The Congress of Soviets adopts decrees on peace and land

Lenin revisited Marx and Engels on the state, arguing that a workers’ revolution must dismantle the existing bureaucratic-military apparatus. The theory’s promise of popular self-government later...

Lenin proposed public control of banks, monopolies, and supply as measures to address economic breakdown. The text placed economic planning at the center of the revolutionary programme; its...

In letters to party leaders, Lenin argued that the political moment demanded an uprising. Other Bolsheviks debated timing and strategy; the eventual transfer of power depended on soviet support,...

In a letter to party leaders, Lenin argued that the Bolsheviks could govern by relying on soviets and popular control. The text captures an urgent strategic debate before the October seizure and makes...

The Military Revolutionary Committee and armed workers and soldiers occupied key sites and displaced the Provisional Government during the Second Congress of Soviets. This event, called the October...

After elections in which the Socialist Revolutionaries won more votes nationally, Bolshevik leaders dissolved the Assembly following a brief session. The Bolsheviks argued that soviets expressed a...

Facing German military advances, the Soviet government signed a treaty ceding extensive territories and populations. Lenin defended the severe terms as necessary to preserve the revolution, while...

Lenin called for labor discipline, productivity measures, specialists, and administrative coordination as the new state faced economic collapse. The argument shows how wartime pressures shifted policy...

The theses stressed centralized accounting, control, and organization of production. Lenin presented these measures as necessary to build a socialist economy, while their top-down administration...

At a labour congress, Lenin argued for stronger discipline and productivity under conditions of economic crisis. The speech illustrates a widening gap between revolutionary workplace democracy and...