V. I.

Lenin

It has not. Dual power still remains. The basic question of
every revolution, that of state power, is still in an uncertain,
unstable, and obviously transitory state.

Compare the papers of the cabinet, Rech , for instance,
with Izvestia, Dyelo Naroda , and Rabochaya Gazeta. Scan the meagre—unfortunately all too
meagre—official reports of what is going on at the meetings
of the Provisional Government, of how the government “postpones”
discussion of the most vital issues, because of its inability to
take any definite course. Study the resolution of the Soviet’s
Executive Committee passed on May 16, which deals with such a
crucial and momentous question as that of how to cope with
economic chaos and avert imminent debacle—and you will see
that dual power is absolutely intact.

Everyone admits that the country is swiftly heading for
disaster—yet all that is done about it is to brush the question under the carpet.

Is it not side-stepping the issue, when a resolution on such a
grave question as impending economic catastrophe, at such a
grave moment, merely creates a spate of commissions, departments, and sub-departments; when the same Executive
Committee passes a resolution expressing nothing but pious
wishes on such a scandalous affair as that of the Donets coal
mine owners who were found guilty of deliberately disorganising
production? [1]

Price fixing, profit regulation, the establishment of a minimum wage, and the formation of
state-controlled trusts—yes, but how, through whom?
“Through the central and local institutions in the Donets Krivoi
Rog Basin. These institutions must be democratic in character
and made up of representatives of the workers, employers, the
government, and democratic revolutionary organisations”!

This would be comical if the matter involved were not a tragedy.

It is common knowledge that such “democratic” institutions have
existed and still exist locally and in Petrograd (the very same
Executive Committee of the Soviet) but they are powerless to do
anything. Meetings between the Donets workers and the employers
have been going on since the end of March—March! Over six
weeks have passed and the result is that the Donets workers have
been forced to the conclusion that the coal mine owners are
deliberately disorganising production!

And again the people are fed with promises, commissions,
meetings between representatives of the workers and employers
(in equal numbers?), and the old red tape starts all over again.

The root of the evil is in the dual power. The root of the
Narodniks’ and Mensheviks’ error is that they do not understand
the class struggle, and want to replace or cloak it, reconcile
it by means of phrases, promises, resolutions, commissions “with
the participation” of representatives ... of the same dual
government!

The capitalists have made fantastic, outrageous fortunes out of
the war. They have the majority of the government on their
side. They want to rule supreme; in view of their class position
they are bound to make a bid for supreme power and fight for it.

The working masses constitute the vast majority of the population, they control the Soviets, they are aware of their
power as a majority, they see everywhere the promise of a
“democratised” life, they know that democracy is the rule of the
majority over the minority ( and not the reverse— which is what the capitalists want), they have been striving to
better their lives only since the revolution (and then not
everywhere), and not since the beginning of the war—therefore they cannot but aspire towards supreme rule
by the people, i.e., the majority of the population, towards
affairs being managed according to the will of the worker
majority as opposed to the capitalist minority, and not
according to an “agreement” between the majority and the
minority.

Dual power still remains. The government of the capitalists
remains a government of the capitalists, despite the appended
tag of Narodniks and Mensheviks in a minority capacity. The
Soviets remain the organisation of the majority. The Narodnik
and Menshevik leaders are floundering helplessly in an attempt
to straddle two stools.

Meanwhile the crisis is growing. Things have reached a point
where the capitalists—the coal mine owners—are brazenly committing outrageous crimes—they are
disorganising and stopping production. Unemployment is spreading. There is talk of lockouts. Actually they have
started in the form of disorganisation of production by
the capitalists (for coal is the bread of industry! ), in the form of growing unemployment.

Sole responsibility for this crisis, for the impending catastrophe, rests with the Narodnik and Menshevik leaders. For
it is they who are at present the leaders of the Soviets, i.e.,
of the majority. That the minority (the capitalists) should be
unwilling to submit to the majority is inevitable. No person who
has not forgotten the lessons which science and the experience
of all countries teach us, no person who has not forgotten the
class struggle, will look trustfully towards “an agreement” with
the capitalists on such an essential, burning question.

The majority of the population, i.e., the Soviets, the workers
and peasants, would be fully able to save the situation, prevent
the capitalists from disorganising and stopping production,
establish their own immediate and effective control over production if it were not for the “conciliatory” policy of
the Narodnik and Menshevik leaders. They bear full responsibility for the crisis and the catastrophe.

There is no way out, however, other than by the worker and peasant majority deciding to act against the capitalist
minority. Playing for time will not help, it will only make
matters worse.

Viewed from a Marxist angle, the “conciliatory” attitude of the
Narodnik and Menshevik leaders is a manifestation of petty-bourgeois indecision. The petty bourgeoisie is afraid to
trust the workers, and is afraid to break with the capitalists. Such wavering is inevitable, as inevitable as our
struggle, the struggle of the proletarian party, to overcome indecision, and to make the people see the necessity for
rehabilitating, organising, and increasing production in the
teeth of capitalist opposition.

There is no other way out. Either we go back to supreme rule by
the capitalists, or forward towards real democracy, towards
majority decisions. This dual power cannot last long.

---
Notes:
[1]

See also: Inevitable Catastrophe and Extravagant Promises and One More Crime of the Capitalists for more on the Donets coal mine owners.

— MIA Eds? .

— Ed .