That is why Lenin says that: . . . . "First let 
the majority of the population, while private 
property still exists, i.e., while the rule and 
yoke of capital still exists, express themselves 
in favour of the party of the proletariat, and 
only then can and should the party take power--
<I>so say the petty-bourgeois democrats who call 
themselves 'Socialists' but who are in reality the 
servitors of the bourgeoisie."</I>* (see Vol. 
XXIV, p. 647)

"We say:* Let the revolutionary proletariat first 
overthrow the bourgeoisie, break the yoke of 
capital, and smash the bourgeois state apparatus, 
then the victorious proletariat will be able 
rapidly to gain the sympathy and support of the 
majority of the toiling non-proletarian masses by 
satisfying their needs at the expense of the 
exploiters." (ibid.)

"In order to win the majority of the population to 
its side," Lenin says further, "the proletariat 
must, in the first place, overthrow the 
bourgeoisie and seize state power; secondly, it 
must introduce Soviet power and smash the old 
state apparatus to bits, whereby it immediately 
undermines the rule, prestige and influence of the 
bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeois compromisers over 
the non-proletarian toiling masses. Thirdly, it 
must <I>entirely destroy</I> the influence of the 
bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeois compromisers over 
the <I>majority</I> of the non-proletarian toiling 
masses by satisfying <I>their</I> economic needs 
<I>in a revolutionary way at the expense of the 
exploiters."</I> (ibid., p. 641)

Such are the characteristic features of the 
proletarian revolution.

Stalin, "Concerning Questions of Leninism"--directed against Trotskyism, 1926

[MC5 points out: The above says nothing about 
gaining 90% of support from the population 
or acting like you will gain 90% of the population's 
support before the revolution
the way petty-bourgeois democrats including today's
Kautskyite vacillator Bob Avakian say. Rather, like MIM,
Lenin says, the dictatorship of the proletariat is necessary
to accomplish such tasks, all the more so in imperialist 
countries where there is a pernicious labor aristocracy.

The above quote also uses the word "population," not "masses"
in order to distinguish the classes within society including
exploiters.]