Thirdly we had trouble with bourgeois specialists of the old school. The proletariat was forced to retain many of them in its service. It made them submit, set them to work, got the better of their sabotage. In the end, it has turned them to successful account. But these bourgeois experts are apt to cling to their old customs. They look down upon the masses with contempt, and will not mix with them on equal terms; they often cling to the old and evil office routine; they dilly-dally; and their bad example tends to corrupt our own people.
Fourthly we had the withdrawal of the best energies to the army. During the most critical periods of the civil war, when the army was in urgent need of the most trusty and valiant fighters, it was often necessary to despatch the very best of our own people to the front. In consequence of this, there remained at the rear only a comparatively small number of the most advanced among the workers.
All these circumstances make our work extremely difficult, and tend to a certain degree to promote the reintroduction of bureaucracy into the Soviet system. This is a grave danger for the proletariat. The workers did not destroy the old official-ridden State with the intention of allowing it to grow up again from new roots. Our party, therefore, must do its utmost to avert this danger. It can only be averted by attracting the masses to take part in the work. The fundamental matter, of course, is to raise the general cultural level of the workers and peasants, to make an end of illiteracy, to diffuse enlightenment. In addition, however, a whole series of other measures is essential. Among these, our party advocates the following.