MEMORANDUM TO N. I. BUKHARIN
Comrade Bukharin!
In connection with the topic that the Central Committee has assigned to you today, I am sending you my notes. I have been reflecting on this subject and had planned to:
(a) compile a list of the issues at stake—those points of contention, divergence, and schism.
(b) trace the shifting lines of division and unity.
(c) chart the changing phases of majority support among the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks (perhaps this could be illustrated in a diagram?).
Please jot down your thoughts on this matter.
Lenin
1 December
Shall we use this as a framework for your article—or something along these lines?
LIST (CHRONOLOGICAL) OF POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT
1903, October: The Organizational Question—Section 1 of the Party Statutes.

1904: The “Zemstvo Campaign.”

1905, May: Attitudes toward the Revolution, toward strike action, and toward armed insurrection.

1905, August: Boycott of the State Duma—or participation?

1905, October.

1905, December: The Uprising.

1906, January–March: Boycott of the State Duma—or participation?

1906, April–May: Attitudes toward the First Duma.

1906, July: Attitudes toward armed insurrection.

September: Toward partisan warfare.

1907, January–February: Elections to the Second Duma: Should we align with the Left Bloc, or join with the Social Democrats?

1907, April: The Second State Duma.

1909–10: Liquidationism.

1911: Plenum of the Central Committee.

Unity or Schism?

1912: The Schism (Liquidationism).

1913: “The Strike Fever” and so forth.

1913: Attitudes toward the Third State Duma*.

1914: Attitudes toward the Imperialist War.

1917, February–March: Attitudes toward the February Revolution. 1917, May: The Coalition Ministry. 1917, July: The First Congress of Soviets*.

1917, September: The Kornilov Affair and the Democratic Conference.

1917, October.
Soviet Power
Terror
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Conspiracies and the Civil War.

1918: The Civil War. The Mensheviks’ stance.

1919: … … …

1921:
The Bolsheviks’ Struggle Against the Mensheviks:
(the shifting balance of numerical forces)
20
1903: The Congress—44 votes (one party).

* It appears that this refers to the Fourth State Duma. Ed.
** The First All‑Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was held from 3 to 24 June (16 June – 7 July) 1917. Ed.

NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE RCP
1905: Two Congresses. Za (Zirka = approximately) (two parties).
1906: The Stockholm Congress. Exactly (the number of votes) one party.
1907: The London Congress. Exactly (the number of votes) one party.

(Factions within the State Dumas.)
1911–12: Workers’ Assemblies (from the collection on Liquidationism) 121 (one party and two parties). 1917, June: The First All‑Russian Congress of Soviets. 1917, November: 1.5 million (?). Elections to the Constituent Assembly—9 million.
1.5 million

9 million
Written on 1 December 1921.
First published in 1924 in issue 7–8 of the journal “Bol’shevik.”
Printed from the manuscript.