The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive

Stalin School of Falsification
It grieved me to hear in this assembly the applause that greeted [Lunacharsky's] reference to the
dictatorship of a single individual. Why and on what grounds do they seek to behead the party that has
seized power in battle, in blood shed, by demanding the removal of Lenin? Miliukov, for ex ample, was
driven from the Government-but when? When the proletariat placed its knee on the chest of the Cadets.
But now? Who is holding his knee on our chest? Nobody. We have held power for eight days. We are
basing our tactics upon the revolutionary vanguard of the masses. We are told by the champions of
conciliationism that unless we conciliate the Baltic Fleet will not give us even a rowboat. Nothing of the
sort happened. They tried to scare us by insisting that the workers would balk. Meanwhile, the Red
Guards are facing death bravely. No. There is no returning to half-way policies, to conciliationism. We
will put the dictatorship of the proletariat into effect. We will compel these people to work. How did it
happen that society existed and the masses worked under the former terror of the minority? With us it is
not the terror of a minority but the organization of the class violence against the bourgeoisie.
What are they scaring us with today? With the self- same thing that the Mensheviks and the Social
Revolutionists sought to scare us yesterday. As soon as we undertake the socialist revolution [said they],
we shall see that the Junkers take to shooting, that blood begins to flow, the bourgeoisie forges
conspiracies, the functionary resorts to sabotage, the army committees resist. . . . Of course! But these are
only the tops. Had we the bourgeoisie with us, there would be no civil war-nobody could gainsay that.
The army committees are hated by the masses of the soldiery but in many cases the masses are unable to
under take anything against them as yet. In a whole number of army divisions, however, Military
Revolutionary Commit tees have already been elected and they have placed under arrest the officers, the
old committees and the entire commanding staff. This has already been done in about one- fourth of the
Army. To fraternize with the old army commit tees is to rouse the workers against us.
The prejudices of Lunacharsky are a heritage of the petty bourgeois psychology. Naturally, that is also, in
part, inherent in the masses, being the heritage of their slavery of yesterday. But should the
counter-revolution threaten, even the backward masses will take up arms. The nethermost rank and file
are placed in such a position as will make them resort to arms. It is otherwise with the Vikzhel, the army
committees, the Social Revolutionists, the Mensheviks and all other tops.
Lunacharsky says: We must halt -- we must wait. .
No. We must drive ahead. When you come out against us at the moment of sharp struggle, you weaken
us. Conciliation with Chernov would provide nothing. What we need is organization and this we must
attain. Chernov is in fear lest the people press too hard against the bourgeoisie, and take away from the
bourgeoisie the money it has plundered. Chernov is an auxiliary lever in the hands of the bourgeoisie. He
will merely weaken us by his petty bourgeois vacillations, nothing more.
We must tell the workers simply and intelligibly that we do not aim to build a coalition with the
Mensheviks and the others but that the crux of the matter lies in a program of action. We already have a
coalition. Our coalition is with the peasants-the soldiers who are now fighting for the Bolshevik power.
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets transmitted power to a certain party. You seem to forget this.
Is it permissible to share power with those elements who have heretofore even sabotaged the Soviets and
who are today fighting from the outside against the proletarian state? All those who are ready to do so
forget to ask themselves whether those with whom they are willing to share power are capable of
carrying out our program. They do not even mention that. Are the Conciliationists capable of carrying
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