Page:Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - Lenin's Views on the Revolution.djvu/3

 Comrades, the story of the Hungarian revolution shows the world that the Bolshevik Government has not usurped power, neither is it supported by violence, as some of our calumniators allege. The bourgeois Government in Hungary declared its belief in the Soviets; it saw further than our bourgeoisie did before October 25th, and realised that the country was being ruined; that the people were being asked to bear still heavier burdens, hence the workers and peasants of Hungary were given a chance to become the saviours of their country. The difficulties of the Hungarian revolution are indeed great, the smallness of the country makes it easier for the imperialists to overcome it. Yet whatever may happen, we see in the introduction of Soviet rule into Hungary a great victory for our system. For has not the Hungarian bourgeois Government admitted that in this most difficult time, for that country, only the Soviet, the proletarian dictatorship, could prevail!

Comrades, many revolutionaries have given their lives to free Russia. Fate has been unkind to them; they suffered persecution under the Czar, but, alas! have not survived to rejoice with us in our victory. How much happier has been our fate, who have lived to see the Revolution, and to know that the seed sown by the Russian Revolution is bearing fruit in all Europe. It is this knowledge that convinces us that, great though our trials may be, international imperialism (now in its death-throes) will be overcome, and Socialism will be victorious throughout the whole world.

("Folkets Dagblad Politiken," May 14th, 1919.)

"Volksrecht," May 13th, quotes "Der Freie Arbiter," a Vienna revolutionary Socialist organ, in which Lenin's views on recent events are summarised thus:—

Faced with the question as to what form of organisation to select for the revolutionary masses, we remembered the Soviets of 1905 and decided to re-introduce them as the most suitable means of uniting the proletarian masses in their fight against their oppressors.

Prior to the German Revolution we maintained that the Soviets were the best organisations for Russia, but at that time we were unable to say whether they would also prove most adaptable for the Western countries. Events were destined to solve this question. The Soviets are gaining greater and greater popularity in the West, and the struggle for them is not merely confined to Europe, but has likewise spread to America. Soviets are being formed everywhere, and it is only a question of time till they become all-powerful.

The daily routine of government and the unavoidable duties of reconstruction are apt to absorb our attention and to force us to forget the world-revolution, which is the principal matter in hand. Only by contemplating the