The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-14

ticn that they cannot fully grasp,
namely, in what way we intend to
finish the war, in what way we
think it possible to bring the war to
an end. The masses are in a maze
Of misrepresentation. there is an alb
solute lack of understanding as TO
cur stand; that is why we nlus5 be
particularly clear il this case"
". e. In approaching the masses,
we must give concrete answers to
all questions"
I'VE must be able to carry ON the
work Of explanation said Ilyich,
mot only among the proletariat,
but also among wide sections Of the
petty bourgeoiSie"
HAD NO ILLUSIONS
Speaking of control, Vladimir H.
yish said: ITO control, one must
have power. If the broad masses
of the petty-bourgeois bloc do not
understand this, we must have the
patience to explain it to them, but
under no circumstances must we
tell them an untruth." Ilyich did
not resort to demagogy, and this
was felt by the soldiers and peas
ants who spoke to him. But conf
dence cannot be won at once. Even
in such time of excitement, uyich
retained his usual sobriety Of
thought: $50 far we are in the
minority; the masses do not trust
us yet. We can wait: they will side
with us when the government re-
veals its true nature" Ilyich had
many talks with soldiers and peas
ants, and even at that time saw no
little evidence of trust, but he had
no illusions: 1.-THE proletarian party
would be guilty of the most grievous
error if it shaped its policy on the
basis of subjective desires where Or
ganization is required. We cannot
assert that the majority is with us:
in this case our motto should be:
caution, caution, caution. To base
our proletarian policy on over-con-
tidence means to condemn it to
failure"
m CONCLUDING his speech on
the political situation Ilyich said:
'The Russian Revolution has Gre
ated the SoyietS. No bourgeois
country has or can have such state
institutions. No Socialist revolu-
ton can function with any other
state power. The Soviets Of Work
ers' and Soldiers Deputies must
seize power not for the purpose OF
building an ordinary, bourgeois re-
public, nor for the purpose of in
PRODUCING Socialism immediately
The latter could not be accom-
plished. What, then is the purpose?
They must seize power in order to
take the first concrete steps toward
introducing Socialism, steps that
can and should be taken. In this
case fear is the greatest enemy.
The masses should be convinced
that these steps must be taken i'm
mediately, that otherwise the power
of the SovietS of Workers and Sol
diers' Deputies would be devoid OF
meaning, and would offer nothing
to the people"
And further, Ilyich spoke Of the
immediate tasks before the Soviets.
Private ownership of land must be
abolished. This is our first task,
because the majority of the people
are for it. To accomplish this we
need the Soyiets. This measure
cannot be carried out by means OF
the old government bureaucracy"
And he closed by quoting an exau1s
pie to illustrate what the struggle
for power locally means. 81 shall
conclude by referring to the speech
that made the strongest impression
on me. l heard a coal-niner de-
liver a remarkable speech. WithouS
using single bookish word, he told
how they had made the revolution.
Those miners we're not concerned
with the question as to whether or
not they should have president
They seized the mine, and the inn
portant question to them was how
to keep the cables intact so that
production might not be inter-
rupted. Then came the question OF
bread, of which there was scare
ity. Now this is a real program of
the revolution, not derived from
books. This is a real seizure OF
power locally"