Central Committee Decides on Armed Uprising
Central Committee, Decision on Armed Uprising. October 23, 1917
After weeks in hiding following the July Days, Lenin returned to Petrograd to force the question of armed uprising before the Second Congress of Soviets could meet. On October 10 (O.S.), the Bolshevik Central Committee debated through the night and approved Lenin's resolution 10 to 2. Zinoviev and Kamenev warned of disaster; Lenin argued that delay would forfeit the moment.
Original Source: В. И. Ленин «Резолюция о вооруженном восстании» (10 [23] октября 1917 г.) // Ленин В. И. Полное собрание сочинений. 5-е изд. М.: Издательство политической литературы, 1969. Т. 34. С. 391–393.
The Central Committee recognizes that the international position of the Russian revolution (the revolt in the German navy which is an extreme manifestation of the growth throughout Europe of the world socialist revolution; the threat of peace by the imperialists with the object of strangling the revolution in Russia) as well as the military situation (the indubitable decision of the Russian bourgeoisie and Kerenskii and Co. to surrender Petrograd to the Germans), and the fact that the proletarian party has gained a majority in the Soviets-all this, taken in conjunction with the peasant revolt and the swing of popular confidence towards our Party (the elections in Moscow), and, finally, the obvious preparations being made for a second Kornilov revolt (the withdrawal of troops from Petrograd, the dispatch of Cossacks to Petrograd, the encircling of Minsk by Cossacks, etc.) - all this places the armed uprising on the order of the day.
Considering therefore that an armed uprising is inevitable, and that the time for it is fully ripe, the Central Committee instructs all Party organizations to be guided accordingly, and to discuss and decide all practical questions (the Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, the withdrawal of troops from Petrograd, the action of our people in Moscow and Minsk, etc.) from this point of view.
Source: V. I. Lenin, Collected Works (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1964), Vol. XXVI, pp. 190.