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

CONGRESS OF SOVIETS OF PEASANTS’ DEPUTIES3315CONCLUDING SPEECH ON THE AGRARIAN QUESTIONNOVEMBER 18 (DECEMBER 1)NEWSPAPER REPORTComrade Lenin first showed that the accusation of anarchismmade against the Bolsheviks by the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries had not been proved.In what way did socialists differ from anarchists? Theanarchists did not recognise state power whereas the socialists,the Bolsheviks among them, did recognise it in theperiod of transition between the state of affairs then obtainingand the socialism towards which they were progressing.The Bolsheviks favoured a strong authority, but it mustbe a workers’ and peasants’ authority.All state power is compulsion, but until then it hadalways been the power of the minority, the power of thelandowner and capitalist employed against the worker andpeasant.He said that the Bolsheviks stood for the state powerthat would be a firm authority of the majority of the workersand peasants employed against the capitalists and landowners.Comrade Lenin then went on to show that the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries’resolution on the land had called thenew government a people’s socialist government, and dwelton the points that could closely unite the Bolsheviks andLeft Socialist-Revolutionaries.The alliance of the peasants and-workers was a basis foran agreement between the Left Socialist-Revolutionariesand the Bolsheviks.It was an honest coalition, an honest alliance, but itwould be an honest coalition at the summit too, between theLeft Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks, if the