Dictatorship of the Proletariat, said, "He says that we
understand by the words 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'
what is actually the dictatorship of its determined and
conscious minority. And that is the fact." Later he asked,
"What is this minority? It may be called a party. If this

minority is actually conscious, if it is able to draw the
masses after it, if it shows itself capable of replying to every
question on the agenda list of the political day, it actually
constitutes a party." And Trotsky again, on the same
occasion, illustrated the relative positions of the Soviet
Constitution and the Communist Party when he said, "And
today, now that we have received an offer of peace from the
Polish Government, who decides the question? Whither are
the workers to turn? We have our Council of People's
Commissaries, of course, but that, too, must be under a
certain control. Whose control? The control of the working
class as a formless chaotic mass? No. The Central
Committee of the party is called together to discuss and
decide the question. And when we have to wage war, to
form new divisions, to find the best elements for them-to
whom do we turn? To the party, to the Central Committee.
And it gives directives to the local committees, 'Send
Communists to the front.' The case is precisely the same
with the Agrarian question, with that of supply, and with all
other questions whatsoever."


No one denies these facts, but their mere statement is quite
inadequate to explain what is being done in Russia and how