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useful to this revolution. Yet the latter takes place not at all by reason of Social-Democracy but in spite of it. (In the same way the military organisation of the bourgeois State will assuredly prove useful to the proletarian revolution, although the latter is against the object—military organisation.) If Social-Democracy could always direct the will of the labouring masses, the working class with its organisations would hardly over plunge into no enterprise so risky as a revolution, and would thus never reach the final goal of Socialism, unless of course the bourgeoisie were itself to provoke the workers to revolution. In this case alone, then, is Social-Democracy consistent with itself—a thing, however, when it enters into a revolutionary struggle to protect its future and its legal bourgeois conquests—as we did in January.
In November, however, we determined to avoid the revolutionary struggle, partly in order to protect our democratic conquests, partly because we hoped to be able to weather the storm by Parliamentary means, perhaps also with the fatalistic idea in our minds, that "if the revolution comes now or later, it will come in spite of our resistance, and will show its power to the full."
What was the result of this historical error? Could we avoid an armed conflict? No! It was only postponed till a time when the bourgeoisie would be better prepared for it than they were in November. The bourgeoisie always bring about a conflict with the workers when they desire it. In the fight put up by the working class there was but one danger, namely, that the bourgeoisie might determine the moment for the outbreak of the revolution. When the workers begin the revolution, the bourgeois are not always ready at every point, and may thus be partially taken by surprise, especially if a reactionary Government has for a considerable time been arousing feelings of hatred amongst the masses. In that case, a revolution set in motion by the workers may carry with it the discontented middle classes, or at least it may disunite and discourage the partisans of the Government.
Seeing that a Government, even after some delay, has always at its disposal the means of disarming the masses, can arrest the protagonists of the revolution, can methodically place "safe" troops for attack and defence against "the internal enemy," and can in general concentrate the whole of
