Lenin derides trade unionists as "wretched amateurs", arguing that a struggle for simple economic betterment is not enough, nor are patchwork reforms - what is needed is the complete overthrow of the political system. Lenin's "professional revolutionaries" are not so much 'shock troops' of violent rebellion as educated activists who will awaken the workers' class consciousness, leading them to reject western-style political factions and to work within the Party to achieve the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the October Revolution and the ensuing upheavals of the twentieth century.