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and simple" were not surrounded by a great many exceedingly variegated and transitory types between the proletarian to the semi-proletarian (who earns a livelihood halfway by selling his labor-power); from the semi-proletarian to the small peasant (and small craftsman, handicraft worker, and small master in general); from the small to the middle peasant and so on; and if, within the proletariat itself, there were no divisions into more and less advanced sections—friendly, professional and sometimes religious societies, etc. And this gives rise to the absolute, imperative necessity for the conscious part of the proletarian vanguard, the Communist Party, to resort to manœuvres, temporizings, and compromises with the various groups of proletarians, with the various parties, with the workmen and petit masters.
The whole point lies in being able to apply these tactics to raise and not to lower the general level of proletarian class-consciousness and revolutionary ability to fight and conquer. It is noteworthy, by the way, that the victory of the Bolsheviks over the Mensheviks demanded, not only before the October revolution of 1917, but also after it, the application of such tactics, of manœuvring, temporizing and compromise—such, of course, as would facilitate, accelerate, consolidate the Bolsheviks at the expense of the Mensheviks. The petit bourgeois democrats (including the Mensheviks) invariably vacillate between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, between bourgeois democracy and the Soviet system, between reformism and revolution, between love for the workers and fear of the proletarian dictatorship, etc. The correct tactics of the Communists should consist in utilizing these vacillations, and by no means to ignore them. Utilization demands concessions to the element that turns towards the proletariat. The time, the direction and the extent of these concessions must be determined by circumstances; the questions to be considered being simply when and how far those elements turn towards the proletariat. At the same time a fight must be waged against the elements which turn towards the bourgeoisie. As a result of the application of correct tactics, Menshevism, disintegrated more and more, is now falling to pieces; the obstinately opportunist leaders are being deserted,
