stage of the struggle against the regime he has set up in the name of Marx has he been more vigorously denounced and opposed than by these eminent Marxists who were his colleagues in former years. That, too. is a paradox of the Revolution.

The Social Democratic Party of Russia was, of course, an "illegal body." That is why its work had to be conducted from outside of Russia. Its leaders were exiles, living in Geneva, Zurich, Brussels, Paris, London, and elsewhere. Its official organs were published abroad, generally in London or Geneva, and as many copies smuggled into Russia as could be managed. The headquarters of the party was generally maintained in Switzerland, Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, acting as secretary. The correspondence of the party, particularly with those in Russia, was conducted in the most elaborate cipher systems, invisible ink being generally used.

From this brief statement it will be readily apparent why the congresses of the party were held outside of Russia. The second congress of the party, in 1903, held part of its sessions in Brussels and the rest in London. At that time, in the course of the London sessions, the word Bolshevist and its derivatives first came into being. Literally, "Bolshevist" means "the most," or "the majority." By derivation, therefore, "Bolshevism" is the "ism," the systematised princi

ples, of the majority, and "Bolsheviks," or better, the "Bolsheviki," are those who belong to the majority. The term was coined at the party congress and applied to the larger of the two factions that there developed. The other faction was called the "Menshevist" or minority-faction and its distinctive principles came to be spoken of as "Menshevism”— the "ism" of the minority.

Lenin was the acknowledged leader of the Bolshevist majority-as it then was—and he displayed all those qualities and gifts which he has since used in the larger sphere of government and international politics. With him were associated some of the men who now hold prominent positions in the Soviet regime, but Trotzky was not one of these. Then, and for a long time thereafter, Trotzky stood outside of the controversies that raged between the two factions.

The party held another congress in 1904. At that time the revolutionary movement in Russia was in a great ferment. The Revolution of 1905 was already shaping itself, and an electric tensity prevailed. By this time Lenin and his friends had ceased to be the majority faction. They were now greatly outnumbered. Consciousness of the close approach of a great struggle in Russia had deepened the sense of responsibility and sobered many an extremist. A year of keen debate had more sharply defined opposing

principles and programs. The more moderate elements in the party had been rallied. For these and other reasons Lenin's faction was now the minority faction. It did not, however, come to be known by the name of "Mensheviki." Admittedly a minority faction, it continued to be called the "Bolshevist" faction and its principles to be called "Bolshevism.' The actual majority at the same time continued to be called the "Menshevist" faction and its principles to be called "Menshevism."

This absurd paradox, so characteristically Russian, will be readily understood if it is borne in mind that personalities counted for little in the controversy. It was a conflict over great and fundamental principles and ideas. In the year's debate there had developed quite a literature, and the names, which originally referred to the respective numerical positions of the factions, had become inseparable from certain bodies of theoretical and tactical principles. It is important for the reader to understand this, for it is the key to many puzzles. While Bolshevism etymologically refers to the credo of the majority, in reality it has nothing to do with the conception of a majority position, either in party or state. It refers solely to a certain body of revolutionary Socialist principles and doctrines.

Lenin had already formulated this body of revolu

tionary theory in terms which quite clearly show that even then he had developed the program which he has since followed, in all its main essentials. The Bolsheviki repudiated the concept of democracy which had always been held to be a fundamental concept of Socialism. Lenin proclaimed that it was absurd to apply to Russia the doctrine that the support of the majority of the people must be secured. A militant and relentless minority should be always expressing the revolutionary spirit, regardless of the fact that success seems, and perhaps is, impossible. Revolutionary agitation is always a success in itself, no matter what the outcome. The revolutionary minority must, in particular take advantage of every difficult and critical moment and situation in which the Government may find itself to instigate revolutionary outbreaks. The revolutionary minority must resolutely cast aside the concept of respect for legality. Revolution is its own law. Whenever possible, the revolutionary minority must seize the powers of government, no matter whether by violence or stealth, and, having secured possession of those powers use them without scruples, to consolidate its position and its power.

In Russia, as in other lands, the aim must be to set up the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat." The fact that in Russia the proletariat, the industrial wage

workers, was an insignificant part of the population, simply meant that it was necessary to influence fewer minds to take the first daring steps, and to use the forces of government thus seized with greater severity. The revolutionary minority must everywhere disavow the ideas and ideals of nationality. It was the duty of a revolutionary Socialist, no matter to what country he might belong, to do all in his power to foment revolutionary uprisings in all countries. By the same token, it was the duty of the proletarian dictatorship when set up in any country to use its position to stir up world-wide revolution. The Russian Revolution, in particular, must be made the agency for bringing about international revolution. For only upon the basis of an international revolution could Russia long maintain itself as a Socialist nation.

Such, then, was the credo of Bolshevism as formulated by its intellectual leader and master mind. In it will be found the germ of every phase of the policy which he and his associates have pursued since they seized the powers of the State in Russia and overthrew the promising effort to establish the most democratic government that any great nation has had in modern times. In this program will be found the mental processes back of the Nov. 7th coup d'etat; of the frightful terrorism by which they established themselves, of the bitter and relentless manner in which