[April 1905]

QUESTIONNAIRE.

In view of the convening of the 3rd Congress of the Party, some comrade-practitioners are asking us to publish the following statement. It would be highly desirable that in the forthcoming discussion of the organizational question at the Congress, the indications and opinions of the largest possible number of comrades who have worked in Russia should be taken into account and discussed with particular care. Let therefore every comrade who has worked come forward and give answers to the following questions. The Editorial Board of *Vperyod* will collect them together and transmit them to the Congress, so that each delegate will be in a position to make use of the collective experience of the mass of comrades. Here is an approximate list of the principal questions whose clarification is necessary for the reworking of the statutes and the drafting of the Congress resolutions. 1) Place and time (and duration) of work? 2) Have you worked as a member of a committee or of one of the committee institutions and which one? A factory circle, etc.? 3) How large was the number of members of each of the committees or committee sections, organizing groups, etc. known to the writer? How many workers and intellectuals in each? 4) What was the custom regarding co-optation from the periphery into the committee? Can one not point to the average length of work in the periphery? Are there not examples of discontent due to co-optation, etc.? It is necessary to strictly separate in all answers the period before the 2nd Congress and after it. Information about the period before the 2nd Congress is especially desirable. 5) How many party organizations, groups, circles, etc. in all were there in the locality where NN worked? List each group, its number of members, functions, etc. 6) Were there groups (organizations, circles, etc.) that did not consider themselves party organizations but were close to the Party? 7) How were relations maintained between the periphery (and all the various types of peripheral circles) and the committee? Did these forms of relations satisfy the workers? 8) Do you consider it possible and desirable to introduce the elective principle? If not, why? If yes, then how exactly? It is desirable to specify precisely which circles should have the right of election extended to them. 9) Do you consider it useful to have a division of intellectuals' and workers' committees (groups, circles, organizations, etc.)? If not, why? If yes, then please specify the form of division. 10) Did the committee elect a central executive group, or not? If yes, how exactly? How often was it checked? Were you satisfied with its establishment? 11) Do you consider written statutes of local organizations useful and possible? 12) Do you consider it useful to introduce into the Party statutes certain norms concerning local organizations (committees, etc.)? If yes, please outline these norms. 13) Do you consider it desirable to define in the Party statutes the exact rights of the Central Committee regarding the introduction (and exclusion) of members from committees and other organizations? What should the exact rights of the Central Committee be? 14) Is it desirable to protect the autonomy of local committees by special norms and which ones exactly? 15) How often did the committee or that group, circle, etc., of which you were a member, meet? If possible, list exactly all meetings during the time of your work. If that is not possible, determine it approximately. Were there inconveniences from frequent meetings? What is the average number of possible and necessary meetings per month, according to your experience, and what is the number of members in attendance?