much work in the district, was mentioned as one of the
fifteen voting delegates, but he stood up and said that as the
Conference had so clearly expressed its disagreement with
his views, he thought it better to withdraw his candidature.
Rostopchin put it to the Conference that although they disagreed

with Larin, yet it would be as well that he should have
the opportunity of stating his views at the All-Russian Conference,
so that discussion there should be as final and as many-sided
as possible. The Conference expressed its agreement with
this. Larin withdrew his withdrawal, and was presently
elected. The main object of these conferences in
unifying opinion and in arming Communists with
argument for the defence of this unified opinion a
mong the masses was again illustrated when the
Conference, in leaving it to the ouyezds to choose for
themselves the non-voting delegates urged them to select
wherever possible people who would have the widest
opportunities of explaining on their return to the district
whatever results might be reached in Moscow.


It was now pretty late in the evening, and after another very
satisfactory visit to the prison we drove back to the station.
Larin, who was very disheartened, realizing that he had lost
much support in the course of the discussion, settled down
to work, and buried himself in a mass of statistics. I
prepared to go to bed, but we had hardly got into the car
when there was a tap at the door and a couple of
railwaymen came in. They explained that a few hundred