V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v14;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

NOTES ON A REPORT BY PLEKHANOV

...belongs the shameful role of oppressor and to attack it with all one’s might!
Want of Dialektik* peeps out of every word of L[en]in.
Metaphysics—in Lenin ((Lukyan once spoke of a cock))
Deception, they say...
You are not Pythagoras. Now I am a c o c k;—everything depends on the c i r c u m s t a n c e s of time and situation.³⁶
A country that has made a great French Revolution has the right to defend itself.
Modern Prussia—a monarchy...
A rep[u]b[l]ic is better than a monarchy.
Bebel’s words: it would be very sad if we could not make out who is violating the peace.³⁷
The Germans themselves admitted this!! One must deliberately close one’s eyes not to see [who] is guilty in the war.
To fight for the social revolution—that is not enough.
Vaillant, too, has a striving for the social revolution.
(It would be unjust to say that Vaillant strives for the social revolution).
Vand[er]v[el]de would make a mistake if he went away to some other country. He had to remain and defend it.³⁸
Otherwise you will lose every possibility of influencing your peoples, you will adopt the standpoint of utopian socialism.
By this we shall not save opportunism (if we withdraw into the realm of utopias).

In the first ten days of October 1914, V. Kosovsky (M. Ya. Levinson), one of the leaders of the Bund, a social-chauvinist, a Germanophile, made a lecture tour of various towns in Switzerland.
Lenin apparently attended one of his lectures, in Berne or Geneva.
According to a communication from G. Shklovsky (Proletarskaya Revolutsiya, No. 5 (40), 1925, p. 139), Lenin took part in the discussion on the lecture. We have no notes on the content of Lenin’s speech or other communications at our disposal.

*—Lack of dialectics. Ed.

V. Kosovsky gave an account of his lecture in Nos. 9-10 of the Information Sheet of the Foreign Organisation of the Bund for December 1915 (pp. 24-25).
Lenin’s notes on the lecture are made on two sheets. In the right-hand top corner of the second sheet there is the following note by Lenin, not related to the main text: Schutz[en]gas[se]; (or Schutz[en]gas[sli]) 43; 8-10 M[orgens], 1½-3, apparently the address and consulting hours of some doctor.

FROM KOS[OVSKY]’S LECTURE.
[First ten days of October 1914]

contradictions] a) all s. d. are for defence and therefore “there is no guilty party”³⁹
The whole I[nternational]??
1. Macd[onald] and K[eir]-H[ardie].
2. W[egner] Tagw[acht] and S[wiss] s. d.
3. Ita[lian]s.
4. Sw[ed]es.
Communist]
[Mani-
festo:] the workers have no fatherland.
^  separated themselves from the whole I[nternational], isolated themselves from it
β) the internat[ional] = the r[igh]t of each nation (s. d.
of all nations) to defend its own country⁴⁰, γ) all s. d. have taken up the defence of the r[igh]t of national defence (except perhaps the s. d. in Russ[ia]).
δ) dupiert * the G[erman] s. d.? |“everyone says”!
{ deutscher s. d. in Grütlianer } **⁴¹ ε) the G[erman]s were always for the str[uggle] against tsarism
(Bebel)⁴²
ζ) to preserve the o[rganisatio]ns? Their importance—in case of reforms.
(“Intervention] in the prod[uctive] proc[ess]”) the Junkers and gen[era]ls).
η) the b[ourgeoi]s pr[ess] is demoralising.
| V[o]rw[ärts] refused? | Better than doing nothing....⁴³

*—deceived. Ed.
**—German s. d. in “Grütlianer”. Ed.

“THE EUROPEAN WAR AND SOCIALISM”

θ) the defeat of Germ[any] = the defeat of the s. d. vanguard and consequently of the whole s[ocial]d[emocracy]....
SOPHISM
ι) of the radicals, even the conciliators ( V[o]rw[ärts] first place for endurance .
K. K[autsky] = a great theor[ist] “Himself” Vand[ervelde].
κ) 1870—simple and 2 opinions...⁴⁴
|a) in the b[ourgeoi]s m[inistr]y full agreement with the resolution] ...
(exceptional circumstances])..
1) “Unité” “monstrous work”—
2) “borders on preaching racial hatred”
3) diff[icult] to dissociate from nat[ional]ism
4) they will incite the Ita[lian]s
the Italian press = the most lying in the world
NB |1 Vaill[ant] “allows himself to express himself”⁴⁵
Russ[ia] (diff[erence] from the Japa[nese] w[ar])
His personal existence is at stake on the map
Desire to repulse...
Petrograd patriotism in Russia......
...... The I[nternational] is not at the height of its task.... because it sat in Belgium......⁴⁶
Over the heads of the s. d. the I[nternational] B[ureau] appealed to the w[orke]rs, introduced a split in the I[nternational]
There is a signature.⁴⁷
Those who shout about the collapse of the I[nternational] are c[o]mpl[et]ely wrong. The I[nternational] will emerge still stronger, will be reborn.

* MATERIALS FOR THE LECTURE “THE EUROPEAN WAR AND SOCIALISM”

The plan of the lecture “The European War and Socialism”, delivered by Lenin in Geneva, judging by the text (uneven handwriting, the same pencil as on the subsequent document), was either disagreement of the minority] with the majority]
or the patriotic] mood of the w[orke]rs in Russia
1 8 — 26 OCTOBER 1914


sketched by Lenin immediately before the beginning of the lecture. On the reverse of these pages there are notes of the discussion on the lecture, which are published after the plan.
Concerning the said lecture, the Geneva Section of the R.S.D.L.P. issued announcements-posters of the following content: “On Thursday, October 15, 1914, at 8.30 p.m., in the premises of the ‘Maison du Peuple’ (No. 4, Dubois-Melly, 4), Comrade N. Lenin will deliver a public lecture on the theme ‘The European War and Socialism’. Entrance fee: 50 centimes.”
The chairman at the lecture was V. Karpinsky.

* PLAN OF THE LECTURE.
[October 15, 1914. Geneva.]

I.
Ch[a]r[a]ct[e]r of the w[a]r.
Span[ish]-American Ita[l]o-Turk[ish] Russ[ian]-Jap[anese]⁴⁸
Imp[erial]ism (diff[erence] from former national w[a]rs)
slogan “fatherland”
II. “The w[orke]rs have no fatherland.”
Interpretation.
Sophisms.
Bas[e]l M[a]n[i]f[e]sto.
III. Behaviour of the socialists] a) Before the w[a]r (3) Serb[ia] and Russ[ia]
(Sp[ain] in Russ[ia])
b) the F[rench] the Engl[ish] the G[erman]s.
IV. 2 kinds of ch[auvin]ism.
V. Collapse of the I[nternational].
VI. Opp[ortun]ism “Peace”—civil w[a]r?
[Legal organisation]?]
Transformation of the national w[a]r into a civil w[a]r]
Volkskrieg *