348 THE CLASS STRUGGLE EDITORIALS 349 fraction of the original membership, the right to elect the full quota of delegates allowed to these locals before their reorganization. In Kings County the reorganized local branches, of about 500 members, will send a delegation of to the national conventon, a delegation that requires a membership of 3000. Surely our party leaders would not have used practices of such extremely questionable character had they felt confident of their power to control the convention.
Under these circumstances the outcome of the convention can hardly be doubtful. Packed as it will be by representatives from reorganized states and locals who will be little more than the mouthpieces of the powers that be in the Socialist party, we doubt whether even the strong revolutionary element that will come from the West and from some states in the East, will be numerically sufficiently strong to win out over their Right Wing opponents.
The parting of the ways has come. And it has come because the brutal violation of the party autocracy of all who differed with them has left no other choice.
On the Unhappy Peace By LENIN The present state of the Russian Revolution is such (since all the workers and the great majority of the peasants are in favor of putting all power into the hands of the Soviets, and in favor of the Social Revolution inaugurated by the Soviets. that the success of the Social Revolution in Russia seems to be assured. Meanwhile, the civil war brought about by the desperate resistance of the possessing classes, who are well aware that this is to be the last, the determining conflict for the retention of private ownership of land and of the means of production, has not yet reached its climax. In this conflict the victory of the Soviets is certain, but for some time our intensest efforts will still be required. period of disorganization is inevitable, that is the case in all wars, all the more so in a civil war before the resistance of the bourgeoisie is broken. This resistance takes the form chiefly of passive manifestations, not of military force; of sabotage, bribery of vagrants, bribery of agents of the bourgeoisie, who permeate the ranks of the Socialists in order to compromise their cause, etc. etc. This resistance is so obstinate and assumes such varying forms, that the conflict must go on for some time, and will not terminate for some months, since the victory of socialism is not possible until all the encumbrances have been removed. Finally, the task of socialist reorganization in Russia is so great and so difficult; both because of the petit bourgeois elements who are taking part in the revolution, and because of the unsatisfactory level of the proletariat, that its solution still requires some time. All this means that the success of the Russian Revolution will require at least for some months, that the Russian Government shall have a free hand, in order to conquer the bourgeoisie in its own country, in order then to undertake the great task of reconstruction, The international policy of the Soviets must be based chiefly on the conditions of the revolution in Russia, for the international situation in the fourth year is such that, in general, it is not possible to fix a time for the overthrow of imperialistic powers (including the erman Government. There is no doubt that revolution must and shall break out in Europe. All our hope in a decisive victory of Socialism is based on this conviction, on this scientific hypothesis. Our propaganda in general, and that of fraternization in particular, must be deepened and extended. But it would be an error to base the tactics of the socialist government on the probability that the European Revolution, particularly the German, will take place within a few months. As prediction is here absolutely impossible, all efforts in this direction would be a mere gamble. The negotiation of the Brest Litovsk Treaty has now (January 7, 1918) shown that the military party has gained the upper hand in the German Government, and that this party has its own way with the governments of the other countries in the Quadruple Alliance. The military party already has actually sent an ultimatum to Russia, the official form of which we may expect in a few days. This ultimatum means: either the continuation of the war or the conclusion of a peace by annexation, e.