example is not to be disdained. Again, the Bolsheviks are rapidly becoming stronger, in spite of the repressions to which they are subjected and the feebleness of their Press. … Is it in these conditions reasonable to run the risk of the Commune?
"We have our majority assured, the most impoverished sections of the peasant class will not stir for a long time yet; we have a good period of tranquillity before us; after that we shall see.
"It is improbable that in an essentially agricultural country the majority will follow the extreme elements. Therefore, in a truly democratic republic, insurrection against the recognised majority is an impossibility."
So will speak the second voice.
Perhaps, among the partisans of Martov or of Spiridonova[1] there will be a third voice saying: "Comrades, I am genuinely indignant that, reasoning about the Commune and the possibilities of its realisation, you both of you range yourselves without hesitation on the side of its foes. In one form or another you are both on the side of those who crushed the Commune. I am not going to agitate for the Commune, I cannot promise in advance to fight in its ranks as every Bolshevik will do; nevertheless I must say that if, in spite of my efforts the Commune survives, I shall rather help its defenders than its foes. …"
The divergences in the bosom of the "bloc" are considerable and inevitable, for the democratic petty bourgeoisie includes a mass of nuances, from the bourgeois who would become a minister to the flea-bitten bourgeois almost disposed to adopt the platform of the proletariat. And what, at one moment or another, will be the outcome of this clash of contrary views? No one can tell.
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The above lines were written on Friday last, September 1, but as a result of unforeseen circumstances (history will tell that under Kerensky not all the Bolsheviks were free to choose their domicile where best it suited them), they did not reach the editorial offices on the same day. So, after reading Saturday's and Sunday's papers, I said to myself: I think it is already too late to propose a compromise. The few days during which the peaceful
- ↑ Martov, Internationalist Social-Democrat, occupied with his group a place apart; so did the Left Social-Revolutionaries, such as Marie Spiridonova.
