V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v6;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

June 1903
Pages 163-168

LENIN MISCELLANY
M
[I]nternational [P]ress.
3)
The Congress entrusts the representation of the R.S.D.L.P. in the I[nternational]
S[ocialist] Bureau to C[omrade] P[l]ek[h]an[o]v (in place of the Paris decision on joint represen[tation] by Pl[e]k[h]a[n]ov and Krich[evsky]). 4)
The Congress entrusts [the representation of the R.S.D.L.P. at the I[nternational]
S[ocialist] Congr[ess] in Amst[erdam] to the Editorial Board of the C.O.
of the Party] Editorial Board]
of the
C.O.
and
the
C.C.
by agreement between them (or by decision of the P[arty] C[ouncil]) to organise the represen[tation]
of the
R.S.D.L.P.
at the I[nternational] S[ocialist] Congr[ess]
in
Amst[erdam] in
1904.
D[emonstrations]. 5)
The Congress considers the organisation of public demonstrations against
autocracy a very important means of the political education of the working
masses.
The Congress recommends, in this connection, f i r s t l y , to try especially *)
to utilise for demonstrations such moments and such conditions when some
outrage of tsarism has aroused a feeling of indignation in particularly broad
sections of the population; s e c o n d l y , to direct most efforts towards attracting broad masses
of the w[orking] class to participation in the demonstration and towards the best
possible organisation of demonstrations both in their preparation and
in the direction of the demonstration itself and in the leadership of the
demonstrators’ repulse of the troops and police; t h i r d l y , to begin the preparation
of armed demonstrations, strictly conforming in this
respect with the instructions of the C.C.
The Congress also recommends to all committees and other Party organisations to subject
to comprehensive discussion the question of preparing an armed
uprising and to try by all means to spread among the working
masses the conviction of the necessity and inevitability of an uprising.
The practical measures which can already now be taken
for the preparation of an uprising are placed by the Congress exclusively and entirely on the
C.C.
*) The words: “especially” in the manuscript represent a later
insertion into the main text, written above the line. Ed.

SUMMARY OF DRAFT RESOLUTIONS FOR THE 2ND CONGRESS OF THE R.S.-D.L.P.
165
Terror. 2)
The Congress resolutely rejects terror, i.e., the system of isolated
political assassinations, as a method of political struggle, which is highly
inexpedient at the present time, diverting the best
forces from the urgent and absolutely necessary organisational
and agitational work, destroying the connection of the revolutionaries
with the masses of the revolutionary classes of the population, and sowing
among the rev[olutionarie]s themselves and among the [revolutionary] classes of the
population in general the most distorted ideas about the tasks
and
methods
*)
of struggle against the autocracy.
P r o p [aganda]. 6)
The Congress draws the attention of all members of the P[a]rty to the importance
of raising the theoretical level of propagandists and of creating
travelling all-Russian groups of lecturers for the unification
of propaganda work.
S t u d e n t s . 7)
The Congress welcomes the revival of revolutionary initiative
among the student youth, proposes to all Party org[anisation]s
to render every assistance to this youth in its
strivings to organise, and recommends to all organisations,
groups and circles of students, f i r s t l y , to place in the forefront
of their activity the elaboration among their members of an integral
and consistent revolutionary world outlook, a serious **)
acquaintance with Marxism, on the one hand, and, on the other hand,
with Russian Narodism and West-European opportunism,
as the main trends among the contemporary struggling advanced
tendencies; s e c o n d l y , to beware of those false friends of the youth
wh[ich] divert it from serious revolutionary
education by empty rev[olutionary]
[phrases] or idealistic
phraseology and philistine lamentations about the harm and uselessness of heated
and sharp polemics between rev[olutionary] and opposition
tendencies, for these false friends
*) The words:
“and methods” in the manuscript are a later insertion.
Ed.
**) The word “serious” in the manuscript is inserted additionally.
Ed.

in reality spread only lack of principle and a frivolous
attitude] towards rev[olutionary] work; t h i r d l y , to try
when passing to practical activity to establish in advance connections
with [revolutionary] s[ocial] d[emocratic]
org[anisation]s, s[o] as to make use of
their guidance and to avoid, as far as possible, serious mistakes
at the very beginning of the work.
D i s t r i b u t i o n ] o f f o r c e s .
8)
The Congress recommends to all comrades travelling from abroad to Russia or from exile to the place of
activity, especially if they do not have entirely firm
connections with any committee, to try to get in touch in advance
with the
C.C.
or its agents so th[a]t the
C.C.
may correctly and timely distribute the revolutionary forces
throughout
Russia.
S e c t a r i a n s
/ . 9)
*) At the congress Vladimir Ilyich did not introduce this resolution and voted
for the corresponding resolution by Martov, which was adopted unanimously (“Minutes”, p. 336).
2)
In the minutes of the 2nd session of the congress it is noted:
“Lenin points to the existence in the congress agenda of such questions as, for example,
the celebration of the First of May, terror, etc., resolutions on which can be
adopted without discussion in view of the clarity of these questions” (“Minutes”,
p. 242).
But in the “Minutes” of the congress there is no trace of voting
and adoption (even without discussion) of resolutions on the indicated questions. In his report on the second congress of the party at the 2nd congress of the “League Abroad”
Lenin says: “...w e had to throw out of the Tagesordnung a
mass of important points ...” (“Minutes of the 2nd Congress of the League Abroad”
Geneva, 1904 ed., p. 50).
This refers to the items on the agenda concerning the celebration of May 1 and terror, as well as the question of the “distribution
of forces”, which was not included in the agenda adopted by the congress.
3)
Lenin’s draft resolution
on the Amsterdam International Socialist Congress is of a concrete, practical nature, dealing exclusively with the methods of organising the representation
of the R.S.-D.L.P. at the congress and in the International Socialist Bureau,
in contrast to the resolution by Koltsov (K. A. Ginzburg) on the same question,
which is of a general principled character.
Vladimir Ilyich voted for the resolution
by Koltsov, which was adopted unanimously (“Minutes”, p. 338).
4)
This refers to the decision of the Russian s.-d.
delegation at the Paris Congress of the II International in September 1900, when it was

SUMMARY OF DRAFT RESOLUTIONS FOR THE 2ND CONGRESS OF THE R.S.-D.L.P.
decided that in the International Socialist Bureau the party would be
represented together with G. V. Plekhanov also by B. N. Krichevsky, the leader of the “Economists” and editor of “Rabocheye Dyelo” (on this see G. V. Plekhanov’s letter to V. I. Lenin of November 12, 1900 and note 16 to it in “Lenin Miscellany” III, pp. 99 and 101-102).
B. N. Krichevsky (d. 1919)— one of the first Russian s.-d., publicist, editor of “Rabocheye Dyelo”, leader of “Economism”; after working
in s.-d. circles in Russia in the early 1890s he emigrated abroad, where
he initially joined the “Emancipation of Labour” group and took
literary part in its publications; but soon K. went into opposition
to the group and organised his own literary s.-d. group; in the late 1890s
K. became the head of the fairly widespread trend
of “Economism”, as well as the head of the “Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad”,
the majority of which adopted the viewpoint of “Economism”, and its
organ “Rabocheye Dyelo”, which K. edited during 1898-1902;
at the Paris Congress of the II International in 1900 K. headed the majority of the Russian delegation; simultaneously K. collaborated in “L’Humanite” and was the Paris correspondent of “Vorwarts”; in Russian
and international affairs K. inclined towards Bernsteinism and Jaurèsism;
“Iskra” and “Zarya”, in the persons of Lenin and Plekhanov, waged a sharp struggle against
K. and undermined all his influence in the party; after the 2nd Congress of the party
K. played no role in the party.
5)
Vladimir Ilyich did not introduce this resolution at the congress and, apparently, voted for the resolution by Martov, which was adopted by the congress.
At least, in the minutes of the congress there are no traces of any objections by Lenin
to Martov’s resolution (see “Minutes” of the congress, pp. 334-335).
6) This draft resolution on propaganda represents only an initial
brief outline of a resolution, left without final
elaboration. Vladimir Ilyich later voted for Martov’s resolution on
this question, adopted unanimously (“Minutes”, pp. 336-337).
7)
This resolution was introduced by Lenin at the congress.
It was discussed among other resolutions at the 37th session of the congress after Martov’s resolution
on the organisation of propaganda and before Koltsov’s (Ginzburg’s) resolution on
the Amsterdam Congress. Against Lenin’s draft resolution (against
point 2) Martov objected, pointing to the inappropriateness of mentioning in this
question the dangers from the S.R.s and liberals and the inappropriateness of applying
to them the term “false friends”. Lenin, in defence
of his draft, in reply to Martov’s objection said the following: “The formula ‘false
friends’ is not used by reactionaries alone, and that such false
friends exist— we see this in the liberals and Socialist-Revolutionaries.
It is precisely these false friends who approach the youth with assurances that it
does not need to understand the different trends. We, however, set as the main goal
the elaboration of an integral revolutionary world outlook, and the further practical
task consists in the youth, while organising, turning to our committees.” Makhov
(Kalafati) and Trotsky proposed to delete from Lenin’s resolution the second point (with the warning against the “false friends of the youth”). The congress adopted this resolution with the said amendment
by Makhov and Trotsky (“Minutes”, pp. 337-338); below (pp. 179-180

LENIN MISCELLANY
we give that text of this resolution which figured at the congress
and has been preserved in the manuscript of the congress minutes.
8)
In this “Summary of Draft Resolutions” only the heading
of the resolution on sectarians is marked, the text itself of the resolution is absent and
only a space is left for it; apparently, Vladimir Ilyich intended
to sketch the content of the resolution later. At the congress a resolution
by Lenin and Plekhanov on the concrete question of a sectarian organ was introduced, discussed and adopted, which we give below (pp. 173-174)..

The draft resolution by Lenin on Party literature printed below,
as already indicated above (see
the general introductory note to this group of documents “Draft Resolutions
for the 2nd Congress of the R.S.-D.L.P.”, pp. 161-165), directly adjoins
the “Summary of Draft Resolutions”.
The simultaneity or close chronological sequence
of the writing of this separate draft with the “Summary of Draft
Resolutions” is further confirmed by the fact that on the same sheet, on
which this draft was written (in ink),
in the free space on the same (front)
side of the sheet and on the reverse, notes for a report on the activity of the
“Iskra” organisation are sketched in pencil by the hand
of Vladimir Ilyich (above, pp. 68-
69). From the circumstance that the writing of the draft resolution
in that place where it meets the beginning of the writing of the notes
on the activity of “Iskra” carefully avoids this latter writing,
it follows that the draft resolution on Party literature was
written simultaneously or slightly later than these notes and, in
any case, hardly later than the first half of July n.
s.
V. I. Lenin.
* DRAFT RESOLUTION ON PARTY
LITERATURE.
[June — July 1903.
Geneva ^
L i t [ e ] r [ a ] t [ u ] r e : 1 )
The Congress recognises the absolute and urgent necessity
of creating a broad popular s.d. lit[eratu]re for all strata of the population
and in partic[ula]r for the masses of the w[orking] class.
In the first place the Congress places
[the creation] the compilation of a series of pamphlets (of 1-5 pr[inted] sheets) on each ^ theoretical ]
and
practical ] ) * )
point of our P[a]rty p[r]og[ra]m with a detailed exposition and explanation of the significance of this point; —
and then a series of leaflets (of 1-8 pr[inted] pages)
on the same themes for mass distribution and handing out in the towns
and
in the villages.
The Congress instructs the Ed[itorial Board] of the
C.O.
immediately to take all measures for the fulfilment of this task.
*) The words: “(theoretical] and practical])” in the manuscript are
written later as an addition. Ed.