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

271STATISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY 110FOREWORDOf the essays here presented for the reader’s attention,some are published for the first time, others appeared invarious periodicals before the war. They deal with a questionwhich now, naturally, arouses especial interest—the significanceand role of national movements, the relationshipbetween the national and the international. The biggestdrawback, one most frequently encountered in all thearguments on this question, is lack of concreteness andhistorical perspective. It has become customary to smugglein every manner of contraband under cover of generalphrases. We believe, therefore, that a few statistics will proveanything but superfluous. A comparison with the lessons ofthe war of what we said before the war is not, in our view.unuseful. Unity of theory and perspective gives the essayscontinuity.January 1917The AuthorHISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO NATIONAL MOVEMENTSFacts are stubborn things, runs the English saying. Itcomes to mind, in particular, when a certain author waxesenthusiastic about the greatness of the “nationality principle”in its different implications and relationships. Whatis more, in most cases the “principle” is applied just as aptly,and is just as much in place, as the exclamation “many happy