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

IN MEMORY OF COUNT HEYDEN51“enlightened”, “democratic”, etc., society, to which narrowillegal activities are alien.And when you come across lines like those quoted aboveit is difficult to refrain from exclaiming to these gentlemen:How fortunate it is that we, the Bolsheviks, obviouslydid not belong to Tovarishch’s circle of decent people!Gentlemen, “decent people” of Russian enlightened democracy,you are drugging the minds of the Russian peopleand infecting them with the miasma of toadyism and servilitya hundred times worse than those notorious membersof the Black Hundred—Purishkevich, Krushevan, and Dubrovin,against whom you are waging such a zealous, such aliberal, such a cheap, such a, for you, profitable, and safewar. You shrug your shoulders and turn to all the “decentpeople” of your society with a scornful smile at the ideaof such “absurd paradoxes”? Yes, we know perfectly wellthat nothing on earth can shake you out of your vulgarliberal complacency. And that is why we rejoice that wehave succeeded in all our activities in setting up a solidwall between ourselves and the circle of decent people ofRussian educated society.Can one give any instance of the Black Hundreds havingcorrupted and misled any considerable section of the population?One cannot.Neither their press nor their league, neither their meetingsnor the elections to the First and Second Dumascould provide any such instances. The outrages and atrocitiesof the Black Hundreds, in which the police and thesoldiery take part, enrage the people. The frauds, dirtytricks, and bribes of the Black Hundreds arouse hatredand contempt. With the help of government funds the BlackHundreds organise gangs and bands of drunkards who canact only with the permission and at the instigation of thepolice. In all this there is not a trace of any dangerousideological influence on any considerable sections of thepopulation.On the other hand, it is just as unquestionable that suchan influence is exerted by our legal, liberal, and “democratic”press. The elections to the First and Second Dumas,meetings, associations, and educational affairs all go toprove this. And Tovarishch’s utterance in connection with