Page:Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - On Organization (1926).pdf/108
LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
elected or appointed such, although, in fact, they actually were leaders, since both during the period of propaganda and the period of struggle against the government they took upon themselves the full weight of the work, went into the most dangerous positions and performed the most useful tasks. Leadership was not a result of their wish, but of confidence in their minds, their energy and loyalty on the part of their comrades. To fear the rise of an areopagus (and if we do not fear it, why write about it) who would despotically control the movement, is sheer naivete. Whoever would pay the slightest attention to him?"
We ask the readers in what does an "areopagus" differ from anti-democratic tendencies? Is it not obvious that the noble principle of organization advocated by the "Rabochie Delo" is also naive and indecent? Naive, because nobody would pay the least attention to an "areopagus" or to people with "anti-democratic tendencies" if there were not "the confidence in their minds, their energy and loyalty on the part of their comrades"; indecent, because it is a piece of demagogic speculation on the vanity of some people, the ignorance of the actual state of the movement on the part of others and lack of preparation and ignorance of the history of the revolutionary movement on the part of others. The only serious principle of organization for the active members of our movement should be: strict conspiracy, strict selection of members and the training
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