Date: 1917
Source: ru:PSS/v31

Comrade Lenin pointed out that the French Revolution had passed through a phase of municipal revolution, consolidating itself in local self‑governance bodies that became its mainstay. In the Russian Revolution, we observe a certain degree of bureaucratization at the central level, along with a more thorough utilization of the power held by the Soviets in the provinces. The capital’s Soviets are politically more dependent on the bourgeois central authorities than are the provincial Soviets. In the centers, it is not so easy to assume direct control over production; in the provinces, this has already been partially realized. Hence the conclusion: we must strengthen the local Soviets of workers’, soldiers’, and peasants’ deputies. Progress in this regard is possible, first and foremost, from the provinces.

“Pravda,” No. 42, May 10 (April 27), 1917

Printed according to the text of the newspaper “Pravda.”