(2 of 3)
As their correspondence grew, the revolutionaries referred to themselves and each other by various nicknames. Lunacharsky became "the Destroyer." Litvinoff "Papa"'; Lenin, after trying various signatures such as "Meyer" and "Petroff," became the "Old Man." Lenin's organizing ability, implacable common sense and long view gradually put him in control of the majority (Bolsheviks) in the organization. His letters show that he was not an opportunist but a confessed "necessitarian." "I know, I know it very well, I never forget this, but that is the tragedy (I promise you 'tragedy' is not too strong a word!) of our position; that we have to act in such a way . . . after all we are not creating 'human material' for ourselves, but are taking, and cannot refuse, what is given to us."
Sometimes he admits losing his temper ("We have lost our tempers to the point of neurasthenia. . . ."), sometimes he does it before your eyes: "Do not bother me about leaflets: I am not a machine and cannot work in the present disgraceful situation. . . . For Christ's sake do understand. . . . Unforgivable and shameful . . . simply a disgrace and death to the cause! . . . Yet here you are busy with the devil knows what kind of dirty business! ... If we don't break with the Central Committee and with the Council, then we shall only be worthy of being spat at." When he knows he is right he never stops saying so until he gets his way: "Again and again I repeat: this is the only salvation."
U. S. readers will be sure to note his only mention (1915) of the late great Eugene Debs: "And who is Eugene Debs? He writes sometimes in a revolutionary manner. Is he only spineless like Kautsky?" And everyone but Bolsheviks will enjoy this passage, in a letter to ,Maxim Gorky: "Your news that a Bolshevik, although a former Bolshevik, was treating you by a new method, has made me really very anxious. God preserve us from 'comrade' doctors in general and Bolshevik doctors in particular. But seriously, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 'comrade' doctors are asses, as a brilliant doctor once told me. I assure you that one should be treated only by first-class foreign specialists (except in unimportant cases)."