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

WHAT TO FIGHT FOR?167By its continual betrayals of the revolution the bourgeoisiehas richly deserved the unceremonious kicks, indignities,and contemptuous spurning which have so long been itsportion from Black-Hundred tsarism, from the Black-Hundredclique of the tsar and the landlords. And it is not, ofcourse, any special moral qualities that have occasionedthese betrayals on the part of the bourgeoisie and broughtthis historic retribution upon it but the contradictory economicposition of the capitalist class in our revolution.This class feared revolution more than it feared reaction,the victory of the people more than the preservation oftsarism, the confiscation of the landed estates more thanthe preservation of the power of the feudal landlords. Thebourgeoisie was not one of those categories that had nothingto lose in the great revolutionary battle. Only the proletariatwas such a category in our bourgeois revolution, and afterit the millions of ruined peasantry.The Russian revolution confirmed the conclusion whichEngels drew from the history of the great bourgeois revolutionsof the West, namely: In order to secure even those conquestsof the bourgeoisie that were ripe for gathering at thetime, the revolution had to be carried considerably further.86 And the proletariat of Russia has led, is leading andwill lead our revolution forward, impelling events furtherthan the point at which the capitalists and liberals wouldlike to halt them.In the banquet campaign of 1904 the liberals tried in everyway to restrain the Social-Democrats, fearing their impetuousintervention. But the workers were not to be deterredby the spectre of a frightened liberal and led the movementforward, to the 9th of January, to the wave of continuousstakes that swept the whole of Russia.The bourgeois liberals, including the Osvobozhdeniye peoplewho were “illegal” at that time, called on the proletariatto take part in the Bulygin Duma. But the proletariat wasnot to be deterred by the spectre of a frightened liberal andled the movement forward, to the great October strike, thefirst victory of the people.The bourgeoisie split after October 17. The Octobristsdefinitely sided with the counter-revolution. The Cadetscut themselves adrift from the people and ran pell-mell to