Vladimir I. Lenin's "Call to Power"

Vladimir I. Lenin, leader of the radical Bolshevik Party, issued this proclamation at the beginning of the Russian Communist Revolution on October 24, 1917. In it, Lenin rallies his communist followers and tells them that they must maintain military pressure on the weak democratic government that has ruled Russia since Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne eight months earlier. At the end of the proclamation, Lenin boldly declares:

"The government is tottering. It must be given the death-blow at all costs."