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

62NOTES OF A PUBLICISTAfter the dissolution of the Second Duma despondency,penitence, and apostasy became the outstanding featuresof political literature. Beginning with Mr. Struve, continuingwith Tovarishch, and ending with a number of writerssupporting the Social-Democratic movement we witnessa renunciation of the revolution, of its traditions, andits methods of struggle, an effort in one way or another tosteer a course more to the right. To illustrate what someSocial-Democrats are now saying and writing, we shalltake the first articles of theirs we come across in the currentperiodical press—one by Mr. Nevedomsky in Obrazovaniye,34 No. 7, and one by Mr. Vl. Gorn in Tovarishch,No. 348.Mr. M. Nevedomsky begins his article with a scathingcriticism of the Cadets in the Second Duma and a vehementdefence of the Left-bloc tactics and behaviour of the Social-Democrats. He ends his article, however, as follows:“Speaking in the indicative mood, I will only say one thing, whichshould be obvious to every Social-Democrat, namely, at our presentstage of political evolution, the activity of the socialist parties, inthe long run, after all merely paves the way for the bourgeois partiesand prepares for their temporary triumph.“The upshot, in the imperative mood, is this: that whatever this‘mimetic’ (‘one minute a brunette, the next a blonde’) Cadet Partymay be, it is for the time being the only opposition party, and theactivities of the socialist party have to be co-ordinated with its activities.This is dictated by the principle of economy of strength.”...“On the whole, speaking without irony [Mr. Nevedomsky had tomake this reservation because he cannot write without conceitsand extravagances which mislead both the readers and the authorhimself], this phrase of Milyukov’s quite correctly defines,in their essential features, the relations between the parties ... [thisrefers to the following phrase of Milyukov’s: ‘The threat of in-