The Bolsheviks and the Soviets

Chapter 35 of History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky covers The Bolsheviks and the Soviets.

In this chapter, Trotsky explains the shifting focus on the slogan, All Power to the Soviets!.

Although the soviets of the soldiers and the workers were set up in 1905 and again in 1917 as the expressions of popular will, Trotsky contends they lagged behind the masses in the expression of the popular will. This was most clearly seen in the July Days when the soviets came out against the people's uprising.

Lenin's argument was to move the focus of Bolshevik political activity closer to the worker and the soldier. It was only on this basis that an insurrection could suceed.

The soviets had been captured by the Compromisers for the Capitalists, and so, had to be fought against.