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

444V. I. LENINit will be carried out by the landlords, led by the tsar andStolypin, or by the peasant masses, led by the proletariat.“Union of the opposition”—such is the topic of the dayin the Russian political press. Stolypin’s police-mindedRossiya is jubilant: “Union?—that means the Cadets too arerevolutionaries! At the Cadets, at ’em!” The Cadet Rech,thoroughly imbued with the desire of the loyal governmentofficial to prove that the Constitutional-Democrats can beno less moderate than the Octobrists, primly purses itslips, pours forth a flood of “moral” indignation at the unscrupulousattempts to accuse it of being revolutionary,and declares: We, of course, would welcome the union ofthe opposition, but that union must be a movement “fromLeft to Right” (editorial of February 2). “We have had experienceof political mistakes and disillusionments. When anopposition unites, it naturally unites on the minimum programmeof the most moderate of the parties which form it.”This programme is perfectly clear: the hegemony of bourgeoisliberalism—those are my terms, say the Cadets, justas FalIoux in 1871 said to Thiers, when the latter appealedto him for support: The monarchy—those are my terms.Stolichnaya Pochta realised that it is shameful, disgracefulto say such things outright, and it therefore “doesnot agree” with Rech and confines itself to vague hints atthe “pre-October mood” (the accursed censorship preventsa clearly stated political programme!) and, in substance,calls for a deal. Rech, it as much as says, wants to lead,and the revolutionaries want to lead (the new union), butwhat about me—am I not entitled to a commission for actingas an honest broker?“Union”—we warmly sympathise with that slogan, especiallywhen there is a hint—although only a hint!—of“pre-October moods”. Only, history does not repeat itself,my dear political intriguers! And no power on earth canerase from the minds of the various classes the lessons thatwere taught by the “history of the three years”. Those lessonsare exceedingly rich both in positive content (the forms,nature, and conditions of the victory of the mass struggle ofthe workers and peasants in 1905) and in negative content