360 THE CLASS STRUGGLE DOCUMENTS 361 Supporting the Soviet rule and accepting the orders of the Council of the People Commissaries, the Constitutional Assembly acknowledges that its duty is to outline a form for the reorganization of society on a socialistic basis.
Striving at the same time to organize a free and voluntary, and thereby also a complete and strong union among the toiling classes of all the Russian nations, the Constitutional Assembly is content to outline the basis of the federation of Russian Soviet Republics, leaving to the people, to workingmen and soldiers, to decide for themselves in their own Soviet meetings, whether they are willing, and on what conditions, to join the federated government and other unions of the Soviet enterprises.
These general principles are to be published without delay and the official representatives of the Soviets are required to read them at the opening of the Constitutional Assembly. These principles are the working basis of the Assembly.
Assembly in its present state is a result of the proportionate party power in force before the great October revolution. The present counter revolutionary majority of the Constitutional Assembly, clected on the basis of the obsolete party lists, is trying to resist the movement of workers and peasants. The day discussions have clearly shown that the Social Revolutionary Party of the right wing, as in the time of Kerensky, makes concessions to the people, promising them everything, but in reality has decided to fight against the Soviet government, against the socialistic measures to give the land and all its appurtenances to the peasants without compensation, to nationalize the banks and to annul the debts of the nation.
Without wishing for a moment to conceal the crimes of the enemies of the people, we announce that we are withdrawing from the Constitutional Assembly in order to let the Soviet power finally decide the question of its relation toward the counter revolutionary part of the Constitutional Assembly.
The Proclamation of the Bolsheviki When the majority of the members of the Constitutional Assembly refused to accept the program of the Executive Committee.
of Soviets, the Russian Social Democratic Workingmen Party (Bolsheviki) gave out a proclamation, which was read in the session of the Constitutional Assembly on January 18th, 1918.
The proclamation follows: The great majority of toiling Russia, the workers, peasants and soldiers, have demanded that the Constitutional Assembly recognize the results of the great October revolution, the Soviets proclamation regarding land, peace and inspection of working conditions, and, above all, that it should recognize the Soviet Government. Fulfilling this demand of the great majority of Russian working classes, the All Russian Executive Committee has proposed to the Constitutional Assembly that it (the Constitutional Assembly) should recognize this demand as binding. The majority of the Constitutional Assembly has, however, in accordance with the demands of the bourgeoisie, refused to approve this proposition, thereby throwing a challenge of battle to all of toiling Russia. The social revolutionary right wing, the party of Kerensky, Avksentyey and Chernov, has obtained the majority in the Constitutional Assembly. This party, which calls itself a Social Revolutionary Party, is directing the fight of bourgeois elements against the workers revolution and in reality is a bourgeois counter revolutionary party. The Constitutional The Manifesto Dissolving the Constitutional Assembly At their session of January 19, 1918, the Executive Committee of the Soviets decided to dissolve the Constitutional Assembly, giving out the following manifesto. The Russian revolution has from the beginning put in the foreground the workers and peasants Soviets as a mass organization of all workers and exploited classes, which is the only body capable to direct the fight of these classes for their complete political and economic freedom. During the whole first period of the Russian revolution the Soviets increased, grew and were strengthened, on the basis of their own experience, rejecting the idea of the possibility of a compromise with the bourgeoisie and rejecting the treacherous bourgeois democratic parliamentary formalities, and coming, in practice, to the conclusion that the liberation of the oppressed classes is impossible unless all such formalities and compromises are rejected.
The relations were finally broken by the October revolution which gave complete power to the Soviets. The Constitutional Assembly, elected on the basis of the lists prepared prior to the October revolution, was a result of the relative party power in force at the time when the government was composed of men favoring a policy of compromise with the Cadets. The people could not at that time, when there were only Social Revolutionary candidates, differentiate between the supporters of the Right Wing, Social Revolutionists, the