Lenin CW-Vol. 23.pdf - From Marx to Mao

168V. I. LENINpaper it does not refute the fact, and Martov himself admitsthat the fact did occur.That Khundadze “was prosecuted in 1905” proves absolutelynothing, for Gapon and Alexinsky were also “prosecuted”at that time. What party do Khundadze and Mikoladze belongto, or sympathise with, now? Are they defencists? Thatis what Martov ought to have ascertained if he were seekingthe truth and not doing a cheap lawyer’s job. In our press,a man “known in his uyezd as a radical public personality”ordinarily means simply a liberal landowner.By shouting that Nashe Slovo has presented an “entirelyfalse picture”, Martov wishes to conceal the truth, which hehas not refuted one iota.But that is not the main thing. We have only the blossoms,the fruit is to come. Having failed to disprove Chkheidze’s“lamentable” conduct by denying the fact, Martovconfirms it by his defence of the principle.“It remains beyond doubt,” says Martov, “that Comrade[?? of Potresov and Co.?] Chkheidze found it necessary tospeak out not only against the reactionary direction takenby the Caucasian disorders insofar as it fell [? they fell?]under the influence of the Black Hundreds, but also againstthose of its destructive forms (looting of shops, violenceagainst merchants) which, generally speaking, populardiscontent may assume even regardless of reactionaryinfluences.” Note the words: “It remains beyond doubt”!Martov sings like a nightingale; V. Maklakov could do nobetter: the helplessness, disunity, “consternation and evenignorance” of the masses ... “‘revolts’ of this kind is not thepath that leads to the goal, and in the final analysis areharmful from the standpoint of proletarian interests....”On the one hand, “it would be a bad revolutionary partythat turned its back upon an incipient movement becauseit was accompanied by spontaneous and inexpedient excesses.”On the other hand, “it would be a bad party that consideredit its revolutionary duty to refrain from combatingsuch excesses as inexpedient actions”.... “Inasmuch as inRussia ... an organised campaign of struggle against thewar has not yet begun [?], inasmuch as the scattered stateof the class-conscious elements of the proletariat makes itimpossible to compare our present position, not only with