46. The Soviet Power as a Form of proletarian Dictatorship.
Our party was the first to formulate and the first to realise the demand for Soviet Power. The great revolution of November, 1917, was carried through under the watchword, “All power to the soviets!” Until our party took the phrase as its device, the slogan had never been heard of. Not that the notion simply sprang out of our heads! Far from this being the case, the idea was engendered at the very core of life. As early as the revolution of 1905-6, class organisations of the workers, known as soviets of workers’ delegates, came into existence. In the revolution of 1917, these organisations appeared in far greater abundance; almost everywhere there sprouted like mushrooms workers’ soviets, soldiers’ soviets, and subsequently peasants’ soviets. It became clear that these soviets, which had originated as instruments for use in the struggle for power, must inevitably be transformed into the instruments for the wielding of power.
Prior to the Russian revolution of 1917, much had been said and written concerning the dictatorship of the proletariat, but no one clearly understood in what form this dictatorship would be realised. Now, in the Russian revolution, the form of the dictatorship has become manifest as the Soviet Power. THE SOVIET POWER IS THE REALISATION OF THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT, ORGANISED IN ITS SOVIETS AS THE RULING CLASS, AND, WITH THE AID OF THE PEASANTS, CRUSHING THE RESISTANCE OF THE BOURGEOISIE AND THE LANDLORDS.
At one time most people believed that the dictatorship of the proletariat would be possible in the form of a so-called democratic republic, which