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

202V. I. LENINrevolution or start an uprising. There is no middle course.Even the convocation of the Constituent Assembly doesnot, in itself, change anything, for no “constituting”, novoting by any arch-sovereign assembly will have any effecton the famine, or on Wilhelm. Both the convocation andthe success of the Constituent Assembly depend upon thetransfer of power to the Soviets. This old Bolshevik truthis being proved by reality ever more strikingly and evermore cruelly.“We are becoming stronger every day. We can enter the ConstituentAssembly as a strong opposition; why should we stake everything?...”This is the argument of a philistine who has “read” thatthe Constituent Assembly is being called, and who trustinglyacquiesces in the most legal, most loyal, most constitutionalcourse.It is a pity, however, that waiting for the ConstituentAssembly does not solve either the question of famine orthe question of surrendering Petrograd . This “trifle” isforgotten by the naïve or the confused or those who haveallowed themselves to be frightened.The famine will not wait. The peasant uprising did notwait. The war will not wait. The admirals who have disappeareddid not wait.Will the famine agree to wait, because we Bolsheviksproclaim faith in the convocation of the Constituent Assembly?Will the admirals who have disappeared agree towait? Will the Maklakovs and Rodzyankos agree to stopthe lockouts and the sabotaging of grain deliveries, or todenounce the secret treaties with the British and the Germanimperialists?This is what the arguments of the heroes of “constitutionalillusions” and parliamentary cretinism amount to. The livingreality disappears, and what remains is only a paperdealing with the convocation of the Constituent Assembly;there is nothing left but to hold elections.And blind people are still wondering why hungry peopleand soldiers betrayed by generals and admirals are indifferentto the elections! Oh, wiseacres!