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W O R K E R S O F A L L C O U N T R I E S , U N I T E!

LENIN

COLLECTED WORKS

2D

A

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THE RUSSIAN EDITION WAS PRINTED

IN ACCORDANCE WITH A DECISION

OF THE NINTH CONGRESS OF THE R.C.P.(B.)AND THE SECOND CONGRESS OF SOVIETS

OF THE U.S.S.R.

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V. I.LEN I N

cOLLEcTED WORKS

V OLUME

2D

September 191UFebruary 1918

PROGRESS PUBLISHERS

M O S C O W

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TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN

BY Y U R I S D O B N I K O V AND G E O R G E H A N N A

EDITED BY G E O R G E H A N N A

First printing 1964

Second printing 1972

Third printing 1977

Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

l10102036

.

014(01)74

From Marx to Mao

M

L

Digital Reprints2011

www.marx2mao.com

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CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

September-December 1917

THE BOLSHEVIKS MUST ASSUME POWER. A Letter to theCentral Committee and the Petrograd and Moscow Com-mittees of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MARXISM AND INSURRECTION. A Letter to the CentralCommittee of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.) . . . . . . . . . . . . .

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR . They AreTrying to Frighten Us with Civil War . . . . . . . . . .

HEROES OF FRAUD AND THE MISTAKES OF THE BOLSHEVIKS . .

FROM A PUBLICISTS DIARY. The Mistakes of Our Party . . .

THE TASKS OF THE REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agreements with the Capitalists Are Disastrous . . . . .Power to the Soviets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peace to the Peoples

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Land to Those Who Till It . . . . . . . . . . . . .Struggle Against Famine and Economic Ruin . . . . . .Struggle Against the Counter-Revolution of the Land-

owners and Capitalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peaceful Development of the Revolution . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO I. T . SMILGA , CHAIRMAN OF THE REGIONALCOMMITTEE OF THE ARMY, NAVY AND WORKERS OF FINLAND

1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page

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CONTENTS8

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

THE CRISIS HAS MATURED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CAN THE BOLSHEVIKS RETAIN STATE POWER ? . . . . . . .

Foreword to the Second Edition . . . . . . . . . . .Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TO WORKERS, PEASANTS, AND SOLDIERS! . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, THE MOSCOW ANDPETROGRAD COMMITTEES AND THE BOLSHEVIK MEMBERSOF THE PETROGRAD AND MOSCOW SOVIETS . . . . . . .

THESES FOR A REPORT AT THE OCTOBER 8 CONFERENCE OFTHE PETROGRAD ORGANISATION, ALSO FOR A RESOLUTIONAND INSTRUCTIONS TO THO SE ELECTED TO THE PARTYCONGRESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the Question of the Partys Participation in thePre-parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the Slogan All Power to the Soviets . . . . . .Note to the Resolution on Power to the Soviets . . . .

LETTER TO THE PETROGRAD CITY CONFERENCE. ToBe Read in Closed Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

REVISION OF THE PARTY PROGRAMME . . . . . . . . . . .

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .VIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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FROM MARX

TO MAO

NOT FOR

COMMERCIAL

DISTRIBUTION

ADVICE OF AN ONLOOKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO THE BOLSHEVIK COMRADES ATTENDING THECONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF THE NORTHERN REGION . . . . .

MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.),OCTOBER 10 (23 ), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. Report. Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.),OCTOBER 16 (29), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. Report. Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. Speeches in Discussion. Minutes . . . . . . . . . .

1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3. Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO COMRADES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO BOLSHEVIK PARTY MEMBERS . . . . . . . . . .

THE TASKS OF OUR PARTY IN THE INTERNATIONAL.Apropos of the Third Zimmerwald Conference . . . . . . .

LETTER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.)SOCIALIST-REVOLUTIONARY PARTY CHEATS THE PEASANTSONCE AGAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS . . . . . . . . .

TO THE CITIZENS OF RUSSIA! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MEETING OF THE PETROGRAD SOVIET OF WORKERS ANDSOLDIERS DEPUTIES, OCTOBER 25 (NOVEMBER 7), 1917 . . . .

1. REPORT ON THE TASKS OF THE SOVIET POWER.

Newspaper Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. RESOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SECOND ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF WORKERSAND SOLDIERS DEPUTIES, October 25-26 (Novem-ber 7-8), 1917. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. TO WORKERS, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS! . . . . . . .2. REPORT ON PEACE, OCTOBER 26 (NOVEMBER 8)

Decree on Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3. CONCLUDING SPEECH FOLLOWING THE DISCUS -

SION ON THE REPORT ON PEACE, OCTOBER 26 (NO -

VEMBER 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. REPORT ON LAND, OCTOBER 26 (NOVEMBER 8)

Decree on Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5. DECISION TO FORM THE WORKERS AND PEASANTSGOVERNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT REGULATIONS ON WORKERS CONTROL . . . . . . . .

DIRECT-LINE CONVERSATION WITH HELSINGFORS, OCTOBER27 (NOVEMBER 9), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. CONVERSATION WITH A . L . SHEINMAN, CHAIRMAN

OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE HELSING -FORS SOVIET OF DEPUTIES OF THE ARMY, NAVYAND WORKERS OF FINLAND . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. CONVERSATION WITH MIKHAILOV, CHAIRMAN OFTHE MILITARY DEPARTMENT OF THE REGIONALCOMMITTEE OF THE ARMY, NAVY AND WORKERSOF FINLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. CONVERSATION WITH N . F . IZMAILOV, DEPUTYCHAIRMAN OF TSENTROBALT . . . . . . . . . . . .

CONFERENCE OF REGIMENTAL DELEGATES OF THE PETRO -

GRAD GARRISON, OCTOBER 29 (NOVEMBER 11), 1917.Newspaper Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. REPORT ON THE CURRENT SITUATION . . . . . . . .2. SPEECH ON ARMING THE TROOPS . . . . . . . . . .3. SPEECH ON RESTORING LAW AND ORDER IN THE

CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

WIRELESS MESSAGE OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMIS-SARS, OCTOBER 30 (NOVEMBER 12), 1917 . . . . . . . . . .DRAFT RULES FOR OFFICE EMPLOYEES . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECHES AT A MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.), NOVEMBER 1(14), 1917.Minutes . . . . . .

RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THER.S.D.L.P. (B. ) ON THE OPPOSITION WITHIN THE CENTRALCOMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 2 (15), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . .

ULTIMATUM FROM THE MAJORITY ON THE CENTRAL COM-

MITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B .) TO THE MINORITY . . . . . . .DRAFT RESOLUTION ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS . . . . . . .

MEETING OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COM-MITTEE, NOVEMBER 4 (17), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. SPEECH ON THE PRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. REPLY TO A QUESTION FROM THE LEFT SOCIALIST-

REVOLUTIONARIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3. SPEECHES CONCERNING THE LEFT SOCIALIST-RE-

VOLUTIO NARIES QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . .

I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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264

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4. SPEECH AND RESOLUTION ON THE RESIGNATIONOF A GROUP OF PEOPLES COMMISSARS FROM THECOUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARS . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH AT A JOINT MEETING OF THE PETROGRAD SOVIET

OF WORKERS AND SOLDIERS DEPUTIES AND DELEGATESFROM THE FRONTS, NOVEMBER 4 (17) , 1917 . NewspaperReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TO THE POPULATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

REPLY TO QUESTIONS FROM PEASANTS . . . . . . . . . . .

FROM THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL -DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY (BOLSHEVIKS) . . . . . . . . .

FROM THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL -DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY (BOLSHEVIKS). To All PartyMembers and to Al l the Working Classes of Russia . . . .

DIRECT-LINE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTAND FIELD H. Q., NOVEMBER 9 (22), 1917 . . . . . . . . . .

WIRELESS MESSAGE. To All Regimental, Divisional , Corps,Army and Other Committees , to All Soldiers of the Revolu-tionary Army and Sailors of the Revolutionary Navy . . .

FOREWORD TO THE PAMPHLET. HOW THE SOCIALIST-RE-VOLUTIONARIES CHEATED THE PEOPLE, AND WHAT THENEW BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN THE PEOPLE

MEETING OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COM-MITTEE, NOVEMBER 10 (23), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. REPORT ON TALKS WITH DUKHONIN . . . . . . . .2. CONCLUDING SPEECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FROM THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARS TO THE REV-OLUTIONARY MILITARY COMMITTEE . . . . . . . . . . . .

THE EXTRAORDINARY ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SOVIETSOF PEASANTS DEPUTIES, November 10-25 (November 23 -

December 8), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. STATEMENT TO THE BOLSHEVIK GROUP AT THE

EXTRAORDINARY ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SO-VIETS OF PEASANTS DEPUTIES . . . . . . . . . .

2. SPEECH ON THE AGRARIAN QUESTION, NOVEM-BER 14 (27). Newspaper Report . . . . . . . . . .

3. DRAFT RESOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. SPEECH IN CONNECTION WITH THE STATEMENT

OF A VIKZHEL SPOKESMAN, NOVEMBER 18 (DECEM-BER 1). Newspaper Report . . . . . . . . . . . .

5. CONCLUDING SPEECH ON THE AGRARIAN QUES-TION, NOVEMBER 18 (DECEMBER 1) . NewspaperReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

292

294

297

300

302

304

309

312

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321

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324

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ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE WO RKERS AND THE WORKING

AND EXPLOITED PEASANTS. A Letter to Pravda . . . . . .

DRAFT DECREE ON THE RIGHT OF RECALL. . . . . . . . . .

REPORT ON THE RIGHT OF RECALL AT A MEETING OF THEALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 21(DECEMBER 4), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH AT THE FIRST ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF THE NAVY,

NOVEMBER 22 (DECEMBER 5), 1917. Minutes . . . . . . . . .

-

OUTLINE PROGRAMME FOR PEACE NEGOTIATIONS . . . . . . .

DECREE ON THE ARREST OF THE LEADERS OF THE CIVIL

WAR AGAINST THE REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . .THE TASKS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN PETROGRAD . . . . .

MEETING OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COM -MITTEE, DECEMBER 1 (14), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. SPEECH ON THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY . . . . . .2. R E S OL U T IO N ON T HE D E CR E E CO N CE R N IN G T HE

CADET PARTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE SECOND ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESSOF SOVIETS OF PEASANTS DEPUTIES, DECEMBER 2 (15), 1917

MANIFESTO TO THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE WITH AN ULTIMA -TUM TO THE UKRAINIAN RADA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

REPORT ON THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF PETROGRADWORKERS AND THE TASKS OF THE WORKING CLASS. DELIV-ERED AT A MEETING OF THE WORKERS SECTION OF THEPETROGRAD SOVIET OF WORKERS AND SOLDIERS DEPU -TIES, DECEMBER 4 (17), 1917. Newspaper Report . . . . . . .

ON THE OPENING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY . . . . . .

DRAFT OF A MANIFESTO TO THE PEASANTRY FROM THE

SECOND ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF PEASANTSDEPUTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NOTE TO F. E. DZERZHINSKY WITH A DRAFT OF A DECREE ONFIGHTING COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES AND SABOTEURS . . . .

SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.), DECEMBER 11 (24), 1917. Minutes . . . . . .

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE PROVISIONAL BUREAU OF THEBOLSHEVIK GROUP IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY . . . . .

THESES ON THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH AT THE EXTRAORDINARY ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESSOF RAILWAYMEN, DECEMBER 13 (26), 1917 . . . . . . . . . .

333

336

338

341

349

351

352

353353

356

357

361

364

367

368

374

377

378

379

384

FOREWORD TO THE PAMPHLET, MATERIAL ON THE AGRARIAN QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

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FOR BREAD AND PEACE

SPEECH ON THE NATIONALISATION OF THE BANKS DELIV -ERED AT A MEETING OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECU -TIVE COMMITTEE, DECEMBER 14 (27), 1917. Minutes . . . . . .

DRAFT DECREE ON THE NATIONALISATION OF THE BANKSAND ON MEASURES NECESSARY FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION

QUESTIONS TO DELEGATES TO THE ARMY CONGRESS ONTHE DEMOBILISATION OF THE ARMY . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COM -MISSARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARSON NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE RADA . . . . . . . . . . . .

FEAR OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLD AND THE FIGHT FORTHE NEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

HOW TO ORGANISE COMPETITION? . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT DECREE ON CONSUMERS COMMUNES . . . . . . . . .

RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARSON THE RADAS REPLY TO THE C.P.C. . . . . . . . . . . .

January-February 1918

SPEECH AT THE SEND-OFF OF THE SOCIALIST ARMYS FIRST

TROOP TRAINS, JANUARY 1 (14), 1918. Newspaper Report . . .

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF THE WORKING AND EXPLOITEDPEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LETTER TO THE ARMY CONGRESS ON THE DEMOBILISATIONOF THE ARMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DIRECT-LINE CONVERSATION WITH L. D. TROTSKY, CHAIR-MAN OF THE SOVIET PEACE DELEGATION AT BREST-LITOVSK,

JANUARY 3 (16) 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RESOLUTION OF THE ALL -RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVECOMMITTEE, JANUARY 3 (16) 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DECLARATION OF THE R.S.D.L.P. (BOLSHEVIKS) GROUP ATTHE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MEETING, JANUARY 5 (18), 1918

PEOPLE FROM ANOTHER WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT DECREE ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CONSTITUENTASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CONSTITUENT AS-SEMBLY DELIVERED TO THE ALL - RUSSIA CENTRAL EXE-CUTIVE COMMITTEE, JANUARY 6 (19), 1918 . . . . . . . . . .

388

391

395

397

398

400

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416

418

420

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426

427

428

429

431

434

437

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

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ON THE HISTORY OF THE QUESTION OF THE UNFORTUNATEPEACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theses on the Question of the Immediate Conclusion ofa Separate and Annexationist Peace . . . . . . . . .

AFTERWORD TO THE THESES ON THE QUESTION OF THEIMMEDIATE CONCLUSION OF A SEPARATE AND ANNEXA -TIONIST PEACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

THIRD ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF WORKERS,SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS DEPUTIES, JANUARY 10 - 18(23-31), 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL OFPEOPLES COMMISSARS, JANUARY 11 (24) . . . . . . .

2. CONCLUDING SPEECH ON THE REPORT OF THE

COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARS, JANUARY 12 (25)3. DRAFT DECREE ON EXPUNGING REFERENCES TO

THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY FROM SOVIET LEG -ISLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. SUMMING-UP SPEECH AT THE CONGRESS, JANU -ARY 18 (31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE RED GUARD H. Q. . . . . . . . . . .

EXTRAORDINARY ALL-RUSSIA RAILWAYMENS CONGRESS,JANUARY 5-30 (JANUARY 18 -FEBRUARY 12), 1918 . . . . . . .

1. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMIS-SARS, JANUARY 13 (26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. REPLIES TO NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MEETING OF PRESIDIUM OF THE PETROGRAD SOVIET WITHDELEGATES FROM FOOD SUPPLY ORGANISATIONS, JANU-ARY 14 (27), 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. ON COMBATING THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . .I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. DRAFT RESOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT DECREE ON THE NATIONALISATION OF THE MER -CHANT MARINE AND INLAND WATER TRANSPORT . . . . . .

1. DRAFT DECREE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. ADDENDUM TO THE DRAF T

SPEECHES AT A MEETING OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

OF THE R . S. D.L .P . (B. ) , JANUARY 19 (FEBRUARY 1) , 1918.Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

442

442

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453

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15CONTENTS

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

WIRELESS MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO ALL. SPECIAL TO THE

PEACE DELEGATION IN BREST-LITOVSK . . . . . . . . . . .WIRELESS MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO ALL . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH TO PROPAGANDISTS ON THEIR WAY TO THE PROV-

INCES, JANUARY 23 (FEBRUARY 5 ) , 1918 . NewspaperReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TRO TSKY. RUSSIAN PEACE DELEGATION . B REST -LITO VSK.Reply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE LAND COMMITTEE CONGRESSAND THE PEASANT SECTION OF THE THIRD CONGRESS OF

SOVIETS, JANUARY 28 (F EB RUARY 10 ) , 1918. NewspaperReport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

STATEMENTS MADE AT THE MORNING SITTING OF THE CEN-

TRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.), FEBRUARY 18, 1918.Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SPEECHES AT THE EVENING SITTING OF THE CENTRAL COM-

MITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.), FEBRUARY 18, 1918. Minutes1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DRAFT WIRELESS MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THEGERMAN REICH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DIRECT -LINE CONVERSATION WITH THE MOSCOW SOVIET,FEBRUARY 20, 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Life and Work of V. I. Lenin. Outstanding Dates . . . .

ILLUSTRATIONS

First page of the newspaper Rabochy Put No. 30, October 20 (7),1917, in which Lenins article The Crisis Has Matured waspublished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Facsimile of the manuscript of To the Citizens of Russia!written by Lenin on October 25 (November 7), 1917 . . . . .

508508

5105 1 1

512

517

518

520

522

522523

525

526

527

579

75

237

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CONTENTS16

First page of the newspaper Rabochy i Soldat No. 9, October 26(November 8), 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

First page of the manuscript of Lenins How to Organise Com-

petition?. December 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .First page of the manuscript of Lenins Declaration of Rights ofthe Working and Exploited People. Early January 1918 . . .

245

405

421

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PREFACE18

the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is reflectedin his Outline Programme for Peace Negotiations, Onthe History of the Question of the Unfortunate Peace,

and speeches at meetings of the C.C., R.S.D.L.P.(B.) inJanuary and February 1918, and other documents.Several of the works deal with the convocation and disso-

lution of the Constituent Assembly. They are Theses on theConstituent Assembly, Declaration of the R.S.D.L.P.(Bolsheviks) Group at the Constituent Assembly Meeting,January 5 (18), 1918, People from Another World, etc.

The volume also includes Fear of the Collapse of theOld and the Fight for the New, How to Organise Compe-

tition?, Draft Decree on Consumers Communes, whichgive an analysis of various aspects of socialist constructionand substantiate the need for a full-scale socialist compe-tition campaign. These works lay accent on the strictestaccounting and control in the economy, as the main task.

Fourteen items in this volume are included in the CollectedWorks for the first time. They are: Draft Resolution onFreedom of the Press, Statement to the Bolshevik Groupat the Extraordinary All-Russia Congress of Soviets of

Peasants Deputies, The Tasks of the Public Library inPetrograd, Outline Programme for Peace Negotiations,On the Opening of the Constituent Assembly, DraftResolution on the Provisional Bureau of the BolshevikGroup in the Constituent Assembly, Direct-Line Con-versation with L. D. Trotsky, Chairman of the SovietPeace Delegation at Brest-Litovsk, Instructions to theRed Guard H. Q., Draft Decree on the Nationalisation ofMerchant Marine and Inland Water Transport, Wireless

Message Addressed to All. Special to the Peace Delegationin Brest-Litovsk, Wireless Message Addressed to All,Trotsky. Russian Peace Delegation. Brest-Litovsk, Di-rect-Line Conversation with the Moscow Soviet. All thesewere written after the October Revolution and are a reflec-tion of the Bolshevik Partys efforts to consolidate Sovietpower and secure a just and democratic peace.

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19

THE BOLSHEVIKS MUSTASSUME POWER1

A LETTER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

AND THE PETROGRADAND MOSCOW COMMITTEES

OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.)

The Bolsheviks, having obtained a majority in the So-viets of Workers and Soldiers Deputies of both capitals,can and must take state power into their own hands.

They can because the active majority of revolutionaryelements in the two chief cities is large enough to carry thepeople with it, to overcome the opponents resistance, tosmash him, and to gain and retain power. For the Bol-sheviks, by immediately proposing a democratic peace, byimmediately giving the land to the peasants and by re-

establishing the democratic institutions and liberties whichhave been mangled and shattered by Kerensky, will forma government which nobody will be able to overthrow.

The majority of the people are on our side. This wasproved by the long and painful course of events from May 6to August 31 and to September 12.2 The majority gainedin the Soviets of the metropolitan cities resulted from thepeople coming over to our side. The wavering of the Social-ist-Revolutionaries3 and Mensheviks and the increase in

the number of internationalists within their ranks provethe same thing.

The Democratic Conference4 represents not a majorityof the revolutionary people, but only the compromisingupper strata of the petty bourgeoisie. We must not be de-ceived by the election figures; elections prove nothing. Com-pare the elections to the city councils of Petrograd andMoscow with the elections to the Soviets. Compare theelections in Moscow with the Moscow strike of August 12.Those are objective facts regarding that majority of revo-lutionary elements that are leading the people.

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V. I. LENIN20

The Democratic Conference is deceiving the peasants;it is giving them neither peace nor land.

A Bolshevik government alone will satisfy the demands

of the peasants. * * *

Why must the Bolsheviks assume power at this very mo-ment?

Because the impending surrender of Petrograd will makeour chances a hundred times less favourable.

And it is not in our power to prevent the surrender ofPetrograd while the army is headed by Kerensky and Co.

Nor can we wait for the Constituent Assembly, for bysurrendering Petrograd Kerensky and Co. can alwaysfrustrate its convocation. Our Party alone, on taking pow-er, can secure the Constituent Assemblys convocation;it will then accuse the other parties of procrastination andwill be able to substantiate its accusations.5

A separate peace between the British and German im-perialists must and can be prevented, but only by quickaction.

The people are tired of the waverings of the Mensheviksand Socialist-Revolutionaries. It is only our victory in themetropolitan cities that will carry the peasants with us.

* * *

We are concerned now not with the day, or momentof insurrection in the narrow sense of the word. That will

be only decided by the common voice of those who are in

contact with the workers and soldiers, with the masses.The point is that now, at the Democratic Conference,

our Party has virtually its own congress, and this congress(whether it wishes to or not) must decide the fate of therevolution.

The point is to make the task clear to the Party. Thepresent task must be an armed uprising in Petrograd andMoscow (with its region), the seizing of power and theoverthrow of the government . We must consider how toagitate for this without expressly saying as much in thepress.

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21THE BOLSHEVIKS MUST ASSUME POWER

We must remember and weigh Marxs words about insur-rection, Insurrection is an art,6 etc.

* * *It would be nave to wait for a formal majority for

the Bolsheviks. No revolution ever waits for that. Kerenskyand Co. are not waiting either, and are preparing to surren-der Petrograd. It is the wretched waverings of the Demo-cratic Conference that are bound to exhaust the patienceof the workers of Petrograd and Moscow! History will notforgive us if we do not assume power now.

There is no apparatus? There is an apparatusthe So-viets and the democratic organisations. The internationalsituation right now, on the eve of the conclusion of a sepa-rate peace between the British and the Germans, is in ourfavour. To propose peace to the nations right now meansto win.

By taking power both in Moscow and in Petrograd atonce (it doesnt matter which comes first, Moscow maypossibly begin), we shall win absolutely and unquestionably.

N. Lenin

Written September12 -14 (25 -27 ), 1917

First published in 1921 Published accordingin the magazineProletarskaya to the magazine text verified

Revolutsia , No. 2 with a typewritten copy

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22

MARXISMAND INSURRECTION

A LETTER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.)

One of the most vicious and probably most widespreaddistortions of Marxism resorted to by the dominant so-cialist parties is the opportunist lie that preparation forinsurrection, and generally the treatment of insurrectionas an art, is Blanquism.7

Bernstein, the leader of opportunism, has already earnedhimself unfortunate fame by accusing Marxism of Blan-quism, and when our present-day opportunists cry Blanqu-ism they do not improve on or enrich the meagre ideas of

Bernstein one little bit.Marxists are accused of Blanquism for treating insur-

rection as an art! Can there be a more flagrant perversionof the truth, when not a single Marxist will deny that itwas Marx who expressed himself on this score in the mostdefinite, precise and categorical manner, referring to in-surrection specifically as an art, saying that it must betreated as an art, that you must win the first success andthen proceed from success to success, never ceasing the

offensive against the enemy, taking advantage of his con-fusion, etc., etc.?

To be successful, insurrection must rely not upon conspir-acy and not upon a party, but upon the advanced class.That is the first point. Insurrection must rely upon a revo-lutionary upsurge of the people. That is the second point.Insurrection must rely upon that turning-point in thehistory of the growing revolution when the activity of theadvanced ranks of the people is at its height, and when thevacillations in the ranks of the enemy and in the ranks ofthe weak, half-hearted and irresolute friends of the revolution

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23MARXISM AND INSURRECTION

are strongest. That is the third point. And these threeconditions for raising the question of insurrection distin-guish Marxism from Blanquism.

Once these conditions exist, however, to refuse to treatinsurrection as an art is a betrayal of Marxism and a bet-rayal of the revolution.

To show that it is precisely the present moment that theParty must recognise as the one in which the entire course ofevents has objectively placed insurrection on the order ofthe day and that insurrection must be treated as an art, itwill perhaps be best to use the method of comparison, andto draw a parallel between July 3-48 and the September days.

On July 3-4 it could have been argued, without violatingthe truth, that the correct thing to do was to take power,for our enemies would in any case have accused us of insur-rection and ruthlessly treated us as rebels. However, tohave decided on this account in favour of taking power atthat time would have been wrong, because the objectiveconditions for the victory of the insurrection did not exist.

(1) We still lacked the support of the class which is thevanguard of the revolution.

We still did not have a majority among the workers andsoldiers of Petrograd and Moscow. Now we have a majorityin both Soviets. It was created solely by the history ofJuly and August, by the experience of the ruthless treat-ment meted out to the Bolsheviks, and by the experienceof the Kornilov revolt.9

(2) There was no country-wide revolutionary upsurgeat that time. There is now, after the Kornilov revolt; thesituation in the provinces and assumption of power by the

Soviets in many localities prove this.(3) At that time there was no vacillation on any serious

political scale among our enemies and among the irresolutepetty bourgeoisie. Now the vacillation is enormous. Ourmain enemy, Allied and world imperialism (for worldimperialism is headed by the Allies), has begun to waver

between a war to a victorious finish and a separate peacedirected against Russia. Our petty-bourgeois democrats,having clearly lost their majority among the people, have

begun to vacillate enormously, and have rejected a bloc,i.e., a coalition, with the Cadets.10

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V. I. LENIN24

(4) Therefore, an insurrection on July 3-4 would havebeen a mistake; we could not have retained power eitherphysically or politically. We could not have retained it

physically even though Petrograd was at times in ourhands, because at that time our workers and soldiers wouldnot have fought and died for Petrograd. There was not atthe time that savageness, or fierce hatred both of theKerenskys and of the Tseretelis and Chernovs. Our peoplehad still not been tempered by the experience of the perse-cution of the Bolsheviks in which the Socialist-Revolution-aries and Mensheviks participated.

We could not have retained power politically on July

3-4 because, before the Kornilov revolt, the army and theprovinces could and would have marched against Petrograd.Now the picture is entirely different.We have the following of the majority of a class, the

vanguard of the revolution, the vanguard of the people,which is capable of carrying the masses with it.

We have the following of the majority of the people,because Chernovs resignation, while by no means the onlysymptom, is the most striking and obvious symptom that

the peasants will not receive land from the Socialist-Revolution-aries bloc (or from the Socialist-Revolutionaries them-selves). And that is the chief reason for the popular characterof the revolution.

We are in the advantageous position of a party that knowsfor certain which way to go at a lime when imperialism asa whole and the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary blocas a whole are vacillating in an incredible fashion.

Our victory is assured, for the people are close to despera-

tion, and we are showing the entire people a sure way out;we demonstrated to the entire people during the Kornilovdays the value of our leadership, and then proposed to thepoliticians of the bloc a compromise, which they rejected,although there is no let-up in their vacillations.

It would be a great mistake to think that our offer ofa compromise had not yet been rejected, and that the Dem-ocratic Conference may still accept it. The compromisewas proposed by a party to parties; it could not have beenproposed in any other way. It was rejected by parties. TheDemocratic Conference is a conference, and nothing more.

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One thing must not be forgotten, namely, that the majorityof the revolutionary people, the poor, embittered peasants,are not represented in it. It is a conference of a minority of

the peoplethis obvious truth must not be forgotten.It would be a big mistake, sheer parliamentary cretinismon our part, if we were to regard the Democratic Conferenceas a parliament; for even if it were to proclaim itself a per-manent and sovereign parliament of the revolution, it wouldnevertheless decide nothing. The power of decision lies outsideit in the working-class quarters of Petrograd and Moscow.

All the objective conditions exist for a successful insur-rection. We have the exceptional advantage of a situation

in which only our victory in the insurrection can put anend to that most painful thing on earth, vacillation, whichhas worn the people out; in which only our victory in theinsurrection will give the peasants land immediately;a situation in which only our victory in the insurrection canfoil the game of a separate peace directed against the rev-olutionfoil it by publicly proposing a fuller, juster andearlier peace, a peace that will benefit the revolution.

Finally, our Party alone can, by a victorious insurrection,

save Petrograd; for if our proposal for peace is rejected, ifwe do not secure even an armistice, then we shall becomedefencists, we shall place ourselves at the head of the warparties, we shall be the war party par excellence, and we shallconduct the war in a truly revolutionary manner. We shalltake away all the bread and boots from the capitalists. Weshall leave them only crusts and dress them in bast shoes.We shall send all the bread and footwear to the front.

And then we shall save Petrograd.

The resources, both material and spiritual, for a trulyrevolutionary war in Russia are still immense; the chancesare a hundred to one that the Germans will grant us at leastan armistice. And to secure an armistice now would initself mean to win the whole world.

* * *

Having recognised the absolute necessity for an insur-rection of the workers of Petrograd and Moscow in order tosave the revolution and to save Russia from a separate

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V. I. LENIN26

partition by the imperialists of both groups, we must firstadapt our political tactics at the Conference to the condi-tions of the growing insurrection; secondly, we must show

that it is not only in words that we accept Marxs idea thatinsurrection must be treated as an art.At the Conference we must immediately cement the

Bolshevik group, without striving after numbers, andwithout fearing to leave the waverers in the waverers camp.They are more useful to the cause of the revolution therethan in the camp of the resolute and devoted fighters.

We must draw up a brief declaration from the Bolshe-viks, emphasising in no uncertain manner the irrelevance

of long speeches and of speeches in general, the necessityfor immediate action to save the revolution, the absolutenecessity for a complete break with the bourgeoisie, forthe removal of the present government, in its entirety, fora complete rupture with the Anglo-French imperialists, whoare preparing a separate partition of Russia, and for theimmediate transfer of all power to revolutionary democrats,headed by the revolutionary proletariat.

Our declaration must give the briefest and most tren-

chant formulation of this conclusion in connection with theprogramme proposals of peace for the peoples, land for thepeasants, confiscation of scandalous profits, and a checkon the scandalous sabotage of production by the capi-talists.

The briefer and more trenchant the declaration, thebetter. Only two other highly important points must beclearly indicated in it, namely, that the people are wornout by the vacillations, that they are fed up with the irres-

olution of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks;and that we are definitely breaking with these parties

because they have betrayed the revolution.And another thing. By immediately proposing a peace

without annexations, by immediately breaking with theAllied imperialists and with all imperialists, either weshall at once obtain an armistice, or the entire revolutionaryproletariat will rally to the defence of the country, anda really just, really revolutionary war will then be waged byrevolutionary democrats under the leadership of the proletar-iat.

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Having read this declaration, and having appealed fordecisions and not talk, for action and not resolution-writing,we must dispatch our entire group to the factories and the

barracks. Their place is there, the pulse of life is there, thereis the source of salvation for our revolution, and there isthe motive force of the Democratic Conference.

There, in ardent and impassioned speeches, we must ex-plain our programme and put the alternative: either the Con-ference adopts it in its entirety, or else insurrection. There isno middle course. Delay is impossible. The revolution isdying.

By putting the question in this way, by concentrating our

entire group in the factories and barracks, we shall be able todetermine the right moment to start the insurrection.In order to treat insurrection in a Marxist way, i.e., as

an art, we must at the same time, without losing a singlemoment, organise a headquarters of the insurgent detach-ments, distribute our forces, move the reliable regimentsto the most important points, surround the AlexandrinskyTheatre, occupy the Peter and Paul Fortress,11 arrest theGeneral Staff and the government, and move against the

officer cadets and the Savage Division12 those detachmentswhich would rather die than allow the enemy to approachthe strategic points of the city. We must mobilise the armedworkers and call them to fight the last desperate fight,occupy the telegraph and the telephone exchange at once,move our insurrection headquarters to the central telephoneexchange and connect it by telephone with all the factories,all the regiments, all the points of armed fighting, etc.

Of course, this is all by way of example, only to illustrate

the fact that at the present moment it is impossible toremain loyal to Marxism, to remain loyal to the revolutionunless insurrection is treated as an art.

N. Lenin

Written September 13-14 (26 -27 ), 1917First published in 1921 Published according

in the magazine to the magazine text verifiedProletarskaya Revoluts ia , No. 2 with a typewritten copy

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28

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONAND CIVIL WAR

THEYARE TRYING TO FRIGHTEN US WITH CIVIL WAR

The bourgeoisie, frightened by the refusal of the Menshe-viks and Socialist-Revolutionaries to join a bloc with theCadets, and by the probability of the democrats being quitecapable of forming a government without them and govern-ing Russia against them, are doing their best to intimidatethe democrats.

Scare them as much as you can! This is the slogan of thewhole bourgeois press. Scare them with all your might!Lie, slander, but frighten them!

Birzhevka13 does its scaring by fabricating news aboutBolshevik activities. Others by spreading rumours about

Alexeyevs resignation, and about the imminent Germanoffensive against Petrograd, as if the facts do not provethat it is the Kornilov generals (to whom Alexeyev un-doubtedly belongs) who are capable of opening the front to theGermans in Galicia and near Riga and near Petrograd, andthat it is the Kornilov generals who are arousing the great-est hatred in the army against the General Staff.

To make this method of intimidating the democratsmore solid and convincing, they refer to the danger ofcivil war. Of all the methods of intimidation, that ofscaring with civil war is perhaps the most widespread. Hereis the way the Rostov-on-the-Don Committee of the peoplesfreedom party formulated this widespread idea, heartily wel-comed in philistine circles, in its resolution of September 1(Rech14 No. 210):

The Committee is convinced that civil war may sweep away allthe gains of the revolution and drown in rivers of blood our young,still unstable freedom, and is of the opinion that it is necessary to

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29THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR

make an energetic protest against developing the revolution as pro-posed by the unrealisable socialist utopias if we are to save the gainsof the revolution.

Here, the fundamental idea which is to be met with innu-merable times in Rech editorials, in the articles of Plekha-nov and Potresov, in the editorials of Menshevik papers, etc.,etc., is expressed in the clearest, most precise, well consid-ered and substantial form. It will therefore be useful to takeup this idea in greater detail.

Let us try to make a more concrete analysis of the civilwar question, on the basis of the half years experience ofour revolution, among other things.

This experience, similarly to the experience of all Euro-pean revolutions, from the end of the eighteenth centuryon, shows that civil war is the sharpest form of the classstruggle, it is that point in the class struggle when clashesand battles, economic and political, repeating themselves,growing, broadening, becoming acute, turn into an armedstruggle of one class against another. More often than notone may say almost alwaysin all more or less free andadvanced countries the civil war is between those classes

whose antagonistic position towards each other is createdand deepened by the entire economic development of capi-talism, by the entire history of modern society the worldovercivil war is between the bourgeoisie and the pro-letariat.

During the past half year of our revolution, we haveexperienced very strong spontaneous outbursts (April 20-21,15

July 3-4) in which the proletariat came very close to startinga civil war. On the other hand, the Kornilov revolt was a

military conspiracy supported by the landowners and capi-talists led by the Cadet Party, a conspiracy by which the

bourgeoisie has actually begun a civil war.Such are the facts. Such is the history of our own revo-

lution. More than anything we must learn from this his-tory, we must give a great deal of thought to the course ithas taken and to its class significance.

Let us try to compare the germs of the proletarian civilwar and the bourgeois civil war in Russia from the stand-point of (1) the spontaneous nature of the movement; (2) itsaims; (3) the political consciousness of the masses participat-

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V. I. LENIN30

ing in it; (4) the forces in the movement; (5) its tenacity.We think that if all the parties which are now unnecessarilythrowing about the words civil war were to approach the

question in this way, and make a real attempt to study thegerms of the civil war, the class consciousness of the entireRussian revolution would gain a very great deal.

Let us begin with the spontaneous nature of the movement.For the July 3-4 movement we have the testimony of suchwitnesses as the Menshevik Rabochaya Gazeta16 and theSocialist-Revolutionary Dyelo Naroda17 which have recog-nised the spontaneous origin of the movement. This testi-mony I quoted in an article published in Proletarskoye

Dyelo,18

and issued as a separate leaflet entitledAn Answer.*For obvious reasons, however, the Mensheviks and the So-cialist-Revolutionaries, who are defending themselves andthe part they played in persecuting the Bolsheviks, officiallycontinue to deny the spontaneous nature of the outburst ofJuly 3-4.

Let us put the controversial matter aside for the present.Let us take what is undisputed. No one denies the spon-taneous nature of the April 20-21 movement. The Bolshe-

vik Party joined this spontaneous movement under theslogan All Power to the Soviets; independently of theBolsheviks it was joined by the late Linde, who led 30,000armed soldiers into the street ready to arrest the government.(The action of these troops, let us say in parenthesis, hasnot been investigated and studied. If it is examined close-ly, and April 20 is given its place in the historic sequenceof events, i.e., if it is seen as a link in the chain whichextends from February 28 to August 29, it becomes clear

that the fault and the error of the Bolsheviks was theinsufficient revolutionism of their tactics, and by no meansthe excessive revolutionism the philistines, accuse us of.)

The spontaneous nature of the movement leading to theproletariat beginning civil war is thus beyond doubt. Onthe other hand, there is not even a trace of anything resem-

bling spontaneity in the Kornilov revolt; it was merely aconspiracy of generals who hoped by fraud and by the forceof military command to carry part of the army with them.

* See present edition, Vol. 25.Ed.
http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/http://lenin%20cw-vol.%2025.pdf/

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It is beyond all doubt that the spontaneity of the move-ment is proof that it is deeply rooted in the masses, thatits roots are firm and that it is inevitable. The proletarian

revolution is firmly rooted, the bourgeois counter-revolu-tion is without rootsthis is what the facts prove if exam-ined from the point of view of the spontaneous nature of themovement.

Let us now look at the aims of the movement. The move-ment of April 20-21 came very close to adopting the Bolshe-vik slogans, whereas that of July 3-4 was directly connectedwith them, was under their influence and guidance. TheBolshevik Party spoke quite openly, definitely, clearly,

precisely, for all to hear, in its papers and in verbal pro-paganda of the chief aims of the proletarian civil warthe dictatorship of the proletariat and the poor peasantry,peace and an immediate offer of peace, confiscation of thelanded estates.

We all know the aims of the Kornilov revolt, and no oneamong the democrats disputes that those aims were a dic-tatorship of the landowners and the bourgeoisie, dispersalof the Soviets, and preparations for the restoration of the

monarchy. The Cadet Party, this main Kornilovite party(by the way, it ought to be called from now on the Kor-nilov party), possesses a larger press and greater forcesfor propaganda than the Bolsheviks, but it has never daredand still does not dare to tell the people openly eitherabout the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie or about thedispersal of the Soviets, or about the Kornilovite aims ingeneral!

As far-as the aims of the movement are concerned, the

facts tell us that the proletarian civil war can come outwith an open exposition of its final aims before the peopleand win the sympathies of the working people, whereasthe bourgeois civil war can attempt to lead part of themasses only by concealing its aims; this is the tremendousdifference in them as far as the class-consciousness of themasses is concerned.

The only objective data on this question seem to be thoseon party affiliation and elections. There do not appear to

be any other facts which allow a clear judgement of theclass-consciousness of the masses. It is clear that the pro-

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letarian-revolutionary movement is represented by theBolshevik Party, and the bourgeois counter-revolutionarymovement by the Cadet Party, and this can hardly be dis-

puted after six months experience of the revolution. Threecomparisons of a factual nature can be made that concernthe question under consideration. A comparison of theMay elections to the local councils in Petrograd with the

August elections to the city council shows a decrease inCadet votes and a tremendous increase in Bolshevik votes.The Cadet press admits that, as a rule, Bolshevism is strongwherever masses of workers or soldiers are concen-trated.

In the absence of any statistics concerning the fluctua-tion of the party membership, attendance at meetings,etc., the conscious support of the party by the masses may

be judged only from published data concerning cash collec-tions for the party. These data show a tremendous mass-scale heroism on the part of worker Bolsheviks in collectingmoney for Pravda,19 for the papers that have been sup-pressed, etc. The reports of such collections have always

been published. Among the Cadets we see nothing of the

kind; their party work is obviously being nourished bycontributions from the rich. There is no trace of activeaid on the part of the masses.

Lastly, a comparison of the movements of April 20-21and July 3-4 on the one hand, and the Kornilov revolt onthe other, shows that the Bolsheviks indicated point-blankto the masses who their enemy in the civil war is, namely,the bourgeoisie, the landowners and capitalists. The Kor-nilov revolt has already demonstrated that the troops who

followed Kornilov did so because they had been completelydeceived, a fact made obvious the moment the SavageDivision and Kornilovs contingents came up againstthe Petrograd masses.

Furthermore, what data indicate the strength of theproletariat and the bourgeoisie in the civil war? The Bolshe-viks are strong only in the numbers and class-consciousnessof the proletarians, in the sympathy with the Bolshevikslogans displayed by the Socialist-Revolutionary and Men-shevik rank and file (i.e., workers and poor peasants).It is a fact that these slogans actually won over the majority

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of the active revolutionary masses in Petrograd on April20-21, June 18,20 and July 3-4.

A comparison of the data on the parliamentary elec-

tions and the data on the above-named mass movementsfully corroborates, in respect of Russia, an observationoften made in the West, namely, that the revolutionaryproletariat is incomparably stronger in the extra-parlia-mentary than in the parliamentary struggle, as far as influ-encing the masses and drawing them into the struggle isconcerned. This is a very important observation in respectof civil war.

It is quite clear why in all the circumstances and the

entire situation of parliamentary struggle and electionsthe strength of the oppressed classes is less than the strengththey can actually develop in civil war.

The strength of the Cadets and the Kornilov revolt isthe strength of wealth. The press and a long series of polit-ical actions show that Anglo-French capital and imperi-alism are in favour of the Cadets and the Kornilov movement.It is common knowledge that the entire Right wing of theMoscow Conference21 of August 12 gave frantic support

to Kornilov and Kaledin. It is common knowledge thatthe French and British bourgeois press aided Kornilov.There are indications of his having been aided by the banks.

All the power of wealth stood behind Kornilovandwhat a miserable and rapid failure! There are only twosocial forces among Kornilovs supporters apart from thewealthythe Savage Division and the Cossacks. In thecase of the former it is only the power of ignorance anddeception, and this power is the more formidable the longer

the press remains in the hands of the bourgeoisie. Aftera victory in the civil war, the proletariat would underminethis source of power once and for all.

As to the Cossacks, they are a section of the populationconsisting of rich, small or medium landed proprietors(the average holding is about 50 dessiatines) in one of thoseoutlying regions of Russia that have retained many medievaltraits in their way of life, their economy, and their customs.We can regard this as the socio-economic basis for a Russian

Vende.22 But what have the facts of the Kornilov-Kaledinmovement proved? Not even Kaledin, the beloved leader

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supported by the Guchkovs, Milyukovs, Ryabushinskysand Co., has succeeded in creating a mass movement!!Kaledin marched towards civil war much more directly,

much more forthrightly than did the Bolsheviks. Kaledinwent specifically to rouse the Don, and still he has notaroused a mass movement in his home region, in a Cossackregion far removed from Russian democracy in general.On the part of the proletariat, on the contrary, we observespontaneous outbursts of the movement in the very centreof the influence and power of anti-Bolshevik, all-Russiademocracy.

Objective data on the attitude of various strata and

economic groups of the Cossacks towards democracy andtowards the Kornilov revolt are lacking. There are onlyindications to the effect that the majority of the poor andmiddle Cossacks are rather inclined towards democracyand that only the officers and the top layer of the well-to-doCossacks are entirely in favour of Kornilov.

However that may be, the extreme weakness of a massCossack movement in favour of a bourgeois counter-revolu-tion has been historically proved since the experience of

August 26-31.There remains the last question, that of the tenacity

of the movement. As far as the Bolshevik, proletarianrevolutionary movement is concerned, we have proof thatthe struggle against Bolshevism has been conducted duringthe six months existence of a republic in Russia bothideologically, with a gigantic preponderance of press organsand propaganda forces on the side of the opponents of Bol-shevism (even if we risk classing the campaign of slander

as ideological struggle), and by means of repressions,which include hundreds of people arrested, our main print-ing-plant demolished, and the chief newspaper and a numberof other papers suppressed. The result can be seen in thefactsa tremendous growth of support for the Bolsheviksin the August Petrograd elections, and in both theSocialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties, a strengthen-ing of the internationalist and Left trends that are drawingclose to Bolshevism. This means that the tenacity of theproletarian revolutionary movement in republican Russiais very great. The facts tell us that the combined efforts

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of the Cadets, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Menshe-viks have not succeeded in weakening that movement inthe least. On the contrary, it was the alliance of the Kor-

nilovites with democracy that strengthened Bolshevism.The only possible means of struggle against the proletarianrevolutionary trend are ideological influence and repres-sions.

Data on the tenacity of the Cadet-Kornilov movementare still lacking. The Cadets have suffered no persecutionat all. Even Guchkov has been set free and Maklakov andMilyukov were not even arrested. Rech has not been sup-pressed. The Cadets are being spared. The Kornilovite Cadets

are beingcourted by Kerenskys government. Suppose weput it this way: assuming that the Anglo-French and theRussian Ryabushinskys will give millions and millionsmore to the Cadets, to Yedinstvo,23Dyen,24 etc., for thenew election campaign in Petrograd, is it probable thatthe number of their votes will now increase, after the Kor-nilov revolt? Judging by meetings, etc., the answer to thisquestion can hardly be anything but negative.

* * *

Summing up the results of the analysis in which we com-pared the data furnished by the history of the Russianrevolution, we arrive at the conclusion that the beginningof the proletariats civil war has revealed the strength,the class-consciousness, deep-rootedness, growth, and te-nacity of the movement. The beginning of the bourgeoisiescivil war has revealed no strength, no class-consciousness

among the masses, no depth whatsoever, no chance of victory.The alliance of the Cadets with the Socialist-Revolu-

tionaries and Mensheviks against the Bolsheviks, i.e.,against the revolutionary proletariat, has been tried inpractice for a number of months, and this alliance of thetemporarily disguised Kornilovites with the democratshas actually strengthened and not weakened the Bolshe-viks, and led to the collapse of the alliance, and to thestrengthening of the Left opposition among the Mensheviks.

An alliance of the Bolsheviks with the Socialist-Revo-lutionaries and Mensheviks against the Cadets, against

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the bourgeoisie, has not yet been tried; or, to be more pre-cise, such an alliance has been tried on one front only, forfive days only, from August 26 to August 31, the period of

the Kornilov revolt, and this alliance at that time scoreda victory over the counter-revolution with an ease neveryet achieved in any revolution; it was such a crushingsuppression of the bourgeois, landowners, capitalist,

Allied-imperialist and Cadet counter-revolution, that thecivil war from that side ceased to exist, was a mere nothingfrom the very outset, collapsed before any battle had takenplace.

In the face of this historic fact the entire bourgeois press

and all its chorus (the Plekhanovs, Potresovs, Breshko-Breshkovskayas, etc.) are shouting with all their mightthat an alliance of the Bolsheviks with the Mensheviksand Socialist-Revolutionaries threatens the horrors ofcivil war!

This would be funny, if it were not so sad. It is sad indeedthat such an open, self-evident, glaring absurdity, such aflouting of the facts of the whole history of our revolution,can still find listeners.... This only proves that the selfish

bourgeois lie is still widespread (and this cannot be avoidedas long as the press is monopolised by the bourgeoisie), alie that shouts down and drowns the most undoubted,palpably obvious lessons of the revolution.

If there is an absolutely undisputed lesson of the revo-lution, one fully proved by facts, it is that only an allianceof the Bolsheviks with the Socialist-Revolutionaries andMensheviks, only an immediate transfer of all power to theSoviets would make civil war in Russia impossible, for a

civil war begun by the bourgeoisie against such an alliance,against the Soviets of Workers, Soldiers and PeasantsDeputies, is inconceivable; such a war would not lasteven until the first battle; the bourgeoisie, for the secondtime since the Kornilov revolt, would not be able to moveeven the Savage Division, or the former number of Cossackunits against the Soviet Government!

The peaceful development of any revolution is, generallyspeaking, extremely rare and difficult, because revolutionis the maximum exacerbation of the sharpest classcontradictions; but in a peasant country, at a time when

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a union of the proletariat with the peasantry can give peaceto people worn out by a most unjust and criminal war,when that union can give the peasantry all the land, in

that country, at that exceptional moment in history, apeaceful development of the revolution is possible andprobable if all power is transferred to the Soviets. Thestruggle of parties for power within the Soviets may proceedpeacefully, if the Soviets are made fully democratic, andpetty thefts and violations of democratic principles, suchas giving the soldiers one representative to every five hun-dred, while the workers have one representative to everythousand voters, are eliminated. In a democratic republic

such petty thefts will have to disappear.When confronted with Soviets that have given all theland to the peasants without compensation and offer a

just peace to all the peopleswhen confronted with suchSoviets the alliance of the British, French and Russian

bourgeoisie, the Kornilovs, Buchanans,25 Ryabushinskys,Milyukovs, Plekhanovs, and Potresovs is quite impotentand is not to be feared.

The bourgeoisies resistance to the transfer of the land

to the peasants without compensation, to similar reformsin other realms of life, to a just peace and a break withimperialism, is, of course, inevitable. But for such resis-tance to reach the stage of civil war, masses of some kindare necessary, masses capable offighting and vanquishingthe Soviets. The bourgeoisie does not have these masses,and has nowhere to get them. The sooner and the moreresolutely the Soviets take all power, the sooner both Sav-age Divisions and Cossacks will split into an insignificant

minority of politically-conscious Kornilov supporters anda huge majority of those in favour of a democratic andsocialist (for it is with socialism that we shall then bedealing) alliance of workers and peasants.

When power passes to the Soviets, the resistance of thebourgeoisie will result in scores and hundreds of workersand peasants keeping track of, supervising, controlling,and registeringevery single capitalist, for the interestsof the workers and peasants will demand struggle againstthe capitalists deception of the people. The forms andmethods of this accountancy and control have been devel-

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oped and simplified by capitalism itself, by such capital-ist creations as banks, big factories, trusts, railways, thepost office, consumers societies, and trade unions. If the

Soviets punish those capitalists who evade the most detailedaccounting or who deceive the people, punish them byconfiscating all their property and arresting them for ashort time, that will be sufficient to break all the resistanceof the bourgeoisie by bloodless means. For it is throughthe banks, once they are nationalised, through the unionsof employees, through the post office, the consumers soci-eties, and the trade unions, that control and the accountingwill become universal, all-powerful, and irresistible.

And Russias Soviets, the alliance of her workers andpoor peasants, are not alone in the steps they take towardssocialism. If we were alone, we should not be able toaccomplish this task peacefully, for it is essentially an inter-national task. But we have enormous reserves, the armiesof the most advanced workers in other countries, whereRussias break with imperialism and the imperialist warwill inevitably accelerate the workers socialist revolutionthat is maturing.

* * *

Some speak about rivers of blood in a civil war. Thisis mentioned in the resolution of the Kornilovite Cadetsquoted above. This phrase is repeated in a thousand ways

by all the bourgeois and opportunists. Since the Kornilovrevolt all the class-conscious workers laugh, will continueto laugh and cannot help laughing at it.

However, the question of rivers of blood in the present

time of war can and must be studied by an approximatecomputation of forces, consequences, and results; it must

be taken seriously and not as an empty stock phrase, notas simply the hypocrisy of the Cadets, who have done every-thing in their power to enable Kornilov to drown Russiain rivers of blood, and to restore the dictatorship of the

bourgeoisie, the power of the landowners, and the monarchy.Rivers of blood, they say. Let us analyse this aspect

of the question as well.Let us assume that the vacillations of the Mensheviks

and Socialist-Revolutionaries continue; that these parties

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do not hand over power to the Soviets; that they do notoverthrow Kerensky; that they restore the old rotten com-

promise with the bourgeoisie in a somewhat different form

(say, non-partisan Kornilovites instead of Cadets); thatthey do not replace the apparatus of state power by theSoviet apparatus, do not offer peace, do not break withimperialism, and do not confiscate the landed estates. Letus assume that this is the outcome of the present waveringof the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, of thispresent September 12.

The experience of our own revolution tells us most clearlythat the consequence of this would be a still further

weakening of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks,their further separation from the masses, an incrediblegrowth of indignation and bitterness among the masses,a tremendous growth of sympathy with the revolutionaryproletariat, with the Bolsheviks.

Under such conditions, the proletariat of the capitalwill be still closer to a Commune, to a workers uprising,to the conquest of power, to a civil war in its highest andmost decisive form, than it is at present; after the experi-

ence of April 20-21 and July 3-4 such a result must berecognised as historically inevitable.

Rivers of blood, shout the Cadets. But such rivers ofblood would give victory to the proletariat and the poorpeasantry, and it is a hundred to one that this victory would

bring peace in place of the imperialist war, i.e., that itwould save the lives of hundreds of thousands of men whoare now shedding their blood for the sake of a divisionof spoils and seizures (annexations) by the capitalists.

If April 20-21 had ended by the transfer of all power to theSoviets, and the Bolsheviks in alliance with the poorpeasantry had won in the Soviets, it would have saved thelives of the half million Russian soldiers, who certainlyperished in the battles of June 18, even if it had cost riversof blood.

This is how every class-conscious Russian worker andsoldier figures, this is how he must figure, if he weighsand analyses the question of civil war now being raisedeverywhere; and, of course, such a worker or soldier, whohas experienced many things and given thought to them,

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will not be frightened by the cries of rivers of blood raisedby individuals, parties and groups willing to sacrificemore millions of Russian soldiers for the sake of Constan-

tinople, Lvov, Warsaw, and victory over Germany.No rivers of blood in an internal civil war can evenapproximately equal those seas of blood which the Russianimperialists have shed since June 19 (in spite of the verygreat chances they had of avoiding this by handing overpower to the Soviets).

All you Milyukovs, Potresovs and Plekhanovs be carefulabout your arguments against rivers of blood in civilwar while this present war continues, for the soldiers have

seen seas of blood and know what they mean.The international situation of the Russian revolutionnow, in 1917, the fourth year of a terrifically burdensomeand criminal war, that has worn out the peoples, is suchthat an offer of a just peace on the part of a Russian pro-letariat victorious in the civil war would have a hundredto one chance of achieving an armistice and peace withoutthe shedding of further seas of blood.

For a combination of warring Anglo-French and German

imperialism against the proletarian socialist RussianRepublic is impossible in practice, while a combination ofBritish, Japanese and American imperialism against us isextremely difficult to realise and is not at all dangerousto us, if only because of Russias geographical position.On the other hand, the existence of revolutionary andsocialist proletarian masses in all the European states isa fact; the maturing and the inevitability of the world-wide socialist revolution is beyond doubt, and such a revo-

lution can be seriously aided only by the progress of theRussian revolution and not by delegations and not by play-ing at Stockholm conferences with the foreign Plekhanovsor Tseretelis.

The bourgeoisie wails about the inevitable defeat of aCommune in Russia, i.e., defeat of the proletariat if itwere to conquer power.

These are false, selfish class wailings.If the proletariat gains power it will have every chance

of retaining it and of leading Russia until there is a vic-torious revolution in the West.

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In the first place, we have learned much since the Com-mune, and we would not repeat its fatal errors, we would notleave the banks in the hands of the bourgeoisie, we would

not confine ourselves to defence against the Versaillais(or the Kornilovites) but would take the offensive againstthem and crush them.

Secondly, the victorious proletariat would give Russiapeace, and no power on earth would be able to overthrowa government ofpeace, a government of an honest, sincere,

just peace, after all the horrors of more than three yearsbutchery of the peoples.

Thirdly, the victorious proletariat would give the peas-

antry the land immediately and without compensation.And a tremendous majority of the peasantryworn outand embittered by the playing around with the landownerspractised by our government, particularly the coalitiongovernment, particularly the Kerensky governmentwouldsupport the victorious proletariat absolutely, unreservedly,with every means in its power.

You Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries are alltalking about the heroic efforts of the people. Only

recently I came across this phrase for the nth time in theleading article of your Izvestia26 of the Central ExecutiveCommittee. With you it is a mere phrase. But the workersand peasants read it and think about it, and such delibera-tionreinforced by the experience of the Kornilov revolt,

by the experience of Peshekhonovs ministry, by theexperience of Chernovs ministry, and so fortheverysuch deliberation inevitably leads to the conclusion thatthis heroic effort is nothing but confidence of the poor

peasantry in the city workers as their most faithful alliesand leaders. The heroic effort is nothing but the victoryof the Russian proletariat over the bourgeoisie in civilwar, for such a victory alone will save the country frompainful vacillations, it alone will show the way out, italone will give land and peace.

If an alliance between the city workers and the poorpeasantry can be effected through an immediate transferof power to the Soviets, so much the better. The Bolshevikswill do everything to secure this peaceful development ofthe revolution. Without this, even the Constituent Assem-

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bly, by itself , wil l not save the situation, for even there theSocialist-Revolutionaries may continue their playingat agreements with the Cadets, with Breshko-Breshkovskaya

and Kerensky (in what way are they better than Cadets?),and so on, and so forth.If even the experience of the Kornilov revolt has taught

the democrats nothing, and they continue the destructivepolicy of vacillation and compromise, we say that nothingis more ruinous to the proletarian revolution than thesevacillations. That being the case, do not frighten us, gen-tlemen, with civil war. Civil war is inevitable, if you donot wish to break with Kornilovism and the coalition

right now, once and for all. This war will bring victoryover the exploiters, it will give the land to the peasants,it will give peace to the peoples, it will open the rightroad to the victorious revolution of the world socialistproletariat.

Rabochy Put No. 12 , Published accordingSeptember 29 (16), 1917 to the newspaper text

Signed: N. Lenin

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hypocrisy to advance them seriously. First of all, the CentralExecutive Committee was elected by the Soviets, andits refusal to deliver a report and relinquish office to the

Soviets, is a Bonapartist fraud. Secondly, the Sovietsrepresent revolutionary democracy insofar as they are joinedby those who wish to fight in a revolutionary way. Theirdoors are not closed to members of the co-operatives andcity dwellers. Those same Socialist-Revolutionaries andMensheviks ran the Soviets.

Those who remained only in the co-operatives, whoconfined themselves only to municipal (city and Zemstvo)work, voluntarily separated themselves from the ranks of

revolutionary democracy, thereby attaching themselves toa democracy that was either reactionary or neutral. Every-body knows that co-operative and municipal work is donenot only by revolutionaries, but also by reactionaries;everybody knows that people are elected to co-operativesand municipalities primarily for work that is not of generalpolitical scope and importance.

The aim of the Lieberdans, Tsereteli, Chernov and Co.when they rigged the Conference was to bring up reserves

secretly from among the adherents of Yedinstvo and non-partisan reactionaries. That was the fraud they perpe-trated. That was their Bonapartism, which allies them withthe Bonapartist Kerensky. They robbed democracy whilehypocritically keeping up democratic appearancesthisis the essence of the matter.

Nicholas II stole, figuratively, large sums from democra-cy. He convened representative institutions but gavethe landowners a hundredfold greater representation than

the peasants. The Lieberdans, Tseretelis, and Chernovssteal petty sums from democracy; they convoke a Demo-cratic Conference where both workers and peasants pointwith full justice to the curtailment of their representation,to lack of proportionality, to discrimination in favour ofmembers of the co-operatives and municipal councilsclosest to the bourgeoisie (and reactionary democracy).

The Lieberdans, Tseretelis and Chernovs have parted wayswith the masses of poor workers and peasants. They savedthemselves by the fraud that keeps their Kerenskygoing.

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45HEROES OF FRAUD AND MISTAKES OF BOLSHEVIKS

The demarcation of classes is progressing. A protest isgrowing in the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevikparties, a direct split is maturing because the leaders

have betrayed the interests of the majority of the popula-tion. The leaders are relying on the support of a minority,in defiance of the principles of democracy. Fraud is inevi-table as far as they are concerned.

Kerensky is revealing himself more and more as a Bona-partist. He was considered a Socialist-Revolutionary.Now we know that he is not merely a March Socialist-Revolutionary who ran over to them from the Trudoviksfor advertising purposes. He is an adherent of Breshko-

Breshkovskaya, the Socialist-Revolutionary Mrs. Plekha-nov, or Mrs. Potresov in their Dyen. The so-called Rightwing of the so-called socialist parties, the Plekhanovs,Breshkovskayas, Potresovs, is where Kerensky belongs;this wing, however, does not differ substantially from theCadets in anything.

The Cadets have good reason to praise Kerensky. Hepursues their policies and confers with them and withRodzyanko behind the back of the people; he has been ex-

posed by Chernov and others as conniving with Savinkov,a friend of Kornilovs. Kerensky is a Kornilovite; by sheeraccident he has had a quarrel with Kornilov himself, buthe remains in the most intimate alliance with other Kor-nilovites. This is a fact, proved by the revelations aboutSavinkov, by Dyelo Naroda and by the continuation ofthe political game, Kerenskys ministerial leapfrog withthe Kornilovites disguised under the name of the com-mercial and industrial class.

Secret pacts with the Kornilov gang, secret hobnobbing(through Tereshchenko and Co.) with the imperialistAllies; secret obstruction and sabotage of the Constituent

Assembly; secret deception of the peasants by way of serviceto Rodzyanko, i.e., the landowners (by doubling the priceof bread)this is what Kerensky is really doing. Thisis his class policy. This is his Bonapartism.

To conceal this from the Conference, the Lieberdans,Tseretelis and Chernovs had to resort to a fraud.

The Bolshevik participation in this hideous fraud, inthis farce, had the same justification as their participa-

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tion in the Third Duma29; even in a pigsty we mustuphold our line, even from a pigsty we must send outmaterial exposing the enemy for the instruction of the

people.The difference, however, is this, that the Third Dumawas convened when the revolution was obviously ebbing,while at present there is an obvious upsurge of a new revolu-tion; of the scope and the pace of this upsurge, however,we unfortunately know very little.

* * *

The most characteristic episode of the Conference was,in my opinion, Zarudnys speech. He tells us that as soonas Kerensky as much as hinted at reorganising thegovernment, all the ministers began to hand in their resig-nations. The following day, continues the nave, child-ishly nave (a good thing if he is only nave), Zarudny,the following day, notwithstanding our resignation, wewere called, we were consulted, and finally we were pre-vailed upon to stay.

General laughter in the hall, remarks at this pointthe official Izvestia.

Gay folk, those participants in the Bonapartist decep-tion of the people by the republicans. We are all revolu-tionary democratsno joking!

From the very beginning, says Zarudny, we heard two things;we were to strive to make the army capable of fighting, and to hastenpeace on a democratic basis. Well, as far as peace is concerned, I donot know whether, during the six weeks I have been a member of the

Provisional Government, the Provisional Government has done any-thing about it. I did not notice it. (Applause and a voice from the audi-ence : It did nothing, Izvestia remarks.) When I, as a member of theProvisional Government, inquired about it, I received no reply....

Thus speaks Zarudny, according to the report of theofficial Izvestia. And the Conference listen in silence, tol-erate such things, do not stop the orator, do not interruptthe session, do not jump to their feet and chase outKerensky and the government! How could they? Theserevolutionary democrats are for Kerensky to a man!

Very well, gentlemen, but then, wherein does the term

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FROM MARX

TO MAO

NOT FOR

COMMERCIAL

DISTRIBUTION

revolutionary democrat differ from the terms lackeyand scoundrel?

It is natural that these lackeys are capable of roaring

with laughter when their Minister, noted for his rarenavet or rare stupidity, tells them how Kerensky keepsremoving and replacing ministers (in order to come toterms with the Kornilov gang behind the hack of the peopleand in full privacy). It is not surprising that the lackeyskeep silent when their Minister, who seems to have takengeneral phrases about peace seriously without seeing theirhypocrisy, admits that he did not even receive a reply tohis question about real steps towards peace. Such is the

fate of lackeys, to allow themselves to be fooled by thegovernment. But what has this to do with revolution,what has it to do with democracy?

Would it be surprising if revolutionary soldiers andworkers were to get the idea that it would be good if theceiling of the Alexandrinsky Theatre were to fall and crushall that gang of pitiful scoundrels who can sit there insilence when it is being demonstrated to them thatKerensky and Co. are fooling them with their talk about

peace, who can roar with laughter when they are told asclearly as can be by their own ministers that ministerialleapfrog is a farce (concealing Kerenskys dealings with theKornilovites). God save us from our friends, we can copewith our enemies ourselves! God save us from these claimantsto revolutionary democratic leadership, we can cope withthe Kerenskys, Cadets and Kornilovites ourselves!

* * *And now I come to the errors of the Bolsheviks. To have

confined themselves to ironic applause and exclamationsat such a moment was an error.

The people are weary of vacillations and delays. Dis-satisfaction is obviously growing. A new revolution is ap-proaching. The reactionary democrats, the Lieberdans, Tsere-telis and others, wish only to distract the attention of thepeople with their farce of a conference, keep them busywith it, cut the Bolsheviks off from the masses, and providethe Bolshevik delegates with the unworthy occupation of

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V. I. LENIN48

sitting and listening to the Zarudnys! And the Zarudnysare not the least sincere of them!

The Bolsheviks should have walked out of the meeting

in protest and not allowed themselves to be caught by theconference trap set to divert the peoples attention fromserious questions. The Bolsheviks should have left two orthree of their 136 delegates for liaison work, that is, toreport by telephone the moment the idiotic babbling cameto an end and the voting began. They should not have allowedthemselves to be kept busy with obvious nonsense for theobvious purpose of deceiving the people with the obviousaim ofextinguishing the growing revolution by wasting

time on trivial matters.Ninety-nine per cent of the Bolshevik delegation oughtto have gone to the factories and barracks; that was theproper place for delegates who had come from all endsof Russia and who, after Zarudnys speech, could see thefull depth of the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevikrottenness. There, closer to the masses, at hundreds andthousands of meetings and talks, they ought to have dis-cussed the lessons of this farcical conference whose obvious

purpose was only to give a respite to the KorniloviteKerensky and make it easier for him to try new variationsof the ministerial leapfrog game.

The Bolsheviks, it turned out, had a wrong attitude toparliamentarism in moments of revolutionary (and notconstitutional) crises, an incorrect attitude to the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.

How it happened can be understoodhistory made a verysharp turn at the time of the Kornilov revolt. The Party

failed to keep pace with the incredibly fast tempo of his-tory at this turning-point. The Party allowed itself to bediverted, for the time being, into the trap of a despicabletalking-shop.

They should have left one hundredth of their forces forthat talking-shop and devoted ninety-nine hundredthsto the masses.

If the turn taken by history called for a compromise withthe Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks (personallyI believe it did) the Bolsheviks should have proposed itclearly, openly and speedily, so that they could immediate-

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ly turn to account the possible and probable refusal of theBonapartist Kerenskys friends to agree to a compromisewith them.

The refusal was already indicated by articles in DyeloNaroda and Rabochaya Gazeta on the eve of the Conference.The masses should have been told as officially, openlyand clearly as possible, they should have been told withoutthe loss of a minute, that the Socialist-Revolutionariesand Mensheviks had rejected our offer of a compromiseDown with the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks!The Conference could have afforded to laugh at the navetof Zarudny to the accompaniment of this slogan in the

factories and barracks!The atmosphere of a certain enthusiasm for the Confer-ence and the situation surrounding it seems to have been

built up from various sides. Comrade Zinoviev made amistake in writing about the Commune so ambiguously(ambiguously, to say the least) that it appeared that theCommune, although victorious in Petrograd, might bedefeated as in France in 1871. This is absolutely untrue.If the Commune were victorious in Petrograd it would

be victorious throughout Russia. It was a mistake on hispart to write that the Bolsheviks did right in proposing aproportional composition for the Presidium of the Petro-grad Soviet. The revolutionary proletar

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