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

498V. I. LENINmasses themselves; it does not produce a parliament, but anassembly of working people’s representatives who enact lawswhich are implemented immediately, are translated intolife and are aimed at fighting the exploiters. The old-typeconstituent assembly and referendum were designed to unitethe will of the whole nation and create the possibility ofthe sheep living side by side with the wolves, the exploitedwith the exploiters. That is something we don’t want. It issomething we have tried out and gone through. We’ve hadenough. And we are sure that the majority of the workers,peasants and soldiers feel that way too. At a time when thewar has forced us to make a series of heroic efforts to escapethe grip of capital or perish in the attempt, we are invited toput on an experiment which had already been tried out insome European countries, and which would give us the oldbourgeois capitalism and national representation, insteadof the representation of the working masses. We do notwant bourgeois representation but the representation ofthe exploited and the oppressed that would wage a ruthlessfight against the exploiters. That is the intention of Sovie~power, which does not include either parliament or referendum.It is superior to both, because if the working peopleare dissatisfied with their party they can elect other delegates,hand power to another party and change the governmentwithout any revolution at all, for their experience ofKerensky-Kaledin and the bourgeois Rada has shown thatit is impossible to fight against Soviet power. There mightbe a handful of men in Russia today fighting against Sovietpower, but such eccentrics are few, and they will disappearin a matter of weeks, while Soviet power will triumph as anorganisation of the oppressed class for the ovarthrow of theoppressors and removal of the exploiters.I now come to the famine, this horrible curse of our timewhich threatens us. What is the main cause of the chaos?The main cause of the chaos which threatens the towns andindustrial areas with famine is the sway of saboteurs, andthe economic chaos these saboteurs keep stirring up, whileblaming it on us. We are very well aware that there isenough grain in Russia and that it is stored in Kaledin’srealm, in far-away Siberia and in the grain producing gubernias.I must say that the exploited classes will never