THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC DEAR SOUL *)

Greeted by Osvobozhdenie, Comrade Starover continues in the new Iskra to repent of the sins he committed (through lack of understanding) by participating in the old Iskra. Comrade Starover bears a striking resemblance to the heroine of Chekhov's story "The Darling." The Darling first lived with an impresario and said to everyone: we with Vanichka are staging serious plays. Then she lived with a timber merchant and said: we with Vasichka are indignant at the high tariff on timber. Finally, she lived with a veterinarian and said: we with Kollichka are treating horses. And so with Comrade Starover. "We with Lenin" cursed Martyanov. "We with Martyanov" curse Lenin. Sweet social-democratic dear soul! In whose embrace will you find yourself tomorrow?

M) Vladimir Ilyich's note was provoked by Starover's articles "Our Misfortunes," published in Iskra (Nos. 78, 98, 106, 107, 111). The immediate occasion for Lenin's note was a feuilleton in Iskra No. 111 of October 7 (September 24), 1905. Here Potresov, looking back to the era of the old Iskra, poses the question: "how could he, Potresov, and the other co-editors of Iskra tolerate Lenin in their midst."

In Osvobozhdenie, Nos. 69–70, of May 20 (May 7), 1905, in the section "From Russian Émigré Press," it states: "Starover is one of the most talented writers of our émigré social-democracy, a sincere and witty writer, [who] explains the psychological roots of the discord in the social-democratic party."