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

180V. I. LENINable clarity when he wrote that “insurrection is an art quiteas much as war”.Of the principal rules of this art, Marx noted the following:(1) Never play with insurrection, but when beginning itrealise firmly that you must go all the way.(2) Concentrate a great superiority of forces at the decisivepoint and at the decisive moment, otherwise the enemy, whohas the advantage of better preparation and organisation,will destroy the insurgents.(3) Once the insurrection has begun, you must act withthe greatest determination, and by all means, without fail,take the of offensive. “The defensive is the death of every armedrising.”(4) You must try to take the enemy by surprise and seizethe moment when his forces are scattered.(5) You must strive for daily successes, however small(one might say hourly, if it is the case of one town), and atall costs retain “moral superiority”.Marx summed up the lessons of all revolutions in respectto armed uprising in the words of “Danton, the greatestmaster of revolutionary policy yet known: de l’audace, del’audace, encore de l’audace”. 76Applied to Russia and to October 1917, this means: asimultaneous offensive on Petrograd, as sudden and as rapidas possible, which must without fail be carried out fromwithin and from without, from the working-class quartersand from Finland, from Revel and from Kronstadt, an offensiveof the entire navy, the concentration of a gigantic superiorityof forces over the 15,000 or 20,000 (perhaps more) ofour “bourgeois guard” (the officers’ schools), our “Vendéetroops” (part of the Cossacks), etc.Our three main forces—the fleet, the workers, and thearmy units—must be so combined as to occupy without failand to hold at any cost: (a) the telephone exchange; (b) thetelegraph office; (c) the railway stations; (d) and above all,the bridges.The most determined elements (our “shock forces” andyoung workers, as well as the best of the sailors) must beformed into small detachments to occupy all the more importantpoints and to take part everywhere in all importantoperations, for example: