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Soldiers, Agricultural Laborers, etc., Deputies," (Address to the Soldiers-Vol. 14, Part 1, p. 75)

But what in essence is a republic of Soviets? According to the opinion of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, it is a Paris Commune, extending over the whole of Russia. It is, defines Lenin in "The Problems of the Proletariat in Our Revolution,"-"The highest type of democratic state-a state which in some respects already ceases to be a State and which, to quote Engles, is no more a state in the true sense of the word. It is a state of the type of the Paris Commune, a state which replaces the standing army and police by the direct army of the people itself. The Russian Revolutions in 1905 and 1917 created just such a government, a Republic of the Worker's Soviets, etc." (Vol. 14, Part 1, pp. 48-49).

One of the characteristics of the new state of the type of the Paris Commune is the arming not only of the proletariat or of the toiling masses, but the arming of the people as a whole. The army is the entire people: as such the army cannot be separated from the people and thus cannot be placed without and over the people. The same is true of the police: The entire people carry the responsibility of maintaining quiet and order.

The second basic characteristic of such a new state constitutes the complete elimination of bureaucracy. "The state authorities and the bureaucracy again are either replaced by the direct power of the people, or to a lesser degree are placed under special control, thus becoming subject no only to election, but to recall upon the first demand of the people. This reduces them to a position of simple delegates. Instead of a privileged group of highly paid bourgeois position-holders, they become workers specially 'equipped' whose compensation is NO HIGHER than that of the average worker." (Lenin, Vol, 14, Part 1, pp. 24-25).

Continuously and persistently Lenin affirmed his above defined stand. At all times, everywhere and in every manner he shouted, "Prevent the re-establishment of the omnipotence of the bureaucracy." "Prevent the establishment of a standing army separated from the people, which constitutes a most certain generator of all manner of attempts to take away freedom." (The Assembly of the Peasant Deputies, Vol. 14, Part 1, p. 90).

To the question, why the organization of a standing army, a police and a bureaucracy should not be permitted, Lenin gave answer, because, " a bureaucracy appointed 'from above' for the guidance of local populations always has been and forever will remain one of the surest means for the re-establishment of the monarchy,--as will the standing army and the police." (Where the Counter-revolutionary Steps of the Provisional Government Lead To, Vol. 14, Part 1, p.129 Also, The One Question of Principles, p. 226)