The next time we have a great lull in our discussions here on Lit-Ideas, we
should remind ourselves "as Lenin wrote two months after the October
takeover, 'this sloppiness, carelessness, messiness, untidiness,
fidgetiness, the tendency to substitute discussion for action and talk for
work, and the tendency to take on everything and accomplish nothing are
characteristics of "the educated". . . .'" *
I mean, since most of us here are retired we have no reason to substitute
action for discussion or work for talk. I'm quite good at "carelessness"
and "fidgetiness" but I do frequently have the mistaken fancy that I'm
engaging in work of some sort. I can only hope to do better, and
fortunately the opportunity to do so will remain indefinitely - unlike it
did for those educated slackers in the 20s & 30s in the USSR.
*from page 154 of Slezkine's The House of Government
