being made by the German "Left" Communists, and which were committed by the Russian "Left" Bolsheviks in the years 1908 and 1918.
The author of the letter is full of the noblest proletarian hate towards class politicians of the bourgeoisie; and his hate is comprehensible and dear, not only to the proletariat, but to all toilers, to all "little people," to use the German expression. This hatred of the representative of oppressed and exploited masses is, indeed, "the beginning of all wisdom"; it is the basis of every Socialist and Communist movement and of its success. The author, however, evidently does not take into consideration the fact that politics is a science and an art which does not drop from the skies, and which cannot be obtained for nothing; and that the proletariat, if it wishes to overcome the bourgeoisie, must create for itself its own, proletarian, "class politicians," as capable as bourgeois politicians.
The author of the letter has understood excellently that not Parliament but Workers' Councils will be the way by which the proletariat will achieve its end; of course, those who have not yet understood this are the most vicious reactionaries, even though they be the most learned men, the most erudite Marxists, the most honest citizens and fathers of families. The author of the letter does not, however, even think of putting the question as to whether or not it is possible for the Soviets to vanquish Parliament without introducing "Soviet" workers into the latter, without disintegrating Parliament from within, without preparing inside Parliament the success of Soviets in the impending struggle for the dispersion of Parliament. At the same time, however, the author of the letter expresses the thoroughly right idea that the Communist Party in England must act upon a scientific basis. Science demands, in the first place, an evaluation of the experience of other countries, especially if those others are undergoing or have recently undergone a very similar experience; in the second place, it demands an evaluation of all forces, groups, parties, classes, masses, acting within the given country, and the determination of one's policy not merely ac-
