In condemning the "negligible" differences, Mr. F. D. admitted thereby that the disagreements are important. But he was afraid to say so openly (what would the "Seven"[58] say? What would Trotsky, the Bundists, An,[59] and all the conciliators say?). He tried to wrap his answer in a long-winded and deadly dull discourse on the second point of view on unity.
But even in this long-winded discourse it is not difficult to get to the heart of the matter:
"This platform [i.e., the one that Mr F. D. considers desirable and acceptable] must ensure the non-Leninists full opportunity, within the united Social-Democratic Party, to campaign and fight for the open existence of Social-Democracy."
Enough! Quite enough, Mr. F. D.! This is the real gist of the matter, not phrases or declamations.
page 97
To ensure the liquidators full opportunity to fight the "underground" -- that is what Mr. F. D.'s "platform" amounts to, since everybody understands perfectly well that the fig-leaf of a "fight for open existence" is intended to cover up the fight against the "underground", which all workers know is being waged.
That is the crux of the matter, and all those Trotskys, Ans, Bundists; conciliators, "Sevens", and so forth, are nice people, but political nonentities. The heart of the matter is in Mr. F. D.'s group, the "old" group of liquidators.
The Marxist organisation's differences with this group are absolutely irreconcilable, for agreement (let alone unity), not only with those who repudiate the "underground", but even with those who have any doubts on that score, is totally out of the question. The workers have long realised that this is the crux of the matter as far as the liquidators are concerned, for they dismissed the latter from office in all fields of the working-class movement.
There was a time when the Marxist organisation condemned the liquidators (1908-09). That time has long passed away. There was a time when the Marxist organisation proclaimed forgiveness and peace to all who were prepared to renounce liquidationism (1910-11). That time has long ago passed away. There was a time when the Marxists re-established their organisation, in opposition to the liquidators (1912-13). That time, too, has passed away. Then came a time when the Marxist organisation won over the overwhelming majority of the class-conscious workers, in opposition to all and sundry liquidators together with their allies.
This has been proved by incontrovertible facts. The proportion of Bolshevik deputies elected by the worker curia rose from 47 per cent in the Second Duma elections to 50 per cent in the Third Duma elections, and to 67 per cent in the Fourth Duma elections (autumn 1912). In the course of 21 months, between January 1, 1912 and October 1, 1913, the Party rallied two thousand workers' groups, while the liquidators and all their allies united only five hundred. Not only have Mr. F. D. and his friends made no attempt to refute these incontrovertible facts, but they themselves, speaking through Mr. Rakitin in the columns of Nasha
Zarya,[60] have admitted that the masses of the workers support the Bolsheviks.
Clearly, anyone who offers the Marxist organisation a "platform" giving the liquidators "every opportunity" to liquidate that organisation -- anyone who, "in the name of unity", flouts the will of the vast majority of the class-conscious workers, is simply making a mockery of "unity".
Do you want unity? Then renounce liquidationism unequivocally, renounce the "fight for open existence", and submit loyally to the majority. You do not want unity? You may please yourself, but do not complain if, in a few months' time, you will have no worker following left at all, and you will have become not "near-Party" but "near-Cadet" intellectuals.