34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST man. This means that the interests of the proletariat as a class is in total identity with the interests of all mankind which are essentially determined by the materiality of existence. In other words, the proletariat as a class has no inhibitions in accepting materialism. Not only that, its liberation as an emerging historical reality cannot be fully achieved without its acceptance of the materialist philosophy. Besides, being a revolutionary class—a class that objectively seeks to bring about changes in all directions —it has to master the laws of motion, both of nature and society, and apply the mechanics of this motion in liberating itself and building a new world. These factors inevitably led to the development of dialectical materialism and it was not accidental that the leaders of the proletariat had to be its progenitors. The proletariat as a new class in history organizing itself and fighting for power needs dialectical materialism for its onward march. Bourgeois rationalism has its built-in class limitations. While the bourgeoisie needed the natural sciences in developing the capitalist mode of production, it was never prepared to apply the rigours of the scientific method of analysis to society itself, for it would have shown the historically transient character of capitalism and the inevitable proletarian revolution. However rigorous their techniques may be, bourgeois economists, sociologists and philosophers ultimately betray their class limitations. The rationalist movement all over the world led by the bourgeois intellectuals confines itself to atheistic propaganda, while Marxist philosophers insist that without revolutionary activity to change society nothing positive can be achieved even in the fight against theism. The failure of a rigorous logician like Bertrand Russell, a rationalist all his life, to recognize the irrationality of the capitalist system shows the failure of bourgeois rationalism. Philosophically too Russell ended up in scepticism and positivism. His evolution was from objective to subjective idealism. Dialectical materialism is a weapon in the hands of the proletariat. Realizing this the bourgeoisie uses religious beliefs, mysticism and the occult to disarm philosophically backward sections of the proletariat and other working people. In countries like India with deep-rooted traditions of mysticism and occult practices, the task is easier for the vested interests. There are sections of the ruling classes who really believe in these cults and practices and there are others who do this to detract the oppressed from the path of class struggle guided by dialectical materialism. The proletariat can neither ignore nor underestimate this threat to its philosophy. While its basic historical task is to unite the oppressed classes on the basis of their economic demands and political interests, this task itself cannot be fully carried out without a philosophical and cultural offensive as part of the day-to-day struggle. This offensive, of course, will not be an' isolated cultural movement like that of the rationalists. This is because those who isolate themselves from the working-class movement end up in the camp of mechanical materialism. Similarly those who