Learning from Events.
HOW did Lenin succeed in arriving at such a realistic conception of the role of the peasantry in the revolution? It was due to his ability to estimate correctly the social forces in modern society. He knew how to learn from events. The peasant uprisings of 1902–03, which had assumed very large proportions before the revolution of 1905, the role played by the army in suppressing the first revolution, the role played by the same army during the second revolution, the revolt of the peasants, the vacillating attitude of the peasantry towards the Soviet Power during the first year after the October revolution—all these facts served Lenin as material for his decisions on tactics with regard to the peasantry. He was a realistic statesman in the best sense of the word. A defeat would never cause him to folds his hands in passivity, but on the contrary would just arouse his energy and obstinacy, in a desire to study and arive at the causes which had led to defeat. He used to say: "We are defeated. We must learn the causes of our defeat, we must throw light upon every wrong step that we have made, so that we become more practical and more far-sighted."
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