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    I first went to Zurich. I arrived alone without having seen Arsenyev (Potresov). P. B. Axelrod met me in Zurich with open arms and I spent two days in a heart-to-heart talk with him. The conversation was as between friends who had not seen each other for a long time; we spoke about anything and everything, in no particular order, and not at all in the manner of a business discussion. Indeed, in regard to practical matters, there is not much that Axelrod mitsprechen kann,[**] but it was quite evident that he gravitated towards G. V. Plekhanov, from the manner in which he insisted on setting up the printing-press for the magazine in Geneva. Generally speaking, Axelrod was very "flattering" (excuse the expression), he said that our enterprise meant everything to them, that it meant their revival, that "we" would now be able to counteract Plekhanov's extremism. I took particular note of the last remark, and the entire subsequent "history" has proved that those were words of especial significance.

    I went to Geneva. Arsenyev warned me to be particularly cautious with Plekhanov, who was terribly wrought up over the split[126] and very suspicious. My conversation with him did indeed show that he really was suspicious, distrustful, and rechthaberisch to the nec plus ultra.*** I tried to observe caution and avoided all "sore" points, but the constant restraint that I had to place on myself could not but greatly

affect my mood. From time to time little "frictions" arose in the form of sharp retorts on the part of Plekhanov to any remark that might even in the least degree cool down or soothe the passions that had been aroused (by the split). There was also "friction" over questions concerning thc tactics of the magazine, Plekhanov throughout displaying complete intolerance, an inability or an unwillingness to understand other people's arguments, and, to employ the correct term, insincerity. We declared that we must make every possible allowance for Struve, that we ourselves bore some guilt for his development, since we, including Plekhanov, had failed to protest when protest was necessary (1895, 1897). Plekhanov absolutely refused to admit even the slightest guilt, em ploying transparently worthless arguments by which he dodged the issue without clarifying it. This diplomacy in the course of comradely conversations between future co-editors was extremely unpleasant. Why the self-deception with the pretence that he, Plekhanov, had in 1895 been "ordered [??] not to shoot" (at Struve) and that he was accustomed to doing as he was ordered (really!)?[127] Why the self-deception with the assertion that in 1897 (when Struve wrote in Novoye Slovo that his object was to refute one of the fundamental theses of Marxism) he had not opposed it, because he never could (and never would) conceive of polemics between collaborators[128] in one and the same magazine? This insincerity was extremely irritating, the more so by the fact that in the discussion Plekhanov sought to make it appear that we did not desire to carry on a ruthless fight against Struve, that we desired to "reconcile everything," etc. A heated discussion arose over the question of polemics in general in columns of the magazine. Plekhanov was opposed and refused to listen to our arguments. He displayed a hatred towards "the Union-Abroad people" that bordered on the indecent (suspecting them of espionage, accusing them of being swindlers and rogues, and asserting that he would not hesitate to "shoot" such "traitors," etc.). The remotest suggestion that he went to extremes (for example, my allusion to the publication of private letters[129] and to the imprudence of such a procedure) roused him to a high pitch of excitement and manifest irritability. It became evident that he and we were becoming increasingly disgruntled.

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But with him it expressed itself, among other things, in the following: We had a draft prepared of an editorial declaration ("In the Name of the Editorial Board"),[*] in which we explained the aims and the programme of the publications. This was written in an "opportunist" spirit (from Plekhanov's point of view) -- polemics between members of the staff were to be permitted, the tone was modest, allowance was made for the possibility of a peaceful ending of the controversy with the "economists," etc. The declaration laid stress on our belonging to the Party and on our desire to work for its unification. Plekhanov had read this declaration together with Arsenyev and Zasulich before my arrival; he had read it and raised no objection to the content. He had merely expressed a desire to improve the style, to elevate the tone, without changing the trend of the ideas. A. N. Potresov had left the declaration with him for this purpose. When I arrived, Plekhanov did not say a word to me about the matter, but when I visited him a few days later, he returned the declaration to me with an air of -- Here you are, in the presence of witnesses, I return it to you intact; you see I have not lost it. I inquired why he had not made the suggested changes. He replied evasively that it could be done later, that it would not take long and was not worth doing at the time. I took the declaration, made the changes myself (it was a rough draft outlined when I was still in Russia), and read it a second time to Plekhanov (in the presence of Vera Zasulich), this time asking him point-blank to take the thing and correct it. Again he resorted to evasions and turned the job over to Vera Zasulich who was sitting beside him (an altogether strange suggestion, since we had never requested her to work on the statement, besides which, she could not have made the corrections, i.e., have "elevated" the tone and given the declaration the character of a manifesto).

    Thus matters went on until the conference (the conference of the entire Emancipation of Labour group: Plekhanov, Axelrod, and Zasulich, and we two, our third man being absent[130]). Finally Axelrod arrived and the conference began. On the question of our attitude towards the Jewish Union (the Bund), Plekhanov displayed extreme intolerance and

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openly declared it to be an organisation of exploiters who exploit the Russians and not a Social-Democratic organisation. He said that our aim was to eject this Bund from the Party, that the Jews are all chauvinists and nationalists, that a Russian party should be Russian and should not render itself into "captivity" to the "brood of vipers," etc. None of our objections to these indecent speeches had any result and Plekhanov stuck to his ideas to the full, saying that we simply did not know enough about the Jews, that we had no real experience in dealing with Jews. No resolution on this question was adopted. We read the "declaration" together at the conference. Plekhanov's behaviour was very odd. He remained silent, he suggested no changes, he did not take a stand against the idea in the declaration that polemics be permitted, and in general seemed to withdraw, precisely to withdraw. He did not wish to participate, and only casually threw in a venomous, malicious remark to the effect that he (meaning they, i.e., the Emancipation of Labour group of which he is dictator), of course, would have written a different sort of declaration. This remark, uttered in passing, after a sentence in connection with a different matter, struck me as being particularly repellent; a conference of co-editors is in session and one of them (who has been twice asked to submit his own draft or to suggest changes to ours) suggests no emendations, but sarcastically observes that he, of course, would not have written so (in so timid, modest, and opportunistic a manner, he wished to say). This showed clearly enough that normal relations did not exist between him and us. Subsequently -- let me pass over the less important issues of the conference -- the question of our attitude towards Bobo[131] and M. I. Tugan-Baranovsky came up. We were in favour of a conditional invitation (we were inevitably driven to this by the bitterness Plekhanov displayed; we wanted him to see that we desired a different attitude. His incredible bitterness drove one instinctively, as it were, to protest and to defend his opponents. Zasulich aptly remarked that Plekhanov always argued in a manner that aroused his readers' sympathy for his opponent). Very coldly and drily Plekhanov declared that he completely disagreed, and he demonstratively remained silent throughout the whole of our fairly protracted conversation with Axelrod and Zasulich.

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who were not disinclined to agree with us. The whole morning passed in what might be called a very tense atmosphere. It became clear beyond doubt that Plekhanov was presenting an ultimatum to us -- to choose between him and those "rogues." Seeing that things were coming to such a pass, Arsenyev and I agreed to give way and at the very opening of the evening session declared that "on the insistence of Plekhanov" we had withdrawn our proposal. This declaration met with silence (as if it were a matter of course that we could do nothing else but give way!). This "ultimatum atmosphere" (as Arsenyev later described it) greatly irritated us -- Plekhanov's desire to have unlimited power was obvious. A little before that, in a private conversation about Bobo (when Plekhanov, Arsenyev, Zasulich, and I were taking an evening walk in the woods), Plekhanov, after a heated discussion, said, laying his hand on my shoulders, "But, gentlemen, I am not putting any conditions; we shall discuss all this together at the conference and together we will decide." I was touched by this at the time. But at the conference the very opposite happened; Plekhanov stood aside from the comradely discussion, maintained an angry silence, and by his silence obviously "put conditions." To me it seemed to be a sharp display of insincerity (although I did not at the moment formulate my impressions so clearly), while Arsenyev declared outright: "I will never forgive him this concession!" Saturday came. I do not remember exactly what we spoke about that day; but in the evening, when we were all walking together, a fresh conflict flared up. Plekhanov proposed that a certain person (as yet unpublished in our literature, but in whom he claims to see philosophical talent; the person is unknown to me, except for a blind worship of Plekhanov) be assigned the writing of an article on a philosophical subject. Plekhanov went on to say: "I shall advise the person to begin the article with a remark against Kautsky somewhat as follows -- a fine fellow, indeed! has already become a 'critic' and publishes philosophic articles by 'critics' in Neue Zeit,[132] but does not give full scope to 'Marxists' [read: Plekhanov]." Arsenyev, on hearing the proposal for a sharp attack upon Kautsky (who had been invited to contribute to the magazine), became indignant and heatedly opposed it on the grounds that it was uncalled for. Plekhanov became puffed up and irate, I

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seconded Arsenyev, Axelrod and Zasulich remained silent. Half an hour later, Plekhanov departed (we had accompanied him to the steamer), in the final moments he had sat in silence, his brow black as a cloud. As soon as he left us, we felt as though a weight had been lifted from us all, and the discussion proceeded in a "friendly spirit." The next day, Sunday (today is September 2, Sunday. It happened only a week ago!!! But to me it seems like a year! How remote the thing has become!), we arranged to meet, not in our cottage, but at Plekhanov's. We came to the place, Arsenyev arriving first, I later. Plekhanov had sent Axelrod and Zasulich to inform Arsenyev that he declined to be co-editor, desiring to be just a contributor. Axelrod left, and Zasulich, quite put out and confused, murmured to Arsenyev: "Georg is displeased, he declines. . . ." I entered. The door was opened for me by Plekhanov, who offered me his hand with a rather queer smile and then walked out. I stepped into the room and found Zasulich and Arsenyev sitting there, their faces wearing a strange expression. "Well, ladies and gentlemen," said I, "how goes it?" Plekhanov entered and invited us into his room. There he stated that it would be better if he were a contributor, an ordinary contributor, for otherwise there would be continual friction, that evidently his views on things differed from ours, that he understood and respected our, Party, point of view, but could not share it. Better, therefore, that we be the editors and he a contributor. We were amazed to hear this, positively amazed, and began to argue against the idea. Thereupon Plekhanov said: "Well, if we are to be together, how shall we vote; how many votes are there?" "Six." "Six is not a practical number." "Well, let Georg have two votes," suggested Zasulich, "otherwise he will always be alone -- two votes on questions of tactics." We agreed to that. Upon that Plekhanov took the reins of management in his hands and with the air of editor-in-chief began apportioning departments among those present and assigning articles to this one and that in a tone that brooked no objection. We sat there as if we had been ducked; mechanically we agreed to everything, unable as yet to comprehend what had taken place. We realised that we had been made fools of; that our remarks were becoming more and more halting; that Plekhanov "waved them aside" (not refuting

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them but waving them aside) more and more easily and carelessly; that "the new system" was de facto tantamount to his complete domination; and that Plekhanov understood this perfectly, not hesitating to domineer over us without ceremony. We realised that we had been fooled and utterly defeated, but were as yet unable to get a full grasp of our position. Yet no sooner did we find ourselves alone, no sooner had we left the steamer and were on our way to the cottage, than the lid flew off and we broke out in a wild and furious tirade against Plekhanov.

    But before relating the substance of this tirade and what it led to, I shall go back a bit. Why did the idea of Plekhanov's complete domination (quite apart from the form it assumed) rouse us to such indignation? Previously we had thought that we would be the editors, and they -- close collaborators. I had proposed (back in Russia) that the matter be formally submitted in this manner, but Arsenyev had objected to a formal proposition and suggested that we go about it "in a friendly way" (which would achieve the same result), to which I agreed. But both of us were in accord on the point that we were to be the editors, because the "old ones" were extremely intolerant, in addition to the fact that they would not be able to perform painstakingly the drudgery of editorial work. These were the only considerations that guided us, for we were quite ready to accept their ideological guidance. The conversations I had had in Geneva with those of Plekhanov's younger comrades and adherents closest to him (members of the Sotsial-Demokrat group,[133] long-standing adherents of Plekhanov, active Party workers, not working men, but simple, industrious people entirely devoted to Plekhanov) -- these conversations strengthened my conviction (and Arsenyev's) that this was exactly how we should arrange the matter. Those adherents had told us without equivocation that it was desirable to have the editorial office in Germany, where we would be more independent of Plekhanov, and that to allow the old ones to have practical control of the editorial work would bring about terrible delays, if not the collapse of the entire enterprise. For the very same reasons, Arsenyev was unconditionally in favour of Germany.

    I broke off my description of how the "Spark" was nearly extinguished at the point where we were returning home on

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the evening of Sunday, August 26 (New Style). As soon as we found ourselves alone, after leaving the steamer, we broke out into a nood of angry expressions. Our pent-up feelings got the better of us; the charged atmosphere burst into a storm. Up and down our little village we paced far into the night; it was quite dark, there was a rumbling of thunder, and constant flashes of lightning rent the air. We walked along, bursting with indignation. I remember that Arsenyev began by declaring that as far as he was concerned his personal relations with Plekhanov were broken off once and for all, never to be restored. He would maintain business relations with him, but as for personal relations -- fertig.[*] Plekhanov's behaviour had been insulting to such a degree that one could not help suspecting him of harbouring "unclean" thoughts about us (i.e., that he regarded us as Streber [**]). He trampled us underfoot, etc. I fully supported these charges. My "infatuation" with Plekhanov disappeared as if by magic, and I felt offended and embittered to an unbe lievable degree. Never, never in my life, had I regarded any other man with such sincere respect and veneration, never had I stood before any man so "humbly" and never before had I been so brutally "kicked." That's what it was, we had actually been kicked. We had been scared like little children, scared by the grown-ups threatening to leave us to ourselves, and when we funked (the shame of it!) we were brushed aside with an incredible unceremoniousness. We now realised very clearly that Plekhanov had simply laid a trap for us that morning when he declined to act as a co-editor; it had been a deliberate chess move, a snare for guileless "pigeons." There could be no doubt whatever about that, for, had Plekhanov sincerely feared to act as a co-editor because he would be a stumbling-block and might rouse useless friction between us, he would not a moment later have revealed (and brutally revealed) the fact that his co-editorship was absolutely the equivalent of his sole editorship. And since a man with whom we desired to co-operate closely and establish most intimate relations, resorted to chess moves in dealing with comrades, there could be no doubt that this man

    Perceiving that his threats were ineffective, Plekhanov tried another manoeuvre -- for what else can it be called, when a few moments later he stated that the break with us would spell for him complete abandonment of political activity, that he would give up political work and devote himself to science, to purely scientific literature, for if he could not

    That evening I departed without again meeting any of the members of the Emancipation of Labour group. We had agreed among ourselves not to relate what had passed to any one except our most intimate friends. We decided to keep up appearances and not give our opponents cause for triumph. Outwardly it was as though nothing had happened; the apparatus must continue to work as it had worked till then, but within a chord had broken, and instead of splendid personal relations, dry, business-like relations prevailed, with a constant reckoning according to the principle: si vis pacem, para bellum.[*]

    It will be of interest, however, to mention a conversation I had that same evening with an intimate friend and adherent of Plekhanov, a member of the Sotsial-Demokrat group. I mentioned no word to him about what had occurred; I told him that we had arranged to publish a magazine, that the articles had been decided on -- it was time to set to work. I discussed with him the practical ways of arranging the work. He gave stress to the opinion that the old ones were absolutely incapable of doing editorial work. I discussed with him the "three variations" and asked him directly which in his opinion was the best. Without hesitation, he answered -- the first (we to be the editors, they the contributors), but in all probability, he thought, the magazine would be Plekhanov's and the newspaper ours.

    As the affair became more and more remote, we began to think of it more calmly, and became convinced that it was

entirely unreasonable to give up the enterprise, that we had for the time being no ground for fearing to undertake the editorship (of the collection ), but that indeed it was neccssary for us to undertake it, for there was absolutely no other way of making the apparatus work properly, and of preventing the project from being ruined by the disruptive "propensities" of Plekhanov.

    By the time we arrived at N.,[134]on September 4 or 5, we had drawn up the plan of the formal relations between us (I had begun to write it en route, on the train). That plan made us the editors and them the contributors, with the right to vote on all editorial questions. It was decided to discuss this plan with Yegor (Martov), and then to submit it to them.

    Hopes were beginning to rise that the "Spark" would be rekindled.

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  [126] The split in the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad, referred to in this passage, occurred at the Second Congress of the Union in April 1900. At the First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., the Union was recognised as the representative of the Party abroad; the majority of its members, however, adopted the "economist" position, on account of which the Emancipation of Labour group and their supporters left the Congress, broke off relations with the Union, and formed an independent organisation of Russian Social-Democrats abroad under the name of Russian Revolutionary Organisation Sotsial-Demokrat.    [p.333]

  ^[127] By saying that he had been "ordered" not "to shoot" at P. B. Struve in 1895 (in this case he is hinting at A. N. Potresov), G. V. Plekhanov was trying to justify his conciliatory attitude towards the revisionist position of the "legal Marxists." Lenin considered Plekhanov's behaviour to be incorrect, because he not only failed to criticise the bourgeois-liberal views of Struve but took the latter under his protection.    [p.334]

  ^[128] Lenin is apparently referring to Struve's article, "Again on Free Will and Necessity," published in 1897 in issue No. 8 of the magazine Novoye Slovo (New Word ). In this article Struve declared himself openly against the Marxist theory of the proletarian revolution. On June 27 (July 9), 1899, Lenin wrote to Potresov: "One thing I do not understand -- how could Kamensky (Plekhanov. --Ed.) leave unanswered the articles by Struve and Bulgakov against Engels in Novoye Slovo ! Can you explain this to me?"    [p.334]

  ^[129] This passage refers to Vademecum, a collection of articles and documents for the Rabocheye Dyelo Editorial Board (1900) in which Plekhanov published, among other documents, three private letters from Z. M. Kopelson of the Bund and from an "economist" leader, Y. D. Kuskova.    [p.334]

  ^[130] "Our third man " was L. Martov (Y. O. Zederbaum) who was in the South of Russia at the time Lenin and Potresov conducted their negotiations with the Emancipation of Labour group and who did not go abroad until March 1901.    [p.335]

  ^[131] Bobo -- P. B. Struve.    [p.336]

  ^[132] Die Neue Zeit (New Times ) -- theoretical publication of German Social-Democracy. Appeared in Stuttgart from 1883 to 1923. Several articles by Frederick Engels appeared in its columns between 1885 and 1895. Engels frequently offered points of advice to the

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editors of Die Neue Zeit and severely criticised them for departing from Marxism. In the late 1890s, after Engels' death, the journal, which expounded Kautskian views, made a practice of publishing articles by revisionists. During the First World War (1914-18) the publication adopted a Centrist position and actually supported the social-chauvinists.    [p.337]

  ^[133] These were former membes of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad who, after the split at the Second Congress of the Union, in April 1900, broke with the opportunist majority and united with the Emancipation of Labour group to form the Sotsial-Demokrat group.    [p.339]

  ^[134] N. -- the city of Nuremberg which Lenin visited on his way from Geneva to Munich after the conference between the Iskra and the Emancipaton of Labour groups.    [p.349]