Theoretically, Bolshevism, as such, has no necessary connection with the
philosophy or the program of Socialism. Certain persons have established a
working relation between Socialism, a program, and Bolshevism, a method.
The connection is not inherently logical, but, on the contrary, wholly
adventitious. As a matter of fact, Bolshevism can only be linked to the
program of Socialism by violently and disastrously weakening the latter and
destroying its fundamental character. We shall do well to remember this; to
remember that the method of action, and, back of the method, the philosophy
on which it rests and from which it springs, are separate and distinct from
Socialism. They are incalculably older and they have been associated with
vastly different programs. All that is new in Bolshevism is that a very old
method of action, and a very old philosophy of action, have been seized
upon by a new class which attempts to unite them to a new program.
That is all that is implied in the "dictatorship of the proletariat."
Dictatorship by small minorities is not a new political phenomenon. All
that is new when the minority attempting to establish its dictatorship is
composed of poor, propertyless people, is the fact of their economic
condition and status.
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