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

FACTION OF SUPPORTERS OF OTZOVISM AND GOD-BUILDERS51Like any explosion it was instantaneous, not in the sensethat there had been previously no signs of such tendencies, orisolated manifestations of them, but in the sense that thepolitical fusion of diverse tendencies, including some veryremote from politics, took place almost in a flash. Hencethe general public, as always, is inclined to be satisfiedprimarily with a philistine explanation of the new split, oneimputing it to the bad qualities of one or another of the leaders,the influence of life abroad, parochialism and so on andso forth. There is no doubt that the location abroad, which,due to objective conditions, became the inevitable base ofoperations of all the central revolutionary organisations,has left its imprint on the form of the split. There is no doubtthat its form was also affected by the idiosyncrasies of theliterary circle one wing of which came into the Social-Democraticmovement. What we call a philistine explanation isnot one that takes note of these circumstances, which canexplain nothing but the form, the occasions and the “externalhistory” of the split, but one that is based on refusal orincapacity to understand the ideological and political foundations,causes and roots of the divergence.The new faction’s failure to understand these foundationsis also the reason why it has resorted to the old method ofcamouflage, covering up tracks, denying the inseparableconnection with otzovism, etc. The failure to understandthese foundations causes the new faction to speculate on aphilistine explanation of the split and on philistine sympathy.What indeed is it but speculation on philistine sympathyto weep publicly about being “ousted” and “removed” asMaximov and Co. are doing now? Bestow the charity ofyour sympathy, for Christ’s sake, on the ousted, the unjustlyremoved ones.... That this is a method counting withinfallible certainty on philistine sympathy is proved by thecurious fact that even Comrade Plekhanov, the enemyof all god-building, all “new” philosophy, all otzovismand ultimatumism, etc., even Comrade Plekhanov bestowedhis mite of sympathy for Christ’s sake, taking advantageof Maximov’s whining, and over and over again calledthe Bolsheviks “stiff-necked” in this connection (see Plekhanov’sDnevnik Sotsial-Demokrata, August 1909). IfMaximov has even managed to extract a mite of sympathy