V. I. Lenin

Meeting Of The All-Russia Central Executive Committee

November 4 (17), 1917

1

Speech On The Press

Comrade Karelin assured us that the way he was taking led to
socialism, but I am afraid this would be marching to socialism
backwards. Trotsky was right: the officer cadets staged their
uprising, and war was declared in Petrograd and Moscow for
freedom of the press. This time the Socialist-Revolutionaries
did not act at all like socialists or revolutionaries. This week
all the telegraph offices were in Kerensky’s hands. The
Vikzhel was on their side. But they had no troops. It turned out
that the army was on our side. The civil war was started by a
handful of men. It is not over. Kaledin’s troops are approaching Moscow, and the shock troops are approaching
Petrograd. We do not want a civil war. Our troops have shown
great restraint. They held their fire, and it all began when
three of our men were killed. Krasnov was given soft treatment. He was only placed under house arrest. We are against
civil war. But if it nevertheless goes on what are we to do?
Trotsky was right in asking in whose behalf you spoke? We asked
Krasnov whether he could sign on behalf of Kaledin that the
latter would not continue the war. He naturally replied that he
could not. How can we stop retaliative measures against an enemy
who has not stopped his hostile operations?

We shall negotiate when peace terms are offered to us. But so
far peace is being offered to us by those on whom it does not
depend. These are only fine words. After all, Rech is an organ of the Kaledinites. We can well allow that the
Socialist-Revolutionaries are sincere, but it is, after all, a
fact that Kaledin and Milyukov are behind them.

The firmer your stand, soldiers and workers, the more we shall
gain. Otherwise they will say to us: “If they’ve let out Milyukov, they can’t be strong.” Earlier on we
said that if we took power, we intended to close down the
bourgeois newspapers. To tolerate the existence of these papers
is to cease being a socialist. Those who say: “Open the
bourgeois newspapers”, fail to understand that we are moving at full speed to socialism. After all, tsarist newspapers
were closed down after the overthrow of tsarism. Now we have
thrown off the bourgeois yoke. We did not invent the social
revolution: it was proclaimed by the Congress of the
Soviets—no one protested, all adopted the decree proclaiming it. The bourgeoisie proclaimed liberty, equality and
fraternity. The workers say: “We want something else”. We are told that we are retreating. No, comrades, it
is the Socialist-Revolutionaries who are returning to
Kerensky. We are told that there are new elements in our
resolution. Of course there are, because we are advancing to
socialism. When the Socialist-Revolutionaries made speeches in
the First and the Second Duma, they were also ridiculed for
saying something new.

There should be a monopoly of private advertisements. The
members of the printers’ union look at them from the point
of view of income. They will get it, but in another form. We
cannot provide the bourgeoisie with an opportunity for slandering us. We must appoint a commission right away to probe
the ties between the banks and the bourgeois newspapers. What
kind of freedom do these newspapers want? Isn’t it freedom
to buy rolls of newsprint and hire crowds of pen-pushers? We
must escape from the freedom of a press dependent on capital. This is a matter of principle. If we are to advance to
socialism we cannot allow Kaledin’s bombs to be reinforced
by the bombs of falsehood.

Of course, our draft law is not perfect. But it will be applied
everywhere by the Soviets in accordance with their local
conditions. We are not bureaucrats and do not want to insist on
the letter of the law everywhere, as was the practice in the old
government offices. I recall the Socialist-Revolutionaries
saying that people in the countryside knew so very little. They were getting their information from Russkoye Slovo. We should blame ourselves for leaving the
newspapers in the hands of the bourgeoisie. We must go forward,
to a new society, and take the same attitude to the bourgeois
newspapers as we did to the ultra-reactionary papers in February
and March.

2

Reply To A Question From The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries

The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries’ question was answered
by Lenin. [1]
He recalled that in the first days of the revolution the
Bolsheviks invited the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries to join the
new government, but the group of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries,
who refused to share responsibility in those difficult, critical
days with their neighbours on the Left, declined to collaborate
with the Bolsheviks.

In its activity the new regime could not afford to reckon with
all the obstacles which could arise in its way if it scrupulously observed all formalities. The situation was much
too grave and allowed of no procrastination. There was no time
to waste on smoothing off rough corners that merely changed
outward appearances without altering the essence of the new
measures. After all, the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets
itself, brushing aside all difficulties of a formal nature,
adopted two laws of world importance at one long sitting. These
laws may have formal defects from the standpoint of bourgeois
society, but power is, after all, in the hands of the Soviets,
which can always make the necessary amendments. The Kerensky
government’s criminal failure to act brought the country
and the revolution to the brink of disaster: delay may indeed
prove to be fatal, and the new regime is setting up milestones
in the development of new forms of life by issuing laws to meet
the aspirations and hopes of the broad masses. The local
Soviets, depending on time and place, can amend, enlarge and add
to the basic provisions worked out by the government. Creative
activity at the grass roots is the basic factor of the new
public life. Let the workers set up workers’ control at
their factories. Let them supply the villages with manufactures
in exchange for grain. Account must be taken of every single
article, every pound of grain, because what socialism implies
above all is keeping account of everything. Socialism cannot be
decreed from above. Its spirit rejects the mechanical bureaucratic approach; living, creative socialism is the product
of the masses themselves.

3

Speeches Concerning The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries’
Question

I

Lenin examines the concrete charges made against the Council of
People’s Commissars. It first learned of Muravyov’s order [2]
from the press, because the Commander-in-Chief had the power to
issue emergency orders on his own authority. In view of the fact
that the order did not contain anything clashing with the spirit
of the new power, but was so worded that it could lead to
undesirable misunderstandings, the Central Executive Committee
has rescinded it. Furthermore, you criticise the Decree on
Land. But it meets the demands of the people. You accuse us of
schematising, but where are your own drafts, amendments and
resolutions? Where are the fruits of your legislative activity?
You were free to produce them. But we see nothing of them. You
say we are extremists, but who are you? You are apologists for
the sort of parliamentary obstruction that used to be known as
scandal-mongering. If you are dissatisfied, why don’t you
call another congress and act, but don’t talk about the
collapse of power. Power is in the hands of our Party, which
enjoys the confidence of the broad masses. Some of our comrades
may have adopted a platform which has nothing in common with
Bolshevism. But the mass of Moscow workers will not follow Rykov
and Nogin. Comrade Proshyan said that in Finland, where the Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries were in touch with the mass, they
believed there was need for the closest collaboration within the
entire Left wing of revolutionary socialism. The fact that the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries are not with us here merely shows
that they have gone the way of their predecessors, the defencists. They have lost the common touch.

II

Lenin and Trotsky, referring to the example of the Party
congresses and the need for them to submit to Party discipline,
announce that they will take part in the voting.

4

Speech And Resolution On The Resignation Of A Group Of
People’S Commissars From The Council Of Peoples
Commissars

Comrade Lenin replies to the preceding speakers. lie says no
internationalist can use the expression: “The West is disgracefully silent.” Only the blind fail to see the
ferment among the working masses in Germany and the West. The
top sections of the German proletariat and the socialist
intelligentsia there, as everywhere else, are mostly defencists. But the lower strata of the proletariat are prepared
to respond to our call in defiance of the will of their
leaders. The fierce discipline of the German army and navy
failed to prevent action by the opposition elements. The
revolutionary sailors of the German navy, fully aware that their
attempt was doomed, boldly went to their death in order to waken
the spirit of revolt still dormant among the people. The Spartacus group is intensifying its revolutionary propaganda. The name
of Liebknecht, a tireless fighter for proletarian ideals, is
daily gaining in popularity in Germany.

We believe in the revolution in the West. We know that it is
inevitable, but it cannot, of course, be made to order. Did we
know last December what exactly would happen in the coming
February? Did we, in September, know with any certitude at all
that within a month the revolutionary democrats of Russia would
carry out the world’s greatest revolution? We were aware
that the old power was on top of a volcano. Many signs told us
of the great work going on deep down in people’s minds. We
felt that the air was charged with electricity. We were sure
that it would inevitably explode in a purifying thunderstorm. But we could not predict the day and hour. We now
see the same picture in Germany. There, too, there is a swelling
undercurrent of dissatisfaction which will inevitably take the
forms of a popular movement. We cannot decree a revolution, but
we can help it along. We shall conduct organised fraternisation
in the trenches and help the peoples of the West to start an
invincible socialist revolution. Comrade Zaks further spoke
about decreeing socialism. But doesn’t the present government urge the masses to create better forms of life
themselves? You have the beginnings of socialism in the exchange
of manufactured goods for grain, and the strict control and
accounting of production. We are sure we are going to have a
republic of labour. He who will not work, will have to go
without food.

But to continue: what is the sign of our Party’s.isolation?
It is the breakaway of a few intellectuals. But we daily find
more and more support among the peasants. Victory will belong
only to those who have faith in the people, those who are
immersed in the life-giving spring of popular creativity.

Comrade Lenin then proposes to the Central Executive Committee
the following resolution:

The Central Executive Committee authorises the Council of
People’s Commissars to nominate, by the next sitting, candidates for the People’s Commissars of the Interior, and
Trade and Industry, and invites Comrade Kolegayev to fill the
post of People’s Commissar of Agriculture.

---
Notes:
[1]
The question was addressed to Lenin, as the Chairman of the
Council of People's Commissars, at a meeting of the All-Russia
Central Executive Committee on November 4 (17), 1917, in
connection with the issue of several decrees by the Council of
People's Commissars without the sanction of the All-Russia Central
Executive Committee. Having heard Lenin's explanations, the Left
Socialist-Revolutionary group declared them to be unsatisfactory. Uritsky tabled a resolution on behalf of the
Bolshevik group expressing full confidence in the government. Before the vote on the resolution, the Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries declared that the People's Commissars,
being parties in interest, should not take part in the voting. A
majority of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee passed a
resolution approving the government's activity.

[2]
A reference to order No. 1 of November 1 (14), 1917, issued by
the officer in command of the troops defending Petrograd,
Muravyov, calling on the soldiers, sailors and Red Guardsmen to
deal ruthlessly with any criminal elements. Because his wording
could lead to undesirable consequences, the All-Russia Central
Executive Committee on November 2 (15) asked the People's
Commissariat of the Interior to rescind it.