V. I.

Lenin

29. XII. 1900. Sunday, 2 a. m.

Ishould like to set down my impressions of today’s talks with the
“twin.” It was a remarkable meeting, “historic” in a way (Arsenyev, Velika, the twin+wife [4] +myself)—at
least it was historic as far as my life is concerned; it summed up, if not
a whole epoch, at least a page in a life history, and it determined my
conduct and my life’s path for a long time to come.

Asthe case was first stated by Arsenyev, I understood that the twin was
coming over to us and wished to take the first steps, but the very
opposite turned out to be the case. In all probability this strange error
originated from the fact that Arsenyev keenly desired what the twin was
“tempting” us with, viz., political material, correspondence,
etc. “The wish is father to the thought,” and Arsenyev believed in
the possibility of what the twin was tempting him with; he wished to
believe in the sincerity of the twin, and in the possibility of a decent
modus vivendi with him.

Thisvery meeting utterly and irrevocably destroyed such a belief. The
twin revealed himself in a totally new light, as a “politician” of the purest water, a politician in the worst
sense of the word, an old fox, and a brazen huckster. He arrived
completely convinced of our impotence , as Arsenyev himself
described the results of our negotiations, and this formulation was
entirely correct. Convinced of our impotence, the twin arrived for the
purpose of laying down conditions of surrender , which be did in
an exceedingly clever manner, without uttering a single impolite word, yet without being able to conceal the coarse haggling nature of the common
liberal that lay hidden beneath the dapper, cultured exterior of this
latest “critic.”

Inreply to my question (with which the business part of the evening
began) as to why he did not agree to work simply as a contributor, the
twin stated firmly that it was psychologically impossible for him to work
for a magazine in which he would be “taken to task” (his
precise words), and that surely we did not think that we could abuse him
and he would “write political articles” (his very words!) for
us; that he could co-operate only on terms of complete equality (i.e.,
evidently, equality between the critics and the orthodox); that since the

Declaration, [1] his comrade and friend [5] has refused even to meet Arsenyev; that his, the twin’s, attitude was
determined not so much by the Declaration, in fact not at all by the
Declaration, as by the fact that at first he had desired to confine
himself to the role of “benevolent helpmate,” but that now he did
not intend so to limit himself but wanted also to be an editor (he said it
almost in these words!!). The twin did not blurt this out all in one
breath, the negotiations concerning his collaboration dragged on for quite
a long time (too long in the opinion of Arsenyev and Velika), but the
negotiations made it quite clear to me that no business could be done with
this gentleman.

Hethen began to insist on his proposal: Why not establish a third
political periodical on an equal basis with the others? This would be to
our and his advantage (the newspaper would get material, we would
“make” some thing out of the resources provided for it). He
proposed that on the cover we should have nothing Social-Democratic,
nothing to indicate our firm, and that we were obliged (not formally but
morally) to contribute to this organ all our material of a general
political nature.

Everythingbecame clear, and I said openly that the publication of a third
periodical was out of the question, and that the whole matter reduced
itself to the question as to whether Social-Democracy must carry on the
political struggle or whether the liberals should carry it on as an independent and self-contained movement (I expressed myself more clearly
and definitely, more precisely). The twin understood and angrily retorted
that after I had expressed myself with anerkennenswerter Klarheit [2] (literally!) there was nothing more to be said and all
that we might discuss was the placing of orders—orders for the
collections; but that would be a sort of third magazine (I put
in). “Well, then place an order for just the one available
pamphlet,” replied the twin. “Which one?” I asked. “ Why do you want to know?” retorted the wife
insolently. “If you agree in principle, we shall decide, but if not,
why do you want to know?” I inquired about the conditions of the
printing. “Published by X, and nothing more; there must be no
mention of your firm, nothing except the

Verlag . [3]

There must be no connection with your firm”—declared the twin. I
argued also against that, demanding that mention be made of our
firm. Arsenyev began to argue against me, and the conversation was cut
off.

Finally,we decided to postpone the decision. Arsenyev and Velika had
another heated discussion with the twin, demanded an explanation from him , argued with him. I remained silent for the most part and laughed
(so that the twin could see it quite clearly) and the conversation soon
came to an end.

---
Notes:
[1]
See p. 351 of the present volume.— Ed .

[2]
Commendable clarity.– Ed .
— Lenin

[3]
Publishers.– Ed .
— Lenin

[4]
Arsenyev —A. N. Potresov; Velika —V. I. Zasulich; “ the twin ”—P. B. Struve; “ the wife ”—N. A. Struve, wife of P. B. Struve.

[5]
The comrade and friend of P. B. Struve —M.
I. Tugan-Baranovsky.