In Defence of October

Study the lessons of the Russian Revolution

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On The Opening Of The Constituent Assembly

"The Council of People’s Commissars deems it necessary to declare that these are absolutely false rumours, deliberately and maliciously spread by the enemies of the Soviets of Peasants’, Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies."

In view of the delay in the elections to the Constituent Assembly, mainly due to the fault of the former All-Russia Electoral Commission, and in view of the formation by counter-revolutionary groups of a special Constituent Assembly Commission in opposition to the Commissariat set up by Soviet power, rumours have been circulated that the Constituent Assembly, as at present constituted, would not be convened at all. The Council of People’s Commissars deems it necessary to declare that these are absolutely false rumours, deliberately and maliciously spread by the enemies of the Soviets of Peasants’, Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. According to the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars, which has been approved by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, the Constituent Assembly is to meet as soon as one-half of its members, namely 400 deputies, are duly registered at the Taurida Palace chancellory.

Vl. Ulyanov (Lenin),
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars

 

Source: Marxist Internet Archive.

Read More

23.02.1917
The February Revolution
Strikes and protests erupt on women's day in Petrograd and develop into a mass movement involving hundreds of thousands of workers; within 5 days the workers win over the army and bring down the hated and seemingly omnipotent Tsarist Monarchy.
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16.04.1917
Lenin Returns
Lenin returns to Russia and presents his ‘April Theses’ denouncing the Bourgeois Provisional Government and calling for “All Power to the Soviets!”
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18.06.1917
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Following the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the reformist leaders called a demonstration to show the strength of "democracy". 400,000 people attended, the vast majority carried banners with Bolshevik slogans.
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16.07.1917
The July Days
Spontaneous, armed demonstrations against the Provisional Government erupt in Petrograd. The workers and soldiers are suppressed by force, introducing a period of reaction and making the peaceful development of the revolution impossible.
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9.09.1917
The Kornilov Affair
Following the July days, the Bolsheviks were driven underground and the forces of reaction were emboldened. This process culminated in the reactionary forces coalescing around General Kornilov, who attempt to march on Petrograd and crush the revolutionary movement in its entirety.
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26.10.1917
The October Revolution
The Provisional Government is overthrown. State power passes to the Soviets on the morningm of 26th October, after the Bolsheviks’ Military Revolutionary Committee seize the city and the cabinet surrenders.
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