ists have been dazed time and again by the glitter of
reformism. In every country the question has been an ever-present
one, and, as a result, the rainbows of reform have found many
chasers in the ranks of the workers. The matter seemed, up to near
the end of the war, to involve more an academic dispute on tactics
than a principle of vital importance. There seemed too many good
reasons why immediate demands for slight concessions should not be
worked for, as a step in the direction of proletarian emancipation.

"When, however, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia showed the stand
taken by the reformist groups--a stand in defense of capitalism
when capitalism was about to fall--the uncompromisingly
revolutionary attitude of Marxian Socialists toward reform in the
past was amply justified. And when, in the course of a few months,
the reformistic Majority Socialists of Germany took exactly the
same stand as the Kerensky crowd had taken, there could no longer
be any doubt that the purpose of reform parties in capitalistic
society is to function as the last obstacle to the victory of the
proletariat....

"The fact is, there is a threefold objection to reformism as a
working-class policy. In the first place it is a waste of effort,
for the same zeal displayed by short-sighted reform-Socialists
would, if applied in the propagation of straight Socialism, treble
the strength of the movement in a few months' time. In the second
place reformism obscures the real end in view, develops
confusionists rather than revolutionists, gives capitalist
political parties a chance to steal a few 'Socialist' planks and
thus bid for the Socialist vote, and, worst of all, paves the way
to such tragedies as are now occurring in Germany, where Liebknecht
and Luxemberg have been murdered by their 'reform' comrades(?). And
finally, in the third place, even if reform be the sole object in
view, reformism is the poorest policy to follow to get it. A
proletariat organized for revolutionary ends has no difficulty in
securing reforms; it does not need to ask for them, for an awakened
and apprehensive bourgeoisie will shower reforms upon them like the
proverbial manna. If, indeed, workers want only reforms, why take
the longest way around?"

"The New Age," Buffalo, April 10, 1919, pag