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

ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS335tenure, while the bourgeoisie were opposed to the peasantsand the decision depended on the Bolsheviks?”I replied: under such circumstances, when the cause ofsocialism would be ensured by the introduction of workers’control, the nationalisation of the banks, etc., the alliancebetween the workers and the working and exploited peasantswould make it obligatory for the party of the proletariatto vote for the peasants and against the bourgeoisie. TheBolsheviks, in my opinion, would be entitled when the votewas being taken to make a declaration of dissent, to placeon record their non-agreement, etc., but to abstain from votingunder such circumstances would be to betray theirallies in the fight for socialism because of a difference withthem on a partial issue. The Bolsheviks would never betraythe peasants in such a situation. Equal land tenure and likemeasures cannot prejudice socialism if the power is in thehands of a workers’ and peasants’ government, if workers’control has been introduced, the banks nationalised, aworkers’ and peasants’ supreme economic body set up todirect (regulate) the entire economic life of the country,and so forth.Such was my reply.N. LeninWritten on November 18 (December 1),1917Published in Pravda No. 194,December 2 (November 19), 1917Published accordingto the Pravda text