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short time I compelled them to listen to me. There were so many questions with which I had to deal, that I had to speak fог four and a half hours at a stretch—the longest, speech I have ever made.
After the first half hour the whole Right, was sitting in absolute silence and listening with intense interest. Even Ledebour, who is famous for his habit of interrupting his opponent every five minutes, was sitting quietly and listening in wrapt attention. In the end even some of the Rights themselves asked me to shed some light on this or that topic, to which I had not yet referred in my speech. The chief purpose of my speech was to prove that, the Right does not believe, does not wish to believe in a proletarian world revolution, holding a reformist view on evolution, and frames its tactics accordingly. "You disagree with us not because 21 conditions have been substituted for 18, but because we are revolutionists and you are reformists!" That was the gist of my speech. Of course I had to dwell minutely on the conditions of entry into the Communist International, i.e., on the question which the Right Independents on the eve of the Congress tried to make the central topic of the dispute. A special sensation was caused in the ranks of the Rights by my declaration in the name of the Executive Committee, which was as follows: "You say that the 21 conditions are inacceptable to you? Well,—you are within your rights. But we demand you in the name of the Executive Committee to write down in definite and clear terms which of our theses and conditions you consider inacceptable, and which of them you regard as wrong. State definitely and clearly in writing what conditions of entry into the Communist International you regard as acceptable? Do not limit yourselves to vague sentences about "autonomy," national independence, etc. Show your cards! Tell the whole world in what particulars the decisions of the Second Congress of the Communist. International are inacceptable to you." This statement hit the leaders of the Right Independents in their weakest spot. They became agitated, and started to shout that this was mean demagogy (Bauernfangerei) on my part. I once more dealt with this question in detail and easily demonstated that there is no demagogy in requesting a party, which wishes to
