FOR the peasants the principal feature of the revolution was taking possession of the land. For the proletariat of the cities and the industries the aim was to take possession of the factories, mines and means of transportation. The problem was easily solved in the country, because no more knowledge than before was necessary for the cultivation of the soil (in Russia scientific cultivation of the soil was not yet introduced), but in industry the situation was more difficult.
In the country the combination of things was easy. But in industry the combination was complicated. In the country there were no intermediate stages. Taking possession of the soil was the immediate aim. In the industrial centers another effort came to the surface in the first period of the revolution and demanded a solution, namely, workers' control, control of the industries. This rallying word was sounded already during the Kerensky period. It corresponded to the attempts of the workers to overthrow autocracy in the factories as well as the czar's autocracy in politics. Democracy was desired in industry as well as in economic life. The workers felt that, to make their emancipation a reality, the revolution in political life would have to be followed by a revolution on the economic field. That the workers did not immediately demand the turning over of the factories had several reasons. For this purpose the Kerensky government would first have to be overthrown or compelled to resign, but even then they did not feel sure that they were in a condition to conduct production in its entirety without the private owner, who in many cases also was the technical leader. Finally the workers were probably influenced by the circumstance that they felt that the czar ruled over the people but was not the owner of the people, and that he was sovereign in the state but did not own the state. Nor is a general the owner of the soldiers but he rules them just the same. Authority, consequently, is not always based on property. The possibility was thinkable that, even if private property in the factories and in industry was abolished, mastery could still continue. In fact, this instinct of the workers was correct, for at present private property is, on the whole, abolished in Russia, without giving the workers cause to feel that they are controllers of production or masters of the shop. The decree creating individual management of the shops is the cause of this. Control of industry in the shop is an essential part of proletarian democracy. The proletariat must, consequently, first of all conquer.
Control of industry, which was the demand of the workers in the October days of 1917, finally became so strong that it resulted in control over the employer. After this, taking possession of the shops came as a matter of course and began soon after. But the taking over of the factories is onfy the negative sidd; the positive side is their management. First in the managing of them begins socialist or communist economy. In the country the case is similar, but there it is much simpler.