V. I.

Lenin

The Fifth Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party

April 30-May 19 (May 13-June 1), 1907

4

Statement of Fact, May 10 (23)

Comrade Martov, quoting from the interview I gave L’Humanite (signed
Étienne

Avenard), [1] has interpreted several passages incorrectly.

Theinterview said that the C.C. (its Menshevik part, of course) secretly and stealthily gave information to the Cadets. This statement of mine has
now been confirmed by the discussions at the Congress. It has transpired at
this Congress that, as far back as November 1906, Dan went
privately to Milyukov and “took tea” with him, Nabokov, and
leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Popular Socialists. Dan did not
consider it necessary to report this either to the C.C. or to the St. Petersburg
Committee.

Itwas this meeting with the Cadets, which was not reported either to the
C.C. or to the St. Petersburg Committee, that constituted secretly and
stealthily giving information to the Cadets.

Further,the interview states that the Mensheviks did not reject the Cadets’
disgraceful proposal to give the workers’ seats to the Mensheviks in exchange
for Menshevik assistance to the Cadets. Comrade Martov points out that the
Mensheviks rejected this verbally . I assert that the Mensheviks’
deeds contradicted their verbal rejection; (1) verbally the Mensheviks promised to give all the seats to the
worker curia. Actually, when all the workers’ delegates, in a
body, called on the Mensheviks (by a majority of 220-230 votes against
10-20) to abandon their “covert support” of the Cadets,
the Mensheviks refused to obey them ; (2) after January 25, after the conclusion of the Left bloc, the Mensheviks
stated in print the condition on which they would assist
it—freedom of action for the Menshevik electors at the second stage
of the elections. Objectively, this condition could mean only one
thing—their readiness to support the Cadets against the
Social-Democrats at the second stage.

N. Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
See pp. 145-51 of this volume.— Ed .