p The bourgeoisie and the proletariat are the basic classes in capitalist society. In its quest of profit the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat and this exploitation is intensified as capitalism develops. The worker’s labour is increasingly speeded up and he is reduced to a mere appendage of the machine. The proletariat especially suffers from such intrinsic features of capitalism as economic and financial crises, unemployment and predatory wars.

p The proletariat naturally cannot reconcile itself to all this. The nature of capitalism which robs the worker of the fruits of his labour and the worker’s position in society impel him to fight the bourgeoisie. The history of capitalist society is, therefore, the history of struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. This struggle is law-governed 244 and is the primary source of capitalist development. The struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie becomes especially intense in the epoch of imperialism when the economic and political contradictions of capitalism become extremely acute.

p It is the proletariat’s mission to abolish exploitation and capitalism and build a classless communist society. No other social class is able to fulfil this great and lofty task, for owing to their objective positions none of them is consistently revolutionary.

p The bourgeoisie was revolutionary only when it fought the feudal lords for domination in society. But having gained power it becomes more and more reactionary, and now its sole aim is to perpetuate exploitation.

p The middle sections, in particular the peasants and artisans who are quite numerous under capitalism, are also not revolutionary to the end. They hold no independent position in society and, with the development of capitalism, they become stratified. The majority of the peasants and artisans are reduced to ruin and join the ranks of the proletariat; and a negligible number break their way into the capitalist class. In the fierce class struggle the peasants vacillate. The proletariat, therefore, has the task of winning them over to its side and making them its reliable allies.

p The intelligentsia (engineers and technicians, doctors, teachers, scientists and others) cannot be consistently revolutionary either. The intelligentsia is not a class and is not homogeneous. Its top echelon is recruited from the ruling classes and faithfully serves the bourgeoisie, while the bulk of the intellectuals are hired workers whose status is close to that of the working class, but they are more susceptible to the influence of bourgeois ideology.

The proletariat is the only consistently revolutionary class in capitalist society. It is connected with the most progressive form of production, machine industry, and is constantly growing and developing. The very nature of capitalist production helps unite, organise and educate the working class. In fighting for its liberation, the proletariat is capable of organising and leading all other working people who share its hatred for the capitalist system. By emancipating itself, it emancipates all other working people and abolishes for ever exploitation of man by man. On gaining 245 victory, it returns to the working people everything they produce, eliminating thereby the greatest social injustice—a social system in which a handful of oppressors appropriate the fruits of labour of the millions.