LENIN ON ORGANIZATION 
question one of catching the organization, and stick 
to it, then I must tell you that it is far more difficult 
to catch ten wise men than it is to catch a hundred 
fools. And this premise I will defend however much 
you instigate the crowd against me for my “anti- 
democratic” views, etc. As I have already said, in 
relation to organization by “wise men,” I mean 
professional revolutionaries, whether they come 
from the students or from the workers. And now 
I assert: 1) that no movement can be stable with- 
out a stable organization of leaders to maintain 
continuity; 2) that the wider the masses drawn 
into the struggle and forming the basis of the move- 
ment are, the greater is the necessity for such an 
organization and the more stable must it be (for 
the easier it is for a demagogue to side-track the 
more backward sections of the masses); 3) that 
the organization must chiefly consist of persons 
who are engaged in revolution as a profession; 4) 
that in a country with a despotic government the 
more narrow we make the membership of this 
organization, allowing only such persons to be 
members who are engaged in revolution as a profes- 
sion and who have been professionally trained in 
the art of combatting the political police, the more 
difficult will it be to “catch” the organization and, 
5) the wider will be the circle of persons, either 
from the working class or from other classes of 
society, who will be able to join the movement and 
perform active work in it. 
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