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

NOTES54359Reference to Chekhov’s The Man in a Muffler, portraying a timidsoul who is afraid of every little innovation. p. 11960See Engels’s letter to F. A. Sorge of February 22, 1888.p. 1266162636465Reference to the words of Molchalin, a character from Griboyedov’scomedy Wit Works Woe who became a symbol of sycophancyand toadyism. p. 132Reference to the following: February 28 (March 13)—date of theFebruary revolution, September 30 (October 13)—first tentativedate set by the Provisional Government for the convocation of theConstituent Assembly; November 28 (December 11), 1917—dateof the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. p. 136A quotation from N. Sukhanov’s article “Another Thunderbolt”carried by the newspaper Novaya Zhizn (New Life).From August 1917, the Smolny Institute was the headquartersof the Bolshevik groups of the All- Russia Central ExecutiveCommittee and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’Deputies. The Revolutionary Military Committee also had itspremises there from October. p. 136This letter was discussed by the Petersburg Committee of theR.S.D.L.P.(B.), under the chairmanship of M. I. Kalinin, onOctober 5 (18), 1917. Volodarsky and Lashevich had opposedLenin’s proposal for an armed uprising. Lashevich said that thepace of developments should not be forced, and that it was bestto wait for the Congress of Soviets. They were rebuffed by Kalinin,Rahja, Lacis, and others. The majority came out in favour of thearmed insurrection proposed in Lenin’s letter.It was also discussed by a meeting of leading Party functionariesin the Moscow Committee of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.). On October 7(20), the Moscow Committee adopted a resolution setting thetask of launching an immediate campaign for power. On October 10(23), a city conference of Moscow Bolsheviks adopted a resolutiondeclaring that only the overthrow of the Kerensky government andthe installation of a workers’ and peasants’ government couldallow the implementation of the following revolutionary measures:transfer of the land to the peasants; an offer of a just peace to thenations; and a resolute struggle against the dislocation. The Conferenceauthorised the Moscow Committee to take steps to bring therevolutionary forces into a state of combat readiness. p. 140Written, when Lenin was in hiding, for the Extraordinary PartyCongress set for October 17 (30), 1917, and the Third PetrogradCity Conference of Bolsheviks. The Congress was postponed bya decision of the Central Committee on October 5 (18), and thetheses were discussed at the City Conference.