In this article, Lenin starts from the comments of the “most inclined to the official, consistently flattering the authorities” newspapers on the workers’ movement of 1901. Combining the history of the Russian workers’ movement over twenty or even thirty years, he clearly explains to the workers how the Tsarist government, through insignificant reforms, disguises itself as a “government for the workers,” thereby covering up the brutal reality of the Tsarist regime’s suppression of intellectuals and strikes. In the process of relating to the thirty-year history of the Russian workers’ movement, he clarifies to the workers that only through the struggle of the working class can the reactionary government be forced to make concessions. He exposes the false appearance of the Tsar’s benevolence in improving workers’ working conditions. Similarly, using vivid historical material, he explains to the workers how to interpret the content written in these articles that are “leaning towards the government,” playing an educational role in helping workers discern right from wrong. After reading this article, I personally feel that there are two areas I need to improve in my writing: one is that I lack sufficient understanding of the history of the workers’ struggle in China over the decades since our restoration; in the article, Lenin skillfully and naturally uses the history of the Russian workers’ struggle, which I cannot do. The other is that I lack a good grasp of how social phenomena reflect half of the laws of political economy. Lenin can easily explain what class stance these newspapers are based on and use real examples to refute them, making the principles of class struggle clear. I am unable to do this myself.
Reflections on Lenin's article "Precious Confession" regarding the style of writing news commentary:
You still need to keep learning, like bees that first broadly collect pollen, so that they can produce nectar. Otherwise, you can only build webs like spiders, relying on tedious and meaningless logical games. Such things are not very useful in practice.