Vladimir Lenin

Speech At A Rally And Concert

For The All-Russia Extraordinary Commission Staff

November 7, 1918 (Storm of applause.) Comrades, in celebrating the anniversary of
our revolution, I would like to say a few words about the
onerous duties of the Extraordinary Commissions.

It is not at all surprising to hear Cheka’s activities frequently attacked by friends as well as enemies. We have taken
on a hard job. When we took over the government of the country, we
naturally made many mistakes, and it is only natural that the
mistakes of the Extraordinary Commissions strike the eye most. The
narrow-minded intellectual fastens on these mistakes without
trying to get to the root of the matter. What does surprise me in
all these outcries about Cheka’s mistakes is the manifest
inability to put the question on a broad fooling. People harp on
individual mistakes Cheka makes, and raise a hue and cry about
them.

We, however, say that we learn from our mistakes. In this
department, as in all others, we say-we shall learn by self-criticism. It is not a matter, of course, of Cheka’s
personnel but the nature of its functions, which demand
determined, swift and, above all, faithful action. When I consider
its activities and see how they are attacked, I say this is all
narrow-minded and futile talk. It reminds me of Kautsky’s
homily on the dictatorship, which is tantamount to supporting the
bourgeoisie. We surely know from experience that the expropriation
of the bourgeoisie entails a drastic struggle—a dictatorship.

Marx said that the revolutionary dictatorship of rthe proletariat lies between capitalism and communism. The more the
proletariat presses the bourgeoisie, the more furiously they
will resist. We know what vengeance was wreaked on the workers
in France in 1848. And when people charge us with harshness we
wonder how they can forget the rudiments of Marxism. We have not
forgotten the mutiny of the officer cadets in October, and we
must not forget that a number of revolts are now being engineered. We have, on the one hand, to learn to work
constructively, and, on the other, to smash the bourgeoisie’s resistance. The Finnish whiteguards, for all
their much-vaunted democracy, had no scruples about shooting
down workers. The realisation of the need for dictatorship has
taken deep root in the people’s minds, arduous and difficult though it is. That alien elements should try to worm
their way into Cheka is quite natural. With the help of
self-criticism we shall dig them out. The important thing for us
is that! Cheka is directly exercising the dictatorship of the
proletariat, and in that respect its services are invaluable. There is no way of emancipating the people except by
forcibly suppressing the exploiters. That is what Cheka is
doing, and therein lies its service to the proletariat.