Page:Eden Paul and Cedar Paul - Communism (1921).pdf/17

 exercised in Russia, by the masses. It will be exorcised by an oligarchy, by a revolutionary élite. The larger the numbers of this class-conscious proletarian elite, the better. But from the very nature of the system in which the revolutionary change has to be effected, it is impossible to expect that, prior to the revolution, the majority even of those who are proletarian by status can be made to grasp the real meaning of capitalist imperialism, and to voice an imperative and effective demand for its overthrow. The revolution will come when the contradictions of capitalism have culminated in a situation so disastrous that the masses have been rendered desperate, and have become eager for any change; and when there is a sufficiently large revolutionary minority ready to seize power when the tocsin sounds.

Having seized power, they must hold it while the remoulding of social institutions is producing a quasi-universal communist mentality. The new political organism cannot at first be "broad-based upon the people's will"; but it must be broad-based upon proletarian ideology; it must harmonise with instinctively felt proletarian needs; and it must in large measure be a spontaneous outgrowth of creative evolution and creative revolution. That is where the soviet system comes in. The demand for all-power to the workers' councils arises spontaneously wherever the situation grows truly revolutionary. Then, through the workers' councils, the revolutionary drive of the masses secures effective expression. The revolutionary elite wrests the powers of the State from the grip of the capitalist class, and establishes the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The circumstances in which the seizure of power will occur, and the means by which it will be effected, will vary from country to country, and will depend on the precise nature of the conditions which have resulted in a breakdown of the capitalist economic and political machine. Any attempt to forecast the details would be utopian. But as regards the dictatorship, once established, its stringency will gradually relax as popular ideology is modified by the new conditions. The co-ordinations of the workers, when they realise that at last the government is their own government, will come more and more to resemble the harmonious self-discipline of an orchestra or a choir; while the dictatorship in its turn will become more like the guiding will and inspiration of a competent orchestral conductor or choirmaster.

But always there will be guidance. Never will men and women engaged in social production be able to dispense with a self-imposed discipline. Discipline is the first element in the fighting strength of the Communist Party. Labour discipline was one of the first demands of the bolsheviks after the shouting was over and when the revolution had to settle down to the urgent task of production. Factory committees are an essential part of communist productive work. When at work, individuals have to obey the discipline of the working community. This was recognised long ago by William Morris. We quote his words from Communism (Fabian Tract No. 113), a reprint from his MS. draft of a lecture delivered in 1893: "An anti-socialist will say, How