1. Speech on the Question of the Press
1. Речь по вопросу о печати
Date: 1917
Source: ru:PSS/v35
Translated by: AI (Claude)

Comrade Karelin assured us that the path on which he is placing himself leads to socialism. But to go to socialism in this way means to go backward. Trotsky was right: in the name of freedom of the press an uprising of junkers was organized, war was declared in Petrograd and Moscow. This time the Socialist-Revolutionaries acted not as socialists and revolutionaries. This week all the telegraphs were in the hands of Kerensky. The Vikzhel was on their side. But they had no troops. It turned out that the army is for us. An insignificant handful started the civil war. It is not finished. Kaledinites are approaching Moscow, shock troops are approaching Piter. We do not want civil war. Our troops showed great patience. They waited, did not shoot, and at first three of ours were killed by the shock troops. Mild measures were applied to Krasnov. He was only subjected to house arrest. We are against civil war. If, nevertheless, it continues, then what are we to do? Trotsky was right when he asked, in whose name do you speak. We asked Krasnov whether he would sign for Kaledin that he would not continue the war. He answered, naturally, that he could not. How then can we stop measures of persecution against an enemy who has not stopped hostile actions?

When they propose peace terms to us, we will enter into negotiations. But for now peace is proposed to us by those on whom it does not depend. These are only good words. After all, "Rech" is an organ of the Kaledinites. We fully admit the sincerity of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, but behind their backs, nevertheless, stand Kaledin and Milyukov.

The firmer you, soldiers and workers, will be, the more we will achieve. On the contrary, they will say to us: "they are not yet strong if they let Milyukov out." We declared earlier that we would close the bourgeois newspapers if we took power into our hands. To tolerate the existence of these newspapers means to cease being a socialist. He who says: "open the bourgeois newspapers" does not understand that we are going full steam ahead to socialism. And after all, they closed tsarist newspapers after tsarism was overthrown. Now we have overthrown the yoke of the bourgeoisie. We did not invent the social revolution—it was proclaimed by members of the Congress of Soviets—no one protested, everyone adopted the decree in which it was proclaimed. The bourgeoisie proclaimed freedom, equality and fraternity. The workers say: "we do not need this." They tell us: "we are retreating." No, comrades, the Socialist-Revolutionaries have gone backward to Kerensky. They tell us that there is something new in our resolution. Of course, we give something new, because we are going to socialism. When the Socialist-Revolutionaries performed in the I and II Duma, they were also met with mockery that they were saying something new.

Private advertisements must be recognized as a monopoly. Members of the printers' union look from the point of view of a piece of bread. We will give it to them, but in a different form. We cannot give the bourgeoisie the opportunity to slander us. It is necessary right now to appoint a commission to investigate the dependence of bourgeois newspapers on banks. What freedom do these newspapers need? Not the freedom to buy a mass of paper and hire a mass of scribblers? We must move away from this freedom of the press depending on capital. This question has fundamental significance. If we are going to social revolution, we cannot add to Kaledin's bombs the bombs of lies.

There are, of course, deficiencies in our bill. But it will be applied everywhere by the Soviets, according to conditions in their localities. We are not bureaucrats and do not want to apply it literally everywhere, as was done in old chancelleries. I remember how the Socialist-Revolutionaries said: how infinitely little they know in the village. They draw everything from "Russkoye Slovo". And so we are to blame for leaving the newspapers in the hands of the bourgeoisie. We must go forward to a new society and treat bourgeois newspapers the same way we treated Black Hundred newspapers in February-March.