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

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE425applied themselves in practice to the task of building socialistsociety, the Constituent Assembly considers that it wouldbe fundamentally wrong, even formally, to put itself inopposition to Soviet power.In essence the Constituent Assembly considers that now,when the people are waging the last fight against theirexploiters, there can be no place for exploiters in any governmentbody. Power must be vested wholly and entirely in theworking people and their authorised representatives—theSoviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies.Supporting Soviet power and the decrees of the Councilof People’s Commissars, the Constituent Assembly considersthat its own task is confined to establishing the fundamentalprinciples of the socialist reconstruction of society.At the same time, endeavouring to create a really freeand voluntary, and therefore all the more firm and stable,union of the working classes of all the nations of Russia, theConstituent Assembly confines its own task to setting upthe fundamental principles of a federation of Soviet Republicsof Russia, while leaving it to the workers and peasantsof each nation to decide independently at their own authoritativeCongress of Soviets whether they wish to participatein the federal government and in the other federal Sovietinstitutions, and on what terms.Written not later thanJanuary 3 (16), 1918Published in Pravda No. 2 andIzvestia No. 2, January 4 (17),1918Published accordingto the manuscript