Page:Lev Borisovich Kamenev - The Dictatorship of the Proletariat (1920).pdf/9

 tariat. If it were not for these external circumstances, the resistance of the Russian bourgeoisie would have been broken, not in three years, but in three months, and the proletarian apparatus of State power would naturally have directed all its energy towards other ends.

In conformity with the nature of the resistance which was to be expected from the Russian propertied classes and their organisations, the dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia had its period of "rosy illusions" and "sentimental youth."

There can be nothing more mistaken than to assume that the Russian proletariat, or even its leader, the Communist Party, came into power with recipes, prepared in advance, of practical measures for the realisation of the dictatorship. Only "Socialist" ignoramuses, or charlatans, could suggest that the Russian Communists came into power with a prepared plan for a standing army, Extraordinary Commissions, and limitations of political liberty, to which the Russian proletariat was obliged to recur for self-defence after bitter experience. The cause of the proletariat was saved, because it soon profited by its acquired experience and, with unfailing energy, applied these methods of struggle when it became convinced of their inevitability.

The transference of power to the Soviets, and the formation of the new Workers' and Peasants' Government took place on November 7th, 1917. The discomfiture and disorganisation of the bourgeoise was so great that it was unable to muster any serious forces against the workmen. The resistance of the government of Kerensky was broken after a few days. The elections to the Constituent Assembly still continued. All the political parties—up to Miliukoff's party—continued to exist openly. All the bourgeois newspapers continued to circulate. Capital punishment was abolished. The army was being demobilised. In the hands of the government there were no other forces than the volunteer detachments of armed workmen. The Ministers of