Recorded: end of March, 1920
First Published: No. 1: Recorded at the end of March 1920; First published in Pravda No. 18, January 21, 1928; Published according to the gramophone record; No. 2: Recorded at the end of March 1920; First published in Pravda No. 18, January 21, 1928; Published according to the gramophone record
Source: Lenin’s Collected Works, 4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, Volume 30, page 435-439
Translated: George Hanna
Transcription/HTML Markup: David Walters & Robert Cymbala
Copyleft: V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marx.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Comrades, the great victories of the Red Army have delivered us from the onslaught of Koichak and Yudenich and have almost put an end to Denikin.
The troops of the landowners and capitalists who wanted, with the aid of the capitalists of the whole world, to re-establish their rule in Russia have been routed.
The imperialist war and then the war against counter-revolution, however, have laid waste to and ruined the entire country.
We must bend all efforts to conquer the chaos, to restore industry and agriculture, and to give the peasants the goods they need in exchange for grain.
Now that we have defeated the landowners and liberated Siberia, the Ukraine, and the North Caucasus, we have every opportunity of restoring the country's economy.
We have a lot of grain, and we now have coal and oil. We are being held up by transport. The railways are out of action. Transport must be rehabilitated. Then we can bring grain, coal and oil to the factories, then we can deliver salt, then we shall begin to restore industry and put an end to the hunger of the factory and railway workers.
Let all workers and peasants set about rehabilitating the railways, let them set about the work with persistence and enthusiasm.
All the work necessary for the restoration of transport must be carried out with the greatest zeal, with revolution-ary fervour, with unreserved loyalty.
We have been victorious on the front of the bloody war.
We shall be victorious on the bloodless front, on the labour front.
All out for work to restore transport!
Why was it we defeated Yudenirh, Kolehak and Denikin although the capitalists of all the world helped them?
Why are we confident that we shall now defeat the economic chaos and rehabilitate industry and agriculture?
We overthrew the landowners and capitalists because the men of the Red Army, workers and peasants, knew they were fighting for their own vital interests.
We won because the best people from the entire working class and from the entire peasantry displayed unparalleled heroism in the war against the exploiters, performed miracles of valour, withstood untold privations, made great sacrifices and got rid of scroungers and cowards.
We are now confident that we shall conquer the chaos because the best people from the entire working class and from the entire peasantry are joining this struggle with the same political consciousness, the same firmness and the same heroism.
When millions of working people unite as one and follow the best people from their class, victory is assured.
We drove the scroungers out of the army. And now we say, “Down with the scroungers, down with those who think of their own advantage, of speculation and of shirking work, those who are afraid of the sacrifices necessary for victory!”
Long live labour discipline, zeal in work and loyalty to the cause of the workers and peasants!
Eternal glory to those who died in the front ranks of the Red Army!
Eternal glory to those who are now leading millions of working people and who with the greatest zeal march in the front ranks of the army of labour!
[1] The recording of Lenin's speeches was organised by the Central Press Agency. In 1919-21, 16 of his speeches were recorded. Gramophone records with his speeches were distributed in tens of thousands at agitation centres, peasant meetings, clubs, Red Army units and were of tremendous significance for mass agitation work. Particularly popular were his speeches “The Middle Peasants”, “What Is Soviet Power?” and “The Tax in Kind”.