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saved it from collapse, and allowed themselves to become its hirelings and defenders, unreservedly countenancing an aggressive campaign on the front. On June 9-th, they united with the counter-revolutionary, boergeoisie in a campaign of falsehood and calumny against the revolutionary proletariat. On June 19, they approved the renewal of the predatory war. July 3, they assented to the calling in of the reactionary regiments,—the beginning of the final and complete surrender of the power to the Bonapartists. Step by step downward.
The disgusting fate of these parties, the Essers and Mensheviks, is by no means an accident; European experience has many times proven it to be the outcome of the economic situation of the small property holders,—the petty bourgeoisie.
IX.
It is a matter of common observation how the small proprietor uses all his energies to get into the society of the wealthy, to reach the rank of «captain of industry», to become one of the «400», to enter the plane of the bourgeoisie. So long as capitalism reigns supreme, the petty property holder will be confronted with two alternatives: either to succeed in climbing to the heights of the capitalist class (at best possible for one percent)—or to remain for a while struggling in the position
