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

50V. I. LENINThere is an old saying to the effect that hypocrisy is thetribute that vice pays to virtue. But this saying refers tothe sphere of personal ethics. As applied to ideological andpolitical trends it must be said that hypocrisy is the screenadopted by groups that are internally not homogeneous,that are made up of assorted elements, accidentally throwntogether, who feel that they are too weak for open, straightforwardaction.The composition of the new faction is the determiningfactor that made it adopt this screen. The general staffof the faction of godly otzovists consists of unrecognisedphilosophers, ridiculed god-builders, otzovists convicted ofFROM MARXTO MAOanarchistic nonsense and reckless revolutionary phrasemongering,muddled ultimatumists and, lastly, those boye-⋆viks (fortunately few in the Bolshevik faction) who consideredit below their dignity to come down from the outwardlyshowy and “spectacular” to obscure, modest revolutionarySocial-Democratic work corresponding to the conditions andtasks of the “inter-revolutionary” period, and on whomMaximov bestows honours by his “spectacular” phrasesabout training schools and groups ... in 1909. The only thingthat holds these diverse elements so strongly together at thepresent moment is—a burning hatred to Proletary, a hatredit has quite properly NOT incurred, because FORnot a single attemptby these elements to obtain self-expression in Proletary, oreven indirect recognition or the slightest defence and condonation,hasCOMMERCIALever failed to encounter the most strenuousopposition.“Abandon hope DISTRIBUTIONfor ever”—that was what Proletary toldthese elements in every issue, at every meeting of the editorialboard, in every declaration on every Party questionof the day.And when (due to the objective conditions of the developmentof our revolution and the counter-revolution in ourcountry) it came about that god-building and the theoreticalfoundations of Marxism became the questions of the day inthe literary sphere, and the utilisation of the Third Dumaand of the Third Duma platform by the Social-DemocraticParty in the sphere of political work, these elements ralliedtogether and the natural and inevitable explosion tookplace.