V. I. Lenin

The International Socialist Bureau has decided to take steps to clarify the differences between Russian socialists and to offer
its good offices to unite their forces.

Whathave the liquidators made of this decision?

Theyhave right away made use of it to cheat the Russian
workers.

Asolemn editorial article in No. 97 of Novaya Rabochaya Gazeta {1} says:

“Byrejecting the demand of the ‘Six’ for special representation in the interparliamentary section, the International Bureau
not only unequivocally condemned their break-away from the
Social-Democratic group, but also gave a proper assessment of one of the
main demands, whose rejection the six deputies tried to use as an
explanation and justification of their walk-out.”

Thatis not true from start to finish.

Wenoted this in No. 1 of our newspaper. {2}

Theliquidators, caught red-handed, are trying to mislead the workers
by continuing their lies.

Werepeat that the International Bureau did not reject the demand of
the Six. It did not condemn their “break away”. It did not even go into
an examination of the dispute between the six and the seven deputies.

Thisis nothing but a liquidationist trick.

Theliquidator gentlemen resorted to the same criminal method last year
after the sitting of the International Bureau, when Mr. Martov attributed
to the German Social-Democrat Haase words he had never said against the
Bolsheviks, for which he was subsequently exposed in Haase’s published
statement.

Hereis how the question of deputy representation stood in the
Bureau. The representative of the Marxists merely said that the delegate of
the Seven was elected only by the Seven and that the Russian
Social-Democratic Labour group does not recognise him as its
delegate. Comrade Huysmans, Secretary of the International Bureau, gave the
following explanation. There are special rules on the interparliamentary
section. According to the rules, where there are several separate socialist
groups in a given parliament, representation is given only to the group
which has more deputies; the rules take no account of which party the given
parliamentary group belongs to and how many workers there are behind
it. The point to note is that parties have their own special
representation.

Underthese rules, if there were, say, two groups in the Duma, six
Social-Democrats and seven Narodniks, only the Narodniks would be
given the vote in the interparliamentary representation.

Hereis another example: Bulgaria. There, 19 Shiroki Socialists
(opportunists) and 18 Marxists were elected to Parliament. The two
constitute separate parties and have two separate groups in
Parliament. Both parties also have separate representatives on the
Bureau. But according to the rules , the parliamentary representation can go only to the Shiroki group of 19. That does not mean,
in any sense, that the Bureau “condemned” the 18 Marxist deputies.

Thatwas the formal side of the matter. Any view can be taken of the
rules. But just now that’s what they are. In these conditions, the Russian
Social-Democratic Labour group could not even present its demand.

Whatshould the Seven have done if they wished to be honest? They
should have waived the formalities themselves. It has now been proved and
recognised by everyone that several times more organised Social-Democratic
workers are backing the Russian Social-Democratic Labour group than the
Seven. The implication is clear. Those who wish to reckon with the voice of
the workers, those who talk so much about unity, should in that case have
done more than take the strictly formal approach.

However,the Seven capitalised on their “luck” under the rules. They
have once again issued a challenge to the Russian workers. What is more,
the liquidator gentlemen also began to tell lies about the International
allegedly “condemning” the Six, etc.

Thatwas the first response on the part of the liquidator gentlemen to
the resolution of the International Socialist Bureau.

Marxistworkers will respond to this liquidator fraud by publicly
branding these gentlemen.

Comrades,you must continue your serious and thorough discussion of the
Bureau’s decision, voice your opinion and give the liquidators the response
they deserve for their attempts to cheat the Russian workers.

---
Notes:
{1}
Novaya Rabochaya Gazeta (New Workers’ Newspaper)—a daily of
the Menshevik liquidators published in St. Petersburg in place of
Zhivaya Zhizn (Living Life) from August 8 (21), 1913, to
January 23 (February 5), 1914. Lenin repeatedly called it “New
Liquidators’ Newspaper”.

p. 306

{2}
A reference to the article by I. Vetrov (M. A. Savelyev), “The
International and the Question of Unity”, published in No. 1 of the
newspaper Proletarskaya Pravda (Proletarian Truth) of December 7
(20), 1913, which said: “In conclusion, we feel bound to point out the lie
of the liquidators, who insist that in denying the Six special
representation, the Bureau allegedly condemned the principle of
‘federation’, put forward by the six workers deputies in the
Social-Democratic group. The demand for special representation for the Six
was not at all presented to the Bureau for purely formal reasons; this
shows that N.R.G.’s statements to the effect that, the Bureau had issued a
condemnation of the Six is part of the dishonest lying of the liquidators
in their continued efforts to dim the consciousness of the working class.”

p. 306