V. I. Lenin

St. Petersburg, March 21, 1907.

Thesituation has undergone considerable change since the leading article in
Proletary , No. 14, [1] was written three weeks ago. The government and
the Cadets, the Black Hundred autocracy and the liberal-monarchist bourgeoisie
have taken a step towards one another, and are preparing to join hands and
strangle the revolution by their joint efforts and, instead of land and freedom,
hand out miserly doles to the people, condemning them to an existence of
semi-starvation and semi-slavery. Let us examine more closely the situation now
obtaining.

Twoquestions lie as heavy as a stone on the heart of the Black-Hundred
autocracy—the budget, and the agrarian question. There can be no credits
unless the budget is approved by the Duma. There can be no hope of even a brief
period of calm unless the open ulcer of the land question is hidden, at least
for the time being. The government will not dare dissolve the Duma without a
budget and an agrarian law the latter has approved. The government is
afraid to dissolve the Duma and, at the same time, is vociferating
about dissolution and is putting into motion the entire Black-Hundred machinery
of the Union of the Russian People so as to scare the timid and incline the
wavering to compliance. It wants to try and drag concessions out of the Duma by
gagging it with the threat of dissolution. Well, then it will see what is to be
done with the disgraced, befouled and filth-bespattered “lofty”
assembly. This explains the request to approve the budget and the assurances that the Minister of Finance does not even dream of requesting the
State Duma to sanction a loan. This ex plains the correct tone of
Mr. Vasilchikov’s speeches to the effect that the government “will
preserve the inviolability of those boundaries at which the interests of
individuals, different groups and different social-estates meet” but, at
the same time, “recognises its duty to extend that preservation only
insofar as the boundaries mentioned coincide with the general interests of the
state. Wherever the boundaries do not coincide with those interests they must be shifted ”. In these words, especially those
we have stressed, there is undoubtedly a scarcely perceptible nod of the head in
the direction of the Cadets, a slight hint at the possibility of Cadet
“compulsory alienation”.

Howdo the Cadets respond to all these scarcely perceptible advances? Oh, they
are bending all their efforts to make the imperceptible perceptible, to make
open and stated in full that which is hidden behind mysterious hints and
reservations. They are therefore making incomparably more advances to the
government, are opening up their hearts, although, with their customary caution,
they are holding out their hands timidly and only half-way, in order to take
hold of Mr. Stolypin’s forefinger, condescendingly held out to them. In
its March 18 issue, Rech , the Cadets’ mouthpiece, proclaimed to the
whole world that the “party of people’s freedom” is concluding
preparation of a new agrarian bill which will make this party “the
best-armed for a business-like discussion of the land question”,
and that “the new presentation of the question has paid greater attention to
what is generally known as the real alignment of forces”. At the next
day’s session of the Duma, Deputy Kutler pronounced a truly
“business-like” speech, in which he somewhat (though far from fully)
raised the veil that has so far modestly covered the “realism” and
“business-like character” of this new outcome of the Cadet
Party’s legislative efforts. In the present case, as far
as can be understood, business-like realism boils down to, first of all, giving
the peasants in many localities, instead of the “subsistence standard” [2] of land, a much smaller amount—"as much as is available”, as Mr. Kutler very indefinitely puts
it. Apparently it works out this way—that many millions of
dessiatines of landowners’ property may remain unalienated even under
“compulsory alienation”. This means “shifting the boundaries somewhat”, as Mr. Vasilchikov puts it. The second
feature typifying the “realism” of the new bill is outlined by
Mr. Kutler in the following terms: “the lands that are to be
transferred to the peasants” must “be made the absolute
property of the peasants” so that “these lands will not under
any circumstances by taken from them in the future”, they will be
“transferred to the peasants for their use in perpetuity and not
temporarily”, and in so doing it will be necessary “to limit
only the right of alienation and of mortgage”. All this again comes
very close to the “intention” of the government, proclaimed
through its mouthpiece, Mr. Vasilchikov, “to extend the advantages,
accruing from the principles of property, to that tremendous area of
peasant-owned land that has so far been deprived of those
advantages”. And, lastly, the third sign of the “business-like
nature” of the new Cadet agrarian bill deserves special attention:
formerly it was assumed that compensation for the land would be met by the
Treasury, but now “a certain part of the expenses that occur as a
result of the land reform must be met by the peasants themselves, to the
extent of about one half”. And in what way does this differ from the
contribution of one half of the land redemption payments to be met by the
peasants that was established by the government for 1906? The concord, in
principle, between the Cadet agrarian bill and the “designs”
of the government therefore becomes fairly obvious. The fact that the
Cadet compulsory alienation of the land is pure fiction makes it still
less open to doubt; who will do the “compelling” in the Cadet
land committees when they will consist half of peasants and half of land
lords, with government officials “reconciling” their interests? A clean deal! Not for nothing did the Rech commentator
on Duma affairs say on March 20, with reference to Mr. Vasilchikov’s
speech: “this presentation of the question means that things are being
tackled in business-like fashion”. This is, indeed, the highest praise
from the lips of the Cadets of today!

Asfar as the budget is concerned, the conciliatory stand taken by the Cadets
towards the Black-Hundred autocracy is outlined with sufficient clarity in an
editorial in that same March 20 issue of Rech . The rumour that
“the party of people’s freedom proposes rejecting the budget as a
whole” is called “a patent lie”, and the assurance is given
that the people’s representatives will probably approve, with certain
changes, the budget for 1907” and, lastly—listen to this,
gentlemen!¯it is asserted that “if the Duma is given proof that the
Minister of Finance is prepared to go half way extending its rights
[within the bounds of the “fundamental laws”, of course—see
above in the same article], this may engender among its members greater
confidence in the government”, and, indeed, “if the Duma had grounds
for trusting the Minister of Finance it could agree to a formula that would be
tantamount to permission to borrow as much as is needed” (our
italics). This is a gem that worthily concludes the long list of disgraceful
concessions, all this retailing of people’s freedom—it had to be
retail selling so that, in the end, the people’s freedom could be sold
wholesale.

Anyonewith the patience to follow up all the details of this shameful deal
between the Black Hundreds and the liberal bourgeoisie, insofar as they have
become clear at the present moment, can no longer be in doubt—the
counter-revolutionary forces are being organised to deal a final, mortal blow at
the great emancipation movement, to crush strong and bold fighters and to deceive
and remove the naïve, the timid and the vacillating. The Rights, the Polish

Kolo [3] and the Cadets are uniting in one body to deal that
blow. The government is scaring the Cadets and the Trudoviks with the
howling of the Black Hundreds— set at them by the government itself—who
demand the dissolution of the Duma and the abolition of the “foul
constitution”. The Cadets are scaring the Trudoviks by reference to those
same howls and by alleging that Stolypin intends to dissolve the Duma
immediately. The Black Hundred autocracy and the liberal bourgeoisie need
all these threats and fears the better to come to an agreement behind the
backs of the people, so that, having amicably shared the spoils, they may
plunder the people. Trudoviks of all shades—do not allow yourselves to be tricked! Stand guard over the
interests of the people! Prevent this filthy deal between the Cadets and
the government! Social-Democrat comrades! We are certain you will
understand the situation, that you will stand at the head of all
revolutionary elements in the Duma, that you will open the eyes of the
Trudoviks to the shameful treachery of the liberal-monarchist
bourgeoisie. We are sure that from the rostrum of the Duma you will loudly
and boldly expose this treachery to the whole people.

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Notes:
[1]
See pp. 184-88 of this volume.— Ed .

[2]
See Note 98.— Tr .

[3]
Polish Kolo ( Circle )—an alliance of Polish deputies to the State Dumas. In the First and Second Dumas the
Narodowci , members of the reactionary party of Polish landlords and
bourgeoisie, formed the core of this alliance. In all the main questions of
Duma tactics, the Kolo supported the Octobrists.