In the scene I'm currently writing my hero (called Samuel) and heroine (called Jemilah) are attending a meeting of the Social Democrats (revolutionary socialists) where one Comrade Lenin is orating. Therefore I needed to concoct a speech that was suitably 'Lenin-esque'. Now never having had much time for politics (or politicians) this is new territory for me so any of you who have expertise in this area, please feel free to critique it as hard as you like. All comments welcome! Here it is ...
The
admiration in Samuel’s voice made Jemilah a little uncomfortable: she had a
natural suspicion of ‘great men’ and their motives. They edged closer and now
she could make out what Lenin was saying.
‘…
told that terrorism is not a legitimate means of class struggle. We are told
that we must eschew robbery as a means of financing the revolution. We are told
that anarchism demoralises the workers, alienates wide swathes of the
population and injures the revolution. We are told we must remain quiescent.
This is wrong! We must not expect the triumph of the proletariat to be served
to us on a plate. In the whole of history there is not one example of the class
struggle being resolved without violence. When violence is exercised by the
working people, by the mass of the exploited against the exploiters – then we,
the Bolsheviks, are for it.’
There
were cheers around the hall, cheers which also provoked boos. This Lenin, it
seemed, was something of a divisive figure in revolutionary circles. But he was a powerful speaker; that much
Jemilah had to admit. She glanced towards Samuel who seemed to be quite
entranced by the man.
When
the room had quietened Lenin resumed his oration. ‘That is what the struggle of
our brave Comrades in Moscow taught us when they manned the barricades and took
control of the streets: that as the revolution progresses it will stimulate a
strong and united counter-revolution.
The criminal Tsar will be compelled to resort to more and more extreme measures
to defend his illegal and immoral regime: has he not been forced to declare
martial law over much of the country, has he not had to mobilise regiments of
fresh troops, has he not connived in the despicable pogroms perpetrated by the
Black Hundred and has he not used military courts to execute protestors without
a fair trial?
More
cheers; anti-Tsar rhetoric was obviously popular. ‘We socialists must recognise
this mass terror and we must resist it. And that will necessitate the embracing
of violence. It is inevitable that the Russian proletariat will have to resort
to the same method of struggle as was used in the Paris Commune – civil war. We
would be deceiving both ourselves and the people if we concealed the fact that
the overthrow of the bourgeoisie will necessitate a desperate, bloody war of
extermination. Those of you who are opposed to it, those of you who do not
prepare for it, are traitors to the proletariat, are traitors to the
revolution.’
Provocative little bastard, decided Jemilah, and obviously
a born rabble-rouser.
‘We
must show no mercy to these enemies of the people, the enemies of socialism, the
enemies of the working people. War to the death against the rich and their
hangers-on, the bourgeois intellectuals!’
Lenin’s
appetite for blood and slaughter was obviously contagious. The crowd began to
shout and yell its support.
‘Only
by violent disorganisation will we seize the attention of the downtrodden,
giving them hope whilst simultaneously creating fear in the heart of the
oppressors.’
‘Terrorism
is wrong!’ shouted a doubter from the side of the room. ‘Anarchy is wrong!
‘No,
Comrade,’ Lenin shouted back, ‘it is you who is wrong! The armed struggle to
secure the victory of the proletariat legitimises the assassination of the
leaders of the bourgeoisie and the confiscation of funds by robbery. It is not
these guerrilla actions which disorganises the revolutionary movement but rather
it is the weakness of a Party which is incapable of taking such actions under
its control. It is not guerrilla war which demoralises but unorganised,
irregular, non-party guerrilla acts. The very act of violent political
disorganisation imbues it with ideological credence. It is time we all accepted
that nothing can be done in this country except by putsches. We are
revolutionaries who have dedicated our lives to the cause of socialism and the
freeing of the proletariat and the peasants from bondage so we must stand ready
to sacrifice our lives for the cause: to triumph we must kill and, if
necessary, die!’
‘What
about the Duma?’ This, to Jemilah’s surprise, was a question shouted by Samuel.
‘Ah
… the Duma … the very fact that you have asked the question, Comrade, shows how
our revolutionary certainty has been obscured by the debate regarding the Duma,
how successful this ploy of the Tsar has been in confusing and distracting the
revolutionary energies of the people.’ He paused for a moment in sad
reflection. ‘We are told by the liberals that the success of the political
struggle against the government can only be secured by the consolidation and
expansion of the rights of the Duma. What nonsense! We all know that the Duma is
a miserable travesty of popular representation. This fraud must be exposed and this
we can do only by boycotting the Duma … but it must be an active boycott … a boycott accompanied by intense agitation in
order to provoke an intense political crisis.’
For
several long seconds Lenin stood silent on the stage. Then, ‘It is time,
Comrades, to grasp the nettle. It is time we recognise that only by a campaign
of brutal and ferocious disorganisation and an espousal of agitational
pragmatism will we free the people of the autocracy lauded over by that
embodiment of despotism, Tsar Nicholas II.’ Again he paused, ‘Comrades, we are
met at a cross-roads of history: do we take the fork signalled by the Kadets
and signposted ‘Passivity and Submission’ or the fork signalled by the
Bolsheviks and signposted ‘Action and Terror’? Are we to remain supine in the
face of judicial murder or are we to smash and pulverise our opponents into
submission? I say to you: down with the Dumtsy!’
Calling
the Duma representatives by the diminutive ‘dumtsy’
raised a laugh.
‘Down
with this new police fraud! Honour the memory of the fallen heroes of the Moscow
barricades by making fresh preparations for an armed uprising! Long live the
revolution!’
There
was wild cheering and as though carried away by the audience’s enthusiasm Lenin
began to pace the stage. ‘And let us all hope, Comrades, that by such acts of
selflessness and sacrifice we will create the longed for popular rising of the
people. It is my hope that from such a rising will emerge an ambitious man of
genius, a Caesar, a demigod, who will lead our benighted country out of the
darkness of autocracy and to whom all men and women will bow their heads as
equals.’
