page 123

    The well-known symposium Vekhi, compiled from contributions by the most influential Constitutional-Democratic publicists, which has run through several editions in a short time and has been rapturously received by the whole reactionary press, is a real sign of the times. However much the Cadet newspapers do to "rectify" particular passages in Vekhi that are excessively nauseating, however much it is repudiated by some Cadets who are quite powerless to influence the policy of the Constitutional-Democratic Party as a whole or are aiming to deceive the masses as to the true significance of this policy, it is an unquestionable fact that "Vekhi " has expressed the unmistakable essence of modern Cadetism. The party of the Cadets is the party of Vekhi.

    Prizing above everything the development of the political and class-consciousness of the masses, working-class democrats should welcome Vekhi as a magnificent exposure of the essence of the political trend of the Cadets by their ideological leaders. The gentlemen who have written Vekhi are: Berdayev, Bulgakov, Herschensohn, Kistyakovsky, Struve, Frank and Izgoyev. The very names of these well-known deputies, well-known renegades and well-known Cadets, are eloquent enough. The authors of Vekhi speak as real ideological leaders of a whole social trend. They give us in concise outline a complete encyclopaedia on questions of philosophy, religion, politics, publicist literature, and appraisals of the whole liberation movement and the whole history of Russian democracy. By giving Vekhi the subtitle "A Collection of Articles on the Russian Intelligentsia" the authors understate the actual subject-matter of their publication, for, with them, the "intelligentsia" in fact appears as the spiritual leader, inspirer and mouthpiece of the whole Russian de-

 
page 124

mocracy and the whole Russian liberation movement. Vekhi is a most significant landmark on the road of Russian Cadetism and Russian liberalism in general towards a complete break with the Russian liberation movement, with all its main aims and fundamental traditions.

page 461




NOTES



  ^[66] Prior to the appearance of this article, Lenin delivered a public lecture in Liège on October 16 (29), 1909, "The Ideology of the Counter-revolutionary Bourgeoisie". On November 13 (26), 1909, Lenin delivered a lecture on the same subject in Paris: "The Ideology of the Counter-revolutionary Liberalism (The Success of Vekhi and Its Social Significance)". The plan of the Paris lecture is set out in a poster preserved in the archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Central Committee of the C.P.S.U. It is divided into the following parts: "I. The philosophy against which Vekhi fights and the Duma speeches of the Cadet Karaulov. II. Belinsky and Chernyshevsky annihilated by Vekhi. III. Why do the liberals hate the 'intellectualist' Russian revolution and its French 'sufficiently prolonged' model? IV. Vekhi and the Lefts in Russia. Cadets and Octobrists. The 'sacred cause' of the Russian bourgeoisie. V. What did the democratic revolution in Russia gain by losing its liberal-bourgeois 'allies'? VI. Vekhi and Milyukov's speeches at the election meetings in St. Petersburg. How Milyukov criticised the illegal revolutionary newspaper at these meetings."    [p. 123]

  ^[67] Moskovskiye Vedomosti (Moscow Recorder ) -- a daily newspaper founded in 1756; beginning with the 1860s, it expressed the views of the most reactionary monarchist elements among the landlords and clergy; from 1905 onwards, it was one of the chief organs of the Black Hundreds. It was closed down soon after the October Revolution of 1917.    [p. 125]

  ^[68] Pobedonostsev, K. P. -- a reactionary statesman of tsarist Russia, Procurator-General of the Synod. He was virtually head of the government and chief inspirer of unbridled feudalistic reaction during the rule of Alexander III and he continued to play a prominent part under Nicholas II as well.    [p. 127]

  ^[69] The "four-point electoral system " -- designation of the democratic electoral system, which includes four demands: universal, equal, direct suffrage and secret ballot.    [p. 128]

  ^[70] Novoye Vremya (New Times ) -- a daily newspaper published in St. Petersburg from 1868 to October 1917. Moderately liberal at the outset, it became after 1876 the organ of reactionary circles of the nobility and the bureaucracy. The paper was hostile not only to the revolutionary, but even to the liberal-bourgeois movement. After 1905 it became an organ of the Black Hundreds. Lenin called Novoye Vremya the acme of venality in the press.    [p. 129]

  ^[71] Anthony, Bishop of Volhynia -- an extreme reactionary.    [p. 129]

  ^[72] The words "Enrich yourselves, gentlemen, and you will become electors" are ascribed to Guizot, head of the French Government during the years of the July monarchy (1830-48).    [p. 129]