Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 26 - From Marx to Mao

CAN THE BOLSHEVIKS RETAIN STATE POWER?123that time wished, but to the end of November). The “Stolypins”Kerensky and Co. are trying to soothe the peoplewith the imminent convocation of the Constituent Assembly,as if the people can believe those who have already liedin this matter, as if the people can believe that the ConstituentAssembly will be properly convened by a governmentwhich has taken military measures in remote villages, thatis to say, is openly conniving at the arbitrary arrest ofclass-conscious peasants and the rigging of the elections.The government has driven the peasants to revolt andnow has the effrontery to say to them: “You must ‘be patient’,you must wait, trust the government which is pacifying insurgentpeasants by ‘military measures’!”To bring matters to such a pitch that hundreds of thousandsof Russian soldiers perish in the offensive after June19, the war is being protracted, German sailors have mutiniedand are throwing their officers overboard, to bringmatters to such a pitch, all the time uttering phrases aboutpeace but not offering a just peace to all the belligerents,and yet to have the effrontery to tell the workers and peasants,to tell the dying soldiers, “you must be patient”, trust thegovernment of the “Stolypin man” Kerensky, trust theKornilov generals for another month, perhaps in that monththey will send several tens of thousands more soldiers to theslaughter.... “You must be patient”....Isn’t that shameless?But you won’t fool the soldiers, gentlemen of theSocialist-Revolutionaries, Kerensky’s fellow party members.The workers and soldiers will not endure the Kerenskygovernment for a single day, for an extra hour, for theyknow that the Soviet Government will immediately offer allthe belligerents a just peace and therefore will in all probabilityachieve an immediate armistice and a speedy peace.Not for a single day, not for an extra hour will the soldiersof our peasant army allow the Kerensky government—thegovernment which is employing military measures to suppressthe peasant revolt—to remain in power against the willof the Soviets.No, gentlemen of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Kerensky’sfellow party members, you won’t fool the workers andpeasants any more.