alled 'common people'--formed
the masses out of which Social Democracy recruits its adherents, we
must not forget that these classes, with the exception of the
class-conscious wage-earners, are also a recruiting ground for our
opponents; their influence on these classes has been and still is
to-day the chief ground of their political power.

"To grant political rights to the people, therefore, by no means
necessarily implies the protection of the interests of the
proletariat or those of social evolution. Universal suffrage, as it
is known, has nowhere brought about a Social Democratic majority,
while it may give more reactionary majorities than a qualified
suffrage under the same circumstances. It may put aside a liberal
government only to put in its place a conservative or catholic
one....

"Nevertheless the proletariat must demand democratic institutions
under all circumstances, for the same reasons that, once it has
obtained political power, it can only use its own class rule for
the purpose of putting an end to all class rule. It is the
bottommost of the social classes. It cannot gain political rights,
at least not in its entirety, except if everybody gets them. Each
of the other classes may become privileged under certain
circumstances, but not the proletariat. The Social Democracy, the
party of the class-conscious proletariat, is therefore the surest
support of democratic efforts, much surer than the bourgeois
democracy.

"But if the Social Democracy is also the most strenuous fighter for
democracy, it cannot share the latter's illusions. It must always
be conscious of the fact that every popular right which it wins is
a weapon not only for itself, but also for its opponents; it must
therefore under certain circumstances understand that democratic
achievements are more useful at first to the enemy than to itself;
but only at first. For in the long run the introduction of
democratic institutions in the State can only turn out to the
profit of Social Democracy. They necessarily make its struggle
easier, and lead it to victory. The militant proletariat has so
much confidence in social evolution, so much confidence in itself,
that it fears no struggle, not even with a superior power; it only
wants a field of battle on which it can mo