1. MARXISM AND INSURRECTION. LETTER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE BOLSHEVIKS.
To be successful, insurrection must rely not upon conspiracy and not upon a party, but upon the advanced class. That is the first point. Insurrection must rely upon a revolutionary upsurge of the people. That is the second point. Insurrection must rely upon that turning-point in the history of the evolving revolution when the activity of the advanced ranks of the people is at its height, and when the vacillations in the ranks of the enemy and in the ranks of the weak, half-hearted and irresolute friends of the revolution are also at their height. That is the third point. And these three conditions for raising the question of insurrection distinguish Marxism from Blanquism.1
Once these conditions exist, however, to refuse to treat insurrection as an art is a betrayal of Marxism and a betrayal of the revolution.
To show that the Party must recognize that the entire course of events has objectively placed precisely at the present moment insurrection on the order of the day and that insurrection must be treated as an art, it will perhaps be best to compare and draw a parallel between July 3-4 and the September days.2
On July 3-4 it could have been argued, without violating the truth, that the correct thing to do was to take power, for our enemies would in any case have accused us of insurrection and ruthlessly treated us as rebels. However, to have decided on this account in favour of taking power at that time would have been wrong because the objective conditions for the victory of the insurrection did not exist.
(1) We still lacked the support of the class which is the vanguard of the revolution. We still did not have a majority among the workers and soldiers of Petrograd and Moscow. Now we have a majority in both Soviets. It was created solely by the history of July and August, by the experience of the "ruthless treatment" meted out to the Bolsheviks, and by the experience of the Kornilov revolt.3
(2) There was no country-wide revolutionary upsurge at that time. Now there is after the Kornilov revolt; this is proven by the situation in the provinces and the assumption of power by the Soviets in many localities.
(3) At that time there was no vacillation on any serious political scale among our enemies and among the irresolute petty bourgeoisie. Now the vacillation is enormous. Allied or equivalently world imperialism headed by the "Allies," our main enemy, has begun to waver between continuing the war to a victorious finish or signing a separate peace directed against Russia. Our petty-bourgeois democrats, having clearly lost their majority among the people, have begun to vacillate enormously and have rejected a coalition with the Cadets.4
(4) Therefore an insurrection on July 3-4 would have been a mistake; we could not have retained power either physically or politically. We could not have retained it physically, even though Petrograd was at times in our hands, because our workers and soldiers at that time would not have fought and died for Petrograd. There was not then the "savagery" or fierce hatred both of the Kerenskys and of the Tseretelis and Chernovs as there is now. Our people had not yet been tempered by the persecution of Bolsheviks in which the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks bore a hand. We could not have retained power politically on July 3-4 because the Army and the provinces could and would have marched against Petrograd before the Kornilov revolt occurred.
Now the picture is entirely different.
We have the following of the majority of a class, vanguard of the revolution, vanguard of the people and capable of carrying the masses with it.
We have the following of the majority of the people, because Chernov's resignation is the most striking and obvious symptom—though not the only one—that the peasants will not receive land either from the Socialist-Revolutionaries or from the bloc they lead. And that desire of the peasants is the chief reason for the popular character of the revolution.
We are in the advantageous position of a party that knows for certain which way to go at a time when imperialism as a whole and the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary bloc as a whole are vacillating in an incredible fashion.
Our victory is assured because the people are close to desperation and we are showing them a sure way out; we demonstrated to the entire people during the "Kornilov days" the value of our leadership and then we proposed a compromise to the bloc's politicians which they rejected although there is no let-up in their vacillations.
[...]
All the objective conditions exist for a successful insurrection. We have the exceptional advantage of a situation in which only our victory in the insurrection can put an end to that most painful thing on earth, vacillation, which has worn the people out; a situation in which only our victory will give the peasants land immediately; only our victory can foil the imperialist game of a separate peace to target the revolution, foil it publicly by proposing a fuller, more just and speedier peace that benefits the revolution.
Finally our Party alone can, after a victorious insurrection, save Petrograd; for if our peace proposal is rejected, if we do not secure even an armistice, we shall become "defencists," we shall move to the head of all war parties, we shall be the war party par excellence, and we shall conduct the war in a truly revolutionary manner. We shall take away all the bread and boots from the capitalists. We shall 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 material and spiritual resources for a truly revolutionary war in Russia are still immense; chances are a hundred to one that the Germans will grant us an armistice at least. And to secure an armistice would presently signify by itself to win the whole world.
[...]
In order to treat insurrection in a Marxist way, i.e., as an art, we must at the same time (as making ardent declarations in the Democratic Conference)5 have a headquarters for the insurgent detachments and without wasting a single moment distribute our forces, move reliable regiments to the critical points, surround the Alexandrinsky Theatre,6 occupy the Peter and Paul Fortress,7 arrest the General Staff and the government, muster those detachments that would rather perish than let the enemy occupy strategic positions near the city and send them against the officer cadets and the Savage Division.8 We must mobilize the armed workers and exhort them to fight the last desperate fight, occupy the telegraph and the telephone exchange at once, move our insurrection headquarters to the central telephone exchange and connect it via telephone to all the factories, regiments, hot points, etc.
Of course this is all by way of example, only to illustrate the fact that at the present moment it is impossible to remain loyal to Marxism, to remain loyal to the revolution, unless insurrection is treated as an art.
2. THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION: SOVIET FILM CLIP & FRENCH COMMUNIST SONG.
October (1927) |
Octobre (1967) |
3. DRAFT REGULATIONS ON WORKERS' CONTROL.1
1. Workers' control over the production, storage, purchase and sale of all products and raw materials shall be introduced in all industrial, commercial, banking, agricultural and other enterprises employing not less than five workers and office employees (together), or with an annual turnover of not less than 10,000 rubles.
2. Workers' control shall be exercised by all the workers and office employees of an enterprise either directly, if the enterprise is small enough to permit it, or through their elected representatives, who shall be elected immediately at general meetings, at which minutes of the elections shall be taken and the names of those elected communicated to the government and to the local Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies.
3. Unless permission is given by the elected representatives of the workers and office employees, the suspension of work at an enterprise or industrial establishment of strategic importance (see Clause 7) or any change in its operations is strictly prohibited.
4. The elected representatives shall be given access to all books and documents and to all warehouses, stocks of materials, instruments and products without exception.
5. The decisions of the elected representatives of workers and office employees are binding upon the owners of enterprises and may be annulled only by trade unions and their congresses.
6. In all enterprises of strategic importance all owners and all representatives of the workers and office employees elected for the purpose of exercising workers' control shall be answerable to the state for the maintenance of the strictest order and discipline and for the protection of property. Persons guilty of dereliction of duty, concealment of stocks, accounts, etc., shall be punished by the confiscation of all their property and by imprisonment for a term of up to five years.
7. By enterprises of strategic importance are meant all enterprises working for defence or in any way connected with the manufacture of articles necessary for the existence of the masses of the population.
8. More detailed rules on workers' control shall be drawn up by the local Soviets of Workers' Deputies, by conferences of factory committees and also by committees of office employees at general meetings of their representatives.
4. DRAFT RULES FOR OFFICE EMPLOYEES.
1. All employees of state, public and large private industrial enterprises (employing at least five wage-workers) undertake to perform the business assigned to them and not to leave their posts without special permission from the government, the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, or the trade unions.
2. Violation of the rule set forth in §1, or negligence in the dispatch of business or in presenting accounts to the government and organs of power or in the discharge of services for the public and for the economy, shall be punishable with confiscation of all the property of the offender and imprisonment for a term of up to five years.
5. MEETING OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 4 (17), 1917.
[...]
Earlier on we said that if we took power we intended to close down the bourgeois newspapers.1 To tolerate the existence of these papers is to cease being a socialist. Those who say, "Open the bourgeois newspapers," fail to understand that we are moving toward socialism at full speed. After all, tsarist newspapers were shut down after the overthrow of tsarism. Now we have thrown the bourgeois yoke off. We did not invent the social revolution: it was proclaimed by the Congress of the Soviets—no one protested, all adopted the decree proclaiming it. The bourgeoisie proclaimed liberty, equality and fraternity. The workers say: "We want something else."
6. DECREE ON THE ARREST OF THE LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR AGAINST THE REVOLUTION.
Members of leading bodies of the Cadet Party, as a party of enemies of the people, are liable to arrest and trial by a revolutionary tribunal.
Local Soviets are ordered to exercise special surveillance over the Cadet Party in view of its connection with the Kornilov-Kaledin civil war against the revolution.
This decree enters into effect from the time of signing.
V. Ulyanov (Lenin),
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Petrograd, November 28, 1917, 10:30 PM
7. DIRECT-LINE CONVERSATION WITH L. D. TROTSKY, CHAIRMAN OF THE SOVIET PEACE DELEGATION AT BREST-LITOVSK. JANUARY 3 (16), 1918.
Lenin here. I have just received your special letter. Stalin is away and I have not yet been able to show it to him. I think your plan is worth discussing. Can its final implementation be somewhat deferred, and the final decision taken after a special Central Executive Committee meeting over here? I shall show the letter to Stalin as soon as he returns.
Lenin.
I should like to consult Stalin before replying to your question. A delegation of the Kharkov Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, which has assured me that the Kiev Rada is on its last legs, is leaving today to join you.
Lenin.
Stalin has just arrived, I shall discuss it with him, and will shortly let you know our joint reply.
Lenin.
Please inform Trotsky. Request arrange adjournment and return to Petrograd.
Lenin. Stalin.
8. RESOLUTION OF THE ALL-RUSSIA CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, JANUARY 3 (16) 1918.
On the basis of all the achievements of the October Revolution and in accordance with the Declaration of the Working and Exploited People adopted at the meeting of the Central Executive Committee of January 3, 1918, all power in the Russian Republic belongs to the Soviets and the Soviet institutions. Accordingly any attempt by any person or institution whatsoever to usurp any of the functions of state power will be regarded as a counter-revolutionary act. All such attempts will be suppressed by every means at the disposal of the Soviet power, including the use of armed force.
9. DRAFT DECREE ON THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.
The Party of Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, the party of Kerensky, Avksentyev and Chernov, obtained the majority in the Constituent Assembly which met on January 5.
Naturally this party refused to discuss the absolutely clear, precise unambiguous proposal of the supreme organ of Soviet power, the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, to recognize the programme of Soviet power, to recognize the Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People, to recognize the October Revolution and Soviet power.
By this action the Constituent Assembly severed all ties with the Soviet Republic of Russia. It was inevitable that the Bolshevik and Left Socialist-Revolutionary groups should withdraw from such a Constituent Assembly because presently both patently constitute the overwhelming majority in the Soviets and enjoy the confidence of workers and most peasants.1
The Right Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties are in fact waging a most desperate struggle against Soviet power, outside the Constituent Assembly, calling openly in their press for its overthrow and labelling arbitrary and unlawful the essential crushing of the resistance of exploiters by the forces of the working classes in the struggle for their emancipation.
Both parties defend the saboteurs, servants of capital, and go so far as to issue undisguised calls for terrorism, which certain "unidentified groups" have already seconded. It is obvious that under such circumstances the remainder of the Constituent Assembly would only serve as a cover for the counter-revolutionary struggle against Soviet power.
Accordingly the Central Executive Committee resolves that the Constituent Assembly is hereby dissolved.
10. ON THE HISTORY OF THE QUESTION OF THE UNFORTUNATE PEACE.
[...]
10. Another argument in favour of going back to war is that by concluding a peace deal we become, objectively, agents of the German imperialism for we give it the opportunity to release troops from our front; we return millions of prisoners of war to Germany, and so on. But this argument is also incorrect because our "revolutionary" war at this juncture would—objectively speaking—equally make us allies or agents of the Anglo-French imperialism.
The British bluntly offered Krylenko, our Commander-in-Chief, a hundred rubles per month per soldier provided we stayed in the war. Even if we did not take a single kopek from the Anglo-French imperialists we still would be helping them—objectively speaking—by diverting part of the German army away from their fronts.
[...]
11. MEETING OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE PETROGRAD SOVIET WITH DELEGATES FROM FOOD SUPPLY ORGANIZATIONS, JANUARY 14 (27), 1918.
Vladimirov's data indicate that the old ration should not be changed. Measures must be taken to find what there is available in Petrograd.
All these data show that the workers of Petrograd are monstrously inactive. The Petrograd workers and soldiers must understand that they have no one to look to but themselves.
The facts of abuse are glaring, the speculation, monstrous; but what has the mass of soldiers and workers done about it? You cannot do anything without rousing the masses to action.A plenary meeting of the Soviet must be called to decide on mass searches in Petrograd and the goods stations. To carry out these searches, each factory and company must form contingents not on a voluntary basis: it must be everyone's duty to take part in these searches under threat of being deprived of his bread card.
We can't expect to get anywhere unless we resort to terrorism: Speculators must be shot on the spot. Moreover bandits must be dealt with just as resolutely: they must be shot on the spot.
The wealthy segment of the population must be left without bread for three days because they have stocks of other foodstuffs and can afford to pay speculators the higher price.
12. WIRELESS MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO ALL.
Calling Everybody
A number of newspapers abroad have published false reports of horrors and chaos in Petrograd, etc.
All these reports are absolutely untrue. There is complete calm in Petrograd and Moscow. No socialists have been arrested. Kiev is in the hands of the Ukrainian Soviet authorities. The Kiev bourgeois Rada has fallen and dispersed. The authority of the Ukrainian Soviet in Kharkov has been fully recognized. On the Don forty-six Cossack regiments have rebelled against Kaledin. Orenburg has been taken by the Soviet authorities and Dutov the Cossack ataman has been routed and is in flight. In Finland the victory of the Finnish workers' government is being rapidly consolidated, the counter-revolutionary whiteguard troops have been pushed back to the North and the workers' victory over them is certain.
There has been an improvement in the food situation in Petrograd. Today Old Style January 22, 1918, Petrograd workers are sending ten carloads of food to aid the Finns.
Information about Germany is very scarce. The Germans are clearly concealing the truth about the revolutionary movement in Germany. Trotsky has telegraphed Petrograd from Brest-Litovsk to say that the Germans are dragging out the talks. The German bourgeois press—obviously given its cue—is spreading false reports about Russia to intimidate the public.
A decree on the complete separation of church and state and the confiscation of all church property was published yesterday, January 21, 1918.
13. COMMUNIST CHRISTMAS.
Petrograd: General Alexeyev resigned and explained in an article of Rusko Slovo that he can not brook the premature branding of Kornilov as a mutineer before the enquiry ends. Kornilov's movement was supported by large national masses. He had sufficient patriotic motives and he did not want power but a robust Government that would end the prevailing anarchy while new and formidable German attacks threaten us. News from Petrograd state that discipline is not being restored, banishing hopes that the Army can display the necessary sturdiness.
Petrograd: Generals Denikin and Markov the partners of Kornilov's rebellion were removed to Kornilov's place of detention. A mob of civilians and soldiers forced the two generals to walk the gauntlet (keen insults) before boarding their train at the railway station. There the soldiers compelled them to move from their designated second-class coach to the penitentiary-administration's railway car.
Paris: The malefactors of Petrograd execute "countless" robberies in the darkness of night. Four hundred robberies were tallied in one day. A hundred and fifty thousand rubles were stolen from a charity pawnshop.
Paris: The military wing of the Petrograd Soviet has banned the reading of Right newspapers. A state of siege was declared in many cities.
The Minister of War drafts a plan to reorganize the Army by nationalities.
Officers of the Petrograd garrison convened a meeting which resolved, after lengthy debates, that the Army can no longer defend the country.
The dearth of bread is worsening significantly; the bread ration was lowered to 200 grams; a pound of bread costs 8-12 rubles. Few potatoes reach the marketplace; they are worth their weight in gold.
The evacuation of the capital becomes more urgent by the day and it is believed that the Government will leave Petrograd this month.
Petrograd: The railwaymen of the Moscow-Ribins line have gone on strike after giving the railway company half an hour to meet their demands. The railwaymen of the Trans-Baikal line also struck.
The Russian revolution: Lenin is set to march on Petrograd where the troops loyal to Kerensky are stationed; they put the rebels to flight at Tsarkoiselo. Loyal troops retook the wireless telegraph station. The rebels were defeated.
New Russian government. Petrograd: Lenin presides over the Council of Ministers. He signed a decree prescribing December 25 as the date of elections to the Duma.
Paris: The Council of Commissars confirmed the right of the various nationalities in Russia to choose their own form of government.
The events of Petrograd. Paris: Fighting was widespread from the outset; ammunitions ran out. Bands of drunkards roved city streets plundering liquor shops and sparking fierce combats between the loyal troops, the rioters and the revolutionaries. The "Mount of the Birds" edifice, a marvel of Byzantine sculpture, suffered serious damage. Many cadets and officers were murdered at the Infirmary and at the Military Academy. Provisional Government ministers were seized at the Winter Palace and removed to the Peter and Paul Fortress where they still linger. The new Governor General of Petrograd said that although Russia proposed an armistice to the belligerent nations it is still convenient to reorganize the Army.
Social redistribution in Russia. The new Government publishes a decree granting all municipalities power to appropriate homes, tenanted or not, and to house there the homeless or those living in ramshackle dwellings. Another decree transfers factory ownership to the workers, another one establishes the goal of low-cost housing and another confiscates all private property and land holdings without compensation. All factories, coal mines, metallurgical deposits and forests will be nationalized. The most important rivers will come under State control and the lesser ones under municipal.
The Cossacks. Thirty thousand Cossacks march on Petrograd and more are gathering to attack the capital.
London: News from Petrograd state that a conference of Russian militay and political heads is underway at Headquarters with the aim of forming a unity government embracing all political parties. General Dukonin is charged with organizing the elections to the Constituent Assembly.
The situation in Russia. The Daily Chronicle correspondent in Petrograd says that Kiev and the southern Russian provinces have experienced serious peasant uprisings. Buildings were plundered and a large number of cattle slaughtered. The province of the Caucasus has initiated a socialist parliament that follows maximalist tenets. Besarabia declared its autonomy.
Copenhaguen: News from Petrograd say that Siberia is on the verge of proclaiming independence under the leadership of Potanin who will take up residence at the governor's palace.
Petrograd: The Tartars convened a congress and proclaimed the independence of Crimea.
Russian disorders. Paris: Radiograms from Russia say that soldiers are pillaging factories, warehouses, etc; they murdered the Duke of "Laugutezko" (?). In "Misasow" (?) and "Efremow" (?) provinces the anarchy reaches "terrifying" levels. Workers of the "Kono" (?) and "Alow" (?) Societies commandeered the factories and halted the shipment of products to the Army. In Tiflis soldiers murdered three officers for not giving them several days' leave. In Odessa they shoved a colonel and three lieutenants into the water, drowning them. In "Tousoff" (?) a company killed two officers. In Turek twenty soldiers entered the home of convalescing lieutenant-colonel "Martinoff" (?) and slew him in front of his family. Similar acts of violence occur continually.
The situation in Russia. Verified election results give 2,700,000 votes for the "maximalists," 220,000,000 (sic) for the Cadets and 2,231,000 for the socialists and revolutionaries.
A decree abolishes the legal status of Roman Catholic graveyards, makes all cemeteries secular and bans all religious rituals during burials. At the same time chidren born out of wedlock are accorded the same legal status as those born in wedlock.
Poidhu: News from Petrograd state that Lenin's representatives attending the armistice talks asked the German naval forces to withdraw from Riga and the German troops on the Russian front to not be shifted to other theaters of war. The Germans rejected both conditions.
Petrograd: General Dukhonin was murdered inside his train carriage by insurgents who overpowered his escort of sailors.
Armistice conditions. It is said that the Germans demand the evacuation of Petrograd, the scrapping of the Russian fleet and the handover of the Ukraine.
Fighting. The Daily Chronicle reports from Petrograd that there is fierce fighting between Kornilov's and Bolshevik troops.
Petrograd: General "Korevichenko" (?) who had been appointed commandant of Turkistan by Kerensky was "horribly lynched" by a mob.
Petrograd: Bloody fighting on the streets of the city as of three days ago. The People's Commissars drive through the streets attempting to restore order.
Petrograd: All the socialist parties have agreed to stage a big demonstration on the 19th to protest the opening of the Constituent Assembly set for that date. The demonstration expects the participation of forty-nine regiments.
London: The rumour mill of Petrograd has it that former Czar Nicholas has fled with his entire family.
The Council of People's Commissars has ordered the arrest of Romania's king and his removal to the Russian capital.
Odessa: Petrograd newspapers speak of combats on Odessa streets between Ukrainian troops and the maximalists. The leader of the Red Guard was mortally wounded. The battleship "Sinop" (?) and others entered the bay and opened fire on the city.
Dissent. The Central Committee of the Post & Telegraph Workers Union has threatened a general strike if the Constituent Assembly is not convened. Many warships have laid down anchor in the Neva by order of the maximalists.
Petrograd: The Alliance for the Defence of the Constituent Assembly will stage a demonstration on opening day, but the Government is bent on abolishing the Constituent Assembly if it opts to oppose the Government.
Petrograd: The Russian government suspects that the Germans will not let the Russian delegation in Brest-Litovsk communicate with Petrograd. Consequently it has cut the communication line of German representatives in Petrograd with Berlin.
Berlin: The official German explanation of Russia's action is that Russia responded to the German interruption of communications between Brest-Litovsk and Warsaw designed to suppress any news of workingmen strikes in Berlin leaking out and reaching Russian ears.
Petrograd: A meeting of Moscow's Soviet of Soldiers declared that the German peace terms are unacceptable and asked Petrograd to create an army of socialist volunteers to continue the war indefinitely.
Desertion of troops. Polish soldiers of the Russian Army have deserted the maximalist ranks, fled to "Smeudek" (?) and made Krylenko the Russian generalissimo prisoner.
Call. Patriarch "I-iphen" (?) has published a pastoral letter inviting the faithful to rise up against the Government in defence of their religion.
Fight between monks and soldiers. The government of Petrograd has decreed the separation of Church and State, making void all ecclesiastical property rights and transferring all church property to the State. Immediately the Cathedral and the Alexandrov Convent were expropriated through the use of Red Guard troops. The monks of the convent rang the bells sounding the alarm. As the troops approached, the monks attacked them with staffs and a crowd of the faithful seconded them, but the troops fired back and occupied the convent.
Civil War in the offing. General Alexeyev has gone to the Don Territory with an army of thirty thousand soldiers to fight the maximalists. The commander of the maximalists tallies twenty thousand Red Guard troops in the same region.
German peace demands. Paris: Telegraphs from Petrograd inform that the report tabled by Trotsky on the Brest-Litovsk peace talks declares that the German peace terms included their annexation of Poland, Lithuania and Riga together with the Moon Islands (Estonia) and a reparations payment of twenty thousand million Francs.
Nauen: News from London relate that Litvinov the Bolshevik representative sent to London brought revolutionary propaganda with him. The police confiscated his load of illegal pamphlets.
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