V. I.

Lenin

At the first stage of its development the Russian revolution
transferred power to the imperialist bourgeoisie, and created,
alongside of that power, the Soviets of Deputies, with the
petty-bourgeois democrats in the majority. The second stage of
the revolution (May 6) formally removed from power the cynically
frank spokesmen of imperialism, Milyukov and Guchkov, and
virtually transformed the majority parties in the Soviets into
governing parties. Our Party remained, before and after May 6, a
minority opposition. This was inevitable, for we are the party
of the socialist proletariat, a party holding an internationalist position. A socialist proletariat whose outlook
during an imperialist war is internationalist cannot but be in
opposition to any power waging that war, regardless of whether
that power is a monarchy or republic, or is held by defencist
“socialists”. And the party of the socialist proletariat is bound to attract an increasingly large mass of
people who are being ruined by the protracted war and are
growing distrustful of “socialists” committed to the service of imperialism, in the same way as they previously grew
distrustful of imperialists themselves.

The struggle against our Party, therefore, began in the very
first days of the revolution. And however infamous and abominable the forms of struggle carried on by the Cadets and
the Plekhanov people against the party of the proletariat, the
meaning of the struggle is quite clear. It is the same struggle as the imperialists and the Scheidemann people
waged against Liebknecht and Adler (both of whom were, in fact,
declared “mad” by the central organ of the German “socialists”, to say nothing of the bourgeois press,
which

described these comrades simply as “traitors” working for Britain). This is a struggle of the whole of
bourgeois society, including the petty-bourgeois democrats , however r-r-revolutionary they may be, against the
socialist, internationalist proletariat.

In Russia, this struggle has reached a stage where the imperialists are trying, through the petty-bourgeois-democratic
leaders, the Tseretelis, Chernovs, etc., to destroy the growing
power of the workers’ party at a single hard and decisive
blow. As a pretext for this decisive blow, Minister Tsereteli
has struck upon a method repeatedly used by counter-revolutionaries: the charge of conspiracy. This
charge is a mere pretext. The point is that the petty-bourgeois democrats,
who take their cue from the Russian and the Allied imperialists,
need to do away with the internationalist socialists once
and for all. They think that the moment is ripe for the
blow. They are agitated and frightened, and under the whip of
their masters they have made up their minds: now or never.

The socialist proletariat and our Party must be as cool and
collected as possible, must show the greatest staunchness and
vigilance. Let the future
Cavaignacs [1] begin first. Our Party conference has already given warning of their arrival. The
workers of Petrograd will give them no opportunity to disclaim
responsibility. They will bide their time, gathering their
forces and preparing for resistance when those gentlemen decide to turn from words to action.

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Notes:
[1]
Cavaignac, Louis Eugene —French general who after the February
revolution of 1848 became War Minister of the Provisional
Government. In June 1848 he led the suppression of the Paris workers’
uprising.