# Political Blackmail
Source: PSS, Volume 34

Blackmail is defined as the extortion of money under the threat of exposing certain facts—or fabricated “stories”—that might prove embarrassing to the person being blackmailed, or under the threat of inflicting other forms of harm upon them.

Political blackmail consists in the threat to expose, or the actual exposure, of factual—though more often fabricated—“stories” with the aim of politically damaging, slandering, discrediting, ousting, or otherwise impeding the adversary’s capacity for political activity.

Our republican—and, if you’ll pardon the expression, even our democratic—bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie have proven themselves masters of political blackmail, launching “campaigns” of slander, falsehood, and calumny against parties and political figures they deem unwelcome. Tsarist autocracy pursued its victims in a crude, savage, bestial manner. The republican bourgeoisie, by contrast, employs far more insidious tactics, striving to besmirch the proletarian revolutionary and internationalist whom it so deeply despises through slander, lies, innuendo, false accusations, rumors, and a host of similar machinations.

The Bolsheviks, in particular, had the dubious honor of experiencing these very methods of persecution at the hands of the republican imperialists. Indeed, the Bolshevik could well apply to himself the poet’s famous adage:

From the very outset of the Russian Revolution, wild cries of rage and resentment began to echo across the pages of virtually all bourgeois and nearly all petty-bourgeois newspapers, directed against the Bolshevik. And the Bolshevik—internationalist, advocate of the proletarian revolution—can, quite rightly, “hear” in those frenzied outbursts of anger the faint echoes of approval; for the furious hatred harbored by the bourgeoisie often serves as the most compelling proof that the one who is slandered, persecuted, and vilified has been faithfully and honestly serving the proletariat.

We can illustrate the blackmailing nature of the bourgeoisie’s slanderous tactics most vividly through an example that does not concern our own party—at least not directly—namely, the case of the Socialist Revolutionary, Chernov. Deliberate slanderers, members of the Constitutional Democratic Party led by Miliukov and Hessens, sought to intimidate or drive Chernov from the political stage by launching a smear campaign against him, accusing him of having penned, allegedly, “defeatist” articles abroad and of associating with individuals who were said to have received funds from agents of German imperialism. The smear campaign quickly gained momentum, and the entire bourgeois press eagerly took up the cause.

But then the Kadets and the Socialist Revolutionaries “reconciled” over a specific ministerial lineup—and lo and behold! The “Chernov affair” simply vanished!! In a matter of days—without trial, without due process, without public disclosure of documents, without questioning witnesses, without expert testimony—the “case” disappeared. When the Kadets were displeased with Chernov, a slanderous “affair” was conjured into existence; but when, if only temporarily, the Kadets entered into a political truce with Chernov, the “case” vanished without a trace.

Here, laid bare before our eyes, is the essence of political blackmail. Newspaper campaigns of vilification, slander, and innuendo are wielded by the bourgeoisie—and by such scoundrels as Miliukovs, Hessens, Zaslavskis, Danes, and others—as instruments of political struggle and political vengeance. Once the political objective has been achieved, the “case” against NN or MM “disappears,” thereby revealing the sordid nature, the base dishonesty, the blackmailing tendencies of the very individuals who first instigated the “affair.”

For it is clear that no blackmail artist would ever cease his exposés—no matter how many political shifts occurred—if he were motivated by honest convictions. Nor would any blackmail artist ever refrain from pursuing his revelations to their logical conclusion: until a court rendered its verdict, until the public was fully informed, until all relevant documents had been gathered and made public, or until it was openly and unequivocally acknowledged that an error or misunderstanding had occurred on his part.

The case of Chernov—not a Bolshevik—offers a striking illustration of the true nature of the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois press’s relentless campaign of blackmail against the Bolsheviks. When these knights of capital and their lackeys believed they had achieved their political objectives—when the Bolsheviks were arrested and their newspapers shut down—then the blackmailers fell silent! Despite possessing every means at their disposal to uncover the truth—press outlets, financial resources, the backing of foreign bourgeois interests, the sway of “public opinion” across Russia’s bourgeois class, and the friendly support of the state authorities of one of the world’s greatest powers—they, the heroes of the campaign against the Bolsheviks—Miliukovs, Hessens, Zaslavskis, Danes—fell silent.

To every honest person, it becomes abundantly clear what had long been self-evident to the conscious worker—whose entire life prepares them for the swift comprehension of the bourgeoisie’s tactics—namely: that Miliukovs, Hessens, Zaslavskis, Danes, and the like are, in fact, political blackmailers. We must enshrine this understanding, explain it to the masses, print it daily in the newspaper, compile documentary evidence into pamphlets, boycott the blackmailers, and so forth—and so on. These are the worthy methods of the proletariat for combating slander and blackmail!

One of the most recent victims of blackmail was our comrade Kamenev. He “withdrew from public life” pending the resolution of the matter. In our view, this was a mistake. That was precisely what the blackmailers wanted: they had no desire to engage in a proper investigation. Kamenev need only have stood firm against these villains, reaffirming the trust placed in him by his own party—and let the dogs bark, whether from “Retchi,” “Birzhevka,” “Den’”{53}, “Rabochaya Gazeta,” or other vile publications.

If our party were to consent to the removal of its leaders from public life merely because they had been slandered by the bourgeoisie, then the party itself would suffer grievously, inflict harm upon the proletariat, and grant satisfaction to its enemies. For the bourgeoisie possesses countless newspapers, and it has even more hired pens dedicated to blackmail—such as those of Zaslavsky and Co.—so it would be far too easy for them to “remove” our party workers! As for investigating the matter or seeking the truth, they do not even think about it.

No, comrades! Let us not yield to the cries of the bourgeois press! Let us not gratify the vile blackmailers—Milyukovs, Hesens, Zaslavskys. Let us place our trust in the judgment of the proletariat, of the conscious workers, of our Party, which comprises 240,000 internationalists. Let us not forget that, throughout the world, the bourgeoisie, in league with the defenders of the status quo, persecutes internationalists through lies, slander, and blackmail.

Let us remain steadfast in denouncing the blackmailers. Let us be unyielding in subjecting even the slightest doubt to the scrutiny of the conscious workers, to the judgment of our Party—whose leadership we trust, in whose ranks we see the intellect, the honor, and the conscience of our epoch. In the international alliance of revolutionary internationalists, we discern the sole guarantee of the emancipatory movement of the working class.

And let there be no yielding to “public opinion” among those who sit in the same ministry as the Cadets, who extend their hands to Milyukovs, Dons, and Zaslavskys!

Down with the political blackmailers! Let them be met with scorn and boycott! Let their despicable names be relentlessly exposed before the working masses! We must resolutely follow our own path, safeguarding the vitality of our Party, protecting its leaders even from the temptation to waste time on scoundrels and their sordid slanders.

“Proletariy,” No. 10, September 6 (August 24), 1917

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Proletariy.”