V. I.

Lenin

Itis under this headline that the Berlin liberal Vossische Zeitung has
published the following interesting dispatch:

"Itis with irresistible force that events are developing in the empire of
the tsars. To every impartial observer it must be obvious that neither the
government nor any of the opposition or revolutionary parties is in control of
the situation. The late Prince Trubetskoi and other professors of the higher
educational institutions made vain attempts to dissuade the Russian students
from the dangerous path, which they had taken when they decided to convert the
universities into places of political mass meetings. The students paid
enthusiastic homage to the memory of Trubetskoi, marched in masses in the
funeral procession, and turned the obsequies into an imposing political
demonstration, but they did not follow his advice to keep outsiders out of the
University. At the University of St. Petersburg, the Mining Academy and the
Polytechnic mammoth meetings are being held, at which the students are often in
the minority, and which last from early morning till late at night. Impassioned
and fiery orations are delivered and revolutionary songs are sung. Moreover, the
liberals are roundly berated at these meetings, especially for their
half-heartedness, which, it is claimed, is no accidental attribute of Russian
liberalism, but a quality that has been conditioned by eternal historical laws.

"Thereis something profoundly tragic in these reproaches, which, despite
the historical references adduced to substantiate them, are in fact absolutely
unhistorical, if only because the liberals in Russia have never had the
slightest opportunity of displaying any half heartedness that could in any way
prejudice the cause of emancipation which is so important for all parties. It is
not their deeds, but rather their sufferings that handicap the liberals in their
life course. The government is just as helpless [italics in the
original] in the face of these events as it is in the face of the labour
troubles and the general unrest. It is possible, of course, that it is planning
a new blood-bath, and is only waiting for the moment when the movement becomes
ripe for a Cossack attack. But even if that should be the case, none of the
powers that be is certain that it will not lead to a still more violent outbreak
of disaffection. Not even General Trepov has faith in his own cause. He does not
conceal from his friends that he considers himself a doomed man, and that he expects no favourable results whatever from
his administration. ’I am merely fulfilling my duty, and shall fulfil it
to the end,’ he says.

"Thetsar’s throne must he in a sad way indeed if the head of the police
arrives at such conclusions. And indeed it cannot hut be recognised that,
despite all of Trepov’s efforts, despite the feverish activity of endless
commissions and conferences, the tension has not only failed to relax since last
year, but has even become much more accentuated. Wherever one looks, the
position everywhere has become worse and more threatening, everywhere the
situation has become noticeably aggravated ."

Thereis a great deal of truth in this appraisal, but at the same time a great
deal of liberal stupidity. “The liberals could not display a
half-heartedness prejudicial to the cause.” Is that so? Why is it then that
these poor liberals could nevertheless come forward more openly and
freely than the other parties? No! The students are guided by a sound
revolutionary instinct, enhanced by their contact with the proletariat, when
they zealously disassociate themselves from the Constitutional-Democrats, and
discredit these Constitutional-Democrats in the eyes of the people. The morrow
will bring us great and epoch-making battles for liberty. It is possible that
the champions of liberty will yet suffer more than one defeat. But defeats will
only serve to stir up the workers and peasants ever more profoundly, will only
render the crisis more acute, and will only make more formidable the inevitable
ultimate victory of the cause of liberty. For our part, we shall bend every
effort to prevent the bourgeois leeches of monarchist landlord liberalism from
attaching themselves to this victory, and to prevent the gentlemen of the big
bourgeoisie from deriving the main benefit from this victory, as has happened
more than once in Europe. We shall bend all our efforts to bring this victory of
the workers and peasants to its consummation, to bring about the utter
destruction of all the loathsome institutions of autocracy, monarchy,
bureaucracy, militarism and serf-ownership. Only such a victory will put a real
weapon into the hands of the proletariat—and then we shall set Europe
ablaze, so as to make of the Russian democratic revolution the prologue to a
European socialist revolution.

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