The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-21

Is By
printed matter seized during, the
raid on the printing plant was re
garded The stupid agents OF the
inept Tsarist government we're not
SO much concerned about analyzihs
the revolutionary movements as In
fitting the cases" into the stat
utes of the law ewi1iclr provides .
penalty of long termsof iinprisotl-
ment, or exile to remote places in
Eastern Siberia. 1t goes without
saying that all the various trends
in the revolutionary movement In
Russia we're tarred with the same
brush in the opinion OF the pros
ecution, with some slight differ.
ence in shade, determined, not by
the character of the revolutionary
party the accused belonged to, but
by the degree of "crirninality" Of the
accused The task of the revolu-
tionary Social Democrats on trial
under these circumstances was to
make the trial one Of principle, and
to let the country know the true
character of the Party, to familiar
ize it with it's program and policies.
In short, the Bolshevik had to do
at the trial what he did while at
"liberty"-propagate the ideas and
program Of his Party, and to call
the masses to fight for the demands
inscribed on its banner.
1t was with this task in mind that
Leon Goldman began his speech.
He said:
at admit that took part in the
work Of the. secret press In Kish-
enev, which printed Social-Dem-
ocratic literature. But l was very
much surprised when learned from
the indictment that l am accused
Of iliciting to riot. Social Demo
cracy has nothing in common with
rioting. / am Social Democrat
and I belong to the Russian So
cial-Democratic Labor Party"
Goldman then proceeded to explain
the program and tactics Of the So
cial-Democratic Party.
1t must be stated that Goldman's
position at this trial was more ia
vorable than that of the reyolu-
tionists of the '70s and '80S. The
revolutionary wing Of Social DEM
ocracy which was united In the
"Islra" group, in which Lenin play
ed the leading role, had emerged
VIGOROUSLY from its struggle With
the opportunist elements (the "eco-
noinists") in the Social Democrat
movement. In this struggle the
chief elements of the program and
tactics Of the revolutionary Social
Democracy were crystallized. Par
allel with this internal struggle. an
external process of dissertation
from the -Narodniki 1.-THE So
cialist- Revolutionary Party and
from the Liberal movement, was
taking place. This process was ac-
companied by a bitter struggle. d.
rected by the "Iskra" group, led by
Lenin. In this struggle on many
fronts, revolutionary Social-Demo-
cracy acquired its theological form
and laid the basis of the movement
which later developed into Boil
Shevism.
Goldman was thus able to come
forward at the trial with the full
program Of "Iskra" and to show
that the question at issue was not
a mere riot, but revolution, under
the hegemony of the proletariat and
led by the Social Democracy.
THERE is another aspect Of Gold.
l mans speech. which distinguish.
ed it from the speeches delivered
at their trial by the reyoiutionists
Of the '7os and Dos. His was the
speech of a revolutionist Of the
epoch tinged with the red dawn of
the approaching revolution. He
said:
I'VE stand in the dock before
this court, but we. are not GRIM.
inals. We are prisoners OF war.
and the government Itself proves
this by its conduct towards us. +. I.
The government. Silatched us from
the ranks of the fighting revolu-
tionary army, kept us. in prison for
two years and now, in handing us
over to the court, wants to make
lis responsible for the revolution
airy conflagration- that is sweeping
over all Russia. But where is the
logic OF this? BY establishing Sc
cret printing press, and publishing
manifestoes and leaflets, we pro-
tested against the enforced silenct
of which the government condemns
ed the country. BY these means We
sought to meet tire growing de-
nand of the people for freedom OF
speech, the need of which, during
this period, has, been felt by the
widest strata of the people and So
ciety. And, If from, the. point Of
view of the autocratio government
we have committed crimes, then
the responsibility for this rests net
only on us but OH an enormous part
OF the population of Ruxsia, whose
will we carried out. But an entire
people cannot commit a; crime. The
will of the people is law.
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