Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/393

Rh The maximalists, who began to organise themselves towards the close of 1905, demanded a social revolution. They were therefore sceptical regarding the political revolution of the left. If, they said, the minority can seize political power, why should it not make social revolution its direct aim? Simple political dictatorship by the minority was repudiated by the maximalists as Marxism and socio-political realism.

The maximalists expanded the program of socialisation of the land to include the socialisation of factories and industrial enterprises. In accordance therewith, political terrorism was enlarged to include "economic" (agrarian) terrorism. Expropriation was to be inaugurated by a campaign against the capitalists, carried on by individual action.

The organisation of the party must be democratic. The maximalists rejected centralisation, but demanded nevertheless a "strong centre." Maximalist democracy was to be secured by the federation of autonomous revolutionary communes. There was talk of "the method of communal revolution"; this demand goes back to Bakunin and Proudhon, but I cannot see that those who formulated it had paid due attention to the social characteristics of the modern great town and its administrative tasks. How is such a city as St. Petersburg or Moscow (to say nothing of London) to be revolutionised? On the other hand, how are the Russian villages to be revolutionised? The maximalist program, too, is unduly abstract, unduly schematic; and it is noteworthy that at the first maximalist congress (in so far as a judgment can be formed from the very inadequate reports), sympathy for the program was mainly displayed by the peasants and the representatives of the lesser towns.

The maximalists are declared adversaries of Marxism and social democracy. They speak of the Marxists as "scientific reactionaries," and extol personal initiative, especially that of academic youth. They aim at a union of classes and at cooperation with the declassed intelligentsia.