Page:Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - Lessons of the Revolution (1918).djvu/41

 A Ministry of the Soviet majority would mean only a personal change in the composition of the Ministry, leaving intact the entire old apparatus of the governing power, an apparatus thoroughly bureaucratic, incapable of carrying out any, serious reforms, not even those found in the platforms of the Essers and the Mensheviks.

«All Power to the Soviets» means the thorough reconstruction of the old State apparatus, the apparatus of antiquated officialdom which thwarts everything democratic; it means the removal of this apparatus and the substitution of a new, popular, really democratic apparatus of the Soviets; that is today, the organized and fully armed majority. of the people—workers, soldiers and peasants. And finally, it means full independence for the majority of the nation, not only in choosing delegates, but also in administering the State, and carrying out all necessary reforms.

In order to make the contrast more clear-cut and definite, we shall recall a very important confession made some time ago by the organ of the Government party, the Essers,  («Cause of the People»). «Even in the departments which are in the hands of the Socialist Ministers», writes this paper at the time of the notorious «Coalition Ministry»—«even in these departments the whole administrative apparatus is antiquated, and obstructs work».