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

400FEAR OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLDAND THE FIGHT FOR THE NEWThe capitalists and their supporters, witting and unwitting,are thinking, saying and writing: “The Bolshevikshave now been in power for two months, but instead of asocialist paradise we find the hell of chaos, civil war and evengreater dislocation.”We reply: the Bolsheviks have been in power for onlytwo months, but a tremendous step towards socialism hasalready been made. This is not evident only to those who donot wish to see or are unable to analyse the chain of historicalevents. They refuse to see that in a matter of weeksthe undemocratic institutions in the army, the countrysideand industry have been almost completely destroyed. Thereis no other way—there can be no other way—to socialismsave through such destruction. They refuse to see that ina few weeks, the lying imperialist foreign policy, whichdragged out the war and covered up plunder and seizurethrough secret treaties, has been replaced by a truly revolutionary-democraticpolicy working for a really democraticpeace, a policy which has already produced such a great practicalsuccess as the armistice and has increased the propagandapower of our revolution a hundredfold. They refuseto see that workers’ control and the nationalisation of thebanks are being put into practice, and these are the firststeps towards socialism.Those tyrannised by capitalist routine, shocked by thethundering crash of the old world, and the blast, rumble,and “chaos” (apparent chaos) as the age-old structures oftsarism and the bourgeoisie break up and cave in cannot seethe historical prospects; nor can those who are scared by the