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

480V. I. LENINgovernment powers into the hands of the working people.We shall now proceed to build, on the space cleared of historicalrubbish, the airy towering edifice of the socialistsociety. A new type of state power is being created for thefirst time in history, a power that the will of the revolutionhas called upon to wipe out all exploitation, oppression andslavery the world over.Let us take a look at what the new socialist principleof government has yielded in the sphere of our domesticpolicy. Comrades, you will recall that just recently thebourgeois press was vociferously accusing us of destroyingthe Russian state and saying that we were incapable ofFROM MARXTO MAOrunning the country, and so all the nationalities—Finland,the Ukraine, etc.—were leaving us. The bourgeois press,⋆transported with malicious joy, carried almost daily reportsof such “secessions”. We. comrades, had a better understandingthan they of the main causes of this phenomenon whichwere rooted in the working people’s mistrust of the conciliatoryimperialist government of Kerensky and Co. We keptsilent, being quite sure that our just principles and ourgovernment would demonstrate our true purposes and aspirationsto all the working people better than words.We proved to be right. We see now that our ideas havewon out in Finland NOT and the Ukraine FORand are winning outon the Don, that they are awakening the working people’sclass-consciousness and are organising them into a solidalliance. We actedCOMMERCIALwithout any diplomatists or the use ofthe old imperialist methods, but can point to the greatestresult: the revolution DISTRIBUTIONhas won, and those who have won areallied with us in a mighty revolutionary federation. We donot rule by dividing, as ancient Rome’s harsh maxim required,but by uniting all the working people with the unbreakablebonds of living interests and a sense of class. This ourunion, our new state is sounder than power based on violencewhich keeps artificial state entities hammered togetherwith lies and bayonets in the way the imperialists wantthem. Thus, no sooner had the Finnish workers and peasantstaken power than they sent us their expressions of loyaltyto the world proletarian revolution and greetings which revealunflinching determination to march with us along thepath of the International. 166 There is the basis of our federa-