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

CAN THE BOLSHEVIKS RETAIN STATE POWER?133Let us examine this experience without these charmingspectacles.You compare July 3-5 with “civil war”, because you believedAlexinsky, Pereverzev and Co. It is typical of thegentlemen of Novaya Zhizn that they believe such people(and do absolutely nothing themselves to collect informationabout July 3-5, although they have the huge apparatus of abig daily newspaper at their disposal).Let us assume for a moment, however, that July 3-5 wasnot the rudiment of civil war that was kept within therudimentary stage by the Bolsheviks, but actual civil war.Let us assume this.In that case, then, what does this lesson prove?First, the Bolsheviks did not take the offensive, for itis indisputable that on the night of July 3-4, and even onJuly 4, they would have gained a great deal if they had takenthe offensive. Their defensive position was their weakness,if we are to speak of civil war (as Novaya Zhizn does, andnot of converting a spontaneous outburst into a demonstrationof the type of April 20-21, as the facts show).The “lesson” therefore proves that the wise men of NovayaZhizn are wrong.Secondly, if the Bolsheviks did not even set out to startan insurrection on July 3 or 4, if not a single Bolshevik bodyeven raised such a question, the reason for it lies beyondthe scope of our controversy with Novaya Zhizn. For we arearguing about the lessons of “civil war”, i.e., of insurrection,and not about the point that obvious lack of a majority tosupport it restrains the revolutionary party from thinkingof insurrection.Since everybody knows that the Bolsheviks received amajority in the metropolitan Soviets and in the country(over 49 per cent of the Moscow votes) much later than July1917, it again follows that the “lessons” are far, far fromwhat Novaya Zhizn, that lady with many good points, wouldlike them to be.No, no, you had better not meddle with politics, citizensof Novaya Zhizn!If the revolutionary party has no majority in the advancedcontingents of the revolutionary classes and in the country,insurrection is out of the question. Moreover, insurrection