"Ivan Vasilyevich Babushkin" [43•*
p ... But there are such national heroes. They are people like Babushkin. They are people who, not for a year or two but for a whole decade before the revolution, wholeheartedly devoted themselves to the struggle for the emancipation of the working class. They are people who did not dissipate their energies on the futile terrorist acts of individuals, but who worked, persistently and unswervingly among the proletarian masses, helping to develop their consciousness, their organisation and their revolutionary 44 initiative. They are people who stood at the head of the armed mass struggle against the tsarist autocracy when the crisis began, when the revolution broke out and when millions and millions were stirred into action. Everything won from the tsarist autocracy was won exclusively by the struggle of the masses led by such people as Babushkin.
Without such men the Russian people would remain for ever a people of slaves and serfs. With such men the Russian people will win complete emancipation from all exploitation.
Notes
[43•*] Ivan Vasilyevich Babushkin (1873-1906)-a professional revolutionary and pupil o£ Lenin; began his revolutionary activity in 1893 when he joined a study circle led by Lenin. He was an active member of the St. Petersburg and Yekaterinoslav "Unions of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" and also a member of the Irkutsk and Chita committees of the Russian Social-Democratic Party; played an important part in founding Iskra (1900), the first legal Marxist newspaper; took part in the 1905-1907 revolution. He was shot by a punitive expedition of the tsarist government.