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

370V. I. LENINOn the contrary, the Guchkov government has alreadyconducted negotiations for restoration of the monarchy inRussia. Only the arming and organisation of the proletariatcan prevent Guchkov and Co. from restoring the monarchyin Russia. Only the revolutionary proletariat of Russiaand the whole of Europe, remaining loyal to internationalism,is capable of ridding humanity of the horrors of theimperialist war.We do not close our eyes to the tremendous difficultiesfacing the revolutionary-internationalist vanguard of theRussian proletariat. The most abrupt and swift changesare possible in times such as the present. In No. 47 ofSotsial-Democrat we gave a clear and direct answer to thequestion that naturally arises: What would our Party do, ifthe revolution immediately placed it in power? Our answerwas: (1) We would forthwith offer peace to all the warringnations; (2) we would announce our peace terms—immediateliberation of all the colonies and all the oppressed and nonsovereignpeoples; (3) we would immediately begin and carryout the liberation of all the peoples oppressed by theGreat Russians; (4) we do not deceive ourselves for one moment,we know that these terms would be unacceptable notonly to the monarchist, but also to the republican bourgeoisieof Germany, and not only to Germany, but also tothe capitalist governments of England and France.We would be forced to wage a revolutionary war againstthe German—and not only the German—bourgeoisie. Andwe would wage this war. We are not pacifists. We are opposedto imperialist wars over the division of spoils among thecapitalists, but we have always considered it absurd for therevolutionary proletariat to disavow revolutionary wars thatmay prove necessary in the interests of socialism.The task we outlined in No. 47 of Sotsial-Demokrat is agigantic one. It can be accomplished only by a long seriesof great class battles between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.However, it was not our impatience, nor our wishes,but the objective conditions created by the imperialistwar that brought the whole of humanity to an impasse, thatplaced it in a dilemma: either allow the destruction of moremillions of lives and utterly ruin European civilisation orhand over power in all the civilised countries to the revo-