V. I.

Lenin

Conference of the Extended Editorial Board of Proletary

June 8–17 (21–80), 1909

Speech and Draft Resolution on the Tasks of the Bolsheviks in
Relation to Duma Activity

We are coming to the end of the debate, and I don’t think there is any need to
fix it in a special resolution, because we need to be careful with that. The
thing was after all to thrash the matter out among ourselves. In reply to

Vlasov [1] on the use of legal opportunities, I will read a draft resolution:

“ The Bolshevik Centre resolves: in order in practice to achieve—and
to achieve in a revolutionary Social-Democratic spirit and
direction—the objects now ’recognised by all Bolsheviks of making use of all
’legal opportunities’, all legal and semi-legal organisations of the working
class in general and the Duma rostrum in particular, the Bolshevik section must
definitely and clearly put before itself the aim of securing at any cost the
training up of a body of experienced Bolsheviks, specialised in their job and
firmly established in their particular legal post (trade unions; clubs;
Duma committees, etc., etc.)."

Vlasov stated that this refers to the leaders. This is not the case. The trouble
is that in our Bolshevik section the view prevails that such specialists are not
required. Our forces are few: they must be utilised and allotted to the legal
functions, and made responsible for carrying out these functions in the name of
the section. If we speak of setting up Party cells, we must know how to do it. I
have drafted a resolution on agitation by leaflets:

“ Having discussed the question of the Bolsheviks’ tasks in relation to Duma
activity, the Bolshevik Centre resolves to draw the attention of all local
organisations to the importance of agitation by leaflets (in addition to the local and regional press) which
spread among the masses information about the Duma work of the Social-Democrats
and give direction to this work. Subjects for such leaflets might be indications
of questions to be highlighted from the Duma rostrum, the summing up of the
Social-Democrats’ activity in the Duma and the grouping of the different
parties, out lines of propagandist speeches on these questions, analysis of the
political significance of particularly important Social-Democratic speeches in
the Duma, pointing out omissions or inaccuracies in Social-Democratic Duma
speeches, and extracts from these speeches giving practical conclusions
important for propaganda and agitation, etc., etc."

And I have also roughed-out in the form of a resolution the points on the
question of our attitude to Duma activity which were discussed at the private meeting [2] :

“ II. The difference between the revolutionary Social- Democratic use of the
Duma and the reformist (or more broadly, opportunist) use can be described by
the following indications, which do not pretend to be complete.

“ From the standpoint of the external relations, so to speak, of the Duma
Social-Democratic group, the difference between the revolutionary
Social-Democratic use of the Duma and opportunist use consists in the following:
the necessity to combat the tendency on the part of deputies and very often of
the bourgeois intellectuals surrounding them—a tendency natural in all
bourgeois society (and in Russia during a period of reaction especially)—to
make parliamentary activity the basic, most important thing of all, an end in
itself. In particular it is essential to make every effort that the group should
carry on its work as one of the functions subordinated to the interests of the
working-class movement as a whole, and also that the group should be in constant
con tact with the Party, not drawing apart from it but implementing Party views,
the directives of Party congresses and the central institutions of the Party.

From the standpoint of the internal content of the group’s activity, it is
essential to bear the following in mind. The aim of the activity of the
parliamentary Social-Democratic group differs in principle from that of
all other political parties. The aim of the proletarian party is not to
do

deals or haggle with the powers that be, not to engage in the hopeless
patching-up of the regime of the feudalist-bourgeois dictatorship of
counter-revolution, but to develop in every way the class-consciousness,
the socialist clarity of thought, the revolutionary determination and
all-round organisation of the mass of the workers. Every step in the
activity of the Duma group must serve this fundamental aim. Therefore more
attention must be paid to promoting the aims of socialist revolution from
the Duma rostrum. Efforts must be made to ensure that speeches should more
often be heard from the Duma rostrum propagandising the fundamental
conceptions and aims of socialism, namely, of scientific socialism. Then,
in the conditions of continuing bourgeois-democratic revolution, it is
extremely important that the Duma group should systematically combat the
torrent of counter-revolutionary attacks on the ’liberation movement’, and
the prevalent tendency (both on the part of the outright reactionaries and
of the liberals, especially the Cadets) to condemn the revolution and
discredit it, its aims, its methods, etc. The Social-Democratic group in
the Duma must bear high the banner of the revolution, the banner of the
advanced class, leader of the bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia.

“ Furthermore it i s essential to point out . a task of the Duma
Social-Democratic group, which is exceptionally important at the present
time, namely, that of participating energetically in all discussions of
labour legislation. The group must utilise the rich parliamentary
experience of the West-European Social-Democrats, taking. special care to
avoid the opportunist distortion of this aspect of its activity. The group
must not whittle down its slogans and the demands of our Party’s minimum
programme, but draft and introduce its Social-Democratic Bills (and also
amendments to Bills of the government and the other parties), in order to
unmask to the masses the hypocrisy and falseness of social-reformism, in
order to draw the masses into independent economic and political mass
struggle, which alone can bring real gains to the workers or transform
half-hearted and hypocritical ’reforms’ under the existing system into
strong-points for an advancing working-class movement towards the complete
emancipation of the proletariat.

“ The Duma Social-Democratic group and the whole Social-Democratic
Party should take the same stand towards reformism within Social-Democracy,
which is the latest product of opportunist vacillation.

“ Finally, revolutionary Social-Democratic use of the Duma should
differ from opportunist use in that the Social-Democratic group and the
Party are bound to explain to the masses in every possible way the class
character of all bourgeois political parties, not confining themselves to
attacks on the government and outright reactionaries, but exposing both the
counter-revolutionary, nature of liberalism and the waverings of
petty-bourgeois peasant democracy.”

| Written June 12–13 (25–26), 1909 | |
| --- | --- |
| First published in 1934 in the book Minutes of the Conference of the Extended Editorial Board of “Proletary” | |
| Text of the speech published according to the book; text of the draft resolution according to the manuscript | |

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Notes:
[1]
Vlasov —A. I. Rykov.

[2]
The private meeting —a meeting of Leninist Bolsheviks called
by Lenin on the eve of the conference of the extended editorial board of
Proletary . Lenin gave the meeting full information concerning the
state of affairs in the Bolshevik section and the struggle against the
otzovists, the ultimatumists and the god-builders. The theses contained in
Lenin’s report formed the basis for the resolutions adopted by the
conference of the extended editorial board.