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Two possibilities or two forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat have been outlined in the history of Marxist thought. We consider it an axiom that the transition from capitalism to socialism without dictatorship of the proletariat is impossible. Two forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat are known. The first is the democratic republic, which Marx and Engels saw as in the Paris Commune, in claiming that the democratic republic and the majority of the proletariat is the best form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. They meant a democratic republic in which the proletariat had a dominant role, rather than the republics in America or Switzerland. Lenin formulated the Soviet form of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a better match for our conditions. Here in Russia, where the proletariat took power by means of an uprising (when an uprising begins, everything collapses), the Soviet form proved to be the most appropriate one. In your country, where the working class seized power not by means of an uprising but with help from outside—with the help of the Soviet army, in other words—the seizure of power was easier; you can do without the Soviet form, going back to the model of Marx and Engels—i.e., the people's democratic parliamentary form. We are of the opinion that you can do without the Soviet regime. In your case, you will be able to carry out the transition from capitalism to socialism by means of a people's democracy. The people's democracy will play the role of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

We deprived the kulaks and the bourgeoisie of the right to vote. In our country, only the working people had this right. We had to relocate two million kulaks to the north, and when we abolished the kulaks as a class, we granted suffrage to all people. The capitalists and the landowners fought against us for four years during the Intervention, whereas in your country they just fled and surrendered without fight. In our case, there was no other country that could help us the way we are helping you now. That is why we needed a different form to establish the power of the working class and the working people. You can do without the Soviet regime. But the regime you have now is playing the role of a dictatorship of the proletariat. Where there are antagonistic classes and the working class has the power, dictatorship is indispensable. But you have the legal arguments to defeat your enemies. There are still some signs of a civil war going on in your country. Only after you destroy the exploiting classes completely will you be able to claim that you no longer have a dictatorship of the proletariat.

A democratic republic in which the working class has a substantial role to play—this is what Marx and Engels considered the most appropriate form of dictatorship of the proletariat. Instead, we had a Soviet system rather than a parliamentarian one, and there were workers', peasants', and soldiers' deputies in the Soviets, whereas all non-working-class elements were excluded. The advantage of the Soviet form is that it solves the problems quickly—by shedding blood; but you can do without it because the capitalists in your country surrendered immediately. In other words, you were lucky, and we are responsible for your luck, as we readily admit.

As long as there are antagonistic classes, there will be dictatorship of the proletariat. But in your country it will be a dictatorship of a different type. You can do without a Soviet regime. However, the regime of the people's republic can fulfill the major task of the dictatorship of the proletariat, both in terms of abolishing classes and in terms of building socialism. The people's democracy and the Soviet regime are two forms of dictatorship of the proletariat.