100 101 THE CLASS STRUGGLE Capitalist society cannot disarm because it cannot by its very needs and nature consent to do so. On the other hand, disarmament under capitalism, in view of the impossibility of enforcing disarmament by armament, must be voluntary universal selfdisarmament. In short, the contradiction is hopeless, for the same thing in this case self disarmamentis a condition that is both indispensable and impossible at the same time, We must finally arrive at the conclusion, therefore, that there will be no disarmament under capitalism, and that it is in and under armed capitalism that the Social Revolution is to be accomplished; harmony of production and consumption must first be installed, so that armament will serve no purpose, and a theory of disarmament will cease to have a meaning. The cutting of the Gordian knot is the task of the militant proletariat but with arms in its hands.
Bolsheviki The Masters of the Revolution By Louis BRANDT The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was founded in 1898. Its leading elements were thoroughly Marxian, and opportunistic tendencies were apparent only in the elements that maintained a more or less sporadic affiliation with the party.
The first convention of the party, held in the year 1902, was rather private in character, e. it resembled a circle of theoriticians, rather than a political convention. The second, that was held a year later, already included practically all of the organizations affiliated with the party. It became the arena of the fight between the orthodox majority, under the leadership of Plechanov and Lenin, the editors of the Iskra, who sought to establish the policies of this paper as the dominating factor in the organization, and the revisionist minority. The majority controlled the congress, the opposing groups were dissolved, the Bund withdrew from the party, and the Iskra was made the central organ of the movement.
The minority thereupon declined all participation in the direetion of party affairs, and the majority elected the central com mittee and the editorial staff of the Iskra from among its own members. Lenin and Plechanov were re elected as its editors.
But after the convention Plechanov adopted a tactic of conciliation, and approached, more and more, the point of view of the minority. Under these circumstances Lenin left the Iskra and the publication was captured by the minority. split in the party followed. The Bolsheviki (majority. with Lenin at the head, controlled the Central Committee, the Menshiviki (minority. now under the leadership of Plechanov, remained in possession of the central organ. The differences at first centered not so much upon questions of program or tactics as upon problems of organization. It was at a time when, due to the lack of political activity, the organization question was