V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v2;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek); AI-translated.

LENIN. ---- LETTERS TO A. SHLYAPNIKOV.

The slogan of peace is now absurd and erroneous (especially after the betrayal of almost all the leaders, including Guesde, Plekhanov, Vandervelde, Kautsky). In practice, it would mean philistine whining. But we, even on the military front, must remain revolutionaries. And in the army, preach class struggle. I shake your hand. Write more often. Yours, L[enin].

[The date on the manuscript was apparently placed by the recipient. Above the letter, Vladimir Ilyich wrote "Für Alexander," i.e., for Alexander (Shlyapnikov).]

2) "Sotsial-Demokrat," No. 33.
3) By the Central Committee.
4) Yu. Larin was at that time one of the most prominent representatives of the Menshevik liquidators. This explains Vladimir Ilyich's distrust of his position and the steps he was taking at that time. Subsequently, with the course of the war, Larin shifted to the standpoint of the internationalists, then completely broke with the Mensheviks and joined the ranks of the R.C.P.
5) Vladimir Ilyich greatly feared any imprudent step on the part of A. G. Shlyapnikov that could be interpreted as some kind of agreement with the social-chauvinists.
6) Gorky signed an appeal "From Writers, Artists, and Artistes" protesting against German atrocities. (See "Russkiye Vedomosti" No. 22307, September 23, 1914.)
7) "The Road to Power" — a pamphlet written by Kautsky in 1909 in the spirit of proletarian revolution. From the beginning of the war, Kautsky renounced precisely those revolutionary perspectives that had at one time found their most precise expression in this pamphlet of his.