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

CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF PETROGRAD GARRISON2733SPEECH ON RESTORING LAW AND ORDER IN THE CITYI fully agree with what has been said: the workers musttake a hand in guarding the city. As they do this together,the soldiers will teach the workers how to handle arms.The wholesale arming of the people and the abolition of theregular army is a task which we must not lose sight of fora single minute. If we recruit the working population thetask will be much easier. The comrades’ proposal that wemeet every day is a practical one. It is true that the Russianrevolution produces a great deal of what is novel, that hasnot occurred in any other revolution. For one thing, therehave never been such organs as the Soviets of Workers’ andSoldiers’ Deputies. You must merge with the workers, theywill give you everything the bourgeoisie has failed to giveyou. Every unit, together with the workers’ organisation,must see to it that there is a stock of everything necessaryfor this war of yours, without waiting for pointers fromabove. We must tackle this task on our own tonight. Theunits must not wait for instructions from headquarters,they must make their own proposals. You have somethingthe bourgeoisie have never bad: their only way is to buy;you can contact the workers who produce everything.Pravda No. 174, November 13(October 31), 1917Published accordingto the Pravda text