Lenine wrote:
The Germans have only one Liebknecht, no newspapers, no freedom of
assemblage, no councils; they are working against the intense
hostility of all classes of the population, including the wealthy
peasants--with the imperialist bourgeoisie splendidly
organized--and yet the Germans are making some attempt at
agitation; _while we, with tens of papers, with freedom of
assemblage, with the majority of the Council with us, we, the best
situated of all the proletarian internationalists, can we refuse
to support the German revolutionists in organizing a revolt?_
That it was not the "German revolutionists" who in November, 1917, wanted
the Russians to revolt against the Kerensky government, but the Majority
Socialists, upon whom Lenine had poured his contempt, on the one hand, and
the German General Staff, on the other hand, is a mere detail. The
important thing is that Lenine admitted that under the Kerensky government
the Russian workers, including the Bolsheviki, were "the best situated of
all the proletarian internationalists," and that they had "tens of papers,
with freedom of assemblage." In the face of such statements by Lenine
himself, written a few days before the Bolshevik counter-revolution, what
becomes of the charge that the suppression of popular liberties under
Kerensky was one of the main causes of the revolt of the Bolsheviki?
Against the tolerance of Kerensky, the arbitrary and despotic methods of
the Bolsheviki stand out in strong contrast.
Pages:
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330