peasants and of the workers. There are some who say: “Oh, well, we shall get along somehow; why bother? We shall go on living as our fathers have always lived.” Such persons never achieve anything, and do not even understand their own interests. On the other hand, those who realise how they can best defend their own interests, organise themselves into a party. Of course the class as a whole does not enter the party, which is composed of the best and most energetic members of the class; thus those who enter the party lead the rest. To the Workers’ Party (the Party of Communist Bolsheviks) adhere the best of the workers and poorer peasants; to the Party of Landowners and Capitalists (Cadets, the Party of Popular Freedom) adhere the most energetic among the landowners, the capitalists, and their hangers-on — lawyers, professors, military officers, etc. Consequently, every party is composed of the most intelligent elements in the class to which it corresponds. For this reason a landowner or capitalist who is a member of an organised party will combat the peasants and workers far more successfully than if he were not in such an organisation. In like manner an organised worker will be better able than an unorganised worker to strive against the capitalists and landowners; for the organised worker has well pondered the aims and interests of the working class, knows how these interests are to be pursued, and has learned the shortest road.
ALL THE AIMS WHICH A PARTY REPRESENTING THE INTERESTS OF ITS CLASS VIGOROUSLY PURSUES, CONSTITUTE THE PARTY PROGRAM. Thus in the program is specified that for which any particular class has to strive. In the program of the Communist Party is specified that for which the workers and the poorer peasants have to strive. The program is for every party a matter of supreme importance. From the program we can always learn what interests the party represents.