would have to be established by the Constituent Assembly, and which would be administered by a parliament representing all classes of the population. Even now, the opportunists and the social solidarians continue to hold the same opinion, declaring that only the Constituent Assembly and a democratic republic can save the country from the disasters of civil war. Actual experience tells a very different tale. In Germany, for instance, such a republic was set up after the revolution of November, 1918. Nevertheless, during the close of 1918 and during 1919 there were sanguinary struggles. Continually the working class was demanding the establishment of a soviet regime. The demand for a soviet regime has in fact become the international watchword of the proletariat. In all countries the workers sound this war-cry, in conjunction with the demand for the dictatorship of the proletariat. Life has confirmed the accuracy of our slogan, “All power to the soviets,” not in Russia alone, but in every country where there is a proletariat.
47. Proletarian Democracy and bourgeois Democracy.
A bourgeois democratic republic is based upon universal suffrage and upon the so-called “will of the people,” the “will of the whole nation,” the “united will of all classes.” The advocates of a bourgeois democratic republic, of a Constituent Assembly, etc., tell us that we are doing violence to the united will of the nation. Let us consider this matter first.
In Part One we learned that contemporary society consists of classes with conflicting interests. For example, long working hours may be profitable to the bourgeoisie, but they are disadvantageous to the working class. Peace between the classes is as impossible as peace between wolves and sheep. Wolves want to eat sheep, so sheep must defend themselves against wolves. But if this be so (and unquestionably it is so), then we have to ask whether it is possible for wolves and sheep to have a common will. Every intelligent person knows that it is absurd to talk of anything of the kind. There simply cannot be a will common to sheep and wolves. We must