Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

THE PREPARATION OF A “DISGUSTING ORGY”151two, with the firm intention of taking an active part in itslegislative work. The party always considered this kind ofactivity to be the chief and basic activity, in contrastto both the agitational aims of the Left and the conspiratorialactivity of the Right.” As for “conspiracy”, gentlemen,that is another lie, for in both Dumas you conspiredwith the ministers or the ministers’ lackeys. As for the disavowalof agitation, this is a complete and irrevocabledisavowal of democracy.To legislate in the Third Duma it is necessary either way,directly or indirectly, to unite with the Octobrists andtake one’s stand unequivocally with the counter-revolutionand with the defence of its victories. The Cadets tryto pass this obvious thing over in silence. They let thecat out of the bag, however, in another passage of the report:“The use of the legislative initiative should be madedependent on a preliminary elucidation of the practicabilityof the party projects”. The practicability depends on theOctobrists. To elucidate it means having recourse to theOctobrists by the backstairs. To make one’s initiativedepend on this elucidation means to curtail one’s own projectsfor the benefit of the Octobrists, it means makingone’s own policy dependent on that of the Octobrists.There is no middle way, gentlemen. Either a party ofreal opposition, in which case—an irresponsible minority.Or a party of active counter-revolutionary legislation, inwhich case—servility to the Octobrists . The Cadets chosethe latter, and as a reward for this the Black-Hundred Dumais said to be electing the Right-wing Cadet Maklakov tothe presidium! Maklakov deserves it.But how are we to account for the Social-Democrats whoare capable, even today, of talking about support for theCadets? Such Social-Democrats are the product of intellectualistphilistinism, the philistinism of Russian life asa whole. Such Social-Democrats have been bred by Plekhanov’svulgarisation of Marxism. At the conference of theSt. Petersburg Social-Democratic organisation it becameclear that the Mensheviks, following in the wake of theRight Duma, are going still farther to the right. They areprepared to support the Octobrists, i.e., the governmentparty! Then why should not the Social-Democrats vote for