The industrial proletariat was a minority of the working class,
and the Bolsheviki pinned their faith to a minority of that minority. They
wanted to establish, not democracy, but dictatorship of Russia by a small,
disciplined, intelligent, and determined minority of working-men.
The lines of cleavage between the Mensheviki and the Bolsheviki were thus
clearly drawn. The former, while ready to join in mass uprisings and armed
insurrections by the masses, believed that the supreme necessity was
education and organization of all the working-people. Still relying upon
the industrial proletariat to lead the struggle, they nevertheless
recognized that the peasants were indispensable. The Bolsheviki, on the
other hand, relied exclusively upon armed insurrection, initiated and
directed by desperate minorities. The Mensheviki contended that the time
for secret, conspiratory action was past; that Russia had outgrown that
earlier method. As far as possible, they carried the struggle openly into
the political field. They organized unions, educational societies, and
co-operatives, confident that through these agencies the workers would
develop cohesion and strength, which, at the right time, they would use as
their class interests dictated.
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