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of a ruined little «boss», a semi-proletarian, and to land at last with a crash in the ranks of the proletariat. It is likewise in politics. The petty bourgeois democracy, especially in the persons of its leaders, clings to the skirts of the bourgeoisie. These leaders console their followers with promises and assurances of the plausibility of alliance with the grand bourgeoisie. For a short time at best they are favored by the capitalists with some tid-bits of concession to the few top layers of the toiling masses; but in everything decisive, in every matter of importance, the petty—bourgeoisie—democracy remains floating in the penumbra of the bourgeoisie, an impotent appendage, an obedient tool in the hands of the financial magnates. The experience of England and France has often proven this.
During the Russian revolution, when under the pressure of the imperialistic war and the momentous crisis created by it, events unfolded with extraordinary, swiftness, the period of February–July, 1917, has fully corroborated the old Marxist theory regarding the instability of the position occupied by the petty bourgeoisie.
The ultimate lesson of the Russian revolution: There is mo salvation for the toiling masses in the iron jaws of war, of famine, of enslavement by; landlords and capitalists except in complete rupture with the parties of the Essers and Mensheviks, in the clear realization of their treacherous role, in the enunciation of any and all alliances with the bour-
