V. I. Lenin

Lomtatidze’sletter on the struggle between the Six and the
Seven in the Duma group was curiously run in the liquidators’ newspaper
alongside the calculation that 3,701 persons came out in favour of the
liquidators (No. 75, p. 2). We leave the verification of this figure for
another article, merely noting that three days earlier Za Pravdu (No. 26) reported the figure of 5,000, which has not been
refuted by our opponents.

The Seven have been clearly shown again and again to represent
a minority of the workers.

Thatis why Lomtatidze’s “tough words” make an especially
awkward impression. It is a sign of extreme weakness and impotent irritation to
call names, to give a reminder of various episodes of the old and most
embittered struggle, and to shout: “This is impudent, absurd,
cynical”, etc., etc.

Itremains an unrefuted and incontrovertible fact that
1) the majority of class-conscious workers are backing the
Six; and that 2) the Seven refuse to recognise the will and the
decisions of the majority, and also refuse to recognise the
governing institution accepted by the majority.

Onefeels a sense of embarrassment and shame for the irritated
Lomtatidze, when he says:

“Havethey (the Six) indicated a single instance in which
the political actions in the Duma have run counter to the
interests of our cause, our slogans and our traditions?”

Lomtatidze’slofty tone makes a false impression, once we are aware that
not only the Six, but the highest governing institution, which they recognise,
have long since indicated officially and in formal terms the
violation of the programme by the Seven, to cite an instance!

Withhis clumsy irritation and his irrelevant questions, Lomtatidze merely
underscores the really profound essence of the entire conflict—the fight of non-Party men against the Party principle . That is the essence. Nor is it a joke or a trifle but the most
serious and painful question.

Noteveryone who says: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven! Not everyone who beats his breast and
shouts “unity, unity” is actually working for unity.

Whatis working-class unity?

Itis above all and chiefly unity of its political organisation, of its
entity. That is the only kind of unity that can ensure real unity of
the Duma group and of all the action and struggle of the working class in
general.

Thatis the unity the liquidationist trend has violated, as the Party’s
official resolutions have repeatedly recognised since 1908. That is the crux of
the matter. In evading it, Lomtatidze merely reveals his error.

The Seven are entirely to blame for the split, because they have
violated the programme, they have come out in defence of the
liquidators, who were destroying the Party, they have ignored the
formal decisions of the majority, and they have been violating the will of the organised workers. There is no
other way out for them but to recognise their fault, accept the Six as
representatives of the majority and start systematically moving closer to them
through an agreement.

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