V. I. Lenin

Comrades Lashevich, Krymov and Mavrin, authorised by the
Bolshevik group of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, request
us to declare that the overwhelming majority of the workers who took part
in the manifestations on April 20 and 21 and carried “Down with the
Provisional Government!” placards, understood this slogan to mean
exclusively that all power should be transferred to the Soviets and that
the workers want to take over only after winning a majority in the Soviets
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. The present composition of the Soviet
does not quite express the will of the majority of the workers’ and
soldiers’ masses. That is why the Bolshevik group believes that the
C.C. resolution of April 22 does not give a precise characteristic of the
present state of affairs.

Fromthe Editors . It goes without saying that the
C.C. resolution is in no sense aimed against the organisers of the mass
demonstrations, and that such an interpretation of the slogan rules out any
idea of thoughtlessness or adventurism. At any rate, the peaceful and
impressively massive character of these manifestations is to the great
credit of these comrades as representing the organisers of the
manifestations. They alone organised a fitting rebuff to the bourgeoisie,
which was demonstrating in favour of its own Provisional
Government.

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