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

346V. I. LENINbourgeoisie over both the landlords and the big bourgeoisie,requires an exceptionally favourable combination of circumstances;it requires what, from the standpoint of thephilistine, or of the philistine historian, are very unusual“optimistic” assumptions; it requires tremendous peasantinitiative, revolutionary energy, class-consciousness, organisation,and rich narodnoye tvorchestvo (the creativeactivity of the people). All that is beyond dispute, and Plekhanov’sphilistine jokes at the expense of that lastphrase are only a cheap way of dodging a serious* issue.And since commodity production does not unite or centralisethe peasants, but disintegrates and disunites them, apeasant revolution in a bourgeois country is possible onlyunder the leadership of the proletariat—a fact which ismore than ever rousing the opposition of the most powerfulbourgeoisie in the world to such a revolution.Does that mean that Marxists must abandon the ideaof a peasant agrarian revolution altogether? No. Such adeduction would be worthy only of those whose philosophyis nothing but a liberal parody of Marxism. What it doesmean is only, first, that Marxism cannot link the destinyof socialism in Russia with the outcome of the bourgeoisdemocraticrevolution; second, that Marxism must reckonwith the two possibilities in the capitalist evolution ofagriculture in Russia and clearly show the people the conditionsand significance of each possibility, and third, thatMarxism must resolutely combat the view that a radicalagrarian revolution is possible in Russia without a radicalpolitical revolution.(1) The Socialist-Revolutionaries, in common with allthe Narodniks who are at all consistent, fail to understandthe bourgeois nature of the peasant revolution and link* Narodnoye tvorchestvo is narodvolchestvo, 129a Plekhanov saidmockingly at Stockholm. It is the sort of criticism with which TheAdventures of Chichikov is criticised, by making fun of the hero’sname: “Chichikov.... Chi ... chi ... how funny!” 130 Only those whothink that the mere admission of the possibility of a peasant revolutionagainst the bourgeoisie and the landlords is narodovolchestvocan seriously regard as narodovolchestvo the idea that it is necessaryto rouse the “creative activity of the people”, that it is necessary to findnew forms of struggle and new ways of organising the peasantry inthe Russian revolution.