Villar and I went upstairs and greeted Lerroux in the offices of _El
Pais_.
"Estevanez has spoken of you to me," he said. "Is he well?"
"Yes, very well."
A few days later, Lerroux invited me to dinner at the Cafe Ingles.
Lerroux, Fuente and I dined together, and then fell to talking. Lerroux
asked me to join his party, whereupon I pointed out the qualifications
which were lacking in me, which were necessary to a politician. Shortly
after, I was nominated as a candidate for the City Council, and I
addressed a number of meetings, although always coldly, and never at
high tension.
While I was with Lerroux, I was never treated save with consideration.
Why did I leave his party? Chiefly because of differences as to ideas
and as to tactics. Lerroux wished to organize his party into a party of
law and order, so that it might be capable of governing, and also to
have it friendly with the Army. I was of the opinion that it ought to be
a revolutionary party, not in the sense that I was thinking of erecting
barricades, but I wished it to contest, to upset things, and to protest
against injustice.
What Lerroux wanted was a party of orators who could speak at public
meetings, a party of office-holders, councillors, provincial deputies
and the like, while I held, and still hold, that the only efficacious
revolutionary weapon is the printed page.
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