The "why should we bother to reply to Kautsky" quote is fake. If Lenin said this, it's not recorded anywhere. In reality, it was very likely fabricated by a conservative pundit to pretend that Lenin hated debate.
Seems more likely to me that Newsweek fucked up its citation than that Will managed to get a total fabrication past its fact-checkers at the height of the golden age of newsmagazines.
What's the process envisioned here? George asks his research assistant 'Clive, be a dear and dig up that delicious Lenin quote from 10 years ago,' an editor asks George where it comes from, and then instead of finding a different way to say it, George falsely makes the falsifiable claim that it comes from a specific document even though getting caught in a deliberate fabrication might have led to serious professional consequences?
Seems more likely to me that Newsweek fucked up its citation than that Will managed to get a total fabrication past its fact-checkers at the height of the golden age of newsmagazines.
What's the process envisioned here? George asks his research assistant 'Clive, be a dear and dig up that delicious Lenin quote from 10 years ago,' an editor asks George where it comes from, and then instead of finding a different way to say it, George falsely makes the falsifiable claim that it comes from a specific document even though getting caught in a deliberate fabrication might have led to serious professional consequences?