Pages: 76-81

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year"
SEPARATE OFFPRINT FROM л* 18 VPERED.
Just appeared [in print] as a separate offprint from No. 95
of Iskra, the resolution of the "Party Council", [dated] April 7,
1905, Geneva. As was to be expected*, this resolution is a complete network of the crudest
distortions of the truth. Anyone who takes the trouble to independently
verify the documents relating to this and published long ago for
general information will easily be convinced of what has been said.
We will confine ourselves to brief indications of the main **
"deviations from the truth" of our Council.
We are told that the Council cared about ensuring that internal
struggle in the party did not undermine its unity. This is not true. From ir-
refutable and unassailable documents, all party members
should know that more than a year ago, in January 1904,
members of the Central Committee Lenin and Vasilyev **** proposed in the Council to
appeal to the entire party with a call to end the boycott and
the secret appropriation of all-Party money by circles. The Council
rejected their proposal. Instead, the Council directly participated
in the secret split of the party, sanctifying the struggle of a secret organi-
zation of the minority for "co-optation". This struggle was waged, as
is now proven documentarily, from the II Congress, i.e., from
August 1903, to November or December 1904.
So, from
January
1904 the Council in the most shameless way deceived the entire party, in fact being not the Council
* The words: "As was to be expected" crossed out. Ed.
** From the words: "the crudest distortions" to: "indications of
the main" crossed out. Ed.
*** The words "of our Council" are crossed out, and "Note the main" is added. Ed.
**** F.V. Lengnik. Ed.
EXPOSED COUNCIL
[73]

74

of the party,* but an instrument of a secret organization of the minority. The
existence of this organization was recognized publicly and in print not
only by the conciliationist Central Committee, but also by Iskra itself during the
transition of the Central Committee to the side of the minority.
As an instrument of the secret organization of the minority, the Council all
efforts were directed to, by deception**, evade the all-Party Congress, which the committees demanded. For a whole
year and a half, social-democratic work in Russia was hampered
by its disorganization by the foreign minority, sending its henchmen to Russia***. For a whole year and a half
the committees in Russia waged a continuous, desperate struggle for
a Congress, a struggle against the Geneva Council, which in the most un-
scrupulous way**** hid committee resolutions, making use
all the time of the support in this noble cause from the so-
called conciliationist members of the Central Committee*****. Every major
step of this agonizing struggle against unworthy and dirty
behavior****** of the heroes******* of the secret split is now attested
documentarily in the literature. As early as October
1904, i.e., six months ago, it was proven, for example,
in Orlovsky's brochure "The Council Against the Party", that the Council
by deception******** evaded the convocation of a Congress, obligatory for it under the charter. One after another, a long series of party committees in
Russia then expressed a formal vote of no confidence in the Council and
all central institutions. But the Council paid no attention to this, mocking the party without restraint. The Council
was an instrument of the minority, the Council now recognizes itself directly,
in the resolution of April 7, 1905, as one of the disputing sides,
* From the words: "in the most shameless" to "was not the Council of the party"
crossed out and replaced: "was not the supreme institution of the party".
Ed.
** The words "by deception" crossed out. Ed.
*** The last five words are crossed out. Ed.
**** The words "in the most unscrupulous way" crossed out. Ed.
***** Starting with "making use" and ending with "members of the Central Committee" crossed out.
Instead, "or returned them with the addition of the crudest abuse ("swindlers, vulgar comédie, Fabrication
of documents" — expressions from Martov's letter, see Orlovsky's brochure
"The Council Against the Party"). Ed.
****** The last three words are crossed out. Ed.
Instead of "heroes" is written "figures". Ed.
******** Instead of "by deception" is written: "without explaining the reason". Ed.

EXPOSED COUNCIL

but at the same time it did not hesitate to use the title,
rights and powers of an all-Party institution, refusing
to give the party the mandate received from it! This was one
continuous flagrant breach of trust and deception of the party*.
When finally the party committees in Russia, seeing that the Council
by deception** evades the Congress, themselves convened a Congress through
the "Bureau" elected by them at three conferences, then even
the Central Committee, which had gone over to the side of the minority, saw the incorrectness
and falsity of its tactics and*** hastened to correct it****.
The Russian Central Committee, which not only did not sympathize with the committees of the
majority, but even fought against them, nevertheless, seeing the Russian
affairs, knowing the actual predominance of the majority in Russia,
had to recognize the complete impartiality of the Bureau of the [Committees of the]
Majority! in convening the Congress, had to rebel against the Council. In an appeal to the entire party of March 12, 1905,
the Russian Central Committee, as we have already noted in the press and as
all Russian workers know from its declaration, directly rebels
against the Council, declaring in the 5th paragraph of this declaration that "the resolution of the Council against the Congress of March 8 (D? 89 of Iskra) is not
recognized as a basis for suspending work on organizing
the Congress".
What does this announcement mean, which our Council so carefully
ignores? It means that the Russian Central Committee, knowing
Russian affairs and, obviously, verifying the statements of the foreign
Council, recognizes these statements as false*****, recognizes
the excuses against convening the Congress as fabricated, recognizes the fact
that the demand for a Congress by the overwhelming majority of Russian committees,
who had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the matter, is proven.
That is why our
Council is silent about the statement of the Central Committee in paragraph 5! Because it is equivalent to a direct recognition before
the entire party of the falsity****** of the statements of the Council, a recognition
of the forgery [of arguments] of the public opinion of the party by the Council!
Therefore, it is in vain that the Council is trying once again to mislead the party,
offering meetings or agreements of the disputing sides

* The last three words are crossed out. Ed.
** The word "by deception" crossed out. Ed.
*** Starting with "saw" and ending with "tactics and" crossed out. Ed.
**** Instead of "it" is written "its mistake". Ed.
***** Instead of "false" is written "incorrect". Ed.
****** Instead of "falsity" is written "incorrectness". Ed.

side. Such an agreement has already taken place in Russia. The Russian
center of the Mensheviks was the Central Committee - this was stated directly by
Iskra itself in the announcement about the adoption by Menshevik organizations
of the Central Committee's July declaration. The Russian center of the
Majority was the Bureau of Committees of the Majority. The Russian centers
of both disputing parties have already concluded an agreement on a common
congress. From this it is clear that there are Mensheviks in Russia who
value party spirit and party unity a little more than the foreign Mensheviks. From this it is clear that the Russian
Mensheviks themselves, in the person of their center, the Central Committee, expose the foreign
Council and turn away from it. From this it is clear that after the
agreement of the Russian centers of both disputing parties, no
agreement with the foreign Council, i.e., with the three * gentlemen sitting
in Geneva, can even be considered.
Therefore, it is futile for our Council to talk about its overthrow
by the Central Committee in the future tense. This is not the future,
friends **, but the past. The fifth point of the Central Committee's appeal to the party
dated March 12, 1905, shows everyone who can understand
the meaning of what they read, that this overthrow has already taken place.
Russia, in the person of the united [Bolshevik and Menshevik]
centers of both sides, has already *** overthrown the foreign land. The Party Council
now represents not the party, but precisely three Geneva
gentlemen ****.
The extent to which this description of party affairs is true is evident
with particular clarity from the following. The Council states that its
resolution, dated April 7, 1905, was adopted unanimously. Members
of the party, reading this, must of course think that two members from the Central Committee also
participated in the resolution in the Council. Meanwhile, such
an assumption, which the Council tries to evoke in readers,
is false *****. The Council is also trying to deceive the party here. After the
agreement of March 12, 1905, the representation of the Central Committee in the Council
either was absent altogether or was forged by the Council
******
* The word "three" is crossed out. Ed.
** The word "friends" is crossed out. Ed.
*** The word "already" is omitted in "Vperyod". Ed.
**** The last three words are replaced by the words "group of Genevans". Ed.
***** Instead of "false" it is written: "remains under a large question mark". Ed.
****** The last two phrases are crossed out. Ed.

EXPOSED COUNCIL

Proof. The agreement between the Bureau of Committees of the
Majority] and the Central Committee, as we have already indicated in No. 13 of Vperyod, we
have not yet been given the right to publish. But at the same time, we were
informed that at least one point of this agreement is subject to publication in the event that the Party Council adopts
a resolution directed against the convocation of the III Party
Congress.
Now this case has arrived.
Now we are therefore publishing the indicated (namely the first) * point of the agreement:
"Agreement of the B. C. B. and the Central Committee, signed March 12, 1905.
Point one: The Organizational Committee of representatives
of the Central Committee and the B. C. B. immediately organizes the III Party Congress
regardless of this or that resolution on the convocation of the congress from
the side of the Council."
Seems clear?
The Central Committee already anticipated that the Council would once again deceive
the party. Therefore, the Central Committee ** specifically stipulated its non-subordination
to future resolutions of the Council, without publishing this temporarily in case the Council, as an exception, acts
honestly. This means that the Russian Mensheviks still believed in
the possibility of conscientious actions on the part of the Council,
even if as an exception.
The Russian Mensheviks, in the person of their Russian center, have now
been disappointed.
Now it is fully proven, therefore, that the Central Committee, itself fully
inclined in favor of the Council, had to expose its foreign colleague to
the end.
Now we only have to offer readers a small concluding question: what should we think after this about
the three members of the Council sitting in Geneva, Plekhanov, Axelrod
and Martov ***, who publicly and in print stated that the
resolution of the Council of April 7, 1905 in Geneva was adopted unanimously?
* The last three words are replaced by the words: "the first point not published". Ed.
** Starting from "already anticipated" and ending with "Therefore, the Central Committee," is crossed out.
Ed.
*** The words "three" and "Plekhanov, Axelrod and Martov" are crossed out.
Ed.

The article was printed in No. 15 of "Vperyod" dated April 20 (7), 1905
and was also issued as a leaflet as a separate reprint from J\ß 15
"Vperyod". The article was included in Lenin's Works (see vol. VII, 225-228). The manuscript
of the article was edited in many sheets by M. S. Olminsky, who systematically
smoothed out, softened all sharp polemical expressions of
Lenin. Here we reproduce the text of the article in the form in which it was
before the edits of M. S. Olminsky, while all changes made to it are stipulated in the footnotes. In addition, there are strikethroughs in the manuscript
of individual words and entire phrases; at the same time, the stricken places are not replaced by anything.
The nature of these strikethroughs is the same as that of the edits: everything that is most polemical is removed.
This makes it possible to assert with great probability that the strikethroughs were made not only by Lenin, but also by
M. S. Olminsky. We restore the stricken text, without making
special reservations in individual cases. Finally, there are several removed
underlinings of words. This was most likely done by Lenin himself,
since otherwise there would be too much italics and spacing in the article. Such underlinings are not restored here. Crossed out
by Lenin, the words are enclosed in square brackets and typed in small print.
The title of the article was given by Lenin, and initially it was in
a different version: "Helpless Council".