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are of special value to the bourgeoisie. Their numbers are not great, but their significance is enormous. People trust them by habit; they know the Trade Union routine, they are well read, clever, and evasive. That is why they are so dangerous. They are the chief and the last enemy of the labour revolution in Germany. In Germany we can see more clearly than elsewhere that it is precisely this last enemy of ours which is our greatest, our arch enemy. This enemy is to a certain extent part and parcel of ourselves. Without cutting ourselves off, we cannot vanquish the bourgeoisie.
A large Communist Party is now being organised in Germany. The Left Independents have joined the Communists. This is gigantic force. This force must crush the reactionary leaders of the labour aristocracy. The events at Halle, which we had the joy to witness, and in which we took an active part, is not only the purging of the party—it is an event of the greatest historical importance. The working class has come to understand that it must amputate its gangrenous limb in order to become healthier and stronger. I said to the German bourgeois, when they were about to expel me: "When you let me in many of you bourgeois thought that my presence would hasten the split of the Independent Party, and the bourgeoisie is stupid enough to imagine that any split is likely to be to its advantage. I explained to the German bourgeois, as plainly as possible, that not every split will work to their advantage; there are splits which are advantageous to us. In order to illustrate my idea I gave them an instance of childish simplicity, making use of the four rules of arithmetic.
Imagine a regiment consisting of a thousand warriors; 800 of them are staunch men and the remaining 200 are self-seekers and shirkers. If you throw out the 200 self-seekers, you may at first imagine that the "split" would be disadvantageous, as there are now apparently fewer men. But in fact 800 real fighters will constitute a much stronger force than 1,000 men of whom 200 were cowards, who spread panic at the decisive moment. The same may be said of the German party. If we throw out the reformists, cowards, good-for-nothings, self-seekers, in a word the Mensheviks, shall we become weaker on that account? No, we shall grow stronger. At a moment of
