Page:Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - On Organization (1926).pdf/102

It might be objected that such a powerful and strictly secret organization, concentrating all the threads of conspiratorial activity in its hands,—an organization of necessity centralized, may too easily launch into a premature attack, may thoughtlessly bring the movement into action sooner than the growth of political discontent, the degree of unrest and hatred among the working class, etc., warrant. To this we reply: abstractly speaking, of course, it cannot be denied that a fighting organization might thoughtlessly launch into an unplanned fight, which might end in a defeat which under different circumstances might not be inevitable. But in such a question we cannot confine ourselves to abstract consideration, since every engagement involves the abstract possibility of defeat; and there is no way of lessening the chance of defeat except by organized preparation for the fight. If, however, we consider the question from the point of view of the concrete conditions prevailing in modern Russia, we are forced to the definite conclusion that a strong revolutionary organization is absolutely essential, just in order to lend the movement stability and to shield it from the possibility of thoughtless attacks. Because such an organization is lacking, and because of the rapid elemental growth of the revolutionary movement, we now observe two opposite extremes (which, as is fitting, "meet"): at one time we have an absolutely bankrupt "provocatory terrorism" endeavoring "in an organization which is developing and strengthening