A Letter to American Workingmen, from the Socialist Soviet Republic of RussiaLenin, Vladimir Il'ich
Philosophy
A Letter to American Workingmen, from the Socialist Soviet Republic of Russia
Lenin, Vladimir Il'ich
Socialism; World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects
It is unconquerable because every blow that comes from the powers
of madly raging imperialism, every new attack by the international
bourgeoisie will bring new, and hitherto unaffected strata of
workingmen and peasants into the fight, will educate them at the cost
of the greatest sacrifice, making them hard as steel, awakening a new
heroism in the masses.
We know that it may take a long time before help can come from you,
comrades, American Workingmen, for the development of the revolution
in the different countries proceeds along various paths, with varying
rapidity (how could it be otherwise!) We know full well that the
outbreak of the European proletarian revolution may take many weeks to
come, quickly as it is ripening in these days. We are counting on the
inevitability of the international revolution. But that does not mean
that we count upon its coming at some definite, nearby date. We have
experienced two great revolutions in our own country, that of 1905
and that of 1917, and we know that revolutions cannot come neither
at a word of command nor according to prearranged plans. We know that
circumstances alone have pushed us, the proletariat of Russia, forward,
that we have reached this new stage in the social life of the world not
because of our superiority but because of the peculiarly reactionary
character of Russia. But until the outbreak of the international
revolution, revolutions in individual countries may still meet with
a number of serious setbacks and overthrows.
And yet we are certain that we are invincible, for if humanity will
not emerge from this imperialistic massacre broken in spirit, it
will triumph. Ours was the first country to break the chains of
imperialistic warfare. We broke them with the greatest sacrifice,
but they are broken. We stand outside of imperialistic duties and
considerations, we have raised the banner of the fight for the complete
overthrow of imperialism for the world.
We are in a beleaguered fortress, so long as no other international
socialist revolution comes to our assistance with its armies. But these
armies exist, they are stronger than ours, they grow, they strive, they
become more invincible the longer imperialism with its brutalities
continues. Workingmen the world over are breaking with their betrayers,
with their Gompers and their Scheidemanns. Inevitably labor is
approaching communistic Bolshevistic tactics, is preparing for the
proletarian revolution that alone is capable of preserving culture and
humanity from destruction.
We are invincible, for invincible is the Proletarian Revolution.
The Class Struggle
Devoted to International Socialism
EDITED BY LOUIS C. FRAINA and LUDWIG LORE
Articles have been contributed by Lenin, Trotzky, Litvinoff,
Katayama, Franz Mehring, Friedrich Adler, Karl Liebknecht,
Rosa Luxemburg, Santeri Nuorteva, and others.
$1.50 per year; 25 cents a copy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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