Comrade Starover, welcomed by "Osvobozhdeniye," 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"{100}. The Darling lived first with an impresario and said: we with Vanyechka stage serious plays. Then she lived with a timber merchant and said: we with Vasechka are indignant at the high tariff on timber. Finally, she lived with a veterinarian and said: we with Kolyechka treat horses. So too with Comrade Starover. "We with Lenin" denounced Martyanov. "We with Martyanov" denounce Lenin. Sweet social-democratic sentimentalist! Whose embrace will you find yourself in tomorrow?

Written after September 24 (October 7), 1905

First published in 1926 in Lenin Collection V

Printed from the manuscript