Page:Anatoly Vasilievich Lunacharsky - Self-Education of the Workers.djvu/3

 struggle, its toil, and suffering, will possess characteristics which would probably be unthinkable in the social order of a triumphant Socialism.

But the question arises whether this struggling proletariat really has a culture of any sort. Most certainly. In the first place, it possesses in Marxism all that is essential—the fine and powerful investigation of social phenomena, the basis of sociology and political economy, the cornerstone of the philosophic conception of the world. In these the proletariat is already in possession of treasures which can bear comparison with the most brilliant achievements of the human brain.Moreover, in many countries the proletariat has evinced a remarkable organising power in the political sphere. It is true that the dead creation of the past still holds the new life in its arms; the bourgeois parliamentarianism and nationalism has permeated the young political organism of the proletarian parties and of the Workers’ International itself.

The crisis is acute; the disease, of which the left Social Democrats gave warning whilst it was yet in its incubatory period, is most virulent—indeed, many asserted that it would prove fatal—but one can even now declare that it will be overcome and utilised, and that the political organisations of the proletariat will emerge from the fearful ordeal stronger and more influential than ever.

In the economic aspects of the struggle, one cannot say that the ideal of the thinkers and tacticians of the trade union movement has been reached; but one must be filled with admiration for the complicated and beautiful structure of the industrial and craft organisation which, though as yet incomplete, impresses both friend and foe.

All working-class organisations have undergone a wonderful development.

The International Congress of Stuttgart imbued the trade union movement with Socialist ideals, and by its famous resolution placed the movement on a level with the political Socialist Party.

The Congress of Copenhagen practically did the same for the co-operative (?) movement, and there was every reason to hope that the Congress of Vienna would emphasise the vast importance of the fourth form of proletarian culture, namely, the struggle for education.

The development of the educational movement is seen in the foundation of proletarian colleges by many Socialist parties, the transference to Socialist organisations of a number