ted in heated debate at the party convention. Under normal
circumstances the party would have probably been steadily losing
support, but the arrest and imprisonment of the best and highly honored
leaders by the Bolsheviki is bound to put fresh vigor into their efforts
and give new life to their cause.

The leaders of the Bolsheviki themselves have fallen into error of
a different kind. Being primarily a party of the wage earning day
laborers, the program of the Bolsheviki puts the interest of the
proletariat above everything else. From insufficient observation of
peasant life and the fact that peasants want socialization of land,
they jump to the conclusion that the country is ready for complete
socialization. Only the more educated leaders among them realize that
such a conclusion is premature. But to bring about the necessary change
in as near a future as possible, the leaders of the Bolsheviki have
fanned hatred of the proletariat toward the "bourgeois" classes. One
must give them credit in this respect. They know the value of simple
language when they put this hatred into words. Listen to the Russian
Marseillaise: "Rise, brothers, all at once against the thieves, the
curs--the rich ones! Against the vampire Tsar! Beat them, kill them--the
cursed evil-doers! Glow, dawn of better life!" The simple ideology, the
easy catch phrases in which the language of this ideology is couched,
the primeval character of the passion aroused, contribute to the success
which the party enjoys among working people and homeless paupers.
Therein lies the power of the Bolsheviki. But reaction is bound to come
and here again the peasants will play the chief role. All accounts of
conversations with peasants tend to show that they have very vague ideas
of socialism. In fact the Social-Democrats have not taken the trouble
to acquaint the peasants with the principles of their teaching, leaving
that field almost entirely to the influence of socialist-revolutionists.

Among the intellectuals none have come nearer to the understanding of
peasant psychology than those men and women who from the first espoused
the cause of the peasant. Realizing the space separating educated
men from their less fortunate brothers, they gave up their life as
intellectuals and "went among the people." They donned peasant garb and
acquired peasant tongue. From this group of workers for freedom later
the Socialist-revolutionary party developed. "All land for the peasant"