**Date:** 1905
**Source:** Lenin Collection, vol. 26
**Pages:** 85-86

ON THE MOMENT *.

In No. 15 of *Proletariat*, the decisive conduct of the Smolensk duma was already noted as an example of the so-called "revolutionary self-governance" (which *Iskra* confuses with the slogan of popular uprising) — a duma which recognized the quartering of Cossacks in the city as lawless, discontinued the allocation of funds to them, organized a city militia for the protection of the population, and issued a proclamation to soldiers against violence against citizens. As a further illustration of the same idea and as a characterization of the moment we are living through, we cite from *L'Humanité* the following resolution adopted by the Kerch duma regarding the recent pogrom in that city.

The duma resolved: 1) to express sympathy to the Jewish population regarding the victims they suffered (killed and wounded) and material losses; 2) to establish two scholarships in the local gymnasium in memory of students killed during the disturbances; 3) given that local authorities proved incapable and unwilling to protect the lives and property of the population, to immediately cease the allocation of municipal funds for the maintenance of the police; 4) to distribute among poor Jews, who suffered most from the disturbances, a sum of 1,500 rubles; 5) to express sympathy to the port commander, the only local official who, with great energy and humanitarianism, prevented further mass beatings; 6) to notify the Minister of Internal Affairs of the unlawful conduct of authorities during the disturbances and to demand a senatorial investigation.

Insofar as the Kerch duma arbitrarily expands the bounds of duma competence allotted to it by law, insofar as it participates in the general-revolutionary life of the entire state, to that extent it enters upon the path of truly "revolutionary self-governance." But where are the guarantees that this self-governance will transform into "popular" self-governance? And ought we, as social-democrats, to single out this "fragment of revolution" as the principal slogan of agitation, or to preach the complete and decisive victory of the revolution, impossible without uprising?

¹ The note "On the Moment," published in No. 18 of *Proletariat*, 26 (13) September 1906, undoubtedly belongs to Lenin (the manuscript has not survived). A number of considerations lead to this conclusion. First of all, an entire paragraph of the note is taken from Lenin's article "In the Tail of the Monarchical Bourgeoisie" (Works VIII, 173). Furthermore, the events of August 2 in Smolensk, mentioned in the note, were not only used in Lenin's article but appear repeatedly in his article plans (see, for example, Lenin Collection V, 357 and 399). Further, in the note we read: "And ought we, as social-democrats, to single out this 'fragment of revolution' as the principal slogan of revolution or to preach the complete and decisive victory of the revolution, impossible without uprising." In Lenin Collection V on p. 399 it says: "are fragments suitable for a slogan," and on p. 400: "fragments and everything." Finally, let us compare one more passage from the note with the corresponding reasoning of Lenin in the article "In the Tail of the Monarchical Bourgeoisie." In the note "On the Moment" it says: "But where are the guarantees that this self-governance will transform into 'popular' self-governance?" In the article we read: "Can one consider truly popular self-governance of the city of Smolensk assured, so long as the revolutionary army has not achieved decisive victory over the tsarist army?"