# To the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers
Source: PSS vol. 34

Comrades! The Socialist-Revolutionary Party—of which Kerensky is a member—urges you, in its newspaper “The Cause of the People” (dated September 30), to “endure.”

“Endurance is necessary,” it writes, advising that power be left in the hands of Kerensky’s government and cautioning against transferring authority to the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. Let Kerensky lean on landowners, capitalists, and kulaks; let the Soviets—those who have carried out the revolution and defeated Kornilov’s generals—“endure,” we are told. Let them “endure” until the soon-to-be-convened Constituent Assembly.

Comrades! Look around you: see what is happening in the countryside, see what is unfolding in the army—and you will realize that peasants and soldiers can no longer endure. Across Russia, a vast wave of peasant uprisings is spreading, as peasants, who have long been deceived into surrendering their land, finally rise up in defiance. The peasants can no longer bear it. Kerensky sends troops to crush the peasants and protect the landowners; Kerensky has once again colluded with Kornilov’s generals and officers who stand firmly in defense of the landowners.

Neither the workers in the cities nor the soldiers at the front can tolerate this military suppression of the peasants’ just struggle for land.

As for what is happening in the army at the front, Officer Dubasov—unaffiliated with any party—declared before all of Russia: “The soldiers will fight no more.” The soldiers are exhausted; the soldiers go barefoot; the soldiers are starving; the soldiers refuse to fight for the interests of the capitalists, refusing to “endure” being fed only empty promises of peace while, in reality, the offer of peace—and a just peace, free from territorial annexations, extending to all warring peoples—is delayed month after month (just as Kerensky delays it).

Comrades! Know this: Kerensky is once again negotiating with Kornilov’s generals and officers, plotting to send troops against the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, seeking to keep power out of the hands of the Soviets! “Under no circumstances will Kerensky submit to the Soviets,” declares “The Cause of the People” outright.

Go forth, then, to every barracks; go to the Cossack units; go to the working people and explain the truth to the masses:

If power is vested in the Soviets, then no later than October 25th—provided that a Congress of Soviets is held on October 20th—a just peace will be offered to all warring peoples. In Russia, there will be a workers’ and peasants’ government that, without delay, without losing a single day, will propose a just peace to all warring peoples. Then the people will know who seeks an unjust war. Then the people will decide at the Constituent Assembly.

If power is vested in the Soviets, then, without delay, the landed estates will be declared the property and common heritage of all the people.

This is what Kerensky and his government—relying on kulaks, capitalists, and landowners—are fighting against!

It is for the sake of these very interests, for the sake of these very individuals, that you are being called upon to “endure”!

Do you consent to “endure” as Kerensky uses military force to subdue the peasants who have risen up in defense of their land?

Do you consent to “endure” as the war is dragged out yet further, as the offer of peace is delayed, as the secret treaties between the former tsar and Russian and Anglo-French capitalists are postponed?

Comrades! Remember: Kerensky has already deceived the people once before, when he promised to convene a Constituent Assembly! On July 8th, he solemnly pledged to call the Assembly by September 17th—and he deceived the people. Comrades! Whoever trusts Kerensky’s government is betraying his own brothers—the peasants and soldiers!

No, not a single day should the people consent to further delays! Not a single day must we tolerate the use of military force to subdue the peasants, or the loss of thousands upon thousands of lives in a war that could—and should—be ended immediately with a just peace.

Down with Kerensky’s government, which conspires with Kornilov’s generals and landowning nobles to suppress the peasants, to shoot at the peasants, to prolong the war!

All power to the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!

Written sometime after September 30 (October 13), 1917.

First published on April 23, 1924, in Pravda, No. 93.

Printed from the manuscript.