V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:ND
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

OBITUARY "ROMAN VATSLAVOVICH MALINOVSKY", WRITTEN BY V. I. LENIN AND G. E. ZINOVIEV

October 5-7 (18-20), 1914

Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky¹

The newspapers have brought the news that R. V. Malinovsky has been killed on the Galician theatre of war. Having resigned his deputy's mandate, he lost his immunity also with regard to being called up for military service, and, as a reservist, he had to join the ranks of the active army.

By a cruel irony of fate, Malinovsky—a Pole by origin—had to fall in the ranks of the troops of Nicholas Romanov, who were fighting for the seizure of Galicia. He, who so hated Russian despotism and had such love for the Polish workers and poor peasantry, had to go under the command of the tsar's generals into unfortunate Galicia.

It is difficult to speak of Malinovsky's services to the Russian working-class movement after the enormous damage he inflicted on the Social-Democratic cause by his sudden resignation of his Duma mandate in May of this year. But one thing we are obliged to do, especially after his death. That is to protect his memory from malicious slander, to clear his name and his honour from defamatory calumnies.

Yes, Malinovsky committed in May 1914 an unforgivable sin against the working-class movement. And for this our party mercilessly condemned him with the heaviest punishment—it placed him outside its ranks. But—Roman Malinovsky did not disgrace his "civic status", he was an honest man, and the accusations against him of political dishonesty were a filthy fabrication.

And Malinovsky was not only an honest man, he was a talented worker for the proletarian cause. Thousands of human weaknesses were not alien to him. But he was marked by a spark of talent. And his talent—the great talent of an agitator and tribune—he gave to the service of our great proletarian cause. And what Roman Malinovsky did during the short years of his Social-Democratic activity (1906-1914), what he did, especially, from 1912 to May 1914, will not be wasted and will not be forgotten by any participant in the Social-Democratic movement.

When one thinks of Roman Malinovsky, one involuntarily recalls the characterisation given by one of the leaders of the Austrian Social-Democracy to the recently killed comrade Schuhmeier, the well-known Viennese people's orator and deputy. Er hatte alles vom Agitator und nichts vom Organisator (he had all the qualities of an agitator and none of the qualities of an organiser)—was said of the late Schuhmeier. The same can be said of Roman Malinovsky. He too had all the qualities of a great agitator and none of the qualities of an organiser. But the conditions of our Russian party life differ substantially from those of Western Europe. Under our conditions of work, such a figure as Malinovsky had to bear every kind of work—including that for which he was organically unsuited. This threw him off his stride, deprived him of his equilibrium, made him enemies... And this undoubtedly also contributed to hastening the personal crisis which broke Malinovsky and forced him to commit political suicide.

It is easy to imagine Malinovsky's state of mind after he realised what an irreparable step his resignation of his deputy's mandate was. He had moments of the deepest despondency, when he completely ceased to believe in himself and was ready to lay hands on himself. But there were also other moments, when the old Malinovsky awoke in him, when he said: I will yet find the strength to serve the workers' cause and by 10-20 years of work atone for my sin against the party... And, looking at this outstanding, talented worker, one so wished that the latter would happen.

The bloody war unexpectedly decided this question too...

* * *

Now is not the time to dwell in detail on the so-called "case" of Malinovsky. We are authorised only to state the following. The commission appointed by the Central Committee of the RSDLP, after a thorough investigation and questioning of a number of witnesses, unanimously arrived at the absolute and unshakeable conviction that R. V. Malinovsky was a politically honest man and that the legend of provocation was created by conscious slanderers. Some of the slanderers were identified by name by the commission. And in due time they will be pilloried in the press. The newspapers assert that before going into the fire where Malinovsky fell, the deceased sent a letter to someone close to him, in which he declares that he forgives the slanderers. That was his affair. But the party is equally obliged both to defend the honour of its deceased former member and to expose the methods deeply disgracing those who resort to them in political struggle.

Published—"Sotsial-Demokrat", No. 33, November 1, 1914 (n. st.).

Published according to the newspaper text.

¹The obituary was written by V. I. Lenin and G. E. Zinoviev upon receiving false reports from Russian and foreign newspapers about the death of R. V. Malinovsky. In Zinoviev's memoirs on this subject it is said: "In No. 33 of our 'Sotsial-Demokrat' (dated November 1, 1914), i.e., the first issue of our Central Organ after the start of the war, an obituary 'Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky' was published. It was written just when the newspapers brought the news that Malinovsky had been killed at the front. The obituary was written by Ilyich and myself. Every word in it, of course, was carefully thought out. This document best shows what exactly Ilyich (and I) thought then about Malinovsky after the entire Poronin investigation of the case..." (Izvestia of the CPSU Central Committee, 1989, No. 6, pp. 199-200).

See also doc. 76