The Russian Revolution
Illustration from Europe at the Crossroads(1935)
If the present war rouses among the reactionary Christian socialists,
among the whimpering petty bourgeoisie, only horror and fright, only aversion to all use of arms, to bloodshed, death, etc., then we must say:
Capitalist society is and has always been horror without end.
The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution(1916)
V. I. Lenin (1870-1924)
War is a continuation of policy by other means. All wars are inseparable from the political systems that engender them. The policy which a given state, a given class within that state, pursued for a long time before the war isinevitably continued by that same class during the war, the form of actionalone being changed. . .
Peace reigned in Europe, but this was because domination over hundreds of millions of people in the colonies by the European nations was sustained only through constant, incessant, interminable wars, which we Europeans do not regard as wars at all, since all too often they resembled, not wars, but brutal massacres, the wholesale slaughter of unarmed peoples. The thing is that if we want to know what the present war is about we must first of all make a general survey of the policies of the European powers as a whole. We must not take this or that example, this or that particular case, which can easily be wrenched out of the context of social phenomena and which is worthless, because an opposite example can just as easily be cited. We must take the whole policy of the entire system of European states in their economic and political interrelations if we are to understand how the present war steadily and inevitably grew out of this system.
("War and Revolution", 1917)
1. In our attitude towards the war not the smallest concession must be made to "revolutionary defencism,". . . owing to the capitalist nature of this [provisional] government, the war on Russia's part remains a predatory imperialist war. . .
2. The peculiarity of the present situation in Russia is that it represents a transition from the first stage of the revolution, which, because of the inadequate organisation and insufficient class-consciousness of the proletariat, led to the assumption of power by the bourgeoisie - to its second stage which is to place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest strata of the peasantry.
3. No support to the Provisional Government; exposure of the utter falsity of all its premises. . . Unmasking, instead of admitting, the illusion-breeding "demand" that this government, a government of capitalists, cease being imperialistic. . .
7. Immediate merger of all the banks in the country into one general national bank, over which the Soviet of Workers' Deputies should have control.
8. Not the "introduction" of Socialism as an immediate task, but the immediate placing of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies in control of social production and distribution of goods.
("April Theses", 1917)
The objective needs of capitalism which has grown into imperialism have brought forth the imperialist war. This war has brought mankind to the brink of a precipice, to the destruction of civilisation, the ruin and brutalisation of countless millions of human beings.
There is no other way out, except a proletarian revolution. . .
The masses are distracted, baffled, deceived by their leaders. . .
We want to rebuild the world. We want to end this imperialist World War in which hundreds of millions of people are involved and billions of dollars are invested, a war which cannot be ended in a truly democratic way without the greatest proletarian revolution in history.
And here we are, afraid of our own shadow. Here we are, keeping on our backs the same old soiled shirt. . .
It is high time to cast off the soiled shirt, it is high time to put on clean linen.
(April Theses, on changing the party name from Social Democratic to Communist, 1917)
Brothers, soldiers!
We are all worn out by this frightful war, which has cost millions of lives, crippled millions of people and caused untold misery, ruin, and starvation.
And more and more people are beginning to ask themselves: What started this war, what is it being waged for?
Every day it is becoming clearer to us, the workers and peasants, who bear the brunt of the war, that it was started and is being waged by the capitalists of all countries for the sake of the capitalists' interests, for the sake of markets for the manufacturers, factory owners and bankers, for the sake of plundering the weak nationalities. They are carving up colonies and seizing territories in the Balkans and in Turkey - and for this the European peoples must be ruined, for this we must die, for this we must witness the ruin, starvation and death of our families. . .
Are we going to continue submissively to bear our yoke, to put up with the war between the capitalist classes?
No, brother soldiers, it is time we opened our eyes, it is time we took our fate into our own hands. In all countries popular wrath against the capitalist class, which has drawn the people into the war, is growing, spreading, and gaining strength. . . The revolution in Russia is only the first step of the revolution; it should be followed and will be followed by others. . .
Brothers, soldiers!
Let us do everything we can to hasten this, to achieve this aim. Let us not fear sacrifices - any sacrifice for the workers' revolution will be less painful than the sacrifices of war. Every victorious step of the revolution will save hundreds of thousands and millions of people from death, ruin, and starvation.
Peace to the workers of all countries! Long live the fraternal unity of the revolutionary workers of all countries! Long live socialism!
(Appeal to the Soldiers of all Belligerent Countries, May, 1917)
The essence of Bolshevism, the essence of Soviet power, lies in exposing the fraud and hypocrisy of bourgeois democracy, in abolishing the private ownership of the land, the factories, and in concentrating all political power in the hands of the toilers and the exploited masses.
Even if for every hundred correct things we did, we committed ten thousand mistakes, our revolution would still be and it will be in the judgment of history great and invincible; for this is the first time that the working people are themselves building a new life.
Herbert J. Muller
The Russian dictatorship of the proletariat had made a farce of the whole Marxist vision: developing a powerful, privileged ruling class to prepare for a classless society, setting up the most despotic state in history so that the state may wither away, establishing by force a colonial empire to combat imperialism and unite the workers of the world.
Will Durant
A proletarian revolution is never proletarian.
Joseph Stalin (1879-1953)
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.