Page:Studies in socialism 1906.djvu/135

Rh And Liebknecht put the finishing touch to this thought by the following vigorous words:

"We ought not to ask, 'Are you a wage- earner?' but 'Are you a Socialist?'

"If it is limited to the wage-earners, Socialism cannot conquer. If it includes all the workers and the moral and intellectul élite of the nation, its victory is certain.

"Why are we forced to stand by now while our friends are persecuted? Why do we have to submit to the most indecent outrages? Because we are still weak. Why are we weak? Because a small part of the people alone understands the Socialist doctrine.

"And shall we, who are feeble, become still more feeble by excluding thousands of men from our movement on the pretext that chance has not made them members of a given social group? Stupidity would in this case become treason to the Party.

"Not to contract, but to expand, ought to be our motto,—the circle of Socialism should widen more and more until we have converted most of our adversaries to being friends, or at least disarmed their opposition.

"And the indifferent mass, that in peaceful days has no weight in the political balance, but becomes the decisive force in times of agitation, ought to be so fully enlightened as to the aims and the essential ideas of our Party, that it will cease to fear us and can be no longer used as a weapon against us.