V. I.

Lenin

346

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO THE EDITORS OF TRUDOVAYA PRAVDA

... Is it true that there are conciliationist tendencies among
prominent Pravdist workers, that one of them—by the name of Malinin or
Dolinin—had a long talk about this with a contributor to the newspaper,
the writer M. N.? It is very important to know whether this is a trend—If
so, what sort of trend, what it stands for, what its terms of unity are—or just an
individual and a casual fantasy.

As regards Plekhanov in his
Yedinstvo , [2] you should adopt straightaway a tone to the
effect that this distinguished theoretician, who has great services to his
credit in the struggle against opportunism, Bernstein and the philosophers
of anti-Marxism—a man whose mistakes in tactics during 1903–07 did not
prevent him during the hard times of 1908–12 from singing the praises of
the “underground” and exposing its enemies and opponents, that this man
now, unfortunately, is again revealing his weak side. The utter vagueness
of his ideas is due, perhaps, partly to his being totally uninformed:
it is not clear whom he wants unity with—with the Narodniks (see
Sovremennik , in which the Himmers are already parading his name)
or with the liquidators of Nasha Zarya and Mr. Potresov, and on
what conditions? And, having put these questions, you should calmly state
that the reader will hardly get a clear answer to these natural questions,
since we know from the literature that it is these very questions
Plekhanov is vague about.

Again my greetings and congratulations on your huge success (but the
business side, the business!!!) and my best wishes.

Contributor to Put Pravdy

The tone of the newspaper, pending the Vienna congress, should be
altered. We are in for a period of struggle. We must pull no punches at the
insolent beggars of the different little groups, we must nip in the bud
their attempts at disorganisation. They dare to split the
four-fifths!! [1]

Drop me a line whether you agree, and when you are issuing.

You should hit out at the liquidators and the little groups at once and
as hard as possible: the 40,000 must know exactly where we stand. It is our
duty to make a laughingstock of the adventurists....

---
Notes:
[1]
Meaning four-fifths of the advanced workers united around the Bolshevik
Pravda .— Ed .

[2]
Yedinstvo (Unity)—a legal newspaper published by a group of
pro-Party Mensheviks headed by Plekhanov and Bolshevik conciliators in
St. Petersburg in May and June 1914. Four numbers were put out.