Back of all the strife between the Bolsheviki centered around the Soviets
and the Socialist-Revolutionists and Mensheviki, centered around the
Constituent Assembly, was a greater fact than any we have been discussing,
however. The Bolsheviki with their doctrinaire Marxism had carried the
doctrine of the class struggle to such extreme lengths that they virtually
placed the great mass of the peasants with the bourgeoisie. The Revolution
must be controlled by the proletariat, they argued. The control of the
government and of industry by the people, which was the slogan of the old
democracy, will not do, for the term "the people" includes bourgeois
elements. Even if it is narrowed by excluding the great capitalists and
landowners, still it embraces the lesser capitalists, small landowners,
shopkeepers, and the petty bourgeoisie in general. These elements weaken
the militancy of the proletariat. What is needed is the dictatorship of the
proletariat. Now, only a very small part of the peasantry, the very poor
peasants, can be safely linked to the proletariat--and even these must be
carefully watched. It was a phase of the old and familiar conflict between
agrarian and industrial groups in the Socialist movement.
Pages:
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352