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

A WORD TO THE BOLSHEVIKS OF ST. PETERSBURG69Maximov’s leaflet—we have no data on this subject. And itis not important. We assert that the ideological affinity ofthe political stand here is indubitable. We assert that thisis a particularly clear example of the application of “cautious”,“diplomatic”, tactical, evasive—call it what youwill—ultimatumism in practice, an application that, to anyperson who is close to Party work, is familiar from a hundredanalogous cases which are less “striking”, are not authenticatedby official documents and concern matters that a Social-Democratcannot tell to the public for reasons of secrecy,etc. Of course, the St. Petersburg resolution is less skilfulas regards literary technique than Maximov’s leaflet. But inpractice the views of Maximov will always (or in 999 casesout of a thousand) be applied in the local organisations not byMaximov himself but by his less “skilful” supporters. Whatconcerns the Party is not who is more “skilful” in coveringup tracks, but what is the actual content of Party work,what is the actual trend imparted to it by particular leaders.And we ask any impartial person: is it possible for thesupporters of Proletary and the authors of such resolutionsto work in one faction, i.e., in one union of Party memberswith kindred opinions? Is it possible to speak seriously ofputting into effect the Party decision to utilise the Dumaand the Duma tribune when such resolutions are passed bythe governing bodies of the local committees?That the resolution of the Executive Committee did ineffect put a spoke in the wheel of the election campaignthat had just begun, that this resolution did in effect disruptthe election campaign, was immediately understood byeveryone (except the authors of it and the ultimatumists whowere enraptured by Maximov’s “art” in covering up thetracks). We have already related how the Bolsheviks in St.Petersburg reacted to this resolution and we shall say morefarther on. As for ourselves, we immediately wrote an articleentitled “The Otzovist-Ultimatumist Strike-breakers” 39 —strike-breakers because the ultimatumists, by the positionthey took, were obviously betraying the Social-Democraticelection campaign to the Cadets—in which we showed whata downright disgrace it was for Social-Democrats to passsuch a resolution and invited the Executive Committeewhich passed this resolution to immediately withdraw from