(these political types exist in all countries, allowing for trifling national variations) and between the Hendersons and Lloyd Georges are quite unimportant and shallow from the viewpoint of pure—i.e., of abstract Communism, that is, of Communism which has not yet ripened into practical mass political activity. But from the viewpoint of the practical activity of the masses, these differences are exceedingly important. The Communist who wishes to be not only a class-conscious convinced propagandist, but a practical leader of the masses in the revolution, must carefully estimate these differences, and determine the moment of the complete maturity of the conflicts which inevitably weaken and debilitate all these "friends"; herein lies his whole work, his whole problem. It is necessary to coordinate the strictest devotion to the ideas of Communism with the ability to accept all necessary practical compromises, manœuvring, temporizings, zig-zags, retreats and the like. This co-ordination is essential in order to hasten the rise and fall, the realization and the withering away, of the political power of the Hendersons (the heroes of the Second International, to mention no names, the representatives of the petit bourgeois democracy who call themselves Socialists); it is essential in order to facilitate their inevitable practical bankruptcy, which enlightens the masses precisely after our ideas, precisely in the direction of Communism. One must precipitate the inevitable quarrel and conflicts between the Hendersons, Lloyd Georges and Churchills (Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, Cadets and Monarchists; Scheidemanns, bourgeoisie, and Kapps, etc.) and choose correctly the moment of the maximum disintegration between all these "buttresses of sacred private property," in order to defeat them all in one decisive offensive of the proletariat, and conquer political power.
History in general, the history of revolutions in particular, has always been richer, more varied and variform, more vital and "cunning" than is conceived of by the best parties, by the most conscious vanguards of the most advanced classes. This is natural, for the best vanguards express the consciousness, will, passions and fancies of but tens of thousands, whereas the revolution is effected at the moment of the exceptional uplift and exertion of all the human faculties—consciousness,
