Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

AGRARIAN PROGRAMME OF SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY357drawn up as to be easily and wholly converted into a parliamentaryBill, like the Bills proposed by the bourgeoisparties, which either (like the Cadets) hate all “actions”,or opportunistically shirk the task of systematically assistingand organising such actions (like the Popular Socialists).But a programme built on such lines is unworthyof a workers’ party which speaks of a peasant agrarian revolution,a party which pursues the aim not of reassuringthe big bourgeoisie and the bureaucracy (like the Cadets),not of reassuring the petty bourgeoisie (like the PopularSocialists), but exclusively of developing the consciousnessand initiative of the broad masses in the courseof their struggle against feudal Russia.Recall, if only in general outline, the innumerable “revolutionaryactions” of the peasantry which took place inRussia in the spring of 1905, in the autumn of 1905, andin the spring of 1906. Do we pledge our support to such actionsor not? If not, then our programme would not be tellingthe truth. If we do, then obviously our programmefails to give directives about the organisation of such actions.Such actions can be organised only on the spot wherethe struggle is going on; the organisation can be createdonly by the masses who are directly taking part in the struggle,i.e., the organisation must definitely be of the peasantcommittee type. To wait for big, regional self-governingbodies to be set up during such actions would be ridiculous.The extension of the power and influence of the victoriouslocal committees to adjacent villages, uyezds, gubernias,towns, areas, and to the entire country is, of course, desirableand essential. There can be no objection to the needfor such an extension being indicated in the programme,but that should certainly not be confined to regions, itshould embrace the central government as well. That inthe first place. Secondly, in that case we must not speakabout local self-governing bodies, since that term pointsto the dependence of the local governing organisations uponthe structure of the state. “Local self-government” operatesaccording to the rules laid down by the central authority,and within the limits set by the latter. The organisationsof the fighting people of which we are speaking must be quiteindependent of all the institutions of the old regime, they