— 81 —
9. The propaganda of some representatives of the Left independents in Germany presenting the workers with a ready-made, literary plan of a "Soviet system", which has no relation whatever to the concrete process of the civil war is a doctrinary pastime which draws the workers away from their essential tasks of the real struggle for power.
10. The attempts of separate Communist groups in France, Italy, America, England to form Soviets not embracing the larger working masses and unable therefore to enter into a direct struggle for the power, are only prejudicial to the actual preparation of a Soviet revolution. Such artificial hot-house "Soviets" soon become transformed in the best of cases into small associations for propaganda of the idea of a Soviet power, and in the worst case such miserable "Soviets" are capable only of compromising the idea of the power of "Soviets" in the eyes of the popular masses.
11. At the present time there exists a special condition in Austria, where the working class has succeeded in preserving its Soviets, which unite large masses of workers. Here the situation resembles the period between February and October 1917 in Russia. The Soviets in Austria represent a considerable political force, and appear to be the embryo of a new power.
It must be understood that in such a situation the Communists ought to participate in
