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

154V. I. LENINWe shall say a few words about the liberal heroes ofthis crusade before we deal in detail with the Socialist-Revolutionary heroes of “the struggle against opportunism”.The liberals sneer at the struggle within Social-Democracyin order to cover up their systematic deception ofthe public in regard to the Cadet Party. It is a thoroughgoingdeception, and the struggle among the Cadets themselvesand their negotiations with the authorities are systematicallyconcealed. Everyone knows that the Left Cadetsrebuke the Right. Everyone knows that Milyukov,Struve & Co. called at the ante-rooms of the Stolypins.But the exact facts are kept hidden. Differences have beenglossed over and not a word has been said of the disputesof the Struve gentry with the Left Cadets. There are no recordsof the proceedings of the Cadet congresses. The liberalsissue no figures of their party membership either as awhole or by organisations. The tendency of the differentcommittees is unknown. Nothing but darkness, nothingbut the official lies of Rech, nothing but attempts to fooldemocracy by those on conversational terms with ministers—thatis what the party of Constitutional-Democratsis. Lawyers and professors, who make their career by parliamentarism,hypocritically condemn the undergroundstruggle and praise open activity by parties while actuallyflouting the democratic principle of publicity and concealingfrom the public the different political tendencies withintheir party. It needs the short-sightedness of a Plekhanov,who goes down on his knees before Milyukov, not tobe able to see this gross dirty deception of democracy bythe Cadets, a deception touched up with a gloss of culture.And what about the Socialist-Revolutionaries? Arethey doing their duty as honest democrats (we do not sayas socialists, for that cannot be said of them), the duty ofgiving the people a clear and truthful account of the struggleof the different political tendencies among those whoseek to lead the people?Let us examine the facts.The December Congress of the Party of Socialist-Revolutionariesin 1905 was the first and only one to publishminutes of the proceedings. Mr. Tuchkin, a delegate of theCentral Organ, exclaims: “The Social-Democrats were at