Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 26 - From Marx to Mao

451AFTERWORD TO THE THESES ON THE QUESTIONOF THE IMMEDIATE CONCLUSIONOF A SEPARATE AND ANNEXATIONIST PEACEI read the above Theses to a small private meeting ofParty functionaries on January 8, 1918. The discussion onthem showed three opinions in the Party on this question—about a half those present spoke in favour of revolutionarywar (this was sometimes called the “Moscow” point of viewbecause the Moscow Regional Bureau of our Party adoptedit earlier than other organisations); then about a quarterwere for Comrade Trotsky who proposed to “declare the cessationof hostilities, demobilise the army, send the soldiershome but refrain from signing a treaty”, and, lastly, abouta quarter supported me.The state of affairs now obtaining in the Party remindsme very strongly of the situation in the summer of 1907when the overwhelming majority of the Bolsheviks favouredthe boycott of the Third Duma and I stood side by sidewith Dan in favour of participation and was subjected tofurious attacks for my opportunism. Objectively, the presentissue is a complete analogy; as then, the majority ofthe Party functionaries, proceeding from the very best revolutionarymotives and the best Party traditions, allow themselvesto be carried away by a “flash” slogan and do not graspthe new socio-economic and political situation, do not takeinto consideration the change in the conditions that demandsa speedy and abrupt change in tactics. The essence of myargument, today as then, is to make clear that Marxismdemands the consideration of objective conditions and theirchanges, that the question must be presented concretely as