the Opposition. Why? Because the Opposition struggle is essentially a struggle against the Party, a struggle against the regime of the Proletarian Dictatorship, with which certain non-proletarian sections cannot but be dissatisfied. The Opposition reflects the dissatisfaction of the non-proletarian sections of the population with the Proletarian Dictatorship and their pressure exerted upon it.
Question 9.—Is Ruth Fischer's and Maslow's Contention, now circulated in Germany, that the present leaders of the Comintern and the Russian Party are betraying the workers to the counter-revolution, correct?
Answer.—We must assume that it is correct. There is also reason to think that the Comintern and the CPSU are betraying the working classes of the USSR to the counter-revolutionaries of the world. Moreover, I can inform you that the Comintern and the CPSU recently decided to bring back all landlords and capitalists, who have been driven out of the country, to claim their property. And that is not all. The Comintern and the CPSU went even further than that, and decided that the time has come for Bolsheviks to become cannibals. Finally, we have decided to nationalise all women and to make it a practice to violate our own sisters. (General laughter.—Voices from the crowd: "Who could have asked such a question?"). Ican see that you are all laughing. Perhaps some of you will think that I am not serious on the question. Yes, comrades, one cannot be serious in dealing with such questions. I think that such questions can be answered only by ridicule. (Stormy applause.)
Question 10.—What is your attitude to the Opposition and to the Fischer-Maslow tendency in Germany?
Answer.—My attitude to the Opposition and its German agency is similar to the attitude of the famous French novelist, Alphonse Daudet, to his Tartarin of Tarascon (general hilarity). You have probably read
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