Page:Theses Presented to the Second World Congress of the Communist International (1920).pdf/79



1. The Soviets of Workers' Deputies appeared for the first time in Russia in 1905, at a time when the revolutionary movement of Russian workmen was at its height. Already in 1905 the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies was taking the first instinctive steps towards a seizure of the power. And at that time the Petrograd Soviet was strong only as far as it had a chance of acquiring political power. As soon as the imperial counter-revolution rallied its forces and the Labour movement slackened, the Soviet, after a short vegetation, ceased to exist.

2. When in 1905, at the beginning of a new strong revolutionary wave, the idea began to awaken in Russia regarding the immediate organisation of Soviets of Workers' Deputies, the Bolshevik party warned the workmen against the immediate formation of the Soviets, and pointed out that such a formation would be well-timed only at the moment when the revolution would have already begun and when the