This book was written from the spring of 1901 to January 1902 during a period of intense reflection and confrontation within Russian Social Democracy between consistent Marxist positions and opportunistic views.

At the center of this confrontation was the issue of the role and character of the workers' party. This book became an important weapon in the ideological struggle of the Marxists in the Socialist Democratic Workers' Party of Russia against various opportunists and contributed to the formation of the conditions for the victory of the Bolshevik positions at the II Congress of the Socialist Democratic Workers' Party of Russia.

It focuses on issues such as the relationship between the spontaneous and the conscious in class struggle, the role of the Party as a force for the radicalization of the working class. It is also a polemical work, a work of scientific communism, as it refers to laws governing the fulfillment of the revolutionary role of the working class.