Politically and intellectually the position of the
proletariat of Russia before the recent Revolution was that of the
proletariat of France in 1848.
But that which baffles the mind of the serious investigator is the
readiness of so many presumably intelligent people living in countries
where--as in America--wholly different conditions prevail to ignore the
differences and be ready to abandon all the democratic advance made by the
workers. There is nothing more certain in the whole range of social and
political life than the fact that the doctrine that the power of the state
must be seized and used by the proletariat against the non-proletarian
classes, even for a relatively brief period, _can only be carried out by
destroying all the democracy thus far achieved_.
III
The validity of the foregoing contention can scarcely be questioned, except
by those to whom phrases are of more consequence than facts, who place
theories above realities. The moment the Bolsheviki tried to translate
their rhetorical propaganda for the dictatorship of the proletariat into
the concrete terms of political reality they found that they were compelled
to direct their main opposition, not against the bourgeoisie, or even
against capitalism, but against the newly created democracy.
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