V. I. Lenin

The Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.

JULY 17 (30)–AUGUST 10 (23), 1908

SPEECHES IN THE DEBATE ON THE STATEMENT BY MARTYNOV AND AKIMOV

AUGUST 5 (15)

The bureau has discussed the statement by Comrades Martynov
and Akimov which they filed at the morning sitting. I shall not go into the
motivation, although it is wrong and extremely strange. No one has ever
declared the
Union {1} closed and Comrades Martynov and Akimov made an incorrect
inference from the Congress decision on the League. But even the closure of
the Union could not deprive delegates of the right to participate in the
work of the Congress. Similarly, the Congress cannot allow any refusal to
take part in the voting. A member of the Congress is not free merely to
approve the minutes without taking part in the rest of its work. For the
time being, the bureau does not propose any resolution and refers this
question for debate at the Congress. The statement by Martynov and Akimov
is extremely abnormal and contradicts the status of member of the Congress.

What an absurd and abnormal situation we now have. On the
one hand, we are told that the decisions of the Congress are being
accepted, and on the other, there is the intention to withdraw over a
decision on the Rules. By arriving here as a delegate of an organisation
recognised by the Organising Committee, each one of us has become a member
of the Congress. This title is not abolished by the dissolution of an
organisation. What are we, the bureau, to do during the voting? We cannot
simply omit those who have left, because the Congress has already approved its
constitution. There is one logical conclusion that suggests itself:
withdrawal from the ranks of the Party altogether. The minutes may be
approved with comrades of the Union being specially invited to attend,
although the Congress is entitled to approve its minutes even without them.

| Vtoroi ocherednoi syezd R.S.D.R.P. Polny tekst protokolov , Central committee publication, Geneva, 1904 | Printed from the text of the book |

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Notes:
{1}
The Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad was founded in
1894 on the initiative of the Emancipation of Labour group, on the
understanding that all its members accept the programme of the group.

The First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. recognised the Union as the
Party’s representative abroad. Subsequently opportunist
elements—Economists (the so-called “young”)—gained the upper hand in
the Union. The opportunist majority of the First Congress of the Union of
Russian Social-Democrats Abroad, held at Zurich in November 1898, refused
to voice solidarity with the Manifesto of the First Congress of the
R.S.D.L.P. In view of this, the Emancipation of Labour group announced at
the Congress its refusal to edit publications of the Union, with the
exception of No. 5–6 of Rabotnik which bad been prepared for the
press, and Lenin’s pamphlets, The Tasks of Russian Social-Democrats and The New

Factory Law . In April 1899, the Union started to publish the
magazine Rabocheye Dyelo on whose Editorial Board were the
Economists B. N. Krichevsky, V. P. Ivanshin and P. F. Teplov. The Union
voiced its sympathy with E. Bernstein, the Millerandists, etc.

The struggle within the Union continued until its Second Congress in
April 1900 and at the Congress. The Emancipation of Labour group and its
followers walked out from the Congress and formed an independent
organisation called Sotsial-Demokrat .

At the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., representatives of the Union
( Rabocheye Dyelo supporters) adopted an extremely opportunist
stand and walked out when the Congress recognised the League of Russian
Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad as the Party’s only organisation
abroad. The Union was dissolved by a decision of the Second Congress (see
Vtoroi syezd R.S.D.R.P. , 1959, p. 438).

p. 94