LENIN ON ORGANIZATION 
If during the years 1917 to 1920 Bolshevism was 
able under unprecedently difficult conditions to 
create and successfully maintain strict centraliza- 
tion and iron discipline, the reasons are to be sought 
in a number of historical factors peculiar to Russia. 
Bolshevism sprang up in 1903 on the firm rock 
of Marxian theory. The justness of that theory— 
and of that theory alone—was demonstrated by the 
world’s experience during the nineteenth century, 
and in particular by the aberrations and vacillations, 
the errors and disillusions of revolutionary thought 
in Russia. During a period of nearly half a century, 
roughly from the ’forties to the ‘nineties—advanced 
thought in Russia, suffering under the unprece- 
dented savage and reactionary yoke of Czarism, 
eagerly sought for a correct revolutionary theory, 
and with amazing concentration and zeal followed 
every “last word” that was uttered on this subject 
in Burope and America. Russia gained the knowl- 
edge that Marxism was the only true revolutionary 
theory by the suffering of half a century of intoler- 
able torment and sacrifice, by unexampled revolu- 
tionary heroism, by unbelievable energy and con- 
stant search, by education, practical experience, 
disillusionment, experiment, and by studying the 
experience of Europe. Thanks to the emigration 
which Czarism made necessary, revolutionary Rus- 
sia in the second half of the nineteenth century 
acquired a wealth of international connections and 
an acquaintance with the forms and theories of the 
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