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representatives of another class and the only attitude to be adopted towards them was determined opposition. In 1908 Lenin wrote that at the moment when the final struggle will take place between Labor and Capital, the Mensheviks will be found side by side with the bourgeoisie on the opposite side of the barricade and will then employ different means than they employ in peace-time. Very soon, during the imperialist war, after the revolution—in March, 1917—and more particularly during the October Revolution, this forecast was completely confirmed in the eyes of all.

Lenin revealed this irreconcilability also towards the Western European Parties, practically in periods of decisive conflicts with capital. In an article entitled: "False Talk About Liberty," written in 1920, he wrote:

"If the Mensheviks are retained in the ranks it will be impossible to secure the victory of the proletarian revolution and to protect it. This is obvious on principle. This has been confirmed by experience in Russia and in Hungary . . . . In Russia difficult situations frequently arose in which the Soviet regime would for certain have been overthrown had the Mensheviks, reformists and petty-bourgeois democrats remained in our Party . . . . It is generally admitted that in Italy things are developing towards a decisive battle between the proletariat and the bourgeois for the capture of political power. At such a moment it is not only absolutely necessary to remove the Mensheviks,