propaganda of the International Socialist revolution. This organization was disrupted by the World War in August, 1914, because the controlling elements of the International supported their respective governments in the war. The manifesto criticizes the action of the so-called dominant Socialists which were the controlling elements of the Second International, in the following terms:

"The dominant Socialism in accepting and justifying the war, abandoned the class struggle and betrayed Socialism. The class struggle is the heart of Socialism. Without strict conformity to the class struggle, in its revolutionary implications, Socialism becomes either sheer Utopianism, or a method of reaction. . . . The dominant Socialism united with the governments against Socialism and the proletariat, nationalism, social patriotism, and social imperialism determined the policy of the dominant Socialism, and not the proletarian class struggle and Socialism."

Moderate Socialism is further criticized for its recognition of what is called the "bourgeois state," a term which is applied to the Government of the United States as well as to the governments of such countries as Great Britain, France, Italy, and the other civilized nations of the world in the following words:

6

"This moderate Socialism initiated the era of 'constructive social reforms.' It accepted the bourgeois state as the basis of its activity and strengthened that state. Its goal became constructive reforms and cabinet portfolios the co-operation of classes,' the policy of openly or tacitly declaring that the coming Socialism was a concern of all the classes,' instead of emphasizing the Marxian policy that the construction of the Socialist system is the task of the revolutionary proletariat alone. In accepting Social reformism, the co-operation of the classes,' and the bourgeois parliamentary state as the basis of its action, moderate Socialism was prepared to share responsibility with the bourgeoisie in the control of the capitalist state, even to the extent of defending the bourgeoisie against the working class and its revolutionary mass movements. What the parliamentary policy of the dominant moderate Socialism. accomplished was to buttress the capitalist state, to promote state capitalism-to strengthen imperialism!

When

the economic and political crisis did develop potential revolutionary action in the proletariat, the dominant Socialism immediately assumed an attitude against the revolution.

The dominant Socialism united with capitalist governments to prevent a revolution."

Then follows a discussion of the Russian proletarian revolution, and a discussion of the German revolution. The patriotic attitude of the dominant Socialists of Europe is severely criticized thus:

"There is, accordingly, a common policy that characterizes moderate Socialism, and that is its conception of the state. Moderate Socialism affirms that the bourgeois, democratic parliamentary state is the necessary basis for the introduction of Socialism; accordingly, it conceived the task of the revolution, in Germany and Russia, to be the construction of the democratic parliamentary state, after which the process of introducing Socialism by legislative reform measures could be initiated."

Contrasted with the attitude of the moderate Socialist, is the policy of revolutionary Socialism as expressed in the Left Wing movement. The manifesto says:

"Revolutionary Socialism, on the contrary, insists that the democratic parliamentary state can never be the basis for the introduction of Socialism; that it is necessary to destroy the parliamentary state, and construct a new state of the organized producers, which will deprive the bourgeoisie of political power, and function as a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

"The proletarian revolution in action has conclusively proven that moderate Socialism is incapable of realizing the objectives of Socialism. Revolutionary Socialism alone is capable of mobilizing the proletariat for Socialism, for the conquest of the power of the state, by means of revolutionary mass action and proletarian dictatorship."

In speaking of the conditions in the United States, the manifesto says:

"Imperialism is dominant in the United States. It controls all the factors of social action. Imperialism is uniting all non-proletarian social groups in a brutal state capitalism,

for reaction and spoilation. Against this, revolutionary
Socialism must mobilize the mass struggle of the industrial
proletariat.
Revolutionary Socialism adheres to
the class struggle, because through the class struggle alone-
the mass struggle can the industrial proletariat secure
immediate concessions and finally conquer power by organ-
izing the industrial government of the working class."

The political character of the class struggle referred to is shown by the following statement:

"The class struggle is a political struggle. It is a political struggle in the sense that its objective is political-the overthrow of the political organization upon which capitalistic exploitation depends, and the introduction of a new social system. The direct objective is the conquest by the proletariat of the power of the state.

"Revolutionary Socialism does not propose to capture' the bourgeois parliamentary state, but to conquer and destroy it."

The purpose of the authors of this manifesto to bring about the destruction of our government by other than parliamentary means, is indicated by the following quotation:

"Revolutionary Socialism, accordingly, repudiates the policy of introducing Socialism by means of legislative measures on the basis of the bourgeois state.

"This state is a bourgeois state, the organ for the coercion. of the proletarian by the capitalist: how, then, can it introduce Socialism? As long as the bourgeois parliamentary state prevails, the capitalist class can baffle the will of the proletariat, since all the political power, the army and the police, industry and the press, are in the hands of the capitalists, whose economic power gives them complete domination. The revolutionary proletariat must expropriate all these by the conquest of the power of the state, by annihilating the political power of the bourgeoisie, before it can begin the task of introducing Socialism."

In reading the foregoing, it must be noted that revolutionary Socialism, represented in this instance by the so-called Left Wing movement of the Socialist Party, repudiates the policy of introducing Socialism by means of legislative measures. It

aims not to capture the bourgeois parliamentary state, by which is meant the governments of the United States and of the State of New York, but to conquer and destroy both. This is still further emphasized by the following paragraphs:

"But parliamentarism cannot conquer the power of the state for the proletariat. The conquest of the power of the state is an extra-parliamentary act. It is accomplished, not by the legislative representatives of the proletariat, but by the mass power of the proletariat in action. The supreme power of the proletariat inheres in the political mass strike, in using the industrial mass power of the proletariat for political objectives.

"Revolutionary Socialism, accordingly, recognizes that the supreme form of proletarian political action is the political mass strike. The power of the proletariat lies fundamentally in its control of the industrial process. The mobilization of this control in action against the bourgeois state and capitalism, means the end of capitalism, the initial form of the revolutionary mass action that will conquer the power of the state."

The provisions of this manifesto show clearly that the purpose of the adherents to the Left Wing movement was the destruction of the American form of government, the tearing up of the Constitution of the United States, the expropriation of private property. That this destruction of our government and this expropriation of private property cannot be accomplished by means of the ballot and the exercise of legislative powers, but must be accomplished by means of the mass or general strike of the workers in industry. They also aimed to set up a dictatorship of the proletariat only, to the exclusion of all other classes of our society, and believed that this was to be accomplished by revolutionary mass action, which is stated in the manifesto to be an outgrowth of the general political strike.

In defining mass action, the manifesto says:

"Mass action is the proletarian response to the facts of modern industry, and the forms it imposes upon the proletarian class struggle. Mass action starts as the spontaneous activity of unorganized workers massed in the basic industry; its initial form is the mass strike of the unorganized proletariat. Mass action is industrial in its origin:

but its development imposes upon it a political character,
since the more general and conscious mass action becomes,
the more it antagonizes the bourgeois state, becomes
political mass action.
Mass action concentrates and

mobilizes the forces of the proletariat, organized and unor-
ganized; it acts equally against the bourgeois state and the
conservative organizations of the working class. The revo-
lution starts with strikes of protest, developing into mass
political strikes and then into revolutionary mass action
for the conquest of the power of the state. Mass action
becomes political in purpose while extra-parliamentary in
form."

Here is presented a graphic picture of the method sought to be employed by the adherents to the principles of this manifesto, in seeking the overturn of the government of the United States and this State. As if in fear that the manifesto might be misunderstood, its authors have continued to reiterate the purpose and object of the revolution which they advocate, and the methods which they advise for its achievement. This is illustrated by the following quotation:

"The final objective of mass action is the conquest of the power of the state, the annihilation of the bourgeois parliamentary state and the introduction of the transition proletarian state, functioning as a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat."

The purpose of the dictatorship of the proletariat is thus expressed:

"The state is an organ of coercion. The bourgeois parliamentary state is the organ of the bourgeoisie for the coercion of the proletariat. The revolutionary proletariat must, accordingly, destroy this state. But the conquest of political power by the proletariat does not immediately end capitalism, or the power of the capitalists, or immediately socialize industry. It is therefore necessary that the proletariat organize its own state-for the coercion and suppression of the bourgeoisie."

The Government of the United States, as well as all other democratic governments, is viewed by the authors of this manifesto as an autocracy.