V. I. Lenin

“Liberty Loan” {1} (DRAFT RESOLUTION WORKED OUT BY THE BOLSHEVIK GROUP OF THE SOVIET OF WORKERS’ DEPUTIES)

Resolution of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies Concerning
the 4th “Liberty Loan”

In virtue of the fact that the present war is a predatory
imperialist war, that its character has not changed at all since power in
Russia passed to the capitalist Provisional Government, and that the secret
treaties of the allied powers, which determine the true aims of the war,
remain in force—the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies protests
most vigorously against the so-called “liberty loan” and refuses to
support the Provisional Government in its intentions to drag out the war,
which benefits no one but the imperialist bourgeoisie.

If the workers of all countries of the world vote for the loans issued
by their bourgeois governments to wage the imperialist war, it will be
impossible to find a way out of the horrors of the war, and all talk about
the fraternal solidarity of the proletariat of the world, about internationalism, etc.,
will come to nothing but hypocrisy.

The coupling of votes for the loan with wishes, statements,
declarations, etc., in favour of peace without annexations is especially
clear evidence of the disastrous discrepancy between word and deed, which
has destroyed the Second International.

Until political and economic power has passed into the hands of the
proletariat and the poor sections of the peasantry, and while the aim of
the war is determined by the interests of capital, the workers reject any
new loans aimed not for but against Russia’s revolutionary freedom.

Recognising at the same time that the supply of the army with all
necessities calls for resources, and not wishing to leave their
brothers without bread for a single hour, the Soviet of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies believes that the cost of the capitalist war should be
borne by the capitalists who have reaped and continue to reap billions of
rubles in profits on this war, and insists that the necessary money should
come exclusively from the pockets of the bourgeoisie and the landowners.

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Notes:
{1}
The Bolshevik group of the Soviet discussed the attitude to the
“liberty loan” for two days, April 10 and 11 (23 and 24), 1917. The draft
resolution for the Plenary Meeting of the Soviet was worked out with
Lenin’s active participation. A resolution refusing support for the loan
was motioned by the committee headed by A. M. Kollontai, after which Lenin
and Zinoviev proposed a second resolution supplementing the first. The two
resolutions were consolidated and were adopted unanimously on April 11
(24). The report of the group’s sitting was published in Pravda
No. 31 of April 13 (26).

In his report on the present situation at the April Conference, Lenin
said that the question of war “actually united us when we came out against
the loan” (present edition, Vol. 24, p. 232).

At the Soviet’s Plenary Meeting, 2,000 deputies voted for the loan and
123 against.

p. 399