service and has entrusted the worker-soldier with a rifle only for so long as it can hope that the soldiers drawn from the people will continue to obey the orders of their capitalist rulers. But directly the people thinks of fighting for its own hand, the people must be disarmed! All shrewd bourgeois politicians are well aware of this. Conversely, it would be quite unreasonable for the workers and peasants to think of arming the whole nation, when what they wish is to arm themselves that they may overthrow the bourgeoisie and seize power. It follows, therefore, that for the transitional period in which the proletariat is struggling for power, the old army program of the socialists is futile. Such a program is only applicable for the very brief period during which the pre-existing bourgeois standing army is being broken up. It is only applicable during the period when the officers’ caste is being abolished and when the question of the election of officers by the rank and file arises. In the year 1917, the bolsheviks actually carried out this idea, which was part of their old pogram. By suppressing the officers’ caste in what had been the tsarist army and in the Kerenskyite army, the bolsheviks deprived that army of its sting, so that it was no longer subject to the bourgeois-landlord class.
On the other hand, for a society in which socialism has been victorious, the old army program is fully applicable. When the proletariat has overthrown the bourgeoisie and has abolished class in quite a number of countries, it will be possible to carry out a general arming of the people. Then the working population alone will be armed, for in a socialist society all will be workers. It will be possible to do away with barrack life completely. It will also be possible to introduce the election of officers, a method which during the period of accentuated civil war is, except in rare and fortunate cases, unsuitable for the proletarian army.
A very natural question now arises. What need can there be for the general arming of the people in lands where a socialist regime prevails? In certain countries, let us suppose, the bourgeoisie has been conquered;