LENIN ON ORGANIZATION
elected or appointed such, although, in fact, they
actually were leaders, since both during the
period of propaganda and the period of struggle
against the government they took upon themselves
 the full weight of the work, went into the
most dangerous positions and performed the most
useful tasks. Leadership was not a result of
their wish, but of confidence in their minds, their
energy and loyalty on the part of their comrades.
To fear the rise of an areopagus (and if we do
not fear it, why write about it) who would despotically
 control the movement, is sheer naivete.
Whoever would pay the slightest attention to
him?”
We ask the readers in what does an ‘“areopagus”
differ from anti-democratic tendencies? Is it not
obvious that the noble principle of organization
advocated by the “Rabochie Delo” is also naive and
indecent? Naive, because nobody would pay the
least attention to an “areopagus” or to people with
“anti-democratic tendencies” if there were not “the
confidence in their minds, their energy and loyalty
on the part of their comrades”; indecent, because
it is a piece of demagogic speculation on the vanity
of some people, the ignorance of the actual state
of the movement on the part of others and lack of
preparation and ignorance of the history of the
revolutionary movement on the part of others. The
only serious principle of organization for the active
members of our movement should be: strict conspiracy,
 strict selection of members and the training

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