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be left big vulture-like capitalist States. If all capitalistic Europe breaks up and falls under the blows of the working class, there will still be left the capitalistic, world of Asia, with Japan like a beast of prey at its head. Then we have the capital of America, at the head of which stands the monstrous plundering union called the United States of America. All these capitalist States will not give up their position without a fight. They will fight with all their might to prevent the proletariat from getting possession of the whole world. The mightier the onslaught of the proletariat, the more dangerous the position of the bourgeoisie; the more necessary it becomes for the bourgeoisie to concentrate all its forces in the struggle against the proletariat. The proletariat, having conquered in one, two, or three countries, will inevitably come into collision with the rest of the bourgeois world that will attempt to break by blood and iron the efforts of the class that is fighting for its freedom.
What follows? It follows that prior to the establishment of the communist order and after the abolition of capitalism, in the interval between capitalism and communism, even after socialistic revolutions in several countries, the working class will have to endure a furious struggle with its inner and external foes. And for such a struggle a strong, wide, well-constructed organisation is required, having at its disposal all the means of fighting. An organisation of this kind is the proletarian State, the power of the workers. The proletarian State, similar to other States, is an organisation of the dominant class (the dominating class is here the working class), and an organisation of force over the bourgeoisie, as a means of putting an end to the bourgeoisie and getting rid of it.
He who is afraid of this kind of force is not a revolutionist. The question of force should not be regarded from the point of view that every kind of force is pernicious. The force practised by the rich against the poor, by capitalists towards workers—such force acts against the working class and aims at supporting and strengthening capitalistic plunder. But the force of workers against the bourgeoisie aims at freeing millions of working men from slavery; it means redemption from the rod of capital, from plundering wars, from savage looting and destruction of all that mankind has been building up and accumulating for ages and ages. That is why, in the making of revolution and the forming of a communist order, the iron rule, of a proletarian dictatorship is indispensable.
