V. I.

Lenin

On the Svoboda Group

Theattitude of Messrs. the “Revolutionary-Socialists” towards
any analysis of differences in principle is evident from the following. In
the pamphlet, What Is to Be Done? , Lenin directly challenged
Svoboda to refute the proposition that an “organisation of
revolutionaries” is necessary for extending and intensifying work among the masses . In the same pamphlet Mr. Nadezhdin was given a
detailed explanation of all the harm and unseemliness of a light-minded
attitude towards theory, of inconsistency in matters of programme (a
“revolutionary-socialist” and at the same time practically a
Social-Democrat!), of vacillation between revolutionary tactics and the
tactics of “economism,” and between terrorism and the class struggle
of the proletariat. In this pamphlet it was plainly pointed out and proved
that Svoboda is sinking to the level of demagogy .[ See present edition, Vol. 5.— Ed . ]

Mr. Nadezhdin preferred to decline the direct challenge. Instead of open
battle with visor raised, this noble swashbuckler chose to act on the sly
under a cover of a dispute on matters of organisation. In their
“magazine for workers” (??) the Svoboda group merely hisses and snarls, without explaining its views, inciting the
“masses” against an “organisation of revolutionaries” and assuring them that Iskra is chopping
down the “sound trunk” of “economism.” Disputes over principle, It assures us, are nothing but a pastime for intellectuals. For the “masses”
it is sufficient to raise a howl against “domineering” and to
indulge in quips about “an empty stomach and the Holy Ghost,” about
the “danger of hobnailed jackboots,” about “swine and blockheads,” about “weakened grey matter” and “pig snouts,” about the
“collaring and jaw-breaking department,” etc. (see Otkliki ,
pp. 30-55). Our revolutionary-socialists and Socialist-Revolutionaries
persist in debasing “mass” literature to the level of cheap
broadsheets, and for this service of theirs they claim the right to
introduce confusion and corruption into all serious Party questions. A
programme consisting of double book-keeping, tactics consisting of double
book-keeping, practical activities consisting of demagogy—there you
have a portrait of the “revolutionary socialist”
Svoboda group.

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