The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution ('The April Theses')
Delivered in Petrograd in April 1917 following his return from exile, Lenin presented his radical political doctrine calling for an immediate transition from the bourgeois Provisional Government to Soviet worker control ('All Power to the Soviets').
Full Transcript
Comrades, having arrived in Petrograd only on April 3, I could of course deliver the report on the tasks of the revolutionary proletariat only on my own responsibility.
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In our attitude towards the war, which under the new government of Lvov and Co. unquestionably remains on Russia’s part a predatory imperialist war owing to the capitalist nature of that government, not the slightest concession to ‘revolutionary defencism’ is permissible.
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The specific feature of the present situation in Russia is that the country is passing from the first stage of the revolution—which, owing to the insufficient class-consciousness and organization of the proletariat, placed power in the hands of the bourgeoisie—to its second stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest sections of the peasants.
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No support for the Provisional Government; the utter falsity of all its promises must be made clear.
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The masses must be made to see that the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government. All Power to the Soviets!
Defining Key Excerpts
"All power to the Soviets! No support for the Provisional Government!"
"The specific feature of the present situation in Russia is that the country is passing from the first stage of the revolution to its second stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat."
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