The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-12-12

MON, how touching that would be,
etc, etc. OF course, to large de-
gree, this mediocrity bored us. 1t was
a good thing that we were able to
keep aloof from them and live as we
wanted to. On the whole, Iytch had
a good rest at Bon-Bon.
In the autumn we changed our
quarters. We moved to an apartment
in the same neighborhood in Rue
Marie Rose. We had two rooms and
a htchen-our windows looked out
OH a garden. Our living room" was
now the kitchen, where all the heart
to-heart talks took place. BY spring
vladimir was eager to set to work. He
established certain routine, as he
called it. He would get UP at o'clock
in the morning, so to the Bibho-
theque Naaonale, return at 2 pm.
He also did a lot of work at home. !
tried to keep people away from him.
We always had many visitors, crowds
upon crowds, especially at this time
when, owing to the reaction raging in
Russia, and the trying conditions Of
work, emigration from Russia in
creased very considerably. People
would arrive from Russia and relate
with enthusiasm what was going on
there, but soon they seemed to wilt
They became submerged in the daily
effAt to earn a living and the petty
worries of life.
At this time the students at the
Capri school invited Ilyich to come
to Capri to lecture there. Iyich cate
gorically refused. He explained to
them the fractional character of the
school and asked them to come to
Paris. Within the Capri school, a
fractional struggle flared up. In the
beginning of November, five students
there were twelve in alb including
Vilonov, the organizer Of the school,
officially declared themselves to be
staunch Leninists and we're expelled
from the school. This incident proved
better than anything else how right
Lenin was when he pointed to the
fractional character Of the school,
The expelled students came to Paris.
1 remember the first meeting we had
with Vilonov. He began to tell us
about his work in EkaterinoslaV. We
had frequently received letters from
worker correspondent in Ekaterino-
Slav, who signed himself "Misha Ia
yodski." His letters were very inter
esting and dealt with the most vital
questions of Party and factory life.
do you happen to know Misha Ia
vodski?" 1 asked Vilonov why,
am he" he answered. This smmedi-
ateiy created friendly feeling in IL
yich towards Michael and they had a
very long talk that day. In the eve
ming of that same day Ilyich wrote to
Cork as follows: Dear Alexey Max
mich: All this time 1 have been fully
convinced that you and Comrade
Michael were the staunchest cham
pions of the new fraction, and with
whom it would be absurd for me to
attempt to speak in a friendly way.
Today 1 met Comrade Michael for
he first time. We had a heart-to-
heart talk about affairs and about
yourself and I realized that I had
been greatly mistaken. BY gadl Phi
losopiler Hegel was right: life pro-
crosses in contradictions, and living
contradictions are much rlcher, more
varied and profounder than the hui
man mind can at first grasp. ! re-
garded the school merely as a center
Of new fraction. This proved to be
wrong-not in the sense that it is not
the center of new fraction (the
school has been and is such center)
but in the sense that this is not COM
plete, it is not the whole truth. Sub
iectively. certain persons were MAX
ing the school such a center; objec-
lively, it was such center; but in
addition to this, it drew from real
working class life real advanced
workers" And what an ardent con-
fidence is expressed in the strength
Of the working class at the end of
the letter where Lenin writes that
the working class must forge a party
cut of elements Of every kind and
every calibre mo matter what hap
pens" he writes, IAN excellent revo-
lutionary, soGial-democracy viii be
forged in Russia much sooner than
1t seems to us looking at from the
angle Of this thrice cursed state of
exile; it will be forged much more
surely than we imagine, if VIC are to
judge by certain external symptoms
and certain incidents. Men like Mi
chael are a guarantee Of this"
Five other students of the Capri
school arrived with Michael. Among
them "Vanya Kazanets' (Panlratov)
was the most conspicuous for his ac-
tivity and straightforwardness His
opposition to the Capri school was
more sharply expressed than that of
the rest. There was also Lushvin (Pa-
khon), Kozyrev Foma), Ustinov (Va-
sily) and Romanov (Alya Alexinsky).
rlyich delivered a series OF lectures
to them and devoted g. great deal of
attention to their studies. Then they
left for Russia. except Michael who
had tuberculosis, which he had con-
tracted as a result Of TIE harsh treat
nlent he had received in the Niko-
iayev pcf2l regiment. We placed him
in Dawes. He did not hive there long,
however. He died on May l, 1910.
At the end of December the studies
at Capri came to close and the rest
Of the students arrived in Paris. H.
yich delivered lectures to these also.
He spoke to them on current topics,
Gbout the land reforms introduced in
Russia by the then Premier Stolypin
whose policy was to build up a class
of "well-to-do" peasants, about the
leading role Of the proletariat and
about the work Of the Social-Demo-