Lenin CW-Vol. 23.pdf - From Marx to Mao

287DRAFT THESES, MARCH 4 (17), 1917 122Information reaching Zurich from Russia at this moment,March 17, 1917, is so scanty, and events in our country aredeveloping so rapidly, that any judgement of the situationmust of needs be very cautious.Yesterday’s dispatches indicated that the tsar had alreadyabdicated and that the new, Octobrist-Cadet government 123had already made an agreement with other representativesof the Romanov dynasty. Today there are reports fromEngland that the tsar has not yet abdicated, and that hiswhereabouts are unknown. This suggests that he is trying toput up resistance, organise a party, perhaps even an armedforce, in an attempt to restore the monarchy. If he succeedsin fleeing from Russia or winning over part of the armed forces,the tsar might, to mislead the people, issue a manifestoannouncing immediate conclusion of a separate peace withGermany!That being the position, the proletariat’s task is a prettycomplex one. There can be no doubt that it must organiseitself in the most efficient way, rally all its forces, arm,strengthen and extend its alliance with all sections of theworking masses of town and country in order to put up astubborn resistance to tsarist reaction and crush the tsaristmonarchy once and for all.Another factor to bear in mind is that the new governmentthat has seized power in St. Petersburg, or, more correctly,wrested it from the proletariat, which has waged a victorious,heroic and fierce struggle, consists of liberal bourgeoisand landlords whose lead is being followed by Kerensky,the spokesman of the democratic peasants and, possibly,of that part of the workers who have forgotten their interna-