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

179ADVICE OF AN ONLOOKERI am writing these lines on October 8 and have little hopethat they will reach Petrograd comrades by the 9th. Itis possible that they will arrive too late, since the Congressof the Northern Soviets has been fixed for October 10. Nevertheless,I shall try to give my “Advice of an Onlooker”in the event that the probable action of the workers andsoldiers of Petrograd and of the whole “region” will takeplace soon but has not yet taken place.It is clear that all power must pass to the Soviets. Itshould be equally indisputable for every Bolshevik thatproletarian revolutionary power (or Bolshevik power—whichis now one and the same thing) is assured of the utmostsympathy and unreserved support of all the working andexploited people all over the world in general, in the belligerentcountries in particular, and among the Russianpeasants especially. There is no need to dwell on these alltoo well known and long established truths.What must be dealt with is something that is probablynot quite clear to all comrades, namely, that in practicethe transfer of power to the Soviets now means armed uprising.This would seem obvious, but not everyone has or isgiving thought to the point. To repudiate armed uprisingnow would mean to repudiate the key slogan of Bolshevism(All Power to the Soviets) and proletarian revolutionaryinternationalism in general.But armed uprising is a special form of political struggle,one subject to special laws to which attentive thoughtmust be given. Karl Marx expressed this truth with remark-