Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/242

 sembly. The Provisional Government of the second period, of coalition, decided that the Constituent Assembly should meet on September 30. The Provisional Government of the third period, of Premier Kerensky, after the 17th of July, most solemnly affirmed that the Constituent Assembly should meet on September 30.

And yet there are ninety-nine chances out of a hundred that the Constituent Assembly will not be convoked on that date. And should it be convoked on that date—again there are ninety-nine chances out of a hundred that it will be just as powerless and worthless as the first Duma—until the second revolution is victorious in Russia. To become convinced of this fact, it is necessary to turn our attention for a brief moment away from the tinsel of the phrases, promises and trivialities which clog the brain, and to glance at the basic, the determining factor in all social relations—at the class struggle.

It is evident that the bourgeoisie in Russia has allied itself most intimately with the land-owners. The whole press, all the elections, all the politics of the Cadet party and the parties to the right of them, are proof of this alliance.

The bourgeoisie understands perfectly well that which is incomprehensible to the petty bourgeois babblers of the Social-Revolutionists and the left Mensheviki, namely: that it is impossible to abolish private ownership of land in Russia—and, still more, without compensation—without a giant economic revolution, without placing the banks under public control, without the nationalization of the syndicates (trusts), without a series of the most merciless measures against capital. The bourgeoisie understands that perfectly. And at the same time it cannot be ignorant of, it cannot blind itself to, it cannot fail to perceive the fact, that a large majority of the peasants would not only declare now for the confiscation of the land, but show itself considerably more left than Chernov. For the bourgeoisie knows better than we do the frequent and partial concessions that were made by that man, Chernov; for example, from May 18 to July 15, on the questions of protracting and curtailing different demands of the peasants; also the great effort it required for the right Social-Revolutionists (for Chernov is