10 October 1917. Vladimir Lenin

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Vladimir Lenin

Vyborg, Russian Republic

Events have fully proved the correctness of the proposal I made at the time of the Democratic Conference, namely, that the Party must put the armed uprising on the order of the day. Events compel us to do this.

History has made the military question now the fundamental political question. I am afraid that the Bolsheviks forget this, being busy with "day-to-day events," petty current questions, and "hoping" that "the wave will sweep Kerensky away". Such hope is naïve; it is the same as relying on chance, and may prove criminal on the part of the party of the revolutionary proletariat. It is my opinion that inside the Party we must agitate for an earnest attitude towards the armed uprising, for which reason this letter should be typed and delivered to the Petrograd and Moscow comrades.

Now about your role. It seems to me we can have completely at our disposal only the troops in Finland and the Baltic fleet and only they can play a serious military role. I think you must make most of your high position, shift all the petty routine work to assistants and secretaries and not waste time on "resolutions"; give all your attention to the military preparation of the troops in Finland plus the fleet for the impending overthrow of Kerensky. If we fail to do this, we may turn out to be consummate idiots, the owners of beautiful resolutions and of Soviets, but no power!

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New coalition government is formed

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From one revolution to another

Russia in 1917

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in Petrograd

in Moscow