V. I.

Lenin

They have brought it to a state of subjection to the imperialists.

The offensive is a renewal of the imperialist war. Nothing
essential has changed in the relations between the two gigantic
capitalist blocs waging war on one another. Even after the
revolution of February 27, Russia remains under the complete
sway of the capitalists, who are bound to Anglo- French
imperialist capital by alliance and by the old, tsarist, secret
treaties. Both ·the economics and politics of the continuing war are the same as before: the same old imperialist
banking capital dominating economic life, and the same old
secret treaties, the same old foreign policy of alliances of one
group of imperialists against another.

The empty phrases of the Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries are still empty phrases, in practice
only serving to adorn the resumption of the imperialist war, which quite
naturally meets with enthusiastic howls of approval from all the
counter-revolutionaries, the whole bourgeoisie, and Plekhanov,
“who tails after the bourgeois press”, as the
Menshevik Rabochaya Gazeta put it, which itself tails after the whole horde of social-chauvinists.

But we must not overlook the distinguishing features of this
particular resumption of the imperialist war. The resumption
came after three months of hesitation, during which time the
mass of workers and peasants thousands of times expressed their
condemnation of a war of conquest (while continuing in practice
to support the government of the predatory Russian bourgeoisie
bent on conquest).

The masses hesitated, as though they were about to carry out
at home the advice which the March 14 appeal to the peoples of the world gave to other peoples, namely,
“Refuse to serve as tools of conquest and violence in the
hands of the bankers !” But here at home, in “revolutionary-democratic” Russia, the masses have
remained in effect an instrument of conquest and violence in
“the hands of the bankers”.

A distinguishing feature of this situation is that it was
created by the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik par ties at
a time when the people enjoyed a comparatively large measure of
freedom of organisation. It is these par ties that have gained
the majority at the moment: the All- Russia Congress of Soviets
and the All-Russia Peasants’ Congress have undoubtedly proved
this.

It is these parties that are at present responsible for Russia’s
policy.

It is these parties that are responsible for the resumption of
the imperialist war, for more hundreds of thousands of lives
sacrificed virtually with the aim of enabling certain capitalists to “overcome” other capitalists, and for
the further aggravation of the economic dislocation inevitably
resulting from the offensive.

Here we had, in the purest form, the self-deception of the
petty-bourgeois masses and the deception of them by the
bourgeoisie with the aid of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and
Mensheviks. These parties both claim to be “revolutionary
democrats”. But in fact it was they who placed the people’s fate in the hands of the counter-revolutionary
bourgeoisie, the Cadets; it was they who deserted the revolution
to continue the imperialist war, who deserted democracy
to make “concessions” to the Cadets on the issue of power (take, for instance, the “confirmation” from
above of the election of authorities by the local population),
on the land issue (the Mensheviks’ and
Socialist-Revolutionaries’ renunciation of their own programme, namely, to
support the revolutionary actions of the peasants, including confiscation of the landed estates), and on
the national question (defence of the undemocratic attitude of
the Cadets towards the Ukraine and Finland).

The petty-bourgeois masses cannot help vacillating between the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat. This has been the case in all countries, especially between 1789 and 1871. And
it is also the case in Russia. The Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries have induced the masses to submit to the policy of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie.

That is the heart of the matter. That is the meaning of the
offensive. That is the peculiarity of the situation: it was not
violence, but trust in the Socialist-Revolutionaries and
Mensheviks that led the people astray.

Will it be for long?

No, not long. The masses will learn from their own experience. The sad experience of the new stage of the war (a
stage already begun), of further ruin accentuated by the offensive,
will inevitably lead to the political downfall of the
Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties.

The task of the workers’ party is, first of all, to help the
masses realise and take proper account of this experience, to
prepare properly for this great downfall, which will show the
masses their true leader—the organised urban proletariat.

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