In all countries of the world, the following indications serve to determine the will of the proletariat, when it has rallied into a single political whole.

Firstly, workers’ newspapers. By supporting one or another workers’ newspaper, the proletariat thereby determines its political will, determines which tendency it stands for.

Secondly, elections to parliament. The electoral law differs in different countries, but it is often possible to determine without error which deputies the working class elects. The tendency of the deputies elected by the workers indicates the will of the proletariat.

Thirdly, all kinds of workers’ unions and societies, especially trade unions waging the struggle against capital, make it possible to judge the will of the proletariat.

Fourthly, in Western Europe the most accurate determinant of the will of the proletariat are the decisions of the socialist parties, which act openly and whose membership is known to all.

In Russia, as is well known, there is no open Social-Democratic Party—even the Cadet Party is considered banned here. People who attack the “underground” or repudiate it, or justify repudiations of it, are therefore called liquidators in Russia, i.e., renegades, destroyers of the workers’ organisation.

Let us then examine the data concerning the will of the advanced workers of Russia.