THE SOVIET POWER

revolutionary strength. Obviously, then, our party must sustain, develop, and strengthen this unity. Experience has shown that intimate association with proletarian organisations exercises a remarkable influence upon the army. We need only recall the resistance to Kolchak in the summer of 1919 and to Denikin in the autumn of the same year. These victories could not have been achieved had not the army been assisted by workers from the party, from the trade unions, etc., who flocked to the colours. For this reason the Red Army of the proletariat is in actual fact, and not merely in words, the first people’s army, the first army created by the will of the workers, organised by the workers, solidarised with them, indissolubly united with them, and, by means of its representatives in the soviets, participating in the administration of the country. The Red Army is not something distinct from the people; it consists of the working class and the poor peasants; and it marches under the leadership of the working class. The army lives in the most intimate association with the workers at the rear. It is the absolute duty of our party to be indefatigable in its endeavours to consolidate this unity.