p In order to understand necessity and chance let us first answer the following question: are all the events necessary in given conditions? Must all of them proceed in a certain way and not in any other way?

p We know that if a seed is planted it will germinate, given moisture and heat. But the young plant may perish as a result of a downpour. Are both these events (the germination of the seed and the perishing of the plant) necessary?

p Not both of them. Our day-to-day experience tells us that the germination of the seed in given conditions, i.e., in the presence of corresponding heat and moisture, is necessary. Such is the nature of the plant itself. But the downpour is something which might or might not have been, and it might have destroyed or merely damaged the plant. The downpour does not at all follow from the nature of the plant and was not necessary in the given conditions.

p A phenomenon or event which, under definite conditions, must take place is called necessity (in our example the germination of the seed is a necessity). Day follows night, one year follows another necessarily. The birth and growth of the communist movement of the working class under capitalism is a necessity. It is engendered by the living conditions of the working class, its social position and its historical tasks.

p Necessity follows from the essence, the internal nature of the developing phenomenon. It is constant and stable for the given phenomenon.

In contrast to necessity, chance (in our example the destruction of the plant by the downpour) need not necessarily happen. In the given conditions it might occur and it might not occur, it might proceed in one way or in another. Chance does not follow from the nature of the given object, it is unstable and temporary. But chance is not without cause. Its cause is not in the object itself, but outside of it—in external conditions.