The
exposure made a great sensation in Russian Socialist circles at the time,
and the fact that it was Nikolai Lenine who had proposed that Malinovsky be
chosen to sit in the International Socialist Bureau naturally caused a
great deal of unfriendly comment. It cannot be denied that the incident
placed Lenine in an unfavorable light, but it must be admitted that
nothing developed to suggest that he was guilty of anything more serious
than permitting himself to be outwitted and deceived by a cunning
trickster. The incident serves to show, however, the ease with which the
extreme fanaticism of the Bolsheviki played into the hands of the
autocracy.
VII
While Bolsheviki and Mensheviki wrangled and disputed, great forces were at
work among the Russian people. By 1910 the terrible pall of depression and
despair which had settled upon the nation as a result of the failure of the
First Revolution began to break. There was a new generation of college
students, youthful and optimistic spirits who were undeterred by the
failure of 1905-06, confident that they were wiser and certain to succeed.
Also there had been an enormous growth of working-class organizations,
large numbers of unions and co-operative societies having been formed in
spite of the efforts of the government.
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