A WAIF AND ITS ADOPTION 



not place any reliance on bourgeois science. It 

 must and will maintain a critical attitude toward 

 all bourgeois science, and accept nothing that 

 does not stand the test of proletarian standards. 



So far as bourgeois science coincides with the 

 findings of proletarian science, we shall gladly 

 accept and foster every truth, and we shall do 

 it so much more gladly, when that truth is re- 

 jected by bourgeois self-interest and combatted 

 for reactionary purposes. But we shall on our 

 part reject everything which tends to strengthen 

 the ruling class, endanger the progress of the 

 proletarian revolution, or interfere with the ad- 

 vance of human knowledge and control of 

 natural forces in general. Bourgeois science, so 

 far as it exceeds the demands of bourgeois so- 

 ciety, is a waif abandoned by its own mother, and 

 will be gladly adopted and nursed to vigorous 

 life by proletarian science. 



It is natural that with the growth of the 

 socialist movement much reactionary bourgeois 

 thought is carried into it by newcomers from 

 the bourgeois intellectual camp. This thought 

 at once takes issue with the advanced proletarian 

 mind and, with the modesty typical of the bour- 

 geoisie, proceeds to instruct the proletarian 

 thinker and pull him back from his outpost. Un- 



166 



