Where to Begin?

In this 1901 article, originally published as the lead piece in the first issue of Iskra, Lenin lays the groundwork for what would later be developed in What Is to Be Done?. Polemicizing against the "Economist" trend and rejecting terror as the chief means of struggle, Lenin argues that the starting point for building a unified revolutionary party must be the founding of an All-Russian political newspaper — one that serves not only as a collective propagandist and agitator, but as a collective organizer, whose network of agents forms the skeleton of a disciplined Communist Party capable of leading the proletariat.