V. I.

Lenin

Workers, comrades!

The All-Russia Conference of the Russian Social-Democratic
Labour Party, united by its Central Committee and known simply
as the Bolshevik Party, is over.

The Conference has adopted very important resolutions on all the
fundamental issues of the revolution and the full text of them
is published below.

The revolution is passing through a crisis. This could be seen
in the streets of Petrograd and Moscow between April
19 and April 21. This has been admitted by the
Provisional Government. It has been admitted by the Executive
Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’
Deputies. Still further confirmation of it has been given, as I
pen these lines, by the resignation of Guchkov.

This crisis of state power, this crisis of the revolution, is no
accident. The Provisional Government is a government of
landowners and capitalists who are tied up with Russian and
Anglo-French capital and compelled to continue the imperialist
war. But the soldiers are worn out by the war, they are
becoming more and more aware that the war is being fought in the
interests of the capitalists; the soldiers do not want war. Furthermore, the grim spectre of an appalling debacle, of
famine and complete economic ruin is advancing upon Russia and
other countries.

The Petrograd Soviet has also got into a blind alley by entering
into an agreement with the Provisional Government, by supporting
it, by supporting the loan, and, consequently, supporting the
war. The Soviet is responsible for the Provisional Government,
and, seeing no way out of the situation, has also got itself
into a muddle through this agreement with the capitalist
government.

At this great historic moment, when the future of the revolution is at stake, when the capitalists are torn between
despair and the thought of shooting down workers, our Party
appeals to the people, saying in its Conference resolutions:

We must understand which classes are the motive force of the revolution. Their various aspirations must be soberly
assessed. The capitalist cannot travel the same road as the
worker. Petty proprietors can neither fully trust the capitalists nor all immediately agree on a close fraternal
alliance with the workers. Only when we understand the difference between these classes shall we be able to find the
correct road for the revolution.

The decisions of our Conference on all the basic issues of the
people’s life draw a clear line between the interests of the
different classes and show that it is absolutely impossible to
find a way out of the deadlock unless the policy of trust in
and support of the capitalist government is abandoned.

The situation is one of unparalleled difficulty. There is one
way out and only one—the transfer of all state power to the
Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’, Peasants’, and other Deputies
throughout Russia, from the bottom up. Only if state power
passes to the working class supported by most of the peasantry,
will it be possible to count on speedily regaining the confidence of the workers of other countries, to count on a
mighty European revolution that will throw off the yoke of
Capital and put an end to the criminal blood shed in which the
peoples are embroiled. Only if the power passes to the working
class supported by most of the peasants shall we be able to
cherish the firm hope that the working people will show
complete confidence in that power and all, without exception,
work selflessly to bring about a transformation of the entire
way of life of the people in the interests of those who labour
and not in the interests of the capitalists and landowners. Without such selfless work, with out a gigantic
effort on the part of each and every individual, without
firmness and the determination to rebuild life in a new way,
without the strict organisation and comradely discipline of all
workers and all poor peasants—without all this there is no way out.

The war has brought all mankind to the brink of destruction. The
capitalists have become deeply involved in the war and are
unable to extricate themselves. The whole world faces disaster.

Workers, comrades! The time is drawing near when events will
demand new and still greater heroism—the heroism of millions and tens of millions—than you displayed in the
glorious days of the revolution of February and March. Prepare
yourselves.

Prepare yourselves and remember that if, together with the
capitalists, you were able to achieve victory in a few days by a
simple outburst of popular wrath, you will need more than that
for victory against the capitalists, for victory over the
capitalists. To achieve such a victory, to have the workers and
poor peasants take the power, keep that power and make proper
use of it, you will need organisation, organisation, and
organisation.

Our Party is helping you as much as it can, primarily by
bringing home to you the different positions of the different
classes and their different strength. The decisions of our
Conference are devoted to this, and unless you realise this
clearly, organisation does not mean anything. And without
organisation action by the millions is impossible, success is
impossible.

Don’t put your trust in words. Don’t be misled by promises. Don’t overestimate your strength. Organise at every
factory, in every regiment and every company, in every residential block. Work at your organising every day, every
hour; do that work yourselves, for this is something you cannot
entrust to anybody else. Work to steadily, soundly and indestructibly build up full confidence in the advanced workers
on the part of the masses. Such is the main content of all the
decisions of our Conference. Such is the main lesson taught by
the entire development of the revolution. Such is the one
guarantee of success.

Workers, comrades! We call upon you to carry out the hard,
serious, untiring work of consolidating the class-conscious,
revolutionary proletariat of all countries. This is the one and
only way out, the only way to save mankind from the horrors of
war and the yoke of Capital.