline1 there would be nothing to quarrel about2 but why introduce militarization8 ,of course1 to a considerable extent1 the question is one of the discipline of the trade unions2 but of the new discipline of new1 ,productional1 trade unions4 ,we live in a ,soviet country1 where the working class is in power--a fact which our ,kautskians do not understand4 ,when the ,menshevik ,rubtzov said that there remained only the fragment of the trade union movement in my report1 there was a certain amount of truth in it4 ,of the trade unions1 as he understands them--that is to say1 trade unions of the old craft type--there in reality has remained very little2 but the industrial productional organization of the working class1 in the conditions of ,soviet ,russia1 has the very greatest tasks before it4 ,what tasks8 ,of course1 not the tasks involved in a struggle with the ,state1 in the name of the interests of labor2 but tasks involved in the construction1 side by side with the ,state1 of ,socialist economy4 ,such a form of union is in principle a new organization1 which is distinct1 not only from the trade unions1 but also from the revolutionary industrial unions in bourgeois society1 just as the supremacy of the proletariat is distinct from the supremacy of the bourgeoisie4 ,the productional union of the ruling working class no longer has the problems1 the methods1 the discipline1 of the union for struggle of an oppressed class4 ,all our workers are obliged to enter the unions4 ,the ,mensheviks are against this4 ,this is quite comprehensible1 because in reality they are against the dictatorship of the proletariat4 ,it is to this1 in the long run1 that the whole question is reduced4 ,the ,kautskians are against the dictatorship of the proletariat1 and are thereby against all its consequences4 ,both economic and political compulsion are only forms of the expression of the dictatorship of the working class in two closely connected regions4 ,true1 ,abramovich demonstrated to us most learnedly that under ,socialism there will be no compulsion1 that the principle of compulsion contradicts ,socialism1 that under ,socialism we shall be moved by the feeling of duty1 the habit of working1 the attractiveness of labor1 etc41 etc4 ,this is unquestionable4 ,only this unquestionable truth must be a little extended4 ,in point of fact1 under ,socialism there will not exist the apparatus of compulsion itself1 namely1 the ,state3 for it will have melted away entirely into a producing and consuming commune4 ,none the less1 the road to ,socialism lies through a period of the highest possible intensification of the principle of the ,state4 ,and you and ,i are just passing through that period4 ,just as a lamp1 before going out1 shoots up in a brilliant flame1 so the ,state1 before disappearing1 assumes the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat1 i4e41 the most ruthless form of ,state1 which embraces the life of the citizens authoritatively in every direction4 ,now just that insignificant little fact--that historical step of the ,state dictatorship--,abramovich1 and in his person the whole of ,menshevism1 did not notice2 and consequently1 he has fallen over it4 ,no organization except the army has ever controlled man with such severe compulsion as does the ,state organization of the working class in the most difficult period of transition4 ,it is just for this reason that we speak of the militarization of labor4 ,the fate of the ,mensheviks is to drag along at the tail of events1 and to recognize those parts of the revolutionary programme which have already had time to lose all practical significance4 ,to-day the ,mensheviks1 albeit with reservations1 do not deny the lawfulness of stern measures with the ,white ,guards and with deserters from the ,red ,army3 they have been forced to recognize this after their own lamentable experiments with democracy4 ,they have to all appearances understood--very late in the day--that1 when one is face to face with the counter-revolutionary bands1 one cannot live by phrases about the great truth that under ,socialism we shall need no ,red ,terror4 ,but in the economic sphere1 the ,mensheviks still attempt to refer us to our sons1 and particularly to our grandsons4 ,none the less1 we have to rebuild our economic life to-day1 without waiting1 under circumstances of a very painful heritage from bourgeois society and a yet unfinished civil war4 ,menshevism1 like all ,kautskianism generally1 is drowned in democratic analogies and ,socialist abstractions4 ,again and again it has been shown that for it there do not exist the problems of the transitional period1 i4e41 of the proletarian revolution4 ,hence the lifelessness of its criticism1 its advice1 its plans1 and its recipes4 ,the question is not what is going to happen in twenty or thirty years' time--at that date1 of course1 things will be much better--but of how to-day to struggle out of our ruins1 how immediately to distribute labor-power1 how to-day to raise the productivity of labor1 and how1 in particular1 to act in the case of those #d1jjj skilled workers whom we combed out of the army in the ,ural4 ,to dismiss them to the four corners of the earth1 saying seek for better conditions where you can find them1 comrades8 ,no1 we could not act in this way4 ,we put them into military echelons1 and distributed them amongst the factories and the works4 ,wherein1 then1 does your ,socialism1 ,abramovich cries1 differ from ,egyptian slavery8 ,it was just by similar methods that the ,pharaohs built the pyramids1 forcing the masses to labor4 ,truly an inimitable analogy for a ,socialist6 ,once again the little insignificant fact has been forgotten--the class nature of the government6 ,abramovich sees no difference between the ,egyptian regime and our own4 ,he has forgotten that in ,egypt there were ,pharaohs1 there were slave-owners and slaves4 ,it was not the ,egyptian peasants who decided through their ,soviets to build the pyramids2 there existed a social order based upon hierarchial caste2 and the workers were obliged to toil by a class that was hostile to them4 ,our compulsion is applied by a workers' and peasants' government1 in the name of the interests of the laboring masses4 ,that is what ,abramovich has not observed4 ,we learn in the school of ,socialism that all social evolution is founded on classes and their struggle1 and all the course of human life is determined by the fact of what class stands at the head of affairs1 and in the name of what caste is applying its policy4 ,that is what ,abramovich has not grasped4 ,perhaps he is well acquainted with the ,old ,testament1 but ,socialism is for him a book sealed with seven seals4 ,going along the path of shallow ,liberal analogies1 which do not reckon with the class nature of the ,state1 ,abramovich might 7and in the past the ,mensheviks did more than once7 identify the ,red and the ,white ,armies4 ,both here and there went on mobilizations1 principally of the peasant masses4 ,both here and there the element of compulsion has its place4 ,both here and there there were not a few officers who had passed through one and the same school of ,tsarism4 ,the same rifles1 the same cartridges in both camps4 ,where is the difference8 ,there is a difference1 gentlemen1 and it is defined by a fundamental test3 who is in power8 ,the working class or the landlord class1 ,pharaohs or peasants1 ,white ,guards or the ,petrograd proletariat8 ,there is a difference1 and evidence on the subject is furnished by the fate of ,yudenich1 ,kolchak1 and ,denikin4 ,our peasants were mobilized by the workers2 in ,kolchak's camp1 by the ,white ,guard officer class4 ,our army has pulled itself together1 and has grown strong2 the ,white ,army has fallen asunder in dust4 ,yes1 there is a difference between the ,soviet regime and the regime of the ,pharaohs4 ,and it is not in vain that the ,petrograd proletarians began their revolution by shooting the ,pharaohs on the steeples of ,petrograd4#aj #aj ,this was the name given to the imperial police1 whom the ,minister for ,home ,affairs1 ,protopopoff1 distributed at the end of ,february1 #aiag1 over the roofs of houses and in the belfries4 ,one of the ,menshevik orators attempted incidentally to represent me as a defender of militarism in general4 ,according to his information1 it appears1 do you see1 that ,i am defending nothing more or less than ,german militarism4 ,i proved1 you must understand1 that the ,german ,n4,c4,o4 was a marvel of nature1 and all that he does is above criticism4 ,what did ,i say in reality8 ,only that militarism1 in which all the features of social evolution find their most finished1 sharp1 and clear expression1 could be examined from two points of view4 ,first from the political or ,socialist--and here it depends entirely on the question of what class is in power2 and secondly1 from the point of view of organization1 as a system of the strict distribution of duties1 exact mutual relations1 unquestioning responsibility1 and harsh insistence on execution4 ,the bourgeois army is the apparatus of savage oppression and repression of the workers2 the ,socialist army is a weapon for the liberation and defence of the workers4 ,but the unquestioning subordination of the parts to the whole is a characteristic common to every army4 ,a severe internal regime is inseparable from the military organization4 ,in war every piece of slackness1 every lack of thoroughness1 and even a simple mistake1 not infrequently bring in their train the most heavy sacrifices4 ,hence the striving of the military organization to bring clearness1 definiteness1 exactness of relations and responsibilities1 to the highest degree of development4 ,military qualities in this connection are valued in every sphere4 ,it was in this sense that ,i said that every class prefers to have in its service those of its members who1 other things being equal1 have passed through the military school4 ,the ,german peasant1 for example1 who has passed out of the barracks in the capacity of an ,n4,c4,o4 was for the ,german monarchy1 and remains for the ,ebert ,republic1 much dearer and more valuable than the same peasant who has not passed through military training4 ,the apparatus of the ,german railways was splendidly organized1 thanks to a considerable degree to the employment of ,n4,c4,o4's and officers in administrative posts in the transport department4 ,in this sense we also have something to learn from militarism4 ,comrade ,tsiperovich1 one of our foremost trade union leaders1 admitted here that the trade union worker who has passed through military training--who has1 for example1 occupied the responsible post of regimental commissary for a year--does not become worse from the point of view of trade union work as a result4 ,he is returned to the union the same proletarian from head to foot1 for he was fighting for the proletariat2 but he has returned a veteran--hardened1 more independent1 more decisive--for he has been in very responsible positions4 ,he had occasions to control several thousands of ,red soldiers of different degrees of class-consciousness--most of them peasants4 ,together with them he has lived through victories and reverses1 he has advanced and retreated4 ,there were cases of treachery on the part of the command personnel1 of peasant risings1 of panic--but he remained at his post1 he held together the less class-conscious mass1 directed it1 inspired it with his example1 punished traitors and cowards4 ,this experience is a great and valuable experience4 ,and when a former regimental commissary returns to his trade union1 he becomes not a bad organizer4 ,on the question of the collegiate principle1 the arguments of ,abramovich are just as lifeless as on all other questions--the arguments of a detached observer standing on the bank of a river4 ,abramovich explained to us that a good board is better than a bad manager1 that into a good board there must enter a good expert4 ,all this is splendid--only why do not the ,mensheviks offer us several hundred boards8 ,i think that the ,supreme ,economic ,council will find sufficient use for them4 ,but we--not observers1 but workers--must build from the material at our disposal4 ,we have specialists1 we have experts1 of whom1 shall we say1 one-third are conscientious and educated1 another third only half-conscientious and half-educated1 and the last third are no use at all4 ,in the working class there are many talented1 devoted1 and energetic people4 ,some--unfortunately few--have already the necessary knowledge and experience4 ,some have character and capacity1 but have not knowledge or experience4 ,others have neither one nor the other4 ,out of this material we have to create our factory and other administrative bodies2 and here we cannot be satisfied with general phrases4 ,first of all1 we must select all the workers who have already in experience shown that they can direct enterprises1 and give such men the possibility of standing on their own feet4 ,such men themselves ask for one-man management1 because the work of controlling a factory is not a school for the backward4 ,a worker who knows his business thoroughly desires to control4 ,if he has decided and ordered1 his decision must be accomplished4 ,he may be replaced--that is another matter2 but while he is the master--the ,soviet1 proletarian master--he controls the undertaking entirely and completely4 ,if he has to be included in a board of weaker men1 who interfere in the administration1 nothing will come of it4 ,such a working-class administrator must be given an expert assistant1 one or two according to the enterprise4 ,if there is no suitable working-class administrator1 but there is a conscientious and trained expert1 we shall put him at the head of an enterprise1 and attach to him two or three prominent workers in the capacity of assistants1 in such a way that every decision of the expert should be known to the assistants1 but that they should not have the right to reverse that decision4 ,they will1 step by step1 follow the specialist in his work1 will learn something1 and in six months or a year will thus be able to occupy independent posts4 ,abramovich quoted from my own speech the example of the hairdresser who has commanded a division and an army4 ,true6 ,but what1 however1 ,abramovich does not know is that1 if our ,communist comrades have begun to command regiments1 divisions1 and armies1 it is because previously they were commissaries attached to expert commanders4 ,the responsibility fell on the expert1 who knew that1 if he made a mistake1 he would bear the full brunt1 and would not be able to say that he was only an adviser or a member of the board4 ,to-day in our army the majority of the posts of command1 particularly in the lower--i4e41 politically the most important--grades1 are filled by workers and foremost peasants4 ,but with what did we begin8 ,we put officers in the posts of command1 and attached to them workers as commissaries2 and they learned1 and learned with success1 and learned to beat the enemy4 ,comrades1 we stand face to face with a very difficult period1 perhaps the most difficult of all4 ,to difficult periods in the life of peoples and classes there correspond harsh measures4 ,the further we go the easier things will become1 the freer every citizen will feel1 the more imperceptible will become the compelling force of the proletarian ,state4 ,perhaps we shall then even allow the ,mensheviks to have papers1 if only the ,mensheviks remain in existence until that time4 ,but to-day we are living in the period of dictatorship1 political and economic4 ,and the ,mensheviks continue to undermine that dictatorship4 ,when we are fighting on the civil front1 preserving the revolution from its enemies1 and the ,menshevik paper writes3 ,down with the civil war1 we cannot permit this4 ,a dictatorship is a dictatorship1 and war is war4 ,and now that we have crossed to the path of the greatest concentration of forces on the field of the economic rebirth of the country1 the ,russian ,kautskies1 the ,mensheviks1 remain true to their counter-revolutionary calling4 ,their voice1 as hitherto1 sounds as the voice of doubt and decomposition1 of disorganization and undermining1 of distrust and collapse4 ,is it not monstrous and grotesque that1 at this ,congress1 at which #a1ejj representatives of the ,russian working class are present1 where the ,mensheviks constitute less than #e1 and the ,communists about #ij1 ,abramovich should say to us3 ,do not be attracted by methods which result in a little band taking the place of the people4 ,all through the people1 says the representative of the ,mensheviks1 no guardians of the laboring masses6 ,all through the laboring masses1 through their independent activity6 ,and1 further1 ,it is impossible to convince a class by arguments4 ,yet look at this very hall3 here is that class6 ,the working class is here before you1 and with us2 and it is just you1 an insignificant band of ,mensheviks1 who are attempting to convince it by bourgeois arguments6 ,it is you who wish to be the guardians of that class4 ,and yet it has its own high degree of independence1 and that independence1 it has displayed1 incidentally1 in having overthrown you and gone forward along its own path6 #i ,,karl ,,kautsky1 ,,his ,,school ,,and ,,his ,,book4 ,the ,austro-,marxian school 7,bauer1 ,renner1 ,hilferding1 ,max ,adler1 ,friedrich ,adler7 in the past more than once was contrasted with the school of ,kautsky1 as veiled opportunism might be contrasted with true ,marxism4 ,this has proved to be a pure historical misunderstanding1 which deceived some for a long time1 some for a lesser period1 but which in the end was revealed with all possible clearness4 ,kautsky is the founder and the most perfect representative of the ,austrian forgery of ,marxism4 ,while the real teaching of ,marx is the theoretical formula of action1 of attack1 of the development of revolutionary energy1 and of the carrying of the class blow to its logical conclusion1 the ,austrian school was transformed into an academy of passivity and evasiveness1 because of a vulgar historical and conservative school1 and reduced its work to explaining and justifying1 not guiding and overthrowing4 ,it lowered itself to the position of a hand-maid to the current demands of parliamentarism and opportunism1 replaced dialectic by swindling sophistries1 and1 in the end1 in spite of its great play with ritual revolutionary phraseology1 became transformed into the most secure buttress of the capitalist ,state1 together with the altar and throne that rose above it4 ,if the latter was engulfed in the abyss1 no blame for this can be laid upon the ,austro-,marxian school4 ,what characterizes ,austro-,marxism is repulsion and fear in the face of revolutionary action4 ,the ,austro-,marxist is capable of displaying a perfect gulf of profundity in the explanation of yesterday1 and considerable daring in prophesying concerning to-morrow--but for to-day he never has a great thought or capacity for great action4 ,to-day for him always disappears before the wave of little opportunist worries1 which later are explained as the most inevitable link between the past and the future4 ,the ,austro-,marxist is inexhaustible when it is a question of discovering reasons to prevent initiative and render difficult revolutionary action4 ,austro-,marxism is a learned and boastful theory of passivity and capitulation4 ,naturally1 it is not by accident that it was just in ,austria1 in that ,babylon torn by fruitless national antagonisms1 in that ,state which represented the personified impossibility to exist and develop1 that there arose and was consolidated the pseudo-,marxian philosophy of the impossibility of revolutionary action4 ,the foremost ,austrian ,marxists represent1 each in his own way1 a certain individuality4 ,on various questions they more than once did not see eye to eye4 ,they even had political differences4 ,but in general they are fingers of the same hand4 ,karl ,renner is the most pompous1 solid1 and conceited representative of this type4 ,the gift of literary imitation1 or1 more simply1 of stylist forgery1 is granted to him to an exceptional extent4 ,his ,may ,day article represented a charming combination of the most revolutionary words4 ,and1 as both words and their combinations live1 within certain limits1 with their own independent life1 ,renner's articles awakened in the hearts of many workers a revolutionary fire which their author apparently never knew4 ,the tinsel of ,austro-,viennese culture1 the chase of the external1 of title of rank1 was more characteristic of ,renner than of his other colleagues4 ,in essence he always remained merely an imperial and royal officer1 who commanded ,marxist phraseology to perfection4 ,the transformation of the author of the jubilee article on ,karl ,marx1 famous for its revolutionary pathos1 into a comic-opera-,chancellor1 who expresses his feelings of respect and thanks to the ,scandinavian monarchs1 is in reality one of the most instructive paradoxes of history4 ,otto ,bauer is more learned and prosaic1 more serious and more boring1 than ,renner4 ,he cannot be denied the capacity to read books1 collect facts1 and draw conclusions adapted to the tasks imposed upon him by practical politics1 which in turn are guided by others4 ,bauer has no political will4 ,his chief art is to reply to all acute practical questions by commonplaces4 ,his political thought always lives a parallel life to his will--it is deprived of all courage4 ,his words are always merely the scientific compilation of the talented student of a ,university seminar4 ,the most disgraceful actions of ,austrian opportunism1 the meanest servility before the power of the possessing classes on the part of the ,austro-,german ,social-,democracy1 found in ,bauer their grave elucidator1 who sometimes expressed himself with dignity against the form1 but always agreed in the essence4 ,if it ever occurred to ,bauer to display anything like temperament and political energy1 it was exclusively in the struggle against the revolutionary wing--in the accumulation of arguments1 facts1 quotations1 against revolutionary action4 ,his highest period was that 7after #aijg7 in which1 being as yet too young to be a deputy1 he played the part of secretary of the ,social-,democratic group1 supplied it with materials1 figures1 substitutes for ideas1 instructed it1 drew up memoranda1 and appeared almost to be the inspirer of great actions1 when in reality he was only supplying substitutes1 and adulterated substitutes1 for the parliamentary opportunists4 ,max ,adler represents a fairly ingenuous variety of the ,austro-,marxian type4 ,he is a lyric poet1 a philosopher1 a mystic--a philosophical lyric poet of passivity1 as ,renner is its publicist and legal expert1 as ,hilferding is its economist1 as ,bauer is its sociologist4 ,max ,adler is cramped in a world of three dimensions1 although he had found a very comfortable place for himself with the framework of ,viennese bourgeois ,socialism and the ,hapsburg ,state4 ,the combination of the petty business activity of an attorney and of political humiliation1 together with barren philosophical efforts and the cheap tinsel flowers of idealism1 have imbued that variety which ,max ,adler represented with a sickening and repulsive quality4 ,rudolf ,hilferding1 a ,viennese like the rest1 entered the ,german ,social-,democratic ,party almost as a mutineer1 but as a mutineer of the ,austrian stamp1 i4e41 always ready to capitulate without a fight4 ,hilferding took the external mobility and bustle of the ,austrian policy which brought him up for revolutionary initiative2 and for a round dozen of months he demanded--true1 in the most moderate terms--a more intelligent policy on the part of the leaders of the ,german ,social-,democracy4 ,but the ,austro-,viennese bustle swiftly disappeared from his own nature4 ,he soon became subjected to the mechanical rhythm of ,berlin and the automatic spiritual life of the ,german ,social-,democracy4 ,he devoted his intellectual energy to the purely theoretical sphere1 where he did not say a great deal1 true--no ,austro-,marxist has ever said a great deal in any sphere--but in which he did1 at any rate1 write a serious book4 ,with this book on his back1 like a porter with a heavy load1 he entered the revolutionary epoch4 ,but the most scientific book cannot replace the absence of will1 of initiative1 of revolutionary instinct and political decision1 without which action is inconceivable4 ,a doctor by training1 ,hilferding is inclined to sobriety1 and1 in spite of his theoretical education1 he represents the most primitive type of empiricist in questions of policy4 ,the chief problem of to-day is for him not to leave the lines laid down for him by yesterday1 and to find for this conservative and bourgeois apathy a scientific1 economic explanation4 ,friedrich ,adler is the most balanced representative of the ,austro-,marxian type4 ,he has inherited from his father the latter's political temperament4 ,in the petty exhausting struggle with the disorder of ,austrian conditions1 ,friedrich ,adler allowed his ironical scepticism finally to destroy the revolutionary foundations of his world outlook4 ,the temperament inherited from his father more than once drove him into opposition to the school created by his father4 ,at certain moments ,friedrich ,adler might seem the very revolutionary negation of the ,austrian school4 ,in reality1 he was and remains its necessary coping-stone4 ,his explosive revolutionism foreshadowed acute attacks of despair amidst ,austrian opportunism1 which from time to time became terrified at its own insignificance4 ,friedrich ,adler is a sceptic from head to foot3 he does not believe in the masses1 or in their capacity for action4 ,at the time when ,karl ,liebknecht1 in the hour of supreme triumph of ,german militarism1 went out to the ,potsdamerplatz to call the oppressed masses to the open struggle1 ,friedrich ,adler went into a bourgeois restaurant to assassinate there the ,austrian ,premier4 ,by his solitary shot1 ,friedrich ,adler vainly attempted to put an end to his own scepticism4 ,after that hysterical strain1 he fell into still more complete prostration4 ,the black-and-yellow crew of social-patriotism 7,austerlitz1 ,leitner1 etc47 hurled at ,adler the terrorist all the abuse of which the cowardly sentiments were capable4 ,but when the acute period was passed1 and the prodigal son returned from his convict prison into his father's house with the halo of a martyr1 he proved to be doubly and trebly valuable in that form for the ,austrian ,social-,democracy4 ,the golden halo of the terrorist was transformed by the experienced counterfeiters of the party into the sounding coin of the demagogue4 ,friedrich ,adler became a trusted surety for the ,austerlitzes and ,renners in face of the masses4 ,happily1 the ,austrian workers are coming less and less to distinguish the sentimental lyrical prostration of ,friedrich ,adler from the pompous shallowness of ,renner1 the erudite impotence of ,max ,adler1 or the analytical self-satisfaction of ,otto ,bauer4 ,the cowardice in thought of the theoreticians of the ,austro-,marxian school has completely and wholly been revealed when faced with the great problems of a revolutionary epoch4 ,in his immortal attempt to include the ,soviet system in the ,ebert-,noske ,constitution1 ,hilferding gave voice not only to his own spirit but to the spirit of the whole ,austro-,marxian school1 which1 with the approach of the revolutionary epoch1 made an attempt to become exactly as much more ,left than ,kautsky as before the revolution it was more ,right4 ,from this point of view1 ,max ,adler's view of the ,soviet system is extremely instructive4 ,the ,viennese eclectic philosopher admits the significance of the ,soviets4 ,his courage goes so far that he adopts them4 ,he even proclaims them the apparatus of the ,social ,revolution4 ,max ,adler1 of course1 is for a social revolution4 ,but not for a stormy1 barricaded1 terrorist1 bloody revolution1 but for a sane1 economically balanced1 legally canonized1 and philosophically approved revolution4 ,max ,adler is not even terrified by the fact that the ,soviets infringe the principle of the constitutional separation of powers 7in the ,austrian ,social-,democracy there are many fools who see in such an infringement a great defect of the ,soviet ,system674 ,on the contrary1 ,max ,adler1 the trade union lawyer and legal adviser of the social revolution1 sees in the concentration of powers even an advantage1 which allows the direct expression of the proletarian will4 ,max ,adler is in favor of the direct expression of the proletarian will2 but only not by means of the direct seizure of power through the ,soviets4 ,he proposes a more solid method4 ,in each town1 borough1 and ward1 the ,workers' ,councils must control the police and other officials1 imposing upon them the proletarian will4 ,what1 however1 will be the constitutional position of the ,soviets in the republic of ,zeiz1 ,renner and company8 ,to this our philosopher replies3 ,the ,workers' ,councils in the long run will receive as much constitutional power as they acquire by means of their own activity4 7,arbeiterzeitung1 ,no4 #agi1 ,july #a1 #aiai47 ,the proletarian ,soviets must gradually grow up into the political power of the proletariat1 just as previously1 in the theories of reformism1 all the proletarian organizations had to grow up into ,socialism2 which consummation1 however1 was a little hindered by the unforeseen misunderstandings1 lasting four years1 between the ,central ,powers and the ,entente--and all that followed4 ,it was found necessary to reject the economical programme of a gradual development into ,socialism without a social revolution4 ,but1 as a reward1 there opened the perspective of the gradual development of the ,soviets into the social revolution1 without an armed rising and a seizure of power4 ,in order that the ,soviets should not sink entirely under the burden of borough and ward problems1 our daring legal adviser proposes the propaganda of social-democratic ideas6 ,political power remains as before in the hands of the bourgeoisie and its assistants4 ,but in the wards and the boroughs the ,soviets control the policemen and their assistants4 ,and1 to console the working class and at the same time to centralize its thought and will1 ,max ,adler on ,sunday afternoons will read lectures on the constitutional position of the ,soviets1 as in the past he read lectures on the constitutional position of the trade unions4 ,in this way1 ,max ,adler promises1 the constitutional regulation of the position of the ,workers ,councils1 and their power and importance1 would be guaranteed along the whole line of public and social life2 and--without the dictatorship of the ,soviets--the ,soviet system would acquire as large an influence as it could possibly have even in a ,soviet republic4 ,at the same time we should not have to pay for that influence by political storms and economic destruction 7idem74 ,as we see1 in addition to all his other qualities1 ,max ,adler remains still in agreement with the ,austrian tradition3 to make a revolution without quarrelling with his ,excellency the ,public ,prosecutor4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the founder of this school1 and its highest authority1 is ,kautsky4 ,carefully protecting1 particularly after the ,dresden party congress and the first ,russian ,revolution1 his reputation as the keeper of the shrine of ,marxist orthodoxy1 ,kautsky from time to time would shake his head in disapproval of the more compromising outbursts of his ,austrian school4 ,and1 following the example of the late ,victor ,adler1 ,bauer1 ,renner1 ,hilferding--altogether and each separately--considered ,kautsky too pedantic1 too inert1 but a very reverend and a very useful father and teacher of the church of quietism4 ,kautsky began to cause serious mistrust in his own school during the period of his revolutionary culmination1 at the time of the first ,russian ,revolution1 when he recognized as necessary the seizure of power by the ,russian ,social-,democracy1 and attempted to inoculate the ,german working class with his theoretical conclusions from the experience of the general strike in ,russia4 ,the collapse of the first ,russian ,revolution at once broke off ,kautsky's evolution along the path of radicalism4 ,the more plainly was the question of mass action in ,germany itself put forward by the course of events1 the more evasive became ,kautsky's attitude4 ,he marked time1 retreated1 lost his confidence2 and the pedantic and scholastic features of his thought more and more became apparent4 ,the imperialist war1 which killed every form of vagueness and brought mankind face to face with the most fundamental questions1 exposed all the political bankruptcy of ,kautsky4 ,he immediately became confused beyond all hope of extrication1 in the most simple question of voting the ,war ,credits4 ,all his writings after that period represent variations of one and the same theme3 ,i and my muddle4 ,the ,russian ,revolution finally slew ,kautsky4 ,by all his previous development he was placed in a hostile attitude towards the ,november victory of the proletariat4 ,this unavoidably threw him into the camp of the counter-revolution4 ,he lost the last traces of historical instinct4 ,his further writings have become more and more like the yellow literature of the bourgeois market4 ,kautsky's book1 examined by us1 bears in its external characteristics all the attributes of a so-called objective scientific study4 ,to examine the extent of the ,red ,terror1 ,kautsky acts with all the circumstantial method peculiar to him4 ,he begins with the study of the social conditions which prepared the great ,french ,revolution1 and also the physiological and social conditions which assisted the development of cruelty and humanity throughout the history of the human race4 ,in a book devoted to ,bolshevism1 in which the whole question is examined in #bcd pages1 ,kautsky describes in detail on what our most remote human ancestor fed1 and hazards the guess that1 while living mainly on vegetable products1 he devoured also insects and possibly a few birds4 7,see page #abb47 ,in a word1 there was nothing to lead us to expect that from such an entirely respectable ancestor--one obviously inclined to vegetarianism--there should spring such descendants as the ,bolsheviks4 ,that is the solid scientific basis on which ,kautsky builds the question6444 ,but1 as is not infrequent with productions of this nature1 there is hidden behind the academic and scholastic cloak a malignant political pamphlet4 ,this book is one of the most lying and conscienceless of its kind4 ,is it not incredible1 at first glance1 that ,kautsky should gather up the most contemptible stories about the ,bolsheviks from the rich table of ,havas1 ,reuter and ,wolff1 thereby displaying from under his learned night-cap the ears of the sycophant8 ,yet these disreputable details are only mosaic decorations on the fundamental background of solid1 scientific lying about the ,soviet ,republic and its guiding party4 ,kautsky depicts in the most sinister colors our savagery towards the bourgeoisie1 which displayed no tendency to resist4 ,kautsky attacks our ruthlessness in connection with the ,socialist ,revolutionaries and the ,mensheviks1 who represent shades of ,socialism4 ,,kautsky ,,depicts ,,the ,,soviet ,,economy ,,as ,,the ,,chaos ,,of ,,collapse ,kautsky represents the ,soviet workers1 and the ,russian working class as a whole1 as a conglomeration of egoists1 loafers1 and cowards4 ,he does not say one word about the conduct of the ,russian bourgeoisie1 unprecedented in history for the magnitude of its scoundrelism2 about its national treachery2 about the surrender of ,riga to the ,germans1 with educational aims2 about the preparations for a similar surrender of ,petrograd2 about its appeals to foreign armies--,czecho-,slovakian1 ,german1 ,roumanian1 ,british1 ,japanese1 ,french1 ,arab and ,negro--against the ,russian workers and peasants2 about its conspiracies and assassinations1 paid for by ,entente money2 about its utilization of the blockade1 not only to starve our children to death1 but systematically1 tirelessly1 persistently to spread over the whole world an unheard-of web of lies and slander4 ,he does not say one word about the most disgraceful misrepresentations of and violence to our party on the part of the government of the ,s4,r4s and ,mensheviks before the ,november ,revolution2 about the criminal persecution of several thousand responsible workers of the party on the charge of espionage in favor of ,hohenzollern ,germany2 about the participation of the ,mensheviks and ,s4,r4s in all the plots of the bourgeoisie2 about their collaboration with the imperial generals and admirals1 ,kolchak1 ,denikin and ,yudenich2 about the terrorist acts carried out by the ,s4,r4s at the order of the ,entente2 about the risings organized by the ,s4,r4s with the money of the foreign missions in our army1 which was pouring out its blood in the struggle against the monarchical bands of imperialism4 ,kautsky does not say one word about the fact that we not only repeated more than once1 but proved in reality our readiness to give peace to the country1 even at the cost of sacrifices and concessions1 and that1 in spite of this1 we were obliged to carry on an intensive struggle on all fronts to defend the very existence of our country1 and to prevent its transformation into a colony of ,anglo-,french imperialism4 ,kautsky does not say one word about the fact that in this heroic struggle1 in which we are defending the future of world ,socialism1 the ,russian proletariat is obliged to expend its principal energies1 its best and most valuable forces1 taking them away from economic and cultural reconstruction4 ,in all his book1 ,kautsky does not even mention the fact that first of all ,german militarism1 with the help of its ,scheidemanns and the apathy of its ,kautskies1 and then the militarism of the ,entente countries with the help of its ,renaudels and the apathy of its ,longuets1 surrounded us with an iron blockade2 seized all our ports2 cut us off from the whole of the world2 occupied1 with the help of hired ,white bands1 enormous territories1 rich in raw materials2 and separated us for a long period from the ,baku oil1 the ,donetz coal1 the ,don and ,siberian corn1 the ,turkestan cotton4 ,kautsky does not say one word about the fact that in these conditions1 unprecedented for their difficulty1 the ,russian working class for nearly three years has been carrying on a heroic struggle against its enemies on a front of #h1jjj versts2 that the ,russian working class learned how to exchange its hammer for the sword1 and created a mighty army2 that for this army it mobilized its exhausted industry and1 in spite of the ruin of the country1 which the executioners of the whole world had condemned to blockade and civil war1 for three years with its own forces and resources it has been clothing1 feeding1 arming1 transporting an army of millions--an army which has learned how to conquer4 ,about all these conditions ,kautsky is silent1 in a book devoted to ,russian ,communism4 ,and his silence is the fundamental1 capital1 principal lie--true1 a passive lie1 but more criminal and more repulsive than the active lie of all the scoundrels of the international bourgeois ,press taken together4 ,slandering the policy of the ,communist ,party1 ,kautsky says nowhere what he himself wants and what he proposes4 ,the ,bolsheviks were not alone in the arena of the ,russian ,revolution4 ,we saw and see in it--now in power1 now in opposition--,s4,r4s 7not less than five groups and tendencies71 ,mensheviks 7not less than three tendencies71 ,plekhanovists1 ,maximalists1 ,anarchists4444 ,absolutely all the shades of ,socialism 7to speak in ,kautsky's language7 tried their hand1 and showed what they would and what they could4 ,there are so many of these shades that it is difficult now to pass the blade of a knife between them4 ,the very origin of these shades is not accidental3 they represent1 so to speak1 different degrees in the adaptation of the pre-revolutionary ,socialist parties and groups to the conditions of the greater revolutionary epoch4 ,it would seem that ,kautsky had a sufficiently complete political keyboard before him to be able to strike the note which would give a true ,marxian key to the ,russian ,revolution4 ,but ,kautsky is silent4 ,he repudiates the ,bolshevik melody that is unpleasant to his ear1 but does not seek another4 ,the solution is simple3 the old musician refuses altogether to play on the instrument of the revolution4 #aj ,,in ,,place ,,of ,,an ,,epilogue ,this book appears at the moment of the ,second ,congress of the ,communist ,international4 ,the revolutionary movement of the proletariat has made1 during the months that have passed since the ,first ,congress1 a great step forward4 ,the positions of the official1 open social-patriots have everywhere been undermined4 ,the ideas of ,communism acquire an ever wider extension4 ,official dogmatized ,kautskianism has been gradually compromised4 ,kautsky himself1 within that ,independent ,party which he created1 represents to-day a not very authoritative and a fairly ridiculous figure4 ,none the less1 the intellectual struggle in the ranks of the international working class is only now blazing up as it should4 ,if1 as we just said1 dogmatized ,kautskianism is breathing its last days1 and the leaders of the intermediate ,socialist parties are hastening to renounce it1 still ,kautskianism as a bourgeois attitude1 as a tradition of passivity1 as political cowardice1 still plays an enormous part in the upper ranks of the working-class organizations of the world1 in no way excluding parties tending to the ,third ,international1 and even formally adhering to it4 ,the ,independent ,party in ,germany1 which has written on its banner the watchword of the dictatorship of the proletariat1 tolerates in its ranks the ,kautsky group1 all the efforts of which are devoted theoretically to compromise and misrepresent the dictatorship of the proletariat in the shape of its living expression--the ,soviet regime4 ,in conditions of civil war1 such a form of co-habitation is conceivable only and to such an extent as far and as long as the dictatorship of the proletariat represents for the leaders of the ,independent ,social-,democracy a noble aspiration1 a vague protest against the open and disgraceful treachery of ,noske1 ,ebert1 ,scheidemann and others1 and--last but not least--a weapon of electoral and parliamentary demagogy4 ,the vitality of vague ,kautskianism is most clearly seen in the example of the ,french ,longuetists4 ,jean ,longuet himself has most sincerely convinced himself1 and has for long been attempting to convince others1 that he is marching in step with us1 and that only ,clemenceau's censorship and the calumnies of our ,french friends ,loriot1 ,monatte1 ,rosmer1 and others hinder our comradship in arms4 ,yet is it sufficient to make oneself acquainted with any parliamentary speech of ,longuet's to realize that the gulf separating him from us at the present moment is possibly still wider than at the first period of the imperialist war8 ,the revolutionary problems now arising before the international proletariat have become more serious1 more immediate1 more gigantic1 more direct1 more definite1 than five or six years ago2 and the politically reactionary character of the ,longuetists1 the parliamentary representatives of eternal passivity1 has become more impressive than ever before1 in spite of the fact that formally they have returned to the fold of parliamentary opposition4 ,the ,italian ,party1 which is within the ,third ,international1 is not at all free from ,kautskianism4 ,as far as the leaders are concerned1 a very considerable part of them bear their internationalist honors only as a duty and as an imposition from below4 ,in #aiad-aiae1 the ,italian ,socialist ,party found it infinitely more easy than did the other ,european parties to maintain an attitude of opposition to the war1 both because ,italy entered the war nine months later than other countries1 and particularly because the international position of ,italy created in it even a powerful bourgeois group 7,giolittians in the widest sense of the word7 which remained to the very last moment hostile to ,italian intervention in the war4 ,these conditions allowed the ,italian ,socialist ,party1 without the fear of a very profound internal crisis to refuse war credits to the ,government1 and generally to remain outside the interventionist block4 ,but by this very fact the process of internal cleansing of the party proved to be unquestionably delayed4 ,although an integral part of the ,third ,international1 the ,italian ,socialist ,party to this very day can put up with ,turati and his supporters in its ranks4 ,this very powerful group--unfortunately we find it difficult to define to any extent of accuracy its numerical significance in the parliamentary group1 in the press1 in the party1 and in the trade union organizations--represents a less pedantic1 not so demagogic1 more declamatory and lyrical1 but none the less malignant opportunism--a form of romantic ,kautskianism4 ,a passive attitude to the ,kautskian1 ,longuetist1 ,turatist groups is usually cloaked by the argument that the time for revolutionary activity in the respective countries has not yet arrived4 ,but such a formulation of the question is absolutely false4 ,nobody demands from ,socialists striving for ,communism that they should appoint a revolutionary outbreak for a definite week or month in the near future4 ,what the ,third ,international demands of its supporters is a recognition1 not in words but in deeds1 that civilized humanity has entered a revolutionary epoch2 that all the capitalist countries are speeding towards colossal disturbances and an open class war2 and that the task of the revolutionary representatives of the proletariat is to prepare for that inevitable and approaching war the necessary spiritual armory and buttress of organization4 ,the internationalists who consider it possible at the present time to collaborate with ,kautsky1 ,longuet and ,turati1 to appear side by side with them before the working masses1 by that very act renounce in practice the work of preparing in ideas and organization for the revolutionary rising of the proletariat1 independently of whether it comes a month or a year sooner or later4 ,in order that the open rising of the proletarian masses should not fritter itself away in belated searches for paths and leadership1 we must see to it to-day that wide circles of the proletariat should even now learn to grasp all the immensity of the tasks before them1 and of their irreconcilability with all variations of ,kautskianism and opportunism4 ,a truly revolutionary1 i4e41 a ,communist wing1 must set itself up in opposition1 in face of the masses1 to all the indecisive1 half-hearted groups of doctrinaires1 advocates1 and panegyrists of passivity1 strengthening its positions first of all spiritually and then in the sphere of organization--open1 half-open1 and purely conspirative4 ,the moment of formal split with the open and disguised ,kautskians1 or the moment of their expulsion from the ranks of the working-class party1 is1 of course1 to be determined by considerations of usefulness from the point of view of circumstances2 but all the policy of real ,communists must turn in that direction4 ,that is why it seems to me that this book is still not out of date--to my great regret1 if not as an author1 at any rate as a ,communist4 ,june #ag1 #aibj4