Page:Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - On Organization (1926).pdf/110

The authors describe how during the early days of the trade union movement the British workers thought it an essential principle of democracy that every member should take part in the management of the unions. Not only was every question decided by the general vote of the members, but offices were distributed among the members in turn. It required a long historical experience before the workers came to realize the folly of this conception of democracy and the necessity both for representative institutions and for professional officials. Several cases of trade union bankruptcy were required before the workers realized that the question of the proportional relation between contributions and allowances could not be decided by a democratic vote, but required the advice of an actuary expert. Take also Kautsky's book on Parliament and National Legislation, and you will find that the conclusions of the theoretical Marxist coincide with the lessons derived from the long practice of "spontaneously" organized workers. Kautsky is definitely opposed to the primitive conception of democracy advocated by Rittinghaus and scoffs at people who are prepared to demand in the name of democracy that "popular newspapers should be directly edited by the people": he demonstrates the necessity for professional journalists, parliamentarians, etc,, for the Social Democratic leadership of the class struggle of the proletariat: he attacks the "Socialism of anarchists and literateurs" who in their "search for effect" advocate