V. I.

Lenin

The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution (Draft Platform for the Proletarian Party)

NATIONALISATION OF THE BANKS

AND CAPITALIST SYNDICATES

15. Under no circumstances can the party of the proletariat set
itself the aim of “introducing” socialism in a country of
small peasants so long as the overwhelming majority of the
population has not come to realise the need for a socialist
revolution.

But only bourgeois sophists, hiding behind “near-Marxist”
catchwords, can deduce from this truth a justification of the
policy of postponing immediate revolutionary measures, the time
for which is fully ripe; measures which have been frequently resorted to during the war by a number of bourgeois states , and which are absolutely indispensable
in order to combat impending total economic disorganisation and
famine.

Such measures as the nationalisation of the land, of all the
banks and capitalist syndicates, or, at least, the immediate establishment of the control of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies, etc., over them—measures which
do not in any way constitute the “introduction” of socialism—must
be absolutely insisted on, and, whenever possible, carried out in a
revolutionary way. Without such measures, which are only steps towards
socialism, and which are perfectly feasible economically, it will be
impossible to heal the wounds caused by the war and to avert the
impending collapse; and the party of the revolutionary proletariat
will never hesitate to lay hands on the fabulous profits of the
capitalists and bankers, who are enriching themselves on the war in a
particularly scandalous manner.

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