As our readers already know from No. 9 of *Proletary*{101}, the Menshevik Y. Larin, in his pamphlet, speaks in favour of a non-party workers' congress and the merger of the Social-Democratic Party with the Socialist-Revolutionaries, the P.P.S., and indeed with all "socialist" parties. In this connection, Y. Larin himself points out that the number of members in the S.-R. Party is unknown. The Socialist-Revolutionaries, according to him, estimate their party membership at 50,000–60,000. Admitting that this is an exaggeration, Y. Larin says that the S.-R. membership cannot be considered less than 30,000.

We do not know where Larin got the figure of 50,000–60,000. He does not indicate the source. In S.-R. literature we have never encountered such "data." The only fully published minutes of the first congress of the S.-R. Party (in December 1905) contain no figures whatever on the number of members of the S.-R. Party. Such figures could not have existed, for elections to a party congress by all party members and, moreover, in proportion to a definite number of party members, have never been held by any party in Russia except the Social-Democratic Party. The Social-Democratic Party alone proclaimed this principle in November 1905 in the newspaper *Novaya Zhizn* on behalf of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks{102}, and the All-Russian Conference of Bolshevik Organisations in December 1905{103} already consisted of representatives elected at the rate of one per every 300 party members. The Unification (Stockholm) Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. was the first to apply representation on the above-mentioned basis in relation to the whole party, the controlling element (to a certain degree) being the composition of the Organising Committee for convening the congress: equal representation from the two contending factions, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.

Thus it remains completely unknown where Larin got the maximum figure of 50–60 thousand. And by means of this figure (about a third of the membership of the R.S.D.L.P.) he suggested to readers the idea of the complete assurance of the predominance of the Social-Democrats over the S.R.s in the event of a merger of the two parties. In feuilleton No. 9 of *Proletary* Larin’s error was already noted and it was pointed out that in reality, instead of "peace and positive work," such a merger would merely result in an increase of discord, to say nothing of the inadmissibility of the merger on principle. An interesting confirmation of what we said then appeared in an article by Léon Rémy in the French socialist newspaper *L'Humanité*{104} of December 17, 1906 (New Style). Citing the official émigré organ of the S.R. party, *Tribune Russe*{105}, Léon Rémy reports that the "Council" of the S.R. party "counts about 150,000 organized members in the S.R. party, and if one adheres to a somewhat broader interpretation of the concept of membership, an interpretation given to the statutes by certain regional committees, then 200,000."

So that readers may judge how this amusing figure was arrived at, we present all the data by regions given in Rémy's article. Northwest – 21 thousand; Volga region – 14 thousand ("and if one counts all those who accept the party program, then almost double"); Northern Caucasus – 21 thousand; Transcaucasia – 17.9 thousand; Centre – 26 thousand (including 5,000 in Moscow. It is strange that our Moscow comrades cannot discern even these five thousand to this day, even with a magnifying glass); North – 20 thousand.

We invite the reader to solve the problem: who displayed more frivolity – 1) the S.R.s, 2) Larin, or 3) Plekhanov and Axelrod?

If the last two disavow their ardent admirer Y. Larin on the question of merging with the S.R.s, the matter is in no way improved by that. One only has to think of the demarcation between "All-Russian representatives" and industrial and agricultural workers, between farm labourers or day labourers and peasants, between handicraftsmen or artisans and workers, etc.

*Proletary* No. 10, December 20, 1906

Printed according to the text of the newspaper *Proletary*