09.04.1998

A speech by Lenin

From The Call, paper of the British Socialist Party, April 4 1918

The following is a summary of a speech made by Lenin at the sitting of the All-Russia Congress of Soviets:

Comparing the Soviet government with the Paris Commune of 1871, he pointed out that the former had profited by the experience of the latter and constituted itself exclusively on the authority of the workers and poorer peasantry, to the exclusion of capitalists and imperialists.

The way the peasantry had grasped the meaning of the regime was remarkable. They had now become the most faithful friends and allies of the working class, because they realised that the socialisation of the land would only be brought about in conjunction with the nationalisation of the banks and the establishment of working class control over production.

During the protracted period of transition that must necessarily elapse between capitalism and socialism the proletariat must exercise a dictatorship. Socialism could not however be forced on the peasantry, and it was necessary to do what they were doing - namely, educating the peasants in socialist theories and practice.

He pointed with satisfaction to the alliance between the Bolsheviks and the left Revolutionary Socialists becoming more intimate every day. Referring to the reproaches of the right section of the congress against the establishment of a dictatorship and the use of force, he exclaimed that it was a mistake for anyone to imagine that socialism would ever be brought them on a platter. Never in history have the questions at issue in the struggles between classes been solved in any other way than by violent methods. When it was a question of suppressing the exploiters in the interests of the exploited classes, he frankly confessed he was all for violence...

The new regime would create a new socialist Red Army, able to secure the triumph of socialism both at home and abroad - the Russian Federal Republic would then be invincible. There would be many difficulties in the way. They might have to fight the bourgeoisie of foreign countries, such as England and France, who had not permitted a single Bolshevik paper to enter their country during the whole time of the Revolution.

But the workers of those countries would come to their assistance. In due course he was confident the Revolution would spread to other countries, which would learn by the Russian experience. The Russian Socialist Republic of Soviets would be a standing torch for international socialism, and what the Russians had begun would be completed by the German, French and British peoples