Particularly noteworthy is V.’s scheming and disarray within the ranks of the government.

The lull—marked by growing despair and disbelief—gave way to terror; yet the true significance of this terror lay in its failure to stir the slumbering waters of the lull.

Now, before us lies the dawn of a new political “season,” and the revolutionary movement is once again coming to life.

** In two words. Ed.

* The sentence abruptly ends here. Ed.

It appears that we are witnessing α – a temporary lull, β – terror and Narodism as its inevitable offspring—though, alas, the people will not soon be ready; it is easy to speak of armed demonstrations—but individual resistance must be met with corresponding countermeasures.

γ – the Rostov struggle once again, and yet again, reveals the revolutionary energy of the working masses, truly inspiring, truly disorganizing the government, rousing tens of thousands, clarifying the purpose behind the revolutionaries’ actions—and indeed, “disorganizing” them.

Indeed, there is a clear transition toward open, direct popular uprising.

The “encouraging” significance of the Rostov events is undeniable.

It seems that the lull—albeit brief and temporary—in the national-revolutionary movement is drawing to a close, and once more a wave of renewed activity is beginning to sweep across the landscape.

With the lull comes the retreat into the realm of distant, fading memories—and with it, the rise of unprincipled opportunism, the exultation in such tendencies, the resurgence of Narodism, despair, and the like; terror— – individual resistance, – the people are still far from ready, – the government is being disorganized—not the revolutionaries?

– it is easy to talk about armed demonstrations, and so on, and so forth.

The Rostov Struggle

When such volcanoes of revolutionary indignation are simmering within the working masses—how absurd and laughably pretentious are the claims that these uprisings are artificially provoked, that agitation and disruption are achieved through gunfire and the like?

How clearly these claims miss the mark: the real task at hand is to aid those very masses who are rising up, to organize their leaders, and so forth.

And contrary to the common notion that demonstrations have a demoralizing effect, we find encouragement in the words of their participants—the workers of Nizhny Novgorod.

Here, deep roots run among the working masses:

“…a spirit of indignation and “…a readiness to fight and to make sacrifices.”

A reminder of these “roots” of the movement and of its “backbone” should serve to underscore just how profoundly mistaken are the theories and attempts to distance oneself from the workers’ movement, to replace the socio‑class perspective with the vague, amorphous rhetoric of populism and the like.

* See Collected Works, 5th ed., Volume 4, p. 373. Ed.

To merge with the workers’ movement does not mean to weaken or narrow one’s scope; on the contrary, from this utterly firm foundation, we can—and must—draw in all other strata as well.

It was precisely the workers’ movement that sparked renewed vigor in other social groups, and now that momentum is building: in some places, the zemstvo opposition is beginning to move toward “action.”

{A few words about Voronezh}{141}

– the student and gymnasium movements, – the peasant movement.

The overarching aspect of governmental tactics:

– to fragment the masses, to distract them, to play upon their desires; – the revolutionaries were often diverted into chasing after “dogs” ((as one liberal, Valy, famously dubbed the Obolenskys and Co. We may yet return to this liberal, perhaps)).

Do not allow yourself to be provoked.

Do not lose sight of your own principled foundations.

Strengthen your ties with the working masses and march alongside them, participating in events like the Rostov struggles while striving to elevate them to the level of a full-scale popular uprising.

Written in late November 1902.

First published in 1939 in the journal “Proletarian Revolution,” No. 1.

Printed from the manuscript.