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

256V. I. LENINpreferred legal organs, which in fact were non-Party). In1908, the conflict over Potresov’s article served as an occasionfor his break with the liquidators.What do these facts prove? They prove that the presentsplit among the Mensheviks is not accidental but inevitable.“Manoeuvring” does not exonerate the one who mademistakes for the sake of carrying out manoeuvres, and Iwithdraw nothing of what I wrote against those mistakes ofPlekhanov. However, “manoeuvring” explains why it iseasy for some Mensheviks to go over to the independents,while for others it is difficult and even impossible. A Social-Democrat who by his manoeuvres leads the working classto follow the Cadets does it no less harm than he who actsin this way because of his immanent gravitation towardsopportunism. But whereas the former will be able and willmanage to call a halt in time, the latter will end up in theditch. A Russian proverb says: make a certain person prayand he will do it with such zeal that he will bang his foreheadagainst the ground! Plekhanov might have said: makethe Potresovs and the Dans go to the Right for the sakeof a manoeuvre and they will go to the Right on principle.The stand taken by certain Mensheviks fully justifiestheir appellation, “pro-Party Mensheviks”. They took theirstand upon the struggle for the Party—against the independent-legalists.Mr. Potresov and the editors of Golos Sotsial-Demokrata in the “Necessary Supplement” vainly try toevade this simple and obvious question.Engels too fought the S.D.F. (the British Social-Democrats)—saysPotresov, wriggling (p. 24). This is sophistry,my dear sir. Engels corrected the Party, 107 but you do notsay how the Party is to be corrected; you do not even saystraightforwardly whether an illegal Social-DemocraticParty is necessary now, whether the R.S.D.L.P. is necessaryor not. In front of Stolypin you say: No (Nasha Zarya), butin front of Party members, in the illegal press, you darenot say this, you wriggle and twist.“Lenin-Plekhanov recommend a war against the newforms of the labour movement” (p. 31), “we start out from ...the position, conditions and requirements of the real labourmovement” (p. 32)—the editors assure us. Sophistry, my