become poorer and poorer in an increasingly rich society, and wealth would be concentrated in fewer hands until the situation becomes untenable. The legality, the necessity of a gradual development by the aid of democracy, failed to exercise a moderating influence upon those who had imbibed the hope of the revolution which alone could bestow all blessings together with their mother's milk.
He who announced the revolution as principle, but who trembled at the psychological moment when the masses believed that the revolution alone could succeed, lost his influence very rapidly. The authority of Lenin and Trotzki, the first socialists who gained really great successes and who controlled the social revolution in a great State victoriouslv during a long period of time, is far more weighty than the authority of the revolutionary whose words are but printed wisdom and who preached moderation at the decisive moment. The doctrine of the Russian apostles is so simple that anyone can understand it. It is the same as the essence of any other Parliamentary battle. Ote toi que je m'v mette. Hitherto the bourgeoisie had exercised its tyranny. It had exploited the working classes and finally perpetrated the war. For this they had to be punished. Their power had to be broken. It was necessary to occupy their position and to rule in their stead. Even if it is impossible to obtain ideal circumstances in the midst of the ruins that the war had created, it would nevertheless be an enormous step towards the goal if labour could obtain control. If the
