The daily worker., 1925-12-16

(Speech of Gregory ZimoUier,
president of the Communist Inter
national, at the meeting of the
Lemingrad SoUiet in connection
vith the celebration of the 200
gears anniversary Of the Academy
of Science.)
TN the name of the Leningrad Soviet,
I have pleasure in extending
hearty greeting to the Academy of
Science and its guests greet you
in the name of the Soviet of the first
proletarian dictatorship, the Soviet of
the town which deservedly bears the
historic name of the greatest man of
our epoch, that of Comrade Lenin.
In the 200 years since the founda-
ton of the Academy of Science, much
has happened in Leningrad. To men,
tion a few things from the recent past:
it was here that the Decembrist move
ment began; here in the streets OF
st. Petersburg, men such as Tschernyr
schevski were led to the scaffold and,
amidst the silence of the population,
not only symbolic but actual execu-
tions of the greatest leaders of the
movement "Narodnaya Wolya" (peo-
ple's freedom, peoples wilD, Shelya-
bov, Perovskaya and others, took
place. 1t was here that the workers
first raised the banner of insurrection,
and here that the two revolutions of
1917 were carried to a conclusion.
Not Leningrad alone, but this par
ticular hall has had many expert
ences. It experienced the epoch of
absolutism, the epoch of monarchy, of
the bourgeoisie and of the large land
owners; here the State Duma met; it
experienced the first lightning flashes
of the revolution; and then, when the
workers revolution began to be vic
torious, 1t saw the delegates of the
country of the workers and peasants.
Finally it experienced great world con-
crosses of the revolutionary workers
of all countries, but now for the first
time it sees within its walls an as
sembly like this, a meeting Of repre-
sentatives of the working class of the
first victorious revolution with the
best representatives of science in the
whole world.
Our party has an exactly outlined
program based on scientific conclu-
sions and on the foundation of the
inviolability of scientific knowledge
Karl Marx was very eminent scien-
tific man and not merely revolution
airy. His discovery has, from the sci
entific point of view, at least the same
enormous significance as the few in
ventions which have been made in the
domain of pure science. True Marx
ism realises that great discovery in
any domain whatever-be it in astron-
omy or in pure mathematics-has an
enormous significance. The discoveries
of Prof. Pavlov are of far-reaching i'm
portance. We however. believe that
the discoveries made by Karl Marx
with regard to the laws OF the develop.
ment of mankind, have at least no
less historical significance.
4
AS long as 80 years ago, Karl Marx
showed that class war would newt
ably lead to the dictatorship Of the
proletariat. The dictatorship however
on its part, is a stage of transition
leading to the annihilation of the
whole state, of all means OF force, a
jump from the era of necessity to the
era of freedom. At that time only
a few took this discovery seriously.
It is now being confirmed here, in
country which embraces sixth of the
whole globe, and it will doubtless meet
with confirmation in the whole world.
(Applause.)
At that time the best heads, such
as Darwin, also grasped the great sig.