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basis; but it should be kept in mind that there is one more task with which the proletarian dictatorship has to deal, and in which the part played by the proletariat js that of an organiser who has been trained by capitalist discipline. We must now organise production on a new higher base and make ourselves masters of all the fruits and conquests of capitalism. This is the condition without which no socialism or communism can be built up. Methods of state compulsion alone will not enable us to attract to our side the labouring peasantry as against the peasant owners. We are faced here with problems of an educational and organising nature, and we must clearly understand why this is a far more difficult problem than the military problem, which was easier of solution. That question lent itself to solution by raising the energy and inspiring the peasantry with a spirit of self-sacrifice. The military problem was an easy one for the peasantry who were out to fight their old enemy—the land owner. There was no need to understand the connection between working class government and the necessity of abolishing free traffic in goods. It was easier to deal with the Russian white guards, landlords and capitalists and all their assistants in the shape of the Mensheviks; but this new victory is harder to achieve. It is not possible to make victories in the sphere of economic production in the same way as on the war arena. Free traffic in goods will not be defeated by enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. What is needed is steady and continuous work, progressing inch by inch; we must use the organising power of the proletariat; victory can be gained; on the field only if the proletariat will put its dictatorship into practice as the greatest organising and moral power of all workers, including even those of the non-proletarian masses. To the extent to which we have successfully solved and will continue successfully to solve the first simpler question—the suppression of the exploiters whose direct attempt is to drive out the Soviet Government—to an equal extent are we faced with the second and more complex problem of how to bring the cause of the proletariat to final victory by establishing it as an organising power.
A task that will take Years.
Labour is to be organised upon a new basis, new forms are to be established to attract to labour discipline all the working elements. This is a problem that capitalism also was attempting to solve for tens of years. Our antagonists include a number of people who show an utter failure to comprehend this question. They called us utopians when we declared that it was possible to acquire power; whilst on the other hand, they demand that we carry out our project of organisation of labour within a few months. That is an absurdity. It is possible to maintain power under conditions of a favourable political period by the enthusiasm of the workers even against the whole world, as we have proved; but to create new forms of social discipline is a different matter—one requiring tens of years. Even capitalism required thirty years to change the old organisation into a new organisation of labour. Therefore when it is expected of us and when it is suggested to the workers and peasants that we
