[Address of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets] * (1)

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies has opened. It represents the vast majority of the Soviets. A number of delegates from peasant Soviets are also present at the Congress. The powers of the compromising Ts. I. K. * (2) ended. Relying on the will of the vast majority of workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison that took place in Petrograd, the Congress takes power into its own hands.
The provisional government has been deposed. Most of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested.
The Soviet government will offer an immediate democratic peace to all peoples and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will ensure the free transfer of landlord, appanage and monastery lands to the disposal of peasant committees, defend the rights of a soldier, complete democratization of the army, establish workers' control over production, ensure the timely convocation of the Constituent Assembly, take care of the delivery of bread to cities and basic necessities to the countryside, provide everyone nations inhabiting Russia, the true right to self-determination.
The congress decides: all power in the localities is transferred to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must ensure a genuine revolutionary order.
The congress calls on the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and resilient. The Congress of Soviets is confident that the revolutionary army will be able to defend the revolution from all encroachments of imperialism until the new government achieves the conclusion of a democratic peace, which it will directly propose to all peoples. The new government will take all measures to provide the revolutionary army with everything it needs through a decisive policy of requisitions and taxation of the propertied classes, and will also improve the position of the soldiers' families.
The Kornilovites — Kerensky, Kaledin, and others — make attempts to lead troops against Petrograd. Several detachments, deceived by Kerensky, went over to the side of the insurgent people.
Soldiers, show active opposition to the Kornilovite Kerensky! Be on your guard!
Railwaymen, stop all trains sent by Kerensky to Petrograd!
Soldiers, workers, office workers — the fate of the revolution and the fate of the democratic world are in your hands!
Long live the revolution!
All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies

Delegates from the Peasants' Soviets

.
"Worker and Soldier", 9, 8 November (26 October) 1917

______________________________

* (1) The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place in Petrograd on November 7-8 (October 25-26) 1917.
The Congress was attended (according to the Bureau of the Congress factions) 640 delegates, of whom 390 Bolsheviks, 160 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 72 Mensheviks, 14 United Internationalists, 7 Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionaries, 6 Internationalist Mensheviks.
The Right Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who fought against the socialist revolution, left the very first session of the congress as soon as they saw that the overwhelming majority of its delegates fully supported the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
As a result of the victory of the armed uprising of the St. Petersburg proletariat and the garrison, by the time the congress opened, power in Petrograd had passed to the Military Revolutionary Committee.
The appeal written by VI Lenin to "Workers, Soldiers and Peasants" (see VI Lenin, Vol. 26, pp. 215-216) was adopted by the Congress at its meeting on November 7 (October 25).
At a meeting on November 8 (October 26), the congress adopted the following decrees and resolutions: on the full power of the Soviets, on the establishment of the Council of People's Commissars, a decree on peace and a decree on land. The congress also adopted resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty at the front, on the arrest of the ministers of the Provisional Government, on the fight against the pogrom movement. The congress adopted appeals to the front, to the Cossacks and to all railway workers.
The Congress elected the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of 101 members: 62 Bolsheviks, 29 "Left" Socialist-Revolutionaries, 6 United Social-Democrats Internationalists, 3 Ukrainian Socialists, and Maximalist Socialist-Revolutionaries 1.
* (2) The All-Russian Dental Executive Committee of the Soviets of the first convocation was elected at the I All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which took place on June 16 (3) - July 7 (June 24) 1917.
A total of 256 members were elected to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, of which 107 Mensheviks, 101 Socialist-Revolutionaries, 35 Bolsheviks, 8 Mensheviks amalgamated, 4 Trudoviks and People's Socialists, from the Jewish Socialist Workers' Party 1. The Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was the Menshevik Chkheidze. The compromising majority of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee supported the policy of the Provisional Government: "war to a victorious end," the preservation of private property in industrial enterprises and land, ruthless reprisals against the revolutionary workers and peasants' movement, and so on.
During the period of preparation for the proletarian revolution, the compromising All-Russian Central Executive Committee fought against the transfer of power to the Soviets and the convocation of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. After the election of the hollow All-Russian Central Executive Committee at the Second Congress of Soviets, the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary leadership of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the first convocation tried to retain the powers of this body and to fight against the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The documents
October 1917

APPEAL
II All-Russian Congress of Soviets
to workers, soldiers and peasants
about the victory of the revolution and its immediate tasks

WORKERS, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS!

Relying on the will of the vast majority of workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison that took place in Petrograd, the congress takes power into its own hands.

The provisional government has been deposed. Most of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested. The Soviet government will offer an immediate democratic peace to all peoples and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will ensure the free transfer of landlord, appanage and monastery lands to the disposal of peasant committees, defend the rights of the soldier, complete democratization of the army, establish workers' control over production, ensure the timely convocation of the Constituent Assembly, take care of the delivery of bread to cities and basic necessities to the countryside, provide everyone nations inhabiting Russia, the true right to self-determination.

The congress decides: all power in the localities shall pass to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must ensure a genuine revolutionary order.

The congress calls on the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and resilient. The Congress of Soviets is confident that the revolutionary army will be able to defend the revolution from all encroachments of imperialism until the new Government achieves the conclusion of a democratic peace, which it will directly propose to all peoples. The new Government will take all measures to provide the revolutionary army with everything it needs through a decisive policy of requisitioning and taxing the propertied classes, and will also improve the position of the soldiers' families.

The Kornilovites — Kerensky, Kaledin and others — make attempts to lead troops against Petrograd. Several detachments, deceived by Kerensky, went over to the side of the insurgent people.

Soldiers, show active opposition to the Kornilovite Kerensky! Be on your guard!

Railwaymen, stop all trains sent by Kerensky to Petrograd!

Soldiers, workers, office workers, the fate of the revolution and the fate of the democratic world are in your hands!

Long live the revolution!

All-Russian Congress of Soviets

workers 'and soldiers' deputies.

Delegates from the Peasant Soviets.

DECREE ABOUT THE WORLD,
adopted unanimously at a meeting of the All-Russian Congress
Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies

The workers' and peasants' government, created by the revolution of October 24-25 and based on the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, invites all the belligerent peoples and their governments to begin immediately negotiations on a just democratic peace.

A just, or democratic, peace, which the overwhelming majority of the exhausted, exhausted and war-torn workers and working classes of all the belligerent countries yearn for - a peace that the Russian workers and peasants demanded in the most definite and insistent way after the overthrow of the tsarist monarchy - such a peace is considered by the Government as an immediate peace without annexations (i.e., without the seizure of foreign lands, without the forcible annexation of foreign peoples) and without indemnities.

Such a peace is proposed by the Government of Russia to conclude all the belligerent peoples immediately, expressing its readiness to immediately take all decisive steps without the slightest delay until the final approval of all the conditions of such a peace by the plenipotentiary assemblies of the people's representatives of all countries and all nations.

Under the annexation, or seizure of foreign lands, the Government understands, in accordance with the legal consciousness of democracy in general and of the working classes in particular, any accession to a large or strong state of a small or weak nationality without precisely, clearly and voluntarily expressed consent and desire of this nationality, regardless of whether when this forcible annexation is committed, regardless of how developed or backward the nation forcibly annexed or forcibly held within the boundaries of the given state is. Finally, regardless of whether in Europe or in distant overseas countries, this nation lives.

If any nation is held within the boundaries of a given state by violence, if, contrary to the desire expressed on its part, it does not matter whether this desire is expressed in the press, in popular assemblies, in party decisions or in indignations and uprisings against national oppression, it does not the right is granted by a free vote, with the complete withdrawal of the troops of the annexing or generally stronger nation, to decide without the slightest coercion the question of the forms of state existence of this nation, then its annexation is annexation, that is, seizure and violence.

The Government considers it the greatest crime against humanity to continue this war because of how to divide the weak nations captured by them between the strong and rich nations, and solemnly declares its determination to immediately sign the terms of a peace ending this war on the indicated, equally fair for all, without excluding the nationalities. conditions.

At the same time, the Government declares that it does not at all consider the aforementioned peace conditions as ultimatum, that is, it agrees to consider any other peace conditions, insisting only on the fastest possible proposal of them by any belligerent country and on complete clarity, on unconditional the elimination of any ambiguity and any mystery when proposing the terms of peace.

The Government abolishes secret diplomacy, for its part expressing its firm intention to conduct all negotiations completely openly in front of the entire people, proceeding immediately to the full publication of secret treaties confirmed or concluded by the government of landowners and capitalists from February to October 25, 1917. The entire content of these secret treaties, since it is directed, as in most cases, to provide benefits and privileges to the Russian landowners and capitalists, to maintain or increase the annexations of the Great Russians, the Government declares unconditionally and immediately abolished.

Appealing with a proposal to the governments and peoples of all countries to begin immediately open negotiations on the conclusion of peace, the Government expresses its readiness to conduct these negotiations both through written communications, by telegraph, and through negotiations between representatives of different countries or at a conference of such representatives. To facilitate such negotiations, the Government appoints its plenipotentiary representative to neutral countries.

The government invites all the governments and peoples of all the belligerent countries to immediately conclude an armistice, and for its part considers it desirable that this armistice be concluded for at least three months, that is, for such a period during which it is quite possible as the completion of peace negotiations with the participation of representatives of all peoples or nations involved in the war or forced to participate in it, without exclusion, so is the convocation of plenipotentiary assemblies of people's representatives of all countries for the final approval of the conditions of peace.

Addressing this peace proposal to the governments and peoples of all the belligerent countries, the Provisional Workers 'and Peasants' Government of Russia also appeals in particular to the class-conscious workers of the three most advanced nations of mankind and the largest states participating in the present war - England, France and Germany. The workers of these countries rendered the greatest services to the cause of progress and socialism, and the great examples of the Chartist movement in England, a series of revolutions of world-historical significance, committed by the French proletariat, finally, in the heroic struggle against the exceptional law in Germany and a model for the workers of the whole world for a long time, persistent disciplined work of creating mass proletarian organizations in Germany - all these examples of proletarian heroism and historical creativity serve us as a guarantee that the workers of these countries will understand the tasks that lie now on them to free mankind from the horrors of war and its consequences, that these workers are all-round decisive and selflessly energetic their activities will help us to successfully complete the cause of peace and, at the same time, the cause of freeing the working and exploited masses of the population from all slavery and all exploitation.

Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin.

DECREE ON EARTH
Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies
(adopted at the meeting on October 26 at 2 am)

1) Landlord ownership of land is canceled immediately without any redemption.

2) Landlord estates, as well as all appanage, monastery, church lands, with all their living and dead implements, manor buildings and all accessories, are transferred to the disposal of the volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies, until the Constituent Assembly.

3) Any damage to the confiscated property, which henceforth belongs to the entire people, is declared a grave crime punishable by a revolutionary court. Uyezd Soviets of Peasants' Deputies are taking all the necessary measures to observe the strictest order in the confiscation of landlord estates, to determine to what size and which plots are subject to confiscation, to compile an accurate inventory of all confiscated property and for the strictest revolutionary protection of all the economy on the land that is transferred to the people. with all buildings, tools, livestock, food supplies, etc.

4) To guide the implementation of the great land transformations, pending their final decision by the Constituent Assembly, the following peasant order, drawn up on the basis of 242 local peasant orders by the editors of the Izvestiya All-Russian Council of Peasant Deputies, and published in issue 88 of this Izvestia ( Petrograd, number 88, August 19, 1917).

About earth

The question of land, in its entirety, can only be resolved by a national Constituent Assembly.

The fairest solution to the land issue should be as follows:

1) The right to private ownership of land is canceled forever; land can be neither sold, nor bought, nor leased, or pledged, nor in any other way alienated. All land: state, appanage, cabinet, monastery, church, possession, prior, private, public, peasant, etc. - is alienated free of charge, becomes the property of the whole people and is transferred to the use of all working people on it.

For those who have suffered from a property coup, only the right to public support for the time necessary to adapt to the new conditions of existence is recognized.

2) All the bowels of the earth: ore, oil, coal, salt, etc., as well as forests and waters of national importance, are transferred to the exclusive use of the state. All small rivers, lakes, etc. are transferred to the use of communities, subject to the management of local self-government bodies.

3) Land plots with highly cultivated farms: gardens, plantations, nurseries, nurseries, greenhouses, etc. are not subject to division, but are transformed into indicative ones and transferred to the exclusive use of the state or communities, depending on their size and significance.

Manor, urban and rural land, with home gardens and vegetable gardens, remains in the use of the present owners, and the size of the plots themselves and the amount of tax for their use are determined by legislative procedure.

4) Horse factories, state and private pedigree cattle breeding and poultry farming, etc. confiscated, turned into the national property and transferred either to the exclusive use of the state or community, depending on their size and significance.

The issue of redemption is subject to consideration by the Constituent Assembly.

5) All economic inventory of confiscated land, living and dead, is transferred to the exclusive use of the state or community, depending on their size and significance, without redemption.

The confiscation of implements does not apply to land-poor peasants.

6) The right to use land is received by all citizens (without distinction of sex) of the Russian state who wish to cultivate it with their own labor, with the help of their family or in a partnership, and only as long as they are able to cultivate it. Wage labor is not allowed.

In case of accidental powerlessness of any member of the rural society for 2 years, the rural society undertakes, before the restoration of its working capacity, for this period to come to its aid by means of social cultivation of the land.

Farmers who, due to old age or disability, have permanently lost the ability to personally cultivate the land, lose the right to use it, but in return receive a pension from the state.

7) Land use should be equalizing, that is, the land is distributed among the workers, depending on local conditions, according to the labor or consumption rate.

The forms of land use should be completely free, household, farm, communal, artisanal, as it will be decided in individual villages and settlements.

8) All land, upon its alienation, enters the national land fund. Its distribution among the working people is in charge of local and central self-governments, ranging from democratically organized non-class rural and urban communities to central regional institutions.

The land fund is subject to periodic redistributions, depending on population growth and raising the productivity and culture of agriculture.

When changing the boundaries of allotments, the original nucleus of the allotment must remain intact.

The land of the retiring members goes back to the land fund, and the priority right to receive the plots of the retired members is received by their closest relatives and persons at the direction of the retired members.

The cost of fertilization and land reclamation (fundamental improvements) invested in the land, since they were not used when returning the allotment back to the land fund, must be paid.

If in some localities the available land fund turns out to be insufficient to satisfy the entire local population, then the surplus population is subject to resettlement.

The organization of resettlement, as well as the costs of resettlement and supply of inventory, etc., should be borne by the state.

The resettlement is carried out in the following order: landless peasants who wish, then vicious members of the community, deserters, and so on. and, finally, by lot or by agreement.

Everything contained in this mandate, as an expression of the unconditional will of the vast majority of class-conscious peasants throughout Russia, is declared a provisional law, which until the Constituent Assembly is implemented as soon as possible, and in certain parts of it with the necessary gradualness, which should be determined by the district Soviets of Peasant Deputies ...

Lands of ordinary peasants and ordinary Cossacks are not confiscated.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin.

All-Russian Congress of Soviets
Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies
decides:

To form a provisional workers 'and peasants' government, which will be called the Council of People's Commissars, to govern the country, pending the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. The management of individual branches of state life is entrusted to commissions, the composition of which must ensure the implementation of the one proclaimed by the Congress in close unity with the mass organizations of workers, women workers, sailors, soldiers, peasants and office workers. Government power belongs to the collegium of the chairmen of these commissions, that is, to the Council of People's Commissars.

Control over the activities of the people's commissars and the right to dismiss them belongs to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies and its Central Executive Committee.

At the moment, the Council of People's Commissars is composed of the following persons:

Chairman of the Council - Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin);

People's Commissar for Internal Affairs - A. I. Rykov;

Agriculture - V.P. Milyutin;

Labor - A. G. Shlyapnikov;

For military and naval affairs - a committee composed of: V. Ovseenko (Antonov), N. V. Krylenko and F. M. Dybenko;

For Trade and Industry - V.P. Nogin;

National Education - A. V. Lunacharsky;

Finance - I. I. Skvortsov (Stepanov);

Foreign Affairs - L. D. Bronstein (Trotsky);

Justice - G. I. Oppokov (Lomov);

For food - I. A. Teodorovich;

Posts and Telegraphs - N.P. Avilov (Glebov);

Chairman of the Affairs of Nationalities - I. V. Dzhugashvili (Stalin).

The post of the People's Commissar for Railway Affairs is temporarily unreplaced.

Declaration of the rights of the peoples of Russia

The October Revolution of workers and peasants began under the common banner of emancipation.

The peasants are emancipated from the power of the landowners, for there is no longer landlord ownership of land — it has been abolished. Soldiers and sailors are emancipated from the power of autocratic generals, for from now on the generals will be elected and replaced. The workers are emancipated from the whims and arbitrariness of the capitalists, for from now on the workers' control over the factories will be established. All living and viable is liberated from the hated shackles.

Only the peoples of Russia remain, who have endured and are enduring oppression and arbitrariness, whose emancipation must be started immediately, whose liberation must be carried out decisively and irrevocably.

In the era of tsarism, the peoples of Russia were systematically pitted against each other. The results of such a policy are known: massacres and pogroms, on the one hand, the slavery of peoples, on the other. There is no and should not be a return to this shameful policy of incitement. Henceforth, it must be replaced by a policy of a voluntary and honest union of the peoples of Russia.

During the period of imperialism, after the February revolution, when power passed into the hands of the Cadet bourgeoisie, the overt policy of incitement gave way to a policy of cowardly distrust of the peoples of Russia, a policy of nagging and provocation under the guise of verbal statements about "freedom" and "equality" of peoples.

The results of such a policy are well known: the strengthening of national enmity, the undermining of mutual trust.

This unworthy policy of lies and mistrust, nagging and provocation must end. Henceforth, it must be replaced by an open and honest policy leading to complete mutual trust of the peoples of Russia.

Only as a result of such trust can an honest and lasting union of the peoples of Russia be formed.

Only as a result of such an alliance can the workers and peasants of the peoples of Russia be welded together into one revolutionary force capable of withstanding any encroachments on the part of the imperialist-annexationist bourgeoisie.

Based on these provisions, the first congress of Soviets in June of this year proclaimed the right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination.

The Second Congress of Soviets in October of this year reaffirmed this inalienable right of the peoples of Russia more decisively and definitely.

Fulfilling the will of these congresses, the Council of People's Commissars decided to base its activities on the question of the nationalities of Russia on the following principles:

1) Equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia.

2) The right of the peoples of Russia to free self-determination up to the separation and formation of an independent state.

3) Cancellation of all and any national and national-religious privileges and restrictions.

4) Free development of national minorities and ethnographic groups inhabiting the territory of Russia.

Concrete decrees arising from this will be drawn up immediately after the construction of the Commission for Nationalities.

In the name of the Russian Republic

People's Commissar for Nationalities

Joseph Dzhugashvili-Stalin.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

Decree on printing

In the difficult decisive hour of the coup and the days immediately following it, the Provisional Revolutionary Committee was forced to take a number of measures against the counter-revolutionary press of various shades.

Immediately, shouts arose from all sides that the new socialist government had thus violated the basic principle of its program by encroaching on freedom of the press.

The workers 'and peasants' government draws the attention of the population to the fact that in our society, behind this liberal screen, freedom for the possessing classes is actually hiding, seizing the lion's share of the entire press, unrestrainedly poisoning the minds and bringing confusion into the consciousness of the masses.

Everyone knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful weapons of the bourgeoisie. Especially at a critical moment, when the new power, the power of the workers and peasants, is only gaining ground, it was impossible to leave this weapon entirely in the hands of the enemy, while it is no less dangerous at such moments than bombs and machine guns. That is why temporary and emergency measures were taken to curb the flow of filth and slander, in which the yellow and green press would willingly drown the young victory of the people.

As soon as the new order is consolidated, all administrative influences on the press will be terminated, complete freedom will be established for it within the limits of responsibility before the court, in accordance with the broadest and most progressive law in this respect.

Considering, however, that the restriction of the press, even at critical moments, is permissible only to the extent absolutely necessary, the Council of People's Commissars decides:

General provisions on printing

1) Only press organs are subject to closure: 1) calling for open resistance or disobedience to the Workers 'and Peasants' government; 2) sowing confusion by clearly slanderous perversion of facts; 3) calling for acts of a clearly criminal, i.e., criminally punishable nature.

2) Prohibitions of press organs, temporary or permanent, are carried out only by decree of the Council of People's Commissars.

3) This provision is temporary and will be canceled by a special decree upon the onset of normal conditions of public life.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin.

Government decree
on the convocation of the Constituent Assembly
at the appointed time

In the name of the Government of the Republic, the Council of People's Commissars, elected by the All-Russian Congress of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies with the participation of peasant deputies, resolves:

2) All election commissions, local government institutions, Soviets of Workers ', Soldiers' and Peasants 'Deputies and soldiers' organizations at the front must exert every effort to ensure the free and correct conduct of elections to the Constituent Assembly at the appointed time.

In the name of the Government of the Russian Republic

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin.

Decrees of the Soviet government. T. I.
M., Gospolitizdat, 1957.

From the Report of VI Lenin on the tasks of the power of the Soviets at a meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies on October 25 (November 7) 1917 (newspaper report): “Comrades! The workers 'and peasants' revolution, the necessity of which the Bolsheviks had been talking about all the time, had taken place.

What is the significance of this workers 'and peasants' revolution? First of all, the significance of this coup is that we will have a Soviet government, our own organ of power, without any participation of the bourgeoisie. The oppressed masses will themselves create power. The old state apparatus will be fundamentally destroyed and a new administrative apparatus in the face of Soviet organizations will be created. "

V.I. Lenin. Full collection op. Vol. 35, p. 2.

From the resolution of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies "To Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!" The vast majority of the Soviets are represented there. A number of delegates from peasant Soviets are also present at the congress. The powers of the compromising CEC have ended. Relying on the will of the vast majority of workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison that took place in Petrograd, the congress takes power into its own hands.

The provisional government has been deposed. Most of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested.

The Soviet government will offer an immediate democratic peace to all peoples and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will ensure the free transfer of landlord, appanage and monastery lands to the disposal of peasant committees, defend the rights of a soldier, complete democratization of the army, establish workers' control over production, ensure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, take care of the delivery of bread to cities and basic necessities to the countryside, provide all nations inhabiting Russia, the true right to self-determination.

The congress decides: all power in the localities is transferred to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must ensure a genuine revolutionary order. "

V.I. Lenin. Full collection op. Vol. 35, p. 11.

Meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 4 (17), 1917 From VI Lenin's response to the request of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries: “The living creativity of the masses is the main factor of the new public. Let the workers undertake the creation of workers' control in their factories and plants, let them supply the countryside with manufactured goods, exchange them for bread. Not a single product, not a single pound of bread should be left out of account, for socialism is, first of all, accounting. Socialism is not created by orders from above. State-bureaucratic automatism is alien to his spirit; socialism is living, creative, is the creation of the masses of the people themselves. "

V.I. Lenin. Full collection op. Vol. 35, p. 57.

From the work of VI Lenin "Childhood disease of" leftism "in communism": "Now we have before us a very decent international experience, which speaks with complete certainty that some of the main features of our revolution are not local, not nationally special, not only Russian, but international significance. And I am talking here about the international meaning, not in the broad sense of the word: not some, but all the main and many secondary features of our revolution are of international importance in the sense of its impact on all countries. No, in the narrowest sense of the word, that is, understanding by international significance the international significance or the historical inevitability of repetition on an international scale of what we had, we have to recognize such a significance behind some of the main features of our revolution.

Of course, it would be the greatest mistake to exaggerate this truth, to extend it not only to some of the main features of our revolution ...

But at this historical moment, it is the case that we are showing the Russian model to all countries something, and very significant, from their inevitable and near future. The advanced workers in all countries understood this long ago - and even more often they did not so much understand it as they seized it by the instinct of the revolutionary class, sensed it. "

V.I. Lenin. Full collection op. T. 41. S. 3-4.

On the eve of the first anniversary of October (1918), JV Stalin recalled: “The most important events that accelerated the October uprising were: the intention of the Provisional Government (after the surrender of Riga) to surrender Petrograd, the preparation of the Kerensky government for moving to Moscow, the decision of the command staff of the old army to transfer the entire garrison of Petrograd to the front, leaving the capital defenseless and, finally, the feverish work of the black congress, headed by Rodzianko, in Moscow - the work of organizing the counter-revolution. All this, in connection with the growing economic devastation and the unwillingness of the front to continue the war, determined the inevitability of a quick and strictly organized uprising as the only way out of the current situation.

Already at the end of September, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party decided to mobilize all the forces of the party to organize a successful uprising. To this end, the Central Committee decided to organize a Military Revolutionary Committee in St. Petersburg, to achieve the abandonment of the Petrograd garrison in the capital, and to convene an All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Such a congress could be the only successor to power. The preliminary conquest of the most significant in the rear and at the front of the Soviets of Deputies in Moscow and Petrograd was undoubtedly part of the general plan of organizing the uprising.

The central organ of the Rabochy Put 'party, obeying the instructions of the Central Committee, began to openly call for an uprising, preparing the workers and peasants for a decisive battle.

The first open skirmish with the Provisional Government took place over the closure of the Bolshevik newspaper Rabochy Put. By order of the Provisional Government, the newspaper was closed. By the order of the Military Revolutionary Committee, it was opened in a revolutionary way. The seals were torn off, the commissars of the Provisional Government were removed from their posts. It was October 24th.

On October 24, in a number of the most important state institutions, the commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee removed the representatives of the Provisional Government by force, as a result of which these institutions ended up in the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and the entire apparatus of the Provisional Government was disorganized. On that day (October 24), the entire garrison, all the regiments in Petrograd decisively went over to the side of the Military Revolutionary Committee, with the exception of only a few cadet schools and an armored battalion. There was indecision in the behavior of the Provisional Government. Only in the evening did it begin to occupy the bridges with shock battalions, having managed to separate some of them. In response, the Military Revolutionary Committee moved the sailors and the Vyborg Red Guards, who, having removed the shock battalions and dispersed them, themselves occupied the bridges. From that moment on, an open uprising began. A number of our regiments were sent with the task of encircling the entire area occupied by the headquarters and the Winter Palace. The Provisional Government sat in the Winter Palace. The passage of the armored division to the side of the Military Revolutionary Committee (late at night on October 24) accelerated the favorable outcome of the uprising.

On October 25, the Congress of Soviets opened, to which the conquered power was transferred by the Military Revolutionary Committee.

Early in the morning on October 26, after the Aurora fired at the Winter Palace and the headquarters, after a skirmish between Soviet troops and cadets in front of the Winter Palace, the Provisional Government surrendered.

The inspiration behind the coup from beginning to end was the Party Central Committee, headed by Comrade Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich was then living in Petrograd, on the Vyborg side, in a safe house. On October 24, in the evening, he was summoned to Smolny to lead the movement.

An outstanding role in the October Uprising was played by the Baltic sailors and Red Guards from the Vyborg side. With the extraordinary courage of these people, the role of the Petrograd garrison was reduced mainly to the moral and partly military support of the leading soldiers. "

J.V. Stalin. Op. T. 4. S. 152-154.

From the work of JV Stalin "The October Revolution and the Tactics of the Russian Communists": "Three circumstances of the external order determined the comparative ease with which the proletarian revolution in Russia managed to break the chains of imperialism and thus overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie.

First, the fact that the October Revolution began during a desperate struggle between the two main imperialist groups, the Anglo-French and the Austro-German, when these groups, being engaged in a mortal struggle among themselves, had neither the time nor the means to devote serious attention to the struggle. with the October Revolution. This circumstance was of tremendous importance for the October Revolution, for it enabled it to use the violent clashes within imperialism to strengthen and organize its forces.

Secondly, the fact that the October Revolution began in the course of the imperialist war, when the working people, exhausted by the war and thirsting for peace, were led by the very logic of things to the proletarian revolution as the only way out of the war. This circumstance was of the most serious importance for the October Revolution, for it gave it a powerful instrument of peace, made it easier for it to unite the Soviet coup with the end of the hated war and, in view of this, created massive sympathy for it both in the West, among the workers, and in the East. among the oppressed peoples.

Thirdly, the presence of a powerful labor movement in Europe and the fact that a revolutionary crisis is brewing in the West and East, created by the prolonged imperialist war. This circumstance was invaluable for the revolution in Russia, for it provided her with loyal allies outside Russia in her struggle against world imperialism.

But in addition to external circumstances, the October Revolution also had a number of internal favorable conditions that facilitated its victory.

First, the October Revolution had the most active support of the vast majority of the working class in Russia.

Secondly, she had the undoubted support of the poor peasants and the majority of the soldiers who yearned for peace and land.

Thirdly, it had at its head, as a leading force, such a tried and tested party as the Bolshevik Party, strong not only by its experience and discipline developed over the years, but also by its enormous ties with the working masses.

Fourthly, the October Revolution had before it such comparatively easily surmountable enemies as the more or less weak Russian bourgeoisie, the landlord class finally demoralized by the peasant "riots" and the compromising parties (the parties of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries) that were completely bankrupt during the war.

Fifth, she had at her disposal the vast spaces of the young state, where she could freely maneuver, retreat when the situation required it, take a break, gather strength, etc.

Sixth, the October Revolution could count on the availability of a sufficient amount of food, fuel and raw materials in the country in its struggle against counterrevolution.

The combination of these external and internal circumstances created that peculiar situation that determined the comparative ease of the victory of the October Revolution.

This does not mean, of course, that the October Revolution did not have its disadvantages in terms of the external and internal situation. What is, for example, such a minus as the well-known loneliness of the October Revolution, the absence of a Soviet country near it and in its neighborhood, on which it could rely?

Address of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets to the workers, soldiers and peasants on the victory of the revolution and its immediate tasks, October 25 (November 7) 1917

Date of adoption:
Number:
Host body:

Information updated:01.01.2008

Note: Verified by edition: Decrees of the Soviet government. T. I. M., State. publishing house polit. literature, 1957. Full text of the document:
WORKERS, SOLDIERS AND PEASANTS!
Second All-Russian Congress of Workers 'and Soldiers' Soviets
deputies opened. It represents the vast majority
Councils. A number of delegates from peasants are also present at the congress.
Councils. The powers of the conciliatory Central Executive
The committee ended. Relying on the will of the vast majority
workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on what happened in
Petrograd victorious uprising of workers and garrison, congress
takes power into his own hands.
The provisional government has been deposed. Most members
The Provisional Government has already been arrested.
Soviet power will offer an immediate democratic peace
to all peoples and an immediate truce on all fronts. She
will provide free transfer of landlords, specific and
monastery lands at the disposal of peasant committees,
defend the rights of the soldier, carrying out a complete democratization of the army,
establish workers' control over production, ensure
timely convocation of the Constituent Assembly, will attend to the delivery
bread to the cities and necessities to the village,
will provide all nations inhabiting Russia with a genuine right to
self-determination.
The Congress decides; all local power is transferred to the Soviets
workers', soldiers' and peasants' deputies, who should
to ensure a genuine revolutionary order.
The congress calls on the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and resilient.
The Congress of Soviets is confident that the revolutionary army will be able to defend
revolution from all encroachments of imperialism, while the new
The government will not achieve the conclusion of a democratic peace,
which it will directly propose to all peoples. New
The government will take all measures to ensure
the revolutionary army with everything necessary, through a decisive policy
requisitions and taxation of the possessing classes, as well as improve the situation
soldiers' families.
The Kornilovites - Kerensky, Kaledin and others - make attempts
lead troops to Petrograd. Several squads, fraudulently
moved by Kerensky, went over to the side of the insurgent people.
Soldiers, actively oppose the Kornilovite
Kerensky! Be on your guard!
Railwaymen, stop all trains sent
Kerensky against Petrograd!
Soldiers, workers, employees - the fate of the revolution is in your hands
and the fate of the democratic world!
Long live the revolution!

All-Russian Congress of Soviets
workers 'and soldiers' deputies.
Delegates from the Peasant Soviets.

History of Russia Munchaev Shamil Magomedovich

No. 19 Proclamation of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets to the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants! Petrograd, October 25 (November 7) 1917

Proclamation of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets to the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies has opened. The vast majority of the Soviets are represented there. A number of delegates from peasant Soviets are also present at the congress. The powers of the compromising CEC have ended. Relying on the will of the vast majority of workers, soldiers and peasants, relying on the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison that took place in Petrograd, the congress takes power into its own hands.

The provisional government has been deposed. Most of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested.

The Soviet government will offer an immediate democratic peace to all peoples and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will provide a free transfer of landlord, appanage and monastery lands in the order of the peasant committees, will defend the rights of the soldier, having carried out the complete democratization of the army, will establish workers' control over production, ensure the timely convocation of the Constituent Assembly, take care of the delivery of bread to the cities and basic necessities in the countryside, provide all nations inhabiting Russia with a true right to self-determination.

The congress decides: all power in the localities shall pass to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must ensure a genuine revolutionary order.

The congress calls on the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and resilient. The Congress of Soviets is confident that the revolutionary army will be able to defend the revolution from all encroachments of imperialism until the new government achieves the conclusion of a democratic peace, which it will directly propose to all peoples. The new government will take all measures to provide the revolutionary army with everything it needs, through a decisive policy of requisitions and taxation of the propertied classes, and will also improve the situation of the soldiers' families.

The Kornilovites — Kerensky, Kaledin, and others — make attempts to lead troops against Petrograd. Several detachments, deceived by Kerensky, went over to the side of the insurgent people.

Soldiers, show active opposition to the Kornilovite Kerensky! Be on your guard!

Railwaymen, stop all trains sent by Kerensky to Petrograd!

Soldiers, workers, office workers — the fate of the revolution and the fate of the democratic world are in your hands!

Long live the revolution!

All-Russian Congress of Workers' Soviets

and soldiers' deputies

Delegates from Peasant Soviets

Quote: Lenin V.I. collection op. Vol. 35, pp. 11–12.