Vladimir Lenin

Speech At a Joint Session of the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee, the Moscow Soviet, Factory Committees and Trade Unions
of Moscow

July 29, 1918 [1] ( Applause, which grows into ovation. ) Comrades, this is
not the first time we have pointed out in the Party press, in
Soviet institutions and in our agitation among the people that
the period up to the new harvest will be the most difficult,
arduous and crucial phase in the socialist revolution that has
begun in Russia. Now, I think, we must say that this crucial
situation has reached its climax. That is because it has now
become perfectly clear once and for all who are the supporters
of the imperialist world, of the imperialist countries, and who
are the supporters of the Soviet Socialist Republic. It should
first be said that from the military standpoint the position of
the Soviet Republic has only now become quite clear. Many at
first regarded the Czechoslovak revolt [2] as just one of the episodes in the chain of counterrevolutionary
revolts. We did not sufficiently appreciate the news in the
papers about the participation in this revolt of British and
French capital, of the British and French imperialists. We must
now recall how events developed in Murmansk, among the Siberian
troops and in the Kuban, how the British and French, in alliance
with the Czechs, with the closest co-operation of the British
bourgeoisie, endeavoured to overthrow the Soviets. All these
facts now show that the Czechoslovak movement was one link in
the chain long since forged by the systematic policy of the
British and French imperialists to throttle Soviet Russia so as
to again drag Russia into the ring of imperialist wars. This
crisis must now be resolved by the broad mass of the people of
Soviet Russia, for we are today laced not only with a struggle
to preserve the Soviet Socialist Republic from the Czech attack,
as one particular counter-revolutionary assault, and not even
from counterrevolutionary assaults in general, but with a
struggle against the onslaught of the whole imperialist world.

I should like first of all to remind you of the fact that the
direct participation of the British and French imperialists in
the Czechoslovak revolt has long been established; I would
remind you of an article printed by Prukopnik Svobody, the
central organ of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, on June 28
and reprinted in our press [3] :

“ On March 7, the Department of the National Council received the first instalment from the French Consul to the
amount of three million rubies.

This money was handed to a certain Mr. Sip, an official of the Department of the National Council.

On March 9, this same Sip received another two million and on
March 25 another million, and on March 26, Mr. Bohumil-Cermák, Vice-President of the National Council,
received one million; on April 3, Mr. Sip received another
million.

In all, from March 7 to April 4, the French Consul paid the
Department of the National Council 8 million rubles.

No dates are indicated for the following payments: Mr. Sip one
million, Mr. Bohumil-Cermák one million and Mr. Sip another
million.

In addition, a sum of 188,000 rubles was paid to an unknown
person. Total: 3,188,000 rubles. Together with the above-mentioned 8 million we get a total of 11,188,000 rubles
paid by the French Government to the Department of the National
Council.

From the British Consul the Department received
£,80,000. Thus, from March 7 to the date of action, the
leaders of the Czech National Council received about 15 million
rubles from the French and British governments, and for this sum
the Czechoslovak army was sold to the French and British
imperialists.”

The majority of you, of course, read this report in the
newspapers at the time it was published. We certainly never
doubted that the imperialists and financial magnates of Britain
and France would do their very utmost to overthrow the Soviet
government and place every possible obstacle in its way. But at
that time the picture was not yet complete to show that what we
are faced with here is a systematic, methodical and evidently
long-planned counter-revolutionary military and financial
campaign against the Soviet Republic, which all the representatives of British and French imperialism had evidently
been preparing for months The general trend of events becomes
clear now when we review them as a whole, when we compare the
Czechoslovak counter-revolutionary movement with the Murmansk
landing-where we know the British have disembarked over ten
thousand soldiers, and under the pretext of defending Murmansk
have actually begun to advance, have occupied Kem and Soroki,
have moved to the east of Soroki, and have begun to shoot our
Soviet officials-and when we read in the newspapers that many
thousands of railwaymen and other workers of the Far North are
fleeing from these saviours and liberators, or, to give them
their true name, these new imperialist bandits who are rending
Russia from another end. And quite recently we received new
confirmation of the character of the Anglo-French offensive
against Russia.

For geographical considerations alone it is clear that the form
of this imperialist offensive against Russia cannot be the same
as it was in the case of Germany. There are no common frontiers
with Russia, as in the case of Germany; troop strength is
less. In her wars of conquest, Britain has been compelled for
many decades, owing to the primarily colonial and naval
character of her military might, to employ different methods of
attack, to attempt chiefly to cut off her victim’s supply
sources, and to prefer the method of strangulation, under
pretext of aid, to open, direct, blunt and outright military
force. From information recently received, it is clear that
Alexeyev, who has long been notorious among the Russian soldiers
and workers and who recently seized the village of
Tikhoretskaya, has undoubtedly been utilising the aid of British
arid French imperialism. There the revolt was more clear-cut,
again apparently because British and French imperialism had a
hand in it.

Lastly, we received news yesterday that in Baku the British and
French imperialists have succeeded in making a very effective
move. They have managed to secure a majority of about thirty
votes in the Baku Soviet, over our Party, over the Bolsheviks,
and those Left Socialist-Revolutionaries [4] unfortunately, very few in number-who refused to fall in with
the despicable gambles and treachery of the Moscow Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries, and who have remained loyal to the
Soviet government in the struggle against imperialism and
war. Over this nucleus in the Baku Soviet which is loyal to the
Soviet government and which up to now constituted the majority,
the British and French imperialists have now secured a majority
of thirty votes, owing to the fact that the greater part of the
Dashmktsutyun Party, [5] the Armenian quasi-socialists, have sided with them against us. ( Reads telegram. )

“On July 26, on the orders of People’s Commissar
Korganov, the Adji-Kabul detachment retired from Adji-Kabul to a
position near Alyat. After the withdrawal of the Shomakha
detachment from Shemakha and Maraza the enemy began to advance
along the River Pirsagat valley; the first skirmish with the
enemy’s vanguard occurred near the village of Kubala.

Simultaneously from the south, from the direction of the Kura, a
large force of cavalry began to advance towards Pirsagat. Under
the circumstances, to hold Adji-Kabul we would have had to
deploy all our available forces on three sides: to the west of
Adji-Kabul, and to the north and south of the Navagi-Pirsagat
valley. Such an extension of the front would have left us
without reserves and would have made it impossible for us to
strike at the enemy as we have no cavalry, and would even have
endangered the group at Adji-Kabul if the front had been broken
from the north or south. In view of this situation, and in order
to conserve the strength of the troops, orders were given to the
detachment to retreat from Adji-Kabul to a position near
Alyat. The retreat was carried out in good order. Important
railway installations and the Adji-Kabul station as well as the
kerosene and oil tanks, have been blown up. In Daghestan, the
enemy is on the move as part of the general offensive. On July
24, the enemy advanced in large forces in four directions. After
twenty-four hours’ fighting we occupied the enemy’s trenches; the foe dispersed into the woods and nightfall
prevented further pursuit. Oil July 24, news of successes was
received from Shura, where fighting is going on around the town;
the enemy is tting up a stubborn and organised resistance, and
is commanded by former Dagbestan officers. Daghestan peasants
are taking an active part in the fighting around Shura.

The Bight-wing parties in Baku have raised their heads and are
vigorously campaigning to call in the British. This campaign is
strongly backed by the army officers and is being conducted
among the forces at the front. Anglophil agitation has disorganized the army. The British orientation has recently been
making great headway among the worn-out and despairing people.

Under the influence of the unscrupulous and provocative
activities of the Right-wing parties, the Caspian flotilla has
adopted several contradictory resolutions in regard to the
British. Deceived by British hirelings and volunteer agents,
until quite recently it blindly believed in the sincerity of
British support.

Latest reports say that the British are advancing in Persia and
have occupied Resht (Giljan), where for four days they have been
engaged against Knchuk-Khan and the German and Turkish bands. who have joined forces with him, headed by Mussavatists [6] who had fled from Baku. After the Resht battle the British
applied to us for assistance, but our representatives in Persia
refused. The British got the upper hand in Resht. But they have
practically no forces in Persia. We know they have only fifty
men in Enzeli. They need petrol, in exchange for which they are
offering us cars. Without petrol they are stuck.

On July 25, a second session of the Soviet was held to discuss
the political and military situation, and at the insistence of
the rightwing parties the question of the British was raised
Comrade Shahumyan, Commissar Extraordinary for the Caucasus,
citing the resolution of the Fifth Congress of Soviets and
Stalin’s telegram on behalf of the Central Council of
People’s Commissars, spoke against inviting the British
and demanded that this question be struck from the agenda. Comrade Shahumyan’s move was defeated by a small
majority, whereupon, as representative of the central government, he entered a vigorous protest. The session heard the
report of the delegates who had visited the front. By 259 votes
of the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, Right Dashnaks and
Mensheviks against 236 votes of the Bolsheviks Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries and Left Dashnaks, a resolution was
adopted to invite the British and form a government comprising
members of all parties represented in the Soviet and recognising
the Power of the Council of People’s Commissars. The resolution was sharpy condemned by the Left wing. Shahumyan
declared that he regarded it as a shameful betrayal and stark
ingratitude towards the workers and peasants of Russia and that
as the central government’s representative, he renounced
all responsibility for the decision. A statement was made on
behalf of the group of the Bolsheviks, Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries and Left Dashnaks to the effect that
they would not join the coalition government and that the
Council of People’s Commissars would resign. Comrade
Shahumyan declared in the name of the three Left groups that a
government which had in fact broken with the Russian Soviet
government by inviting the British imperialists would receive no
support from Soviet Russia. By its treacherous policy of
inviting the British, the local Soviet had lost Russia and the
parties supporting the Soviet government.

The Right-wing parties were thrown into utter confusion at the
decision of the Council of People’s Commissars to resign. When news of this situation got around there was an
abrupt change of sentiment in the districts and at the front. The sailors realised they had been duped by traitors who
want to break with Russia and bring down the Soviet government. The people are having second thoughts about the
British. Yesterday, an urgent meeting of the Executive Committee
was held over the resignation of the Council of People’s
Commissars. It was decided that all the People’s
Commissars should remain at their posts and continue their
former functions pending decision of the question of power at
the Soviet’s session on July 31. The Executive Committee
has decided to take urgent t measures to combat the threatening
counter-revolution. The foe is carrying on activities under the
wing or the A nglo-French parties.

Press Bureau of the Baku Council of People’s
Commissars,”

Not unlike the groups here. who call themselves socialists but
have never broken off relations with the bourgeoisie there,
too. these people came out in favour of inviting the British
troops to defend Baku. [7]

We already know only too well the meaning of such an invitation
to imperialist troops to defend the Soviet Republic. We know the
meaning of this invitation extended by the bourgeoisie a section
of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and by the Mensheviks. We know
the meaning of this invitation extended by the Menshevik leaders
in Tiflis, Georgia.

We may now say that the Bolshevik, the Communist Party is the
only party which has never invited imperialists and has never
entered into a rapacious alliance with them but has only
retreated before these cutthroats when they pressed too
hard. ( Applause. ) We know our Communist comrades in the
Caucasus were in a very difficult position because the
Mensheviks betrayed them everywhere by entering into direct
alliance with the German imperialists, on the pretext, of course
of defending Georgia’s independence.

You are all aware that this independence of Georgia has become a
sheer fraud. In actual fact it amounts to the occupation and
complete seizure of Georgia by the German imperialists, an
alliance of German bayonets with the Menshevik government
against the Bolshevik workers and peasants. And, therefore., our
Baku comrades were a thousand times right in refusing to close
their eyes to the danger of the situation and saying: W(,. would
never be opposed to peace with an imperialist power on the basis
of ceding part of our territory, provided this would not harm
us, would not bind our troops in an alliance with the bayonets
of the aggressors and would not prevent us from carrying on our
Socialist reconstruction.

But since, as the question now stands, by inviting the British,
supposedly for the defence of Baku, they are inviting a power
which has now swallowed up the whole of Persia and which has
long been moving up its forces for seizing the Southern
Caucasus—that is, surrendering themselves to British and
French imperialism—we cannot doubt or hesitate for a moment any must say that, however difficult the position of our
Baku comrades may be, by refusing to conclude such a peace they
have taken the only step worthy of true socialists. This
resolute rejection of any agreement whatsoever with the British
and French imperialists was the only true course for our Baku
comrades to take, for you cannot invite them without converting
your independent socialist government, even though on severed
territory, into a slave of imperialist war.

We therefore do riot entertain the slightest doubt as to the
significance of the Baku events in the general scheme of
things. Yesterday, news was received that counter-revolutionary
revolts have broken out in a number of towns in Central Asia
with the obvious complicity of the British entrenched in India,
who, having brought Afghanistan completely under their sway,
long ago created a base for extending their colonial possessions, strangling nations, and attacking Soviet
Russia. And now, when these separate links have become quite
clear to us, the present military and general strategic position
of our Republic has been fully revealed. Murmansk in the North,
the Czechoslovak front in the East, Turkestan. Baku and
Astrakhan in the South-East—we see that practically all
the links in the chain forged by British and French imperialism
have been joined.

We now clearly see that the landowners, the capitalists and the
kulaks, all of whom, of course. for perfectly natural reasons
have a burning hatred for the Soviet government are acting here,
toe, in ways greatly resembling those of the landowners,
capitalists and kulaks in the Ukraine and in other regions
severed from Russia. As the lackeys of British and French
imperialism they have done their utmost to undermine the Soviet
government at all costs. Realising they could not do it with
forces inside Russia alone, they decided to act not by words or
appeals in the spirit o the Martov gentry, but by restoring to
more effective methods of struggle—military hostilities. That is where our attention should he chiefly
directed: that is Where we should concentrate all our agitation
arid propaganda; and we should shift the centre of the whole of
our Soviet work accordingly.

The fundamental fact is that it is the imperialist forces of the
other coalition that are now at work, not the German, but the
Anglo-French, which have seized part of our territory and are
using it as a base. Up to now their geographical position has
prevented them from attacking Russia by the direct route; now
British and French imperialism, which for four years has been
drenching the whole world in blood in a bid for world supremacy,
has by an indirect route approached within easy reach of Russia,
with the object of strangling the Soviet Republic and once more
plunging Russia into imperialist war. You are all perfectly
aware, comrades, that from the very beginning of the October
Revolution our chief aim has been to put a stop to the imperialist war; but we never harboured the illusion that the
forces of the proletariat and the revolutionary people of any
one country, however heroic and however organised and disciplined they might be, could overthrew international
imperialism. That can be done only by the joint efforts of the
workers of the world.

What we have done, however, is to sever all connections with the
capitalists of the whole world in one country. Our government is
net tied by a single thread to any kind of imperialist and never
will be, whatever future course our revolution may take. The
revolutionary movement against imperialism during the eight
months of our rule has made tremendous strides, and in one of
the chief centres of imperialism, Germany, matters in January
1918 came to an armed clash and the bloody suppression of that
movement. We have done our revolutionary duty as no revolutionary government in any country has ever done on an
international world-wide scale. But we never deceived ourselves
into thinking this could be done by the efforts of one country
alone. We knew that our efforts were inevitably leading to a
world-wide revolution, and that the war begun by the imperialist
governments could not be stepped by the efforts of those
governments themselves. It can be stopped only by the efforts of
all workers; and when we came to power, our task as the
proletarian Communist Party, at a time when capitalist bourgeois
rule still remained in the ether countries-our immediate task, I
repeat, was to retain that power, that torch of socialism, so
that it might scatter as many sparks as possible to add to the
growing flames of socialist revolution.

This was everywhere an extremely difficult task; and what
enabled us to accomplish it was the fact that the proletariat
rallied to the defence of the gains of the Socialist
Republic. This task has led to a particularly arduous and
critical situation, for the socialist revolution, in the direct
sense of the term, has not yet begun in any country, although it
is more imminent in countries like Italy and Austria. But as it
has net yet begun, we are faced with a new success to British
and French, and therefore world, imperialism. Whereas from the
West, German imperialism continues to stand as a military,
annexatory, imperialist force, from the North-East and South of
Russia, British and French imperialism has been able to dig
itself in and is making it patently obvious to us that this
force is prepared once more to plunge Russia into imperialist
war, is prepared to crush Russia, the independent socialist
state that is continuing its socialist work and propaganda on a
scale hitherto unparalleled anywhere in the world. Against this,
British and French imperialism has won a big victory, and,
surrounding us on all sides, it is doing its utmost to crush
Soviet Russia. We are fully aware that British and French
imperialism’s victory is inseparably connected with the
class struggle.

We have always said, and revolutions bear it outthat when the
foundations of the exploiters’ economic power are at stake, their property, which places the labour of tens of
millions of workers and peasants at their disposal and enables
the landowners and capitalists to enrich themselves, when, I
repeat the private property of the capitalists and landowners is
at stake, they forget all talk about love for one’s country and independence. We know full well that the Cadets, the
Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks have beaten
the record in concluding alliances with the imperialist powers,
in concluding predatory treaties and betraying the country to
Anglo-French imperialism. The Ukraine and Tiflis are good
examples The alliance of the Mensheviks and Right
Socialist-Revolutionaries with the Czechs is sufficient proof of
this. And the action of the Left Socialist-R revolutionaries,
when they tried to embroil the Russian Republic in war in the
interests of the Yaroslavl white guards, [8] shows quite clearly that when their class profits are at stake,
the bourgeoisie will sell their country and strike a bargain
with any foreigner against their own people. This truth has time
and again been borne out by the history of the Russian revolution, after the history of revolution over a hundred years
had shown that that is the law of the class interests, of the
class policy of the bourgeoisie at all times and in all
countries. It is therefore by no means surprising that the
present aggravation of the Soviet Republic’s international
position is connected with the aggravation of the class struggle
at home.

We have often said that, in this respect, in regard to the
aggravation of the food crisis, the period until the new harvest
will be the most difficult. Russia is being flayed with the
scourge of famine, which has attained unparalleled proportions
precisely because it is the plan of the imperialist robbers to
cut off her granaries. Their calculations are well founded and
are aimed at getting social and class support in the grain-producing outlying regions; they seek areas where the
kulaks predominate—the rich peasants, who have battened on
the war and who live by the labour of others, the labour of the
poor. You know that these people have piled up hundreds of
thousands of rubles and that they have huge stocks of grain. You
know that it is these people who have battened on national
misfortunes and who had greater opportunity to rob and increase
their profits the more the population of the capital suffered—it is these kulaks who have constituted the chief
and most formidable buttress of the counter-revolutionary
movement in Russia. Here the class struggle has reached its
deepest source. There is not a village left where the class
struggle is not. raging between a miserable handful of kulaks on
the one hand and the vast labouring majority-the poor and those
middle peasants who have no grain surpluses, who have consumed
them long ago, and who did not go in for profiteering—on
the other. This class struggle has penetrated every village.

When we were determining our political plans and publishing our
decrees-the vast majority of those present here are, of course,
familiar with them—when, I repeat, we drafted and passed
the decrees on the organisation of the poor peasants, [9] it was clear to us we were coming up against the most decisive
and fundamental issue of the whole revolution, the most decisive
and fundamental issue, the issue of power-whether power would
remain in the hands of the workers; whether they could gain the
support of all the poor peasants, with whom they have no
differences; whether they would succeed in winning over the
peasants with whom they have no disagreement, and unite this
whole mass, which is dispersed, disunited and scattered through
the villages-in which respect it lags behind the urban workers;
whether they could unite them against the other camp, the camp
of the landowners, the imperialists and kulaks.

Before our very eyes the poor peasants have begun to rally
together very quickly. It is said that revolution teaches. The
class struggle does indeed teach in practice that any false note
in the position of any party immediately lands that party where,
it deserves to be. We have clearly seen the policy of the Left
Socialist-Revolutionary Party, who, because of their spinelessness and stupidity, started to vacillate at a time when
the food problem was at its height, and that party disappeared
from the scene as a party and became a pawn in the hands of the
Yaroslavl white guards. ( Applause. )

Comrades, the wave of revolts sweeping Russia is easy to
understand in the light of this sharpening of the class struggle
over the food crisis at the very time when we know the new
harvest is a bumper one but cannot yet be gathered, and when the
hunger-tormented people of Petrograd and Moscow are being driven
to revolt by the kulaks and the bourgeoisie, who are making the
most desperate efforts, crying “Now or never!” There is the revolt in Yaroslavl. And we can see the influence of the
British and French; we see the calculations of the counterrevolutionary landowners and bourgeoisie. Wherever the
question of grain arose, they obstructed the grain monopoly,
without which there can be. no socialism. That. is just where
the bourgeoisie are bound to unite; here the bourgeoisie have a
stronger backing than the country yokel. The decisive fight
between the forces of socialism and bourgeois society is bound
to come in any case, whatever happens, if not today, then
tomorrow, on one issue or another. Only pseudo-socialists, like
our Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, for example, can waver. When
socialists waver over this question, over this fundamental
question, it means they are only pseudo-socialists, and are not
worth a brass farthing. The effect of the revolution has
virtually been to turn such socialists into more pawns in the
hands of the French generals, pawns whose role was demonstrated
by the former Central Committee of the former Left
Socialist-Revolutionary Party.

Comrades, the result of these combined efforts of the counter-revolutionary Russian bourgeoisie and the British and
French imperialists has been that the Civil War-in our country
is now coming from a quarter which not all of us anticipated and
from which not all of us clearly realised it might come, and it
has merged with the war from without into one indivisible
whole. The kulak revolt, the Czechoslovak mutiny and the
Murmansk movement are all part of one and the same war that is
bearing down on Russia. We escaped from war in one quarter by
incurring tremendous losses and signing an incredibly harsh
peace treaty; we knew we were concluding a predatory peace, [10] but we said we would be able to continue our propaganda and our
constructive work, and in that way cause the imperialist
world’s disintegration. We have succeeded in doing so. Germany is now negotiating with us as to how many thousand
millions to extort from Russia on the basis of the Brest-Litovsk
Peace Treaty, but she has recognised all the acts of nationalisation we proclaimed under the decree of June 28. [11]

She has not raised the question of private ownership of land in
the Republic; this point must be stressed as a counterblast to
the fantastic lies spread by Spiridonova and similar leaders of
the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, lies that have brought grist
to the mill of the landowners and are now being repeated by the
most ignorant and backward Black-Hundred [12] elements. These lies must be nailed.

The fact of the matter is that, burdensome as the peace treaty
may be, we have won freedom to carry on socialist construction
at home, and have taken steps in this direction which are now
becoming known in Western Europe and constitute elements of
propaganda that are incomparably more effective than any before.

So, having got out of war in one quarter, with one coalition, we
have been at once subjected to an imperialist assault from
another quarter. Imperialism is a world-wide phenomenon; it is a
struggle for the division of the whole world, of the whole
earth, for the domination of one or another group of robbers. Now another group of vultures, the Anglo-French, are
hurling themselves at our throats and threatening to drag us
into war again. Their war is merging with the Civil War into one
continuous whole, and that is the chief source of our difficulties at present, when the question of war, of military
hostilities, has again come to the fore as the cardinal and
fundamental question of the revolution. There lies the whole
difficulty, for the people are tired of war, exhausted by it as
never before. The Russian people’s state of extreme war
fatigue and exhaustion is rather like that of a man who has been
thrashed within an inch of his life, and who cannot be expected
to show any energy or working capacity. And in the same way this
nearly four years’ war, overwhelming a country which had
been despoiled, tormented, and defiled by tsarism, by the
autocracy, the bourgeoisie and Kerensky, has for many reasons
naturally aroused a feeling of abhorrence in the Russian people,
and is one of the chief sources of the tremendous difficulties
we are now experiencing.

Yet such a turn of events definitely made for war. We have again
been plunged into war, we are in a state of war; and it is not
only civil war, war against the kulaks, the landowners and the
capitalists who have united against us-now we are faced with
British and French imperialism. The imperialists are still not
in a position to throw their armies against Russia-they are
prevented by geographical conditions; but they are devoting all
they can, all their millions, all their diplomatic connections
and forces, to aid our enemies. We are in a state of war, and we
can emerge triumphant. But here we come up against a formidable
enemy, one of the most difficult to cope with war-weariness,
hatred and abhorrence of war; and this must be overcome,
otherwise we shall not be able to tackle this problem-the
problem of war-which does not depend on our will. Our country
has again been plunged into war, and the outcome of the
revolution will now entirely depend on who is the victor. The
principal protagonists are the Czechs, but the real directors,
the real motive and actuating power are the British and French
imperialists. The whole question of the existence of the Russian
Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the whole question of the
Russian socialist revolution has been reduced to a question of
war. There lie tremendous difficulties, considering the state in
which the people have emerged from the imperialist war. Our task
is now perfectly clear. Any deceit would be tremendously
harmful; we consider it a crime to conceal this bitter truth
from the workers arid peasants. On the contrary, let the truth
be brought home to them all as clearly and graphically as
possible.

Yes, there have been cases when our troops displayed criminal
weakness, as, for example, during the capture of Simbirsk by the
Czechs, when our forces retreated. We know the troops are tired
of war and loathe it; but it is also natural and inevitable that
until imperialism is defeated internationally, it should attempt
to drag Russia into imperialist war, endeavour to make a
shambles of her. Whether we like it or not, the question stands
as follows: we are in a war, and on the outcome of that war
hangs the fate of the revolution. That should be the first and
last word in our propaganda work, in all our political,
revolutionary, and construction activities. We have done very
much in a short time, but the job is not yet over. All our
activities must he entirely and completely geared to this
question, on which the fate and outcome of the revolution, the
fate of the Russian and world revolution now depends. Of course,
world imperialism cannot get out of the present war without a
number of revolutions; this war cannot end otherwise than by the
ultimate victory of socialism. But our task now is to maintain,
protect and uphold this force of socialism, this torch of
socialism, this source of socialism which is so actively
influencing the whole world. And as matters now stand, this task
is a military task.

This is not the first time we have been in such a situation, and
many of us have said that however severe the price we had to pay
for peace, however grave the sacrifices it demanded of us,
however much the enemy was striving to rob us of more and more
territory, Russia so far, in the face of great odds, was
enjoying peace and in a position to consolidate her socialist
gains. We have even gone farther in this direction than many of
us expected. For example, our workers’ control has advanced a long way from its early forms, and today we are about
to witness the conversion of the state administration into a
socialist system. We have made great strides in our practical
affairs. We now have the workers completely running industry. But circumstances have prevented us from continuing
that work in peace; they have once again plunged us into war,
and we must strain every nerve and summon everyone to arms. It
would be a disgrace for any Communist to be in two minds over
this.

Vacillation among the peasants does not surprise us. The
peasants have not been through the same school of life as the
workers, who have been accustomed for decades to look upon the
capitalist as their class enemy, and who have learned to unite
their forces to combat him. We know the peasants have riot been
through such a university. At one time they sided with the
workers but today we are witnessing a period of vacillation,
when the peasants are splitting up. We know any number of
instances of kulaks selling grain to the peasants below the
fixed prices in order to create the impression that they, the
kulaks, are defending the peasants’ interests. None of this surprises us. But the Communist worker will not waver, the
working class will stand firm; and if a kulak spirit prevails
among the peasants, it is quite understandable. Where the Czechs
rule and the Bolsheviks no longer are, we have the following
picture: at first the Czechs are hailed practically as deliverers; but after a few weeks of this bourgeois rule, a
tremendous movement against the Czechs and in favour of the
Soviet government arises, because the peasants begin to realise
that all talk about freedom of trade and a Constituent Assembly
means only one thing-the rule of the landowners and capitalists.

Our job is to get the workers to rally and to create an
organisation under which within the next few weeks evertheing
will be devoted to solving the war issue. We are now at war with
British and French imperialism and with evertheing bourgeois and
capitalist in Russia, with everyone endeavouring to frustrate
the socialist revolution and embroil us in war. The situation is
one where all the gains of the workers and peasants are at
stake. We may be confident that we shall have the broad sympathy
and support of the proletariat, and then the danger will be
completely averted, and new ranks of the proletariat will come
forward to stand up for their class and save the socialist
revolution. As matters now stand, the struggle is being fought
over two major issues, and all the main party differences have
been obliterated in the fires of revolution. The Left
Socialist-Revolutionary who keeps insistently reminding us that
he is on the left, concealing himself behind a cloud of
revolutionary phrases, while actually revolting against the
Soviet government, is just the same a hireling of the Yaroslavl
whiteguards. That is what he is in history and the revolutionary
struggle! Today only two classes confront each other in the
battle arena: the class struggle is between the proletariat,
which is protecting the interests of the working people, and
those protecting the interests of the landowners and capitalists. All talk about a Constituent Assembly, about an
independent state and so on, which is being used to dupe the
ignorant masses, has been exposed by the experience of the Czech
and Caucasian Menshevik movements. Behind all this talk stand
the same forces-the landowners and capitalists; and the Czech
mutiny brings in its train the rule of the landowners and
capitalists, just as the German occupation does. That is what
the war is about!

Comrades, the workers must close their ranks more firmly than
ever and set an example of organisation and discipline in this
struggle. Russia is still the only country which has severed all
ties with the imperialists. True, we are bleeding from grave
wounds. We have retreated in the face of the imperialist brute,
playing for time, striking a blow at it here and there. But, as
the Socialist Soviet Republic, we have remained independent. Performing our socialist work, we opposed the
imperialism of the whole world; and this struggle is becoming
clearer and clearer to the workers of the world, and their
mounting indignation is bringing them nearer and nearer to the
future revolution. It is over this that the struggle is being
waged, because our Republic is the only country in the world not
to march hand in hand with imperialism and not to allow millions
of people to be slaughtered to decide whether the French or the
Germans will rule the world. Our Republic is the only country to
have broken away by force, by revolutionary means, from the
world imperialist war, and to have raised the banner of
socialist revolution. But it is being dragged back into the
imperialist war, and being forced into the trenches. Let the
Czechs fight the Germans, let the Russian bourgeoisie make their
choice, let Milyukov decide, perhaps even in concurrence with
Spiridonova and Kamkov, which imperialists to side with. But we
declare we must be prepared to lay down our lives to prevent
them deciding this question, for the salvation of the whole
socialist revolution is at stake. ( Applause. ) I know there is a change of spirit among the peasants of the Saratov,
Samara, and Simbirsk gubernias, where fatigue was most marked
and fitness for military action was lowest of all. After
experiencing the ravages of the Cossacks and Czechs, and having
a real taste of what the Constituent Assembly and the cries
“Down with the Brest Peace Treaty!” mean, they have realised that all this only leads to the return of the
landowner, to the capitalist mounting the throne-and they are
now becoming the most ardent champions of Soviet power. I have
not the slightest doubt that the Petrograd and Moscow workers,
who are marching at the head of the revolution, will understand
the situation, will understand the gravity of the times and will
act with greater determination than ever, and that the proletariat will smash both the Anglo-French and the Czech
offensive in the interests of the socialist revolution. ( Applause. ).

Endnotes

[1]
The session was called because of the critical position of the
Soviet Republic which was cut off from her main sources of food
supply, raw materials and fuel as a result of the foreign armed
intervention and whiteguard revolts. A unanimous resolution was
passed on Lenin’s report, moved by the Communist group.

[2]
Reference is to a counter-revolutionary revolt of the
Czechoslovak army corps engineered by the Entente with the
active assistance of the Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries. The corps was formed in Russia from
Czech and Slovak prisoners of war before the October Socialist
Revolution. In the summer of 1918 the corps numbered more than
60,000 men (the total number of Czechoslovak prisoners of war
was 200,000). After the establishment of Soviet power the corps
was financed by the Entente. Tomás Masaryk, President of
the Czechoslovak National Council and leader of the Czech
bourgeois nationalists, proclaimed the corps part of the French
army, and Entente representatives raised the question of its
evacuation to France. The Soviet Government agreed to the
evacuation, provided the Russian troops were allowed to return
home from France. The agreement of March 26, 1918, allowed the
corps to leave Russia via Vladivostok on the condition that it
surrender its arms. But the commanders of the corps did not keep
their word and provoked an armed revolt at the end of May on the
instigation of the Entente. The governments of the U.S.A.,
Britain and France openly supported the revolt in every possible
way, while French officers took a direct part in it. Acting in
close contact with the whiteguards and kulaks, the mutineers
occupied a large part of the Urals, the Volga area and Siberia
and restored bourgeois rule. In the occupied areas they formed
whiteguard governments with Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary
participation-the Siberian government in Omsk, the Committee of
Constituent Assembly members in Samara, etc.

On June 11, the Central Executive Committee of the Czechoslovak
Communist groups in Russia addressed an appeal to the soldiers
of the corps exposing the counter-revolutionary nature of the
revolt and calling on them to join Czechoslovak units of the Red
Army. Most Czech and Slovak prisoners of war were sympathetic to
Soviet power and did not fall for the counter-revolutionary
propaganda of the corps commanders. Realising they had been
deceived, many left the corps, refusing to fight against Soviet
power. About 12,000 fought for the Red Army.

The Volga area was liberated in the autumn of 1918. The
whiteguard Czechs were completely routed along with
Kolchak’s troops.

[3]
Lenin refers to the article “The French Millions”, which appeared in the issue of June 28, 1918, of the
Czechoslovak Communist newspaper
Prukop nik Svobody (The Banner of Freedom) published in Moscow in 1918-19. On the
same day, the article was reprinted in lull in
Pravda and partly in
Izvestia of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee.

[4]
Reference is to a counter-revolutionary revolt of the
Czechoslovak army corps engineered by the Entente with the
active assistance of the Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries. The corps was formed in Russia from
Czech and Slovak prisoners of war before the October Socialist
Revolution. In the summer of 1918 the corps numbered more than
60,000 men (the total number of Czechoslovak prisoners of war
was 200,000). After the establishment of Soviet power the corps
was financed by the Entente. Tomás Masaryk, President of
the Czechoslovak National Council and leader of the Czech
bourgeois nationalists, proclaimed the corps part of the French
army, and Entente representatives raised the question of its
evacuation to France. The Soviet Government agreed to the
evacuation, provided the Russian troops were allowed to return
home from France. The agreement of March 26, 1918, allowed the
corps to leave Russia via Vladivostok on the condition that it
surrender its arms. But the commanders of the corps did not keep
their word and provoked an armed revolt at the end of May on the
instigation of the Entente. The governments of the U.S.A.,
Britain and France openly supported the revolt in every possible
way, while French officers took a direct part in it. Acting in
close contact with the whiteguards and kulaks, the mutineers
occupied a large part of the Urals, the Volga area and Siberia
and restored bourgeois rule. In the occupied areas they formed
whiteguard governments with Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary
participation-the Siberian government in Omsk, the Committee of
Constituent Assembly members in Samara, etc.

On June 11, the Central’. Executive Committee of the
Czechoslovak Communist groups in Russia addressed an appeal to
the soldiers of the corps exposing the counter-revolutionary
nature of the revolt and calling on them to join Czechoslovak
units of Lenin refers to the counter-revolutionary revolt of the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries which took place on July 6-7,
1918, as the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets was meeting in
Moscow.

The Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party was formed at its First
National Congress held in November 1917. Until then its members
had belonged to the Left wing of the Socialist-Revolutionary
Party which had emerged during the First World War and was
headed by M. A. Spiridonova, B. D. Kamkov and M. A. Natanson
(Bobrov). At the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets, Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries constituted the majority in the
Socialist Revolutionary group. The group split over the question
of Congress attendance. The Right Socialist-Revolutionaries left
the Congress on the directives of the Central Committee of their
party and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries stayed and voted
together with the Bolsheviks on the major items of the agenda. But they rejected the Bolsheviks’ invitation to
join the Soviet Government. After long hesitation and so as to
retain influence among the peasants, the Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries came to an agreement with the
Bolsheviks and their representatives took posts in the Council
of People’s Commissars. They clashed with the Bolsheviks,
however, on the fundamental questions of the socialist revolution and opposed the dictatorship of the proletariat. In
January and February 1918 the Central Committee of the Left
Socialist-Revolutionary Party campaigned against the
Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. Following its conclusion and
ratification by the Fourth Congress of Soviets in March 1918 the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries resigned from the Council of
People’s Commissars, but retained their posts on the boards of People ’s Commissariats and in local government
bodies. As the socialist revolution developed in the countryside
they went into opposition to Soviet power.

On June 24 the party’s Central Committee decided on revolt.

Defeated at the Fifth Congress of Soviets, the Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries decided to torpedo the Brest-Litovak
Peace Treaty and embroil the country in a war with Germany. On
July 6 they assassinated the German Ambassador, Count Mirbach,
in Moscow.

They followed this up with armed revolt. Their strike force was
a unit under the command of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary
Popov, a Cheka worker. They bombarded the Kremlin and seized the
Telephone Exchange and the Telegraph Office which they held for
two hours. They issued several provocative messages, bulletins
and telegrams announcing that power had passed into their hands
and that the entire population had greeted them enthusiastically.

The Fifth Congress of Soviets instructed the government to take
urgent measures to suppress the revolt. The Left
Socialist Revolutionary group at the Congress was arrested. Twenty-four hours after it had begun, by 2 p. m. July
7, the revolt was put down due to the steps taken by the Soviet
Government and the concerted action of the Moscow workers and
garrison. The revolt was part of the anti-Soviet campaign of the
counter-revolutionaries at home and the imperialists abroad, and
was secretly supported by foreign diplomatic missions. The Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries tried to start revolts also in
Petrograd, Vologda and other towns.

Following the suppression of the revolt the Fifth All-Russia
Congress of Soviets adopted a decision to remove from the
Soviets all Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who supported the
reckless policy of their leaders. The Congress received numerous
telegrams from workers and peasants all over the country
welcoming the suppression of the revolt and expressing their
readiness to defend Soviet power by arms.

[5]
Dashnaktsutyun Party-Armenian nationalist party which arose in
the early nineties of the last century and strove for liberation
of the Turkish Armenians from subjugation to the sultan of
Turkey. Besides the bourgeoisie it included many national
intellectuals, petty bourgeoisie and working people who fell for
the nationalist and socialist phrase-mongering. During the
Revolution of 1905-07 the party drew close to the
Socialist-Revolutionaries. In 1907 a congress of the party
adopted a Narodnik type of “socialist” programme.

After the February 1917 revolution the Dashnaks supported the
Provisional Government policy and, following the October
Revolution, they joined with the block of Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mussavatists. Between 1918 and
1920 they headed the counter-revolutionary nationalist government of Armenia. Their policy tended to turn Armenia into
a colony of the imperialists and bridgehead for the British and
French imperialists and Russian whiteguards in the struggle
against the Soviet Republic. In November 1920 the people of
Armenia led by the Bolsheviks and Red Army units brought down
the Dashnak government. After Soviet power had triumphed in
Transcaucasia the Dasbnaktsutvun organisations were broken up.

[6]
Mussauatists—members of the nationalist Mussavat Party of
the Azerbaijanian bourgeoisie and landowners, which was formed
in 1912. During the October Revolution and Civil War it was the
main counter-revolutionary force in Azerbaijan. After the fall
of Soviet government in 1918, the Mussavatists came to power
with the help of the Turkish and British interventionists. On
April 28, 1920, the working people of Azerbaijan and Red Army
units overthrew the Mussavatist government.

[7]
On July 25, 1918, an emergency session of the Baku Soviet
discussed the political and military situation in Baku in
connection with the Turkish offensive. Under the pretext of
defending Baku, the Mensheviks, Dashnaks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries demanded that British-troops be called
in "for help". The Bolshevik leaders of the Soviet government in
Baku, S. G. Shahumyan, WA. Azizbekov, P. A. Djaparidze,
Y. D. Zevin and others, rejected these treacherous demands. They
declared that-to “invite” the British interventionists into Baku would he betraying the Soviet
Republic and insisted on taking urgent measures to defend Baku
with the forces available. The Bolsheviks, however, were
narrowly defeated and a resolution was carried to call in the
British.

Finding themselves outvoted, the Bolsheviks announced their
resignation from the Council of People’s Commissars. But
they soon realised their mistake and decided to stay on and
utilise every opportunity to isolate and defeat the traitors. At
its emergency meeting the Executive of the Baku Soviet decided
that the People’s Commissars should retain their posts until settlement of the question of power. The Baku city
Bolshevik conference held on July 27 decided not to relinquish
power without a fight, urgently to organise the city’s defence under the leadership of the Council of People’s
Commissars, announce general mobilisation and call on the
workers to defend the city and Soviet government. In pursuance
of this decision the Baku Council of People’s Commissars
declared martial law in the city, instructed the Cheka to cut
short counter-revolutionary propaganda and called on the workers
of Baku to take to arms in defence of the city.

However, the efforts of the Communists and many Baku workers
were frustrated by the treachery of the Dashnaks, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. The Dashnak units left
the front and the Turkish troops advanced ---through the exposed
section. On July 31 Soviet power in Baku fell to the foreign
interventionists and their agents. Among other causes of its
fall were the failure of the Party organisations of Azerbaijan
and the Baku Council of People’s Commissars to secure a
firm alliance between the Baku proletariat and the working
peasants of Azerbaijan and their mistakes over the national
question, which were taken advantage of by the Mussavatists,
Dashnaks and other counter-revolutionaries to deceive the
people.

Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Dasimaks, the agents
of the Entente, formed a counter-revolutionary government—the Dictatorship of the Central Caspianr
Area. The Soviet leaders in Azerbaijan were arrested. On the
night of September 19-20 twenty-six Baku Commissars (S. C. Shabumyan, M. A. Aziz bekov, P. A. Djaparidze,
1. T. Fioletov, Y. D. Zevin, G. N. Korganov, M. (I. Vezirov and
others) were shot by the British with the direct connivance of
the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.

[8]
This refers to the whiteguard revolt in Yaroslavl which began on
July 6, 1918. It was organised by the counter-revolutionary
Union for the Defence of the Country and Freedom which was led
by the Right Socialist-Revolutionary B. V. Savinkov. This
revolt, like other counter-revolutionary revolts in Russia at
that time, was supported by the Entente imperialists with the
active participation of the Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries. The Union received large sums of
money from them. The revolt was part of the general plan of
intervention in Russia and was timed to coincide with the revolt
of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in Moscow (see Note 4). It
was also planned to start simultaneous revolts in Murom,
Kostroma, Rybinsk and other towns of the Volga area and central
Russia.

On the eve of the revolt Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks
and whiteguard officers gathered in Yaroslavl in large numbers. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, being most
influential, filled a number of responsible posts. On July 6,
the mutineers occupied the centre of the town, the arsenal, the
Post and Telegraph Office and other buildings. Party and Soviet
workers were killed. The mutineers tried to seize the workers’ districts but encountered stubborn and organised
resistance. Party organisations of the factories rallied the
people, and armed workers and Red Army units went into battle. The Soviet Government sent military units and armed
workers’ detachments from Moscow, Petrograd, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Kostroma, Vologda and Rybinsk. On July 21,
1918, the revolt was put down.

[9]
Lenin refers to the decree On the Organisation of the Village
Poor and Supply to them of Grain, Prime Necessities and
Agricultural implements which was endorsed by the All-Russia
Central Executive Committee on June 11, 1918. The decree
provided for the establishment of the Poor Peasants’
Committees on local initiative. It charged the Committees with
the task of taking stock of the food supplies of the peasant
farms, ascertaining the kulaks’ food resources and assisting the Soviet supply bodies in requisitioning surpluses,
as well as protecting and delivering confiscated grain to the
state granaries. The Committees were also to supply the poor
peasants with food at the expense of the kulak farms, distribute
farm implements and manufactured goods, look after sowing and
harvesting, protect the crops and combat grain profiteering. By
the autumn of 1918 over 80,000 Poor Peasants’ Committees
were functioning in the localities. They formed the strongholds
and organs of the proletarian dictatorship in the countryside. Their establishment marked the extensive
development of the socialist revolution in the villages. They
played an outstanding part in suppressing the kulak counter-revolution and undermining the economic power of the
kulaks through their partial expropriation. In a comparatively
short period of time the Committees confiscated and turned over
to the poor and middle peasants 50 million hectares of land, and
requisitioned the hulk of the kulaks’ farm implements for
distribution among the poor and economically weak middle
peasants. Great credit is due to the Committees for carrying
through the abolition of landed proprietorship and supplying
foodstuffs to the hungry industrial centres and the Red
Army. The Poor Peasants’ Committees were active in establishing collective agricultural enterprises, the artels and
communes, which together with the state farms were the first
stones laid in the foundation of the socialist countryside. According to incomplete data, the number of
collective farms increased from 240 at the time the Poor
Peasants’ Committees were created to 1,600 at the end of
1918. The Committees took the initiative in forming Red Army
units by recruiting volunteers from among the poor peasants. They also helped to consolidate local Soviets and
purge them of kulak elements.

The Poor Peasants’ Committees were vastly important in strengthening the worker-peasant alliance and in winning over
the middle peasants to the Soviet side. As Lenin pointed out, in
their activities the Poor Peasants’ Committees were to rely on the middle as well as the poor peasants. They paved the
way for a change-over from the policy of neutralising the middle
peasants to a firm alliance with them.

By the autumn of 1918 the Poor Peasants’ Committees, which
played a historic role in the socialist revolution, had outlived
their usefulness. The Soviets were consolidated with the help of
the Committees and the extensive network of rural Party
cells. In view of this and also of the need to “consummate
Soviet construction by establishing a uniform pattern of Soviets
on the entire territory of the Soviet Republic” the
Extraordinary Sixth All Russia Congress of Soviets held in
November 1918 decided to merge the Poor Peasants’
Committees with the volost and village Soviets.

[10]
Lenin refers to the decree On the Organisation of the Village
Poor and Supply to them of Grain, Prime Necessities and
Agricultural implements which was endorsed by the All-Russia
Central Executive Committee on June 11, 1918. The decree
provided for the establishment of the Poor Peasants’
Committees on local initiative. It charged the Committees with
the task of taking stock of the food supplies of the peasant
farms, ascertaining the kulaks’ food resources and assisting the Soviet supply bodies in requisitioning surpluses,
as well as protecting and delivering confiscated grain to the
state granaries. The Committees were also to supply the poor
peasants with food at the expense of the kulak farms, distribute
farm implements and manufactured goods, look after sowing and
harvesting, protect the crops and combat grain profiteering. By
the autumn of 1918 over 80,000 Poor Peasants’ Committees
were functioning in the localities. They formed the strongholds
and organs of the proletarian dictatorship in the countryside. Their establishment marked the extensive
development of the socialist revolution in the villages. They
played an outstanding part in suppressing the kulak counter-revolution and undermining Lenin refers to the peace
treaty concluded between Soviet Russia and the countries of the
Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria Hungary, Bulgaria and
Turkey) on March 3, 1918, in Brest-Litovsk and ratified on March
15 by the Extraordinary Fourth All Russia Congress of
Soviets. The peace terms were very harsh. Germany and
Austria-Hungary were to get Poland, nearly the whole of the
Baltic region and part of Byelorussia. The Ukraine was to be
severed from Russia and become dependent on Germany. Turkey was
to get Ardahan, Batumi and Kars. In August 1918 Germany forced
Soviet Russia to conclude a supplementary treaty and financial
agreement which contained even harsher terms.

The Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty was concluded despite dogged
resistance from Trotsky and the anti-Party group of “Left
Communists.” Credit for its conclusion was due to
Lenin’s efforts to overcome opposition. The peace was a
judicious political compromise. It brought a respite from the
war and enabled the Soviet government to demobilise the old,
demoralised army and create a new Red Army, to launch socialist
construction and gather strength for the coming struggle against
internal counter-revolution and foreign intervention. The
signing of the treaty also promoted the peace struggle, enhanced
the revolutionary mood in the armies and among the people of all
countries in the war. On November 13, following the revolution
in Germany, which led to the downfall of the monarchy, the
All-Russia Central Executive Committee repealed the treaty.

[11]
Lenin refers to the historic decree of the Council of
People’s Commissars on the nationalisation of large-scale
industry, approved on June 28, 1918, and published in

Izvestia

No. 134 on June 30. Under the decree all big factories with
basic capital of 200,0001,000,000 rubles and over were nationalised. The decree consummated the socialisation of the
major means of production. It was preceded by the nationalisation of banks, big metallurgical plants, sugar
refineries, coal and oil industries, water transport, etc. While
establishing state ownership of large-scale industry, the
Council of People’s Commissars left the nationalised enterprises, pending their transfer to Soviet economic bodies,
“in the hands of their former owners for free use on lease
terms”. The owners were held responsible for the maintenance and proper operation of the enterprises. The
workers, technical staff and managers were brought into the
service of the Soviet Republic. The Supreme Economic Council was
obliged to draw up at short notice and circulate to all the
nationalised enterprises detailed instructions on how to run
them. Despite the enormous difficulties involved, the nationalisation was completed quickly due to the organisational
measures of the Communist Party and the enthusiasm of the
workers. By August 31 more than 3,000 enterprises had been
nationalised.

The decree also announced the nationalisation of all privately-owned railways and communal services (water supply,
gasworks, trams, etc.), which came under the control of local
Soviets.

[12]
Black hundreds-monarchist gangs in tsarist Russia formed by the
police to fight the revolutionary movement. They murdered
revolutionaries, hounded progressives among the intellectuals
and organised anti-Jewish pogroms.