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

52V. I. LENINfrom Plekhanov, you can imagine, reader, what tearsof sympathy for Maximov will be shed by the philistineelements inside and on the fringe of the Social-Democraticmovement over the “ousting” and “removal” ofthe virtuous, well-meaning and modest otzovists andgod-builders.The question of this “ousting” and “removal” is treatedby Comrade Maximov both from its formal aspect andwith regard to the essence of the matter. Let us examinethis treatment.From the formal point of view the removal of Maximovwas “irregular”, say the removed ones, and “we do not recognisethis removal”, for Maximov was “elected by the Bolshevikcongress, i.e., the Bolshevik section of the PartyCongress”. Reading Maximov and Nikolayev’s leaflet, thepublic sees a grave accusation (“irregular removal”) withoutbeing given either an exact formulation of it or materialfrom which to judge the matter. But that is the invariablemethod of a certain side during splits abroad: to obscurethe divergence of principle, to draw a veil over it, to keepsilent about the ideological dissensions, to conceal theirideological friends, and to make as much noise as possibleabout organisational conflicts, which the public is not ina position to analyse exactly and has not the right to sort outin detail. That was how the Rabocheye Dyelo-ists behavedin 1899, with their outcry that there was no Economismin any shape or form, but that Plekhanov had stolen thepress. That was how the Mensheviks behaved in 1903 withtheir outcry that they had made no turn whatsoever toRabocheye Dyelo-ism but that Lenin had “ousted” or “removed”Potresov, Axelrod and Zasulich, etc. That is the behaviourof people who are speculating on elements abroad whoare fond of rows and sensations. There is no otzovism, norany god-building, but there is the “irregular removal” of Maximov“by the majority of the editorial board”, who want to“leave at their full disposal” “the property of the whole faction”—comeinto the shop, gentlemen, we will tell you somethingmost spicy about this business....An old device, Comrades Maximov and Nikolayev! Andthe politicians who resort to it are bound to break theirnecks.