The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-07-15
InStallment Six
Position In 1917

rival in Russia published his theses,
thought that by these theses he
was sacrificing to the Russian peas
antry the small but heroic band of
politically educated workers and all
the genuine revolutionaries of the
intelligentsia. The single active
force in Russia would, thought,
be thrown like handful of salt
into the vapid bog of the village
life, and would dissovle without
leaving any trace, would be sucked
down without effecting any change
IN the mind, lift or history OF tie
Russian people. The professional
lntelhgentsia, in general, the Scien-
lists and technicians, were, from
my point of view, revolutionaries by
nature, and this socialist intelli-
gentsia, together with the workers,
were for me the most precious
force stored up in Russia and any
other force capable of taking power,
and organizing the village, 1 did
not see in 1917. But only on con-
dition of complete inner unity
could this force, numerically in
significant and split by contradict
tions, fulfill its role. Before them
stood tremendous task-to bring
order into the anarchy of the vii
lage, to discipline the mind of the
peasant, teach him to work ration
ally, to reorganize his economy,
and by an these means to make
the country progress. All this
could only be achieved by subject
ing the instincts of the village to
the reason of the town. The pri-
mary task of the revolution I con-
Sidered to be the creation of the
conditions which would lead to the
development of the cultural forces
OF the country. To this end I Of
fered to construct in Capri a
school for workers, and in the years
OF reaction, from 1907 to 1913, tried
as much as I could to raise the
spirits of the workers by every pos
sible method. With this end in
view Immediately after the Febru-
airy revolution there was organized
the Free Association for the De-
velopment and Spread of Positive
Science" an institution which
aimed on the one hand, at organ
izing in Russia scientific research
institutions, and on the other, at a
broad and continuous populariza-
ton of scientific and technical
knowledge among the workers. At
the head of the Association were
the eminent scientists and mem
bers Of the Academy of Sciences,
v. A. Steklov, L. A. Tchugayev,
Acadefician Fersman, S. P. Ko-
stytchev, A. A. PetrovsEy, and a
number of others. The means were
being got together with great en-
ergy; s. P. Kostytchev had already
begun to look for a place for the
Institute of Geological and Botan-
ical Research.
In order to make myself quite
clear I will add that all my life,
the depressing effect of the pre-
,alency of the il1iteracy of the vii
lage on the town, the individual
ism Of the peasants, and their al
most complete lack of the social
emotions had weighed heavily on
my spirits. The dictatorship of the
politically enlightened workers, in
close connection with the scientific
and technical intelligentsia, was
in my opinion, the only possible
solution to a difficult situation
which the war had made espe-
cially complicated by rendering the
village still more anarchical 1 diff
fered from the Communists on the
question Of the value of the role
Of the intelligentsia in the Russian
Revolution, which had been pre-
pared by this same intelligentsia
to which belonged all the Bolshe-
viks who had educated hundreds
Of workers in the spirit of social
heroism and genuine intellectual
ty. The Russian intelligentsia-the
scientific and professional intelli-
gentsia, 1 thought, had always
been, was still, and would long be
the only beast Of burden to drag
along the heavy load Of Russian
history. In spite Of all shocks and
impulses and stimulation which it
f,d experienced, the mind Of the
masses of the people had remained
force still in need of leadership
from without