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

353TOLSTOY AND THE PROLETARIAN STRUGGLETolstoy’s indictment of the ruling classes was made withtremendous power and sincerity; with absolute clearness helaid bare the inner falsity of all those institutions by whichmodern society is maintained: the church, the law courts,militarism, “lawful” wedlock, bourgeois science. But hisdoctrine proved to be in complete contradiction to thelife, work and struggle of the grave-digger of the modern socialsystem, the proletariat. Whose then was the point ofview reflected in the teachings of Leo Tolstoy? Through hislips there spoke that multitudinous mass of the Russianpeople who already detest the masters of modern life buthave not yet advanced to the point of intelligent, consistent,thoroughgoing, implacable struggle against them.The history and the outcome of the great Russian revolutionhave shown that such precisely was the mass that founditself between the class-conscious, socialist proletariat andthe out-and-out defenders of the old regime. This mass, consistingmainly of the peasantry, showed in the revolutionhow great was its hatred of the old, how keenly it felt allthe inflictions of the modern regime, how great within it wasthe spontaneous yearning to be rid of them and to find abetter life.At the same time, however, this mass showed in the revolutionthat it was not politically conscious enough in itshatred, that it was not consistent in its struggle and thatits quest for a better life was confined within narrow bounds.This great human ocean, agitated to its very depths, withall its weaknesses and all its strong features found its reflectionin the doctrine of Tolstoy.By studying the literary works of Leo Tolstoy the Russianworking class will learn to know its enemies better, but in