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p Two antipodal types of man—the exploiter and the working man—form in a class- antagonistic society on the foundation of private ownership. This antithesis becomes especially marked in capitalist society, where, in the person of the bourgeoisie, the most unambiguous expression is acquired by individualism and egoism, by the attitude to any other human being as an object for the extraction of benefit—profit or pleasure. The bourgeoisie monopolise the right to development, to the satisfaction of their requirements and whims. The case is different with the working man, whose lot is to work. The capitalist division of labour dooms the proletariat to ugly, lop-sided development. Capitalism seeks to turn him into a cog of the economic mechanism, a cog denied all rights. Under capitalism the worker is forced to perform a single, narrow production function, to which he has to sacrifice all his other abilities and talents.

p Nonetheless, in capitalist society the man of labour, the worker, has achieved much. Due primarily to his efforts, nature has been conquered and mighty productive forces have been built up which have made it possible to create unprecedented material and spiritual wealth. This has given rise to the first condition for creating a society in which he himself is the aim and purpose. But the worker has to create the second condition for the emancipation of man and his labour: he has to liberate labour, the man of labour from the tenets of capitalist relations, from the relations of capitalist ownership. “The labouring classes have conquered nature; they have now to conquer man”.  [34•*  35 The working class is the social force, engendered by capitalism, that is called upon to accomplish Ihe socialist revolution and thereby win man over, liberate him from oppression and exploitation. The great historic mission of the working class is to emancipate the working man by means of the socialist revolution, eradicate capitalism and build a genuinely human society—socialism. “The chief thing in the doctrine of Marx,” Lenin wrote, “is that it brings out the historic role of the proletariat as the builder of socialist society.”

p The first and cardinal task of the socialist revolution is to overthrow the supremacy of the bourgeoisie, sweep away the old state machine and create a new state, the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

p Why had Marx and Engels come to the conclusion that the proletariat was the class with the great mission of emancipating the working man and all mankind?

p First and foremost because the proletariat is the most revolutionary class of capitalist society. It is denied private ownership of the means of production and is the most exploited class of that society. Since it does not own property, it is compelled to work for the capitalists, to wear the yoke of capitalist exploitation. The worker’s hands are his only wealth. Hence, his life and the life of his family, of his relatives and friends, depend upon blind destiny, on whether there is a demand for his labour, for his skill.

p For that same reason, the proletariat, more than any other class, is interested in the abolition of private ownership and exploitation, and this means that it is the most revolutionary class and the most irreconcilable to capitalism. The socialist revolution, whose aim is to destroy capitalism and consolidate socialism, is the vital cause of the working class, its cherished objective and purpose. In revolution it has nothing to lose except its chains, but on the other hand it stands to win the whole world—the means of production and political power, and, together with them, the right to enjoy all the achievements of material and spiritual culture.

p Another reason why the proletariat is the most revolutionary class is that it is linked up with a progressive form of economy -large-scale machine production. The 36 future belongs to this form of production and, consequently, the working class is linked up with the future of production, with the future of all mankind. The proletariat possesses the strength of the masses, the power of one of capitalist society’s numerically strongest classes.

p But that is not all. The very conditions in which production develops make the proletariat the most organised, the most disciplined and the most politically-conscious class. Having created a large-scale industry, the bourgeoisie has concentrated the workers in huge cities, at giant factories and mills. The workers work together, in large collectives, and, therefore, when they combat the bourgeoisie they very soon begin to perceive the need for organisation and the most rigid discipline. They see that they work and live in deplorable conditions and that everywhere they are opposed by one and the same exploiter—the capitalist. Hence the emergence and development of their class consciousness, their striving to unite not only on the basis of production but also on a national and then international basis. The working class sets up its own organisations—co-operatives, insurance funds, trade unions and, lastly, a political party, which directs its struggle.

p Due to the conditions in which it works and lives, the proletariat, more than any other class, is able to appreciate advanced revolutionary ideas and master advanced theory. True, the workers themselves have neither the time nor the means, nor sufficient knowledge to evolve this theory. This brings to the fore the task of injecting socialist consciousness into the working-class movement, to unite socialism with that movement. This important task is fulfilled by the political party of the working class.

p In its struggle to achieve its ideals, the working class is not alone. Other classes and sections of the population that likewise suffer from exploitation—the working peasants, the artisans, the petty urban bourgeoisie and working intellectuals—enter into a close alliance with it in this struggle. Marx, Engels and, later, Lenin attached the utmost importance to the alliance between the working class and the peasants. They regarded this alliance as the social force called upon to accomplish the revolution and build socialism. While liberating itself from capitalist slavery, the 37 working class emancipates all other working people, the whole of society, from oppression.

It is important to note that the struggle of the working class is not confined to national boundaries. It is mternational. The nature of the working class is such that none of its interests engender hostility between peoples. It opposes the bourgeoisie, which is united on a global scale, by its internationalist unity, by the concerted struggle of peoples against the society of private ownership and exploitation.