Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies

In accordance with the decision of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers’ Deputies, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, convened on November 7th, 1917. Originally the Congress was scheduled for mid-September 1917, but it could not convene as scheduled due to the deliberate delay caused by the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Mensheviks. Thus, the meeting was postponed to November 7th, to be held in the Smolny Institute, Petrograd.

The Congress was attended by about 600 delegates comprised of the Bolshevik Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Menshevik Party, and the Internationalists group led by V. Chernov. The Congress was held in two sessions: from the evening of the 7th to the early hours of the following day, the Congress proclaimed the overthrow of the bourgeois provisional government and the establishment of Soviet power. On the session of the 7th November Lenin was not present. However, on the evening of the 8th November Lenin reported on topics related to the peace and the land issues. The Congress adopted the decision to elect a provisional government of workers and peasants and determined its organizational structure, naming it as the Council of People's Commissars, with Lenin as its Chairman. The meeting ended at 5 a.m. on the 9th of November.

The fundamental themes of the Congress were the government issue, the peace issue, and the land issue.

On the question of government, the Congress began by declaring that after the triumphant uprising of the October Revolution, power was in its own hands and that Russia was about to be established as a Soviet state with the proletariat in power. A.V. Lunacharsky read out the Letter to Workers, Soldiers and Peasants written by Lenin, announcing that The Provisional Government has been overthrown. The majority of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested. Backed by the will of the vast majority of the workers, soldiers, and peasants, backed by the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison which has taken place in Petrograd, the Congress takes power into its own hands all power in the localities shall pass to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, which must guarantee genuine revolutionary order. The Soviet government will propose an immediate democratic peace to all the nations and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will secure the transfer of the land of the landed proprietors, the crown and the monasteries to the peasant committees without compensation; it will protect the rights of the soldiers by introducing complete democracy in the army; it will establish workers' control over production; it will ensure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the time appointed; it will see to it that bread is supplied to the cities and prime necessities to the villages; it will guarantee all the nations inhabiting Russia the genuine right to self-determination. The Congress pointed out that the Soviet regime would strive to hunt down the defeated members of the former provisional government and ensure the military supplies to the revolutionary army in the rear. The Congress called on workers, soldiers and peasants to be vigilant, maintain revolutionary order and safeguard the practical interests of workers, soldiers and peasants. But before peace has come, the soldiers on the front line cannot take it lightly and must resolutely defend the fruits of victory achieved by the revolution. Stick to the end and defend the revolution from imperialism and counter-revolution.

On the issue of peace, the Congress adopted the Peace Decree drafted by Lenin. Lenin pointed out that the desire for peace from the overwhelming majority of the working class and other working people on the basis of analyzing the loss and situation of war among countries. The Soviet government announced that it was willing to immediately conclude a truce with the belligerents. On the criteria of the peace treaty, Lenin proposed that the Soviet government would conclude an immediate peace without annexations (i.e., without the seizure of foreign lands, without the forcible incorporation of foreign territories and nations) and without war indemnities, in accordance with the sense of justice of democrats in general, and of the working classes in particular. At the same time, the secret treaties concluded by the bourgeoisie with other countries, which are contrary to national interests, should be immediately abolished and secret diplomacy prohibited. As for the conditions of the peace agreement, Lenin pointed out that in terms of Russia's actual national conditions, concessions can be made in the peace agreement, but in fact, every belligerent country should resolutely fight against deception. The Soviet government proposed an immediate armistice to the governments and people of all the belligerent countries, and, for its part, announced that it considers it desirable that this armistice should be concluded for a period of not less than three months, i.e., a period long enough to permit the completion of negotiations for peace with the participation of the representatives of all peoples or nations, and the summoning of authoritative assemblies of the representatives of the peoples of all countries for the final ratification of the peace terms.

Lenin was not in favor of issuing an ultimatum to get Russia into trouble. The speculative claims of the bourgeoisie to resist blindly to the end with the power of the people were untrue for any belligerent country, and the long period of belligerency has exhausted the energy of the belligerents. Lenin also appealed to the class-conscious workers of Britain, France and Germany to be able to provide appropriate help for the successful implementation of the cause of peace in Soviet Russia.

On the issue of land, the Congress adopted the Decree on Land which was drafted by Lenin. Lenin pointed out that the land question was a legacy of the bourgeois interim government and the Socialist Revolutionary Party, a question that had never been solved in Russia, and a question that should be solved first after the establishment of the Soviet government. Lenin drew up five agrarian decrees according to the actual needs of the poor peasants, including the “Peasant Mandate on Land”, which was drawn up by the Social-Democratic Party on the basis of 242 local mandates of peasant deputies' soviets. The Land Decree abolished the long-standing private ownership of land in Russia and declared that the landed estates, as also all crown, monastery, and church lands, with all their livestock, implements, buildings and everything pertaining thereto, shall be placed at the disposal of the volost land committees and the uyezd Soviets of Peasants' Deputies pending the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. The right to use the land shall be accorded to all citizens of the Russian state (without distinction of sex) desiring to cultivate it by their own labor, with the help of their families, or in partnership, but only as long as they are able to cultivate it. The employment of hired labor is not permitted. Also, Peasants who, owing to old age or ill-health, are permanently disabled and unable to cultivate the land personally, shall lose their right to the use of it but, in return, shall receive a pension from the state. This legally guarantees farmers' land ownership and increases their motivation to work. According to Lenin, although the land decree was drawn up by the Socialist Revolutionary Party, it reflected the real-life problems and the general will of the peasants, and the Workers' and Soldiers' Soviet Government did not reject it but wanted to solve the peasants' land problems on this basis.

At the Congress, Lenin also advocated that the Workers' and Soldiers' Soviets could incorporate intellectuals and form a firm alliance with them. After overthrowing their government, the Soviet regime was able to absorb the use of intellectuals in its service.

The Congress proclaimed to the world that the first socialist state with the proletariat in power was established. The first “Peace Decree” and “Land Decree” of the Soviet power, adopted by the Congress, legally solved the problem of Russia's peaceful foreign relations and the peasant land issue and secured a stable international environment and a broad mass base for the consolidation of the first Revolutionary regime of the world.

The Congress documents, totaling about 6,500 characters, were published in the ninth issue of the Workers' and Soldiers' Journal, and the English version is included in Complete Works of Lenin, Vol. 33.