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.e., the selection of one of two different roads,and the question of how easily the goal can be reached, or of how near the goal is on thegiven road.We have not dealt with this last question at all in the foregoing because it has not evokedany disagreement or divergency in the Party.But it goes without saying that the questionitself is extremely important and deserves the most serious attention of allSocial-Democrats.It would be a piece of unpardonable optimism to forget the difficultieswhich accompany the task of drawing into the movement the masses not only of the working class, but also of the peasantry.These difficulties have more than once been therock against which the efforts to carry a democratic revolution to completion have beenwrecked; and it was the inconsistent and self-seeking bourgeoisie which triumphed mostof all, because it "made capital" in the shape of monarchist protection against the people,and at the same time "preserved the virginity" of liberalism.or of the Osvobozhdeniyetrend.But difficult does not mean impossible.The important thing is to be convinced thatthe path chosen is the correct one, and this conviction will multiply a hundred-fold therevolutionary energy and revolutionary enthusiasm which can perform miracles.The depth of the rift among present-day Social-Democrats on the question of the path tobe chosen can be seen at once by comparing the Caucasian resolution of the new-Iskraistswith the resolution of the Third Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.The Congress resolution says: the bourgeoisie is inconsistent, it will certainly try todeprive us of the gains of the revolution.Therefore, make more energetic preparations forthe fight, comrades and fellow workers! Arm yourselves, win the peasantry to your side!We shall not surrender our revolutionary gains to the self-seeking bourgeoisie without afight.The resolution of the Caucasian new-Iskraists says: the bourgeoisie is inconsistent,it may recoil from the revolution.Therefore, comrades and fellow workers, please do notthink of joining a provisional government, for, if you do, the bourgeoisie will certainlyrecoil, and the sweep of the revolution will thereby be diminished!One side says: advance the revolution forward, to its consummation, in spite of theresistance or the passivity of the inconsistent bourgeoisie.The other side says: do notthink of carrying the revolution to completion independently, for if you do, theinconsistent bourgeoisie will recoil from it.Are these not two diametrically opposite paths? Is it not obvious that one set of tacticsabsolutely excludes the other? That the first tactics are the only correct tactics ofrevolutionary Social-Democracy, while the second are in fact purely Osvobozhdeniyetactics?Next: Conclusion.Dare We Win?Footnotes1)Of interest in this connection is Mr.Struve s open letter to Jaurès recently published bythe latter in L'Humanité and by Mr.Struve in the Osvobozhdeniye, No.72.[A]36.Lenin has in view the article 'On the Provisional Revolutionary Government" (seepresent edition, Vol.8, pp.461-81), and also the article by F.Engels, Die Bakunisten an der A rheit.Denksch,.ift ~ber den A~4stand in Spanien imm Sommmer 1873, in which hecriticises the Bakuninist resolution Lenin is referring to (see Der Volksstaat, Nos.105,106, 107, 1873).[B]39.The reference is to Marx's words in his Zur Kritik der lie gelsehienRechtsphilosophie, MEGA, 1.Abt., Bd.1, S.614.Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution Vladimir LeninTwo Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic RevolutionConclusion.Dare We Win?People who are superficially acquainted with the state of affairs in RussianSocial-Democracy, or who judge as mere onlookers without knowing thewhole history of our internal Party struggle since the days of Economism, very often alsodismiss the disagreements on tactics which have now become crystallised, especiallyafter the Third Congress, with the simple argument that there are two natural, inevitableand quite reconcilable trends in every Social-Democratic movement.One side, they say,lays special emphasis on the ordinary, current, everyday work, on the necessity ofdeveloping propaganda and agitation, of preparing forces, deepening the movement, etc
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