# On the Road to Insurrection/Letter to the Petrograd Committee

Letter to the Petrograd Committee and to the Moscow Committee of the Social Democratic Labour Party of Russia (Bolshevik)
(Beginning of October, 1917.)
Dear Comrades,—
Events show us our duty so clearly that waiting becomes a crime.
The agrarian movement is developing, and the government is repressing it more and more savagely. The sympathy of the troops towards us is increasing (at Moscow, we have 99 per cent of the soldiers' votes for us; the Finnish troops and the fleet are against the government; and Doubassov's declaration shows that the army will have no more of the war).
In Germany, especially since the execution of the sailors, the beginning of the revolution is doubtless at hand. The elections at Moscow have given 47 per cent. of the votes to the Bolsheviks; it is a great victory. With the Left Social Revolutionaries we have obviously a majority in the country.
The railwaymen and postal workers are in conflict with the government. As for the All-Russia Congress of Soviets, due to meet on October 20, the Dan Liber is already speaking of its meeting "about the 20th," &c. …
In these conditions, to wait is a crime.
The Bolsheviks have no right to wait for the Congress of Soviets. They must take power immediately. In so doing they will save the world revolution (for it is to be feared, especially after the executions in Germany, that the capitalists of all countries will compose their differences and unite against us). They will also save the Russian revolution (for if we delay perhaps the rising wave of real anarchy will be too strong for us); and they will save the lives of hundreds of thousands of men at the front.
To wait is a crime. To wait for the Congress of Soviets is to show signs of a standing on ceremony which is childish as well as dishonourable. It is to betray the revolution.
If insurrection is necessary to seize power, it must be begun immediately. It is very possible that precisely at this moment a seizure of power could take place without insurrection; it would be sufficient, perhaps, for the Moscow soviet to proclaim itself (with ​the Petrograd soviet) as the government. At Moscow victory is assured and there is no one to oppose us. At Petrograd we can wait. The government is in a position where it is impossible to do anything. It is in a blind alley. It will yield.
By seizing power—by taking the banks, the factories and the (newspaper) Rouskoie Slovo, the Moscow soviet obtains at one blow a base and a colossal force for its agitation throughout all Russia to which it puts the question thus:—We propose immediate peace from to-morrow even, if Kerensky yields (and if he does not yield we shall overthrow him); the land to the peasants; and immediate concessions to the railwaymen and postal workers, &c.
It is not compulsory to "begin" at Petrograd. If Moscow "begins" without bloodshed, it will certainly be supported (i) by the sympathy of the army at the front; (ii) by the peasants, everywhere; (iii) by the fleet and the troops from Finland which are marching on Petrograd.
Even if Kerensky has one or two cavalry corps at Petrograd he must give in. The Petrograd soviet can wait, meanwhile carrying on the agitation for the soviet government of Moscow. Let our slogan be: Power to the soviets, the land to the peasants, peace to the nations, bread for the hungry.
Victory is assured, and there are nine chances in ten that we shall obtain it without bloodshed.
To wait is a crime against the Revolution.
Greetings.
N. Lenin.