Congress of Soviets

“ The Congress resolves: that all local power shall be transferred to the Soviets of Workers,' Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must enforce revolutionary order.
The Congress calls upon the soldiers in the trenches to be watchful and steadfast. The Congress of Soviets is sure that the revolutionary Army will know how to defend the Revolution against all attacks of Imperialism, until the new Government shall have brought about the conclusion of the democratic peace which it will directly propose to all nations. ”

“ They will also save the Russian revolution (for if we delay perhaps the rising wave of real anarchy will be too strong for us) ; and they will save the lives of hundreds of thousands of men at the front.
To wait is a crime. To wait for the Congress of Soviets is to show signs of a standing on ceremony which is childish as well as dishonourable. It is to betray the revolution. ”

“ The present Government is a Government of Soviets; we have not only invited the Peasants' Soviets to join that Government, but we have also invited representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to enter the Council of People's Commissars....
"The Soviets are the most perfect representatives of the people-of the workers in the factories and mines, of the workers in the fields. Anybody who attempts to destroy the Soviets is guilty of an anti-democratic and counter-revolutionary act. ”

“ A loose organisation, sensitive to the popular will as expressed through the Soviets, allowing local forces full play. At present the Provisional Government obstructs the action of the local democratic will, just as the Tsar’s Government did. The initiative of the new society shall come from below... The form of the Government will be modelled on the Constitution of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The new Tsay-ee-kah, responsible to frequent meetings of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, will be the parliament ”

“ The Soviets are the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Constituent Assembly is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. To unite and reconcile the dictatorship of the working class with that of the bourgeoisie Is impossible. ”

“ The Unions are thus a branch of the government—and this government is the most highly centralized government that exists.
It is also the most democratic government in history. For all the organs of government are in constant touch with the working masses, and constantly sensitive to their will. Moreover, the local Soviets all over Russia have complete autonomy to manage their own local affairs, provided they carry out the national policies laid down by the Soviet Congress. Also, the Soviet Government represents only the workers, and cannot help but act in the workers' interests. ”

“ Soviets without a revolution are impossible. Soviets without a proletarian revolution inevitably become a parody of Soviets. The authentic Soviets of the masses are the historically revealed form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. All sincere and serious partisans of the power of Soviets should deal cautiously with the idea of Soviets, and while indefatigably propagating it among the masses, proceed to the direct realisation of such Soviets only under the conditions mentioned above. ”

“ Silence fell sharply, intense, broken by the scuffling and disputing of the people at the door....
"We have the power in our hands," he began sadly, stopped for a moment, and then went on in a low voice. "Comrades! The Congress of Soviets in meeting in such unusual circumstances and in such an extraordinary moment that you will understand why the Tsay-ee-kah considers it unnecessary to address you with a political speech. ”

“ The attempt of the social traitors in Germany to introduce the Soviets Into the general bourgeois-democratic constitutional system, is treason to the workers' cause and deceit of the workmen. Real Soviets are possible only as a form of state organisation, relieving bourgeois democracy, breaking it up and replacing it by a dictatorship of the proletariat. ”

“ We refuse to admit the old Tsay-ee-kah, and also the representatives of the Municipal Dumas. The delegates from the Peasants' Soviets shall be elected by the Congress of Peasants, which we have called, and which will at the same time elect a new Executive Committee. The proposal to exclude Lenin and Trotzky is a proposal to decapitate our party, and we do not accept it. And finally, we see no necessity for a 'People's Council' anyway; the Soviets are open to all Socialist parties, and the Tsay-ee-kah represents them in their real proportions among the masses.... ”

“ Those who propose to the Communist Party to "conform" to the Soviets, those who perceive in such "conformation" a strengthening of the "proletarian nature" of the Party, are rendering a bad service both to the Party and to the Soviets, and do not understand the importance of the Party, nor that of the Soviets. The stronger the Communist Party in each country, the sooner will the Soviet idea triumph. Many „independent“ and even „right“ Socialists profess to believe in the Soviet idea. ”

“ Only when the Soviets will become the only State apparatus, will effectual participation in the administration be realised for the entire mass of the exploited, who even under the most cultured and free bourgeois democracy remained practically excluded from participation in the administration. ”

“ Congress of the Soviets, advocates, as the most important problem at present, the creation of "efficient organization" and higher discipline. Such resolutions are now readily supported by everybody. But that their realization requires compulsion, and compulsion in the form of a dictatorship, is ordinarily not comprehended. And yet, it would be the greatest stupidity and the most absurd opportunism to suppose that the transition from capitalism to Socialism is possible without compulsion and dictatorship. ”

“ The proletarian revolution in Russia has brought forward the fundamental form of the workers' dictatorship—the Soviets. But the party of the proletariat, that is to say, the Communist Party, must constantly and systematically direct the work of the Soviets as well as of the revolutionised industrial unions. ”

“ When they clamour for the necessity of a "popular," "all-national" Constituent Assembly, they do not consider the Soviets as all-national, because the Russian bourgeoisie is lacking to complete the full representation of the Russian people. ”

“ All the power of government, from the smallest villages up to Petrograd, must be vested in the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Delegates. Neither the police nor officials not responsible to the people and placed over the people,—but the people itself shall govern the country, the people fully armed and united by the Soviets. The Soviet alone shall establish the necessary order, its power alone be obeyed and rejected by the workers and peasants. ”

“ If the soviet or freely elected council system did work unshackled in Russia to-day, Bolshevism would long ago have been abolished. In fact one of the demands frequently put forward during strikes is for a restoration, side by side with the free co-operative societies, of the soviet system which is now virtually suppressed. Paradoxical though it be, Bolshevism is in reality the complete negation of the soviet system. It is by no means impossible that the downfall of the Communists may result in a healthy effort being made to set the soviets to work in some form for the first time. ”

“ Ahead of us is the Constituent Assembly, which will solve all questions of fundamental law, and whose composition will be essentially democratic. The function of the Soviets is at an end, and the time is approaching when they must retire, with the rest of the revolutionary machinery, from the stage of a free and victorious people, whose weapons shall hereafter be the peaceful ones of political action. ”

“ Not only because the non-producer is deprived of the right to vote; not only because the country is administered by the workers and peasants, but above all because the Government of the Soviets is in constant relations with the organised masses, and in this way, at all times, the greater part of the population joins in the administration of the State. Every organised worker exercises an influence, not only because, once or twice a month, he elects to represent him men in whom he places confidence, but because the industrial unions can themselves elaborate their own plans of organisation. ”

“ The workers elect their Soviet representatives directly at their work-places, the peasants theirs in the village meeting halls, and the soldiers theirs in the barracks. Trade unions, co-operatives, and other working class organizations are also allowed a certain representation directly. Officials of and delegates to the Soviets are always on their good behavior and may be recalled at any time by those who elected them. ”