CALLING ALL MARXIST-LENINISTS

Well into the first of the post Demi-Monde books. Most of the action will take place in St Petersburg of 1906 and those history buffs amongst you will remember that this is when things really began to kick-off in Russia. 1905/1906 has been called 'the dress-rehearsal' for the revolution of 1917.

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 ...

Theadmiration in Samuel's voice made Jemilah a little uncomfortable: she had anatural suspicion of 'great men' and their motives. They edged closer and nowshe could make out what Lenin was saying.
'…told that terrorism is not a legitimate means of class struggle. We are toldthat we must eschew robbery as a means of financing the revolution. We are toldthat anarchism demoralises the workers, alienates wide swathes of thepopulation 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 servedto us on a plate. In the whole of history there is not one example of the classstruggle being resolved without violence. When violence is exercised by theworking people, by the mass of the exploited against the exploiters – then we,the Bolsheviks, are for it.'
Therewere cheers around the hall, cheers which also provoked boos. This Lenin, itseemed, was something of a divisive figure in revolutionary circles. But he was a powerful speaker; that muchJemilah had to admit. She glanced towards Samuel who seemed to be quiteentranced by the man.
Whenthe room had quietened Lenin resumed his oration. 'That is what the struggle ofour brave Comrades in Moscow taught us when they manned the barricades and tookcontrol of the streets: that as the revolution progresses it will stimulate astrong and united counter-revolution.The criminal Tsar will be compelled to resort to more and more extreme measuresto defend his illegal and immoral regime: has he not been forced to declaremartial law over much of the country, has he not had to mobilise regiments offresh troops, has he not connived in the despicable pogroms perpetrated by theBlack Hundred and has he not used military courts to execute protestors withouta fair trial?
Morecheers; anti-Tsar rhetoric was obviously popular. 'We socialists must recognisethis mass terror and we must resist it. And that will necessitate the embracingof violence. It is inevitable that the Russian proletariat will have to resortto the same method of struggle as was used in the Paris Commune – civil war. Wewould be deceiving both ourselves and the people if we concealed the fact thatthe overthrow of the bourgeoisie will necessitate a desperate, bloody war ofextermination. Those of you who are opposed to it, those of you who do notprepare for it, are traitors to the proletariat, are traitors to therevolution.'
Provocative little bastard, decided Jemilah, and obviouslya born rabble-rouser.
'Wemust show no mercy to these enemies of the people, the enemies of socialism, theenemies of the working people. War to the death against the rich and theirhangers-on, the bourgeois intellectuals!'
Lenin'sappetite for blood and slaughter was obviously contagious. The crowd began toshout and yell its support.
'Onlyby violent disorganisation will we seize the attention of the downtrodden,giving them hope whilst simultaneously creating fear in the heart of theoppressors.'
'Terrorismis 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 tosecure the victory of the proletariat legitimises the assassination of theleaders of the bourgeoisie and the confiscation of funds by robbery. It is notthese guerrilla actions which disorganises the revolutionary movement but ratherit is the weakness of a Party which is incapable of taking such actions underits control. It is not guerrilla war which demoralises but unorganised,irregular, non-party guerrilla acts. The very act of violent politicaldisorganisation imbues it with ideological credence. It is time we all acceptedthat nothing can be done in this country except by putsches. We arerevolutionaries who have dedicated our lives to the cause of socialism and thefreeing of the proletariat and the peasants from bondage so we must stand readyto sacrifice our lives for the cause: to triumph we must kill and, ifnecessary, die!'
'Whatabout 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 howour revolutionary certainty has been obscured by the debate regarding the Duma,how successful this ploy of the Tsar has been in confusing and distracting therevolutionary energies of the people.' He paused for a moment in sadreflection. 'We are told by the liberals that the success of the politicalstruggle against the government can only be secured by the consolidation andexpansion of the rights of the Duma. What nonsense! We all know that the Duma isa miserable travesty of popular representation. This fraud must be exposed and thiswe can do only by boycotting the Duma … but it must be an active boycott … a boycott accompanied by intense agitation inorder to provoke an intense political crisis.'
Forseveral 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 campaignof brutal and ferocious disorganisation and an espousal of agitationalpragmatism will we free the people of the autocracy lauded over by thatembodiment of despotism, Tsar Nicholas II.' Again he paused, 'Comrades, we aremet at a cross-roads of history: do we take the fork signalled by the Kadetsand signposted 'Passivity and Submission' or the fork signalled by theBolsheviks and signposted 'Action and Terror'? Are we to remain supine in theface of judicial murder or are we to smash and pulverise our opponents intosubmission? I say to you: down with the Dumtsy!'
Callingthe Duma representatives by the diminutive 'dumtsy'raised a laugh.
'Downwith this new police fraud! Honour the memory of the fallen heroes of the Moscowbarricades by making fresh preparations for an armed uprising! Long live therevolution!'
Therewas wild cheering and as though carried away by the audience's enthusiasm Leninbegan to pace the stage. 'And let us all hope, Comrades, that by such acts ofselflessness and sacrifice we will create the longed for popular rising of thepeople. It is my hope that from such a rising will emerge an ambitious man ofgenius, a Caesar, a demigod, who will lead our benighted country out of thedarkness of autocracy and to whom all men and women will bow their heads asequals.'