Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 16 - From Marx to Mao

CONCERNING VEKHI129tions, would give an overwhelming majority to the Trudovikdeputies together with the deputies of the workers’ party.Nothing remains for the back-sliding liberal bourgeoisiebut to conceal its break with democracy by means of catchwordsfrom the vocabulary of Moskovskiye Vedomosti andNovoye Vremya 70 ; the whole symposium Vekhi positivelyteems with them.Vekhi is a veritable torrent of reactionary mud poured onthe head of democracy. Of course the publicists of NovoyeVremya—Rozanov, Menshikov and A. Stolypin—have hastenedto salute Vekhi with their kisses. Of course, Anthony,Bishop of Volhynia, 71 is enraptured with this publicationof the leaders of liberalism.“When the intellectual,” says Vekhi, “reflected upon hisduty to the people, he never arrived at the thought that theidea of personal responsibility expressed in the principle ofduty must be applied not only to him, the intellectual, but tothe people as well” (139). The democrat reflected on the extensionof the rights and liberty of the people, clothing thisthought in words about the “duty” of the upper classes tothe people. The democrat could never and will never arriveat the thought that in a country prior to reform or in a countrywith a June 3 constitution there could be any question of“responsibility” of the people to the ruling classes. To arriveat this thought the democrat, or so-called democrat, must becompletely converted into a counter-revolutionary liberal.“Egoism, self-assertion is a great power,” we read in Vekhi,“this is what makes the Western bourgeoisie a mighty unconsciousinstrument of God’s will on earth” (95). This isnothing more than a paraphrase flavoured with incense ofthe celebrated “Enrichissez vous!—enrich yourselves!”—or of our Russian motto: “We put our stake on the strong!” 72When the bourgeoisie were helping the people to fight forfreedom they declared this struggle to be a divine cause.When they became frightened of the people and turned tosupporting all kinds of medievalism against the people, theydeclared as a divine cause “egoism”, self-enrichment, a chauvinisticforeign policy, etc. Such was the case all over Europe.It is being repeated in Russia.“The revolution should virtually and formally have culminatedwith the edict of October 17” (136). This is the alpha