representing the overwhelming majority of the population of the USSR: How can one, after this, demand from the Proletarian Dictatorship freedom of Press for the bourgeoisie?
Question 4.—Why are not the imprisoned Mensheviks Released?
Answer.—Evidently this refers to the active Mensheviks. Yes, it is true the active Mensheviks in our country are not released from prison until their sentence expires. But why wonder at this? Why did they not release from prison, for instance, the Bolsheviks in July, August, September, and October, 1917, when the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries were in power? Why was Lenin compelled to keep in hiding and under-August, September, and October, 1917, when the Mensheviks and Social-Revolutionaries were in power? How can you explain the fact that the great Lenin, whose name is the symbol of revolt of the proletarians of all countries, was compelled to keep in hiding from July to October, 1917, in Finland, far away from the "democratic republic" of Kerensky and Tseretelli, Chernov and Dan, and that the "Pravda," the organ of Lenin's Party, was smashed by the bourgeois junkers in spite of the fact that prominent and active leaders of the Second International were then in power. This can be explained evidently by the fact that the struggle between bourgeois counter-revolution and proletarian revolution cannot but lead to repression. I have already stated that the Social-Democrats in our country are a counter-revolutionary party, but from this it follows that the proletarian revolution cannot help arresting the active leaders of this counter-revolutionary party.
But this is not all. From this it further follows that the imprisonment of Mensheviks in our country is a continuation of the policy begun with the October Revolution. After all, what is the October Revolution? The October Revolution means first of all the overthrow of the bourgeois Government. All more or less conscious workers of all countries now admit that the Bolsheviks
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