p The transition from capitalism to socialism can take place through the dictatorship of the proletariat. However, being the content of the transition period, the 295 dictatorship of the proletariat can assume different forms in different countries. “All nations will arrive at socialism—this is inevitable,” Lenin stated, “but all will do so in not exactly the same way, each will contribute something of its own to some form of democracy, to some variety of the dictatorship of the proletariat, to the varying rate of socialist transformations in the different aspects of social life.”  [295•* 

p The form of the dictatorship of the proletariat depends above all on the concrete historical conditions in a country, i.e., on the level of its economic development, the balance of class forces and the acuteness of the class struggle, the national and historical traditions of the people and on the international situation.

p In 1917, the revolutionary action of Russia’s working class brought into being such a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. In a number of other European and Asian countries another form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, People’s Democracy, came into being.

p What are the differences between such forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat as People’s Democracy and the Soviets?

p Firstly, a People’s Democracy has a multi-party system, i.e., it allows the existence of a number of parties standing for socialist construction and recognising the leading role of the Communist Party. For instance, a multi-party system has taken shape in Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union, however, has a one-party system, because the petty-bourgeois parties of Russia, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, for instance, refused to cooperate with the Communists and sided with the counter-revolutionaries.

p Secondly, a People’s Democracy has a people’s (national) front—a mass organisation which unites the most diverse sections of the people for the purpose of building socialism. The people’s front is a specific organisational form of the alliance between the working class, the peasants, intellectuals and also the petty bourgeoisie and part of 296 the middle bourgeoisie, in which working class and its party play the leading role.

p Thirdly, in the European People’s Democracies the parliamentary forms and traditions were used in the fight against capitalism and for socialism. In autocratic Russia the parliamentary system was not widely developed and had no established parliamentary traditions. People’s Democracy, as a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, reflects the specific development of the socialist revolution in conditions when imperialism is weakened and the correlation of forces in the world changes in favour of socialism. It is also dependent upon the historical and national peculiarities of the countries which have embarked on the socialist road of development.

History has so far produced two forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the Soviets and the People’s Democracy. But other forms of the dictatorship of the proletariat could also arise. In those cases, too, the leading role of the working class and its Marxist party is absolutely essential. “The transition from capitalism to communism is certainly bound to yield a tremendous abundance and variety of political forms, but the essence will inevitably be the same: the dictatorship of the proletariat,”  [296•*  Lenin pointed out.