The main way that the Party influences the masses and the mass movement, the main way it works to build the leadership of the proletariat and prepare the working class and broad masses–and the Party itself–for revolution, is to systematically carry out revolutionary agitation and propaganda. This, with agitation the cutting edge, means that, close upon major events throughout society and the world, the Party and Party members expose the bourgeoisie and the imperialist system in a penetrating way, reveal the different and conflicting class forces and class interests involved in all such events–giving thereby a clear and all-around picture of the class structure and class struggle in society as a whole–and train the masses, especially the advanced section of the proletariat, in the application of the scientific method of Marxism. It is also mainly in this way that the Party itself is able to learn more deeply the mood of the masses, how the development of the objective situation is influencing the sentiments of the masses, and in turn is able to sharpen and deepen its agitation and propaganda.
The main weapon the Party wields in carrying this out is its press–especially its regularly and frequently published newspaper and also other publications, both leaflets, pamphlets, etc. dealing with immediate issues and other publications analyzing major political questions in depth, exploring and explaining major points of Marxist theory and so on. The distribution of the Party’s press, and most of all its newspaper, also enables the Party to organize its work most powerfully around a single guiding line, in its concrete and timely application, while at the same time involving ever widening circles of the masses in this same process–and in such a way that it is more difficult for the enemy to discover and break these links.
The Party’s press, particularly its newspaper, while it must be wielded in itself as the main weapon in preparing for revolution, also serves as an overall guide for extensive spoken agitation and propaganda that must be carried out by Party members and supporters. Mainly through these same means, written and spoken, the Party and those under its leadership must support every major outbreak of protest and rebellion among the masses and assist the struggling masses to both unite more broadly and fight more powerfully and to more consciously aim their fire against the bourgeoisie and the imperialist system and link themselves with the class-conscious proletariat and its revolutionary aims. The Party must build revolutionary organization among the advanced workers, as one important vehicle for mobilizing broader sections of the working class to mount the political stage around key questions in society.
Overall, then, the main content of the Party’s work before the struggle has reached the level of a mass armed uprising is to raise the consciousness of the working class and broad masses. But this has a specific purpose and is linked to a specific goal: to prepare broader and broader ranks of the masses–and the Party itself–precisely for, and then to carry out, the armed uprising to overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. This entire process can be summarized in the phrase–create public opinion, seize power. This is the bridge from the present to the future; fulfilling this whole process is the central task of the Party.