TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PARTY
apparently, prompted Lenin to abandon the publication in
print of the letter "To the Members of the Party."
This document, printed below, is preserved in Lenin's archive
in the form of a fair copy manuscript, without any markings or corrections.
164.
V. I. Lenin.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PARTY *.
[Second half of January 1904. 2 Geneva.]
Circle or Party? That is the question that has been put up
for discussion by our Central Organ.
We find the posing of this question for discussion in the high-
est degree timely. We invite the editors of our
C.O. to look first of all at themselves. What does this editorial board represent? A circle of individuals who have been sitting
together for so many years and have now made their way into the editorial board by means of boycotts, dis-
organization and threats of a split, or a board of officials
of our Party?
Do not try to evade this question by referring to the fact
that you have been co-opted lawfully, according to the charter 3. We do not doubt
this legality, but we invite you not to restrict yourselves
to a formal point of view, but to answer our question in essence. We want not only a legal, but a political
answer. We want to receive this answer precisely from you,
gentlemen “editors” not elected by the congress and not appointed by the party, and not from Comrade. Plekhanov, who perhaps had no
other choice but to co-opt you in order to avoid a split 4.
Circle or official party collegium?
If a circle, then what is this hypocrisy and falsehood with phrases
about some kind of Party? Have you not in fact torn up this Party,
mocking its institutions and its charter for weeks and months?
Have you not in fact torn up the decisions of the Second Congress of this
Party, have you not brought things to a split, refused to sub-
* In the upper left corner of the document, N. K. Krupskaya wrote
and crossed out: "Copy not taken; when needed" 1. Ed.

mit to the Central Committee and the Soviet 5, are you not placing yourselves outside
the Party with speeches about the fact that party congresses are not a deity for you,
i.e., not obligatory? You trample underfoot the institutions and
laws of the Party and at the same time take pleasure in the title "Cen-
tral Party Organ"!
If you are officials of the Party, then would you not be so kind as
to explain to this Party why and in the name of what did people not appointed
by the congress seek a place for themselves in the central party
institution? Perhaps in the name of the "succession" of the old
family circle of editors? And the people who adopted resolutions at the
congress of the League about this philistine "succession" 6, now want to bamboozle us with talk about the Party! Do
you even have the right to talk about the Party now?
You call formalists those who rely on the formal decisions of the Second Congress, because you need to gloss over
and obscure the fact that you have violated the trust of comrades,
who, to a man, have many, many times given each other the promise to abide by the decisions of the congress 7. You do not submit to for-
mal decisions when they go against you, but at the same time,
without a twinge of conscience, you rely on the formal rights of the League,
when these rights benefit you, you rely on the formal decisions of the Party Soviet, when you managed to slip, against
the will of the Party, into this highest party institution 8!
You call bureaucrats those who hold a party office by the will of a party congress, and not by the whim of a foreign
literary circle. You need to cover up with this the unpleasant fact for you that it was the spirit of bureaucratism,
the spirit of parochialism, the spirit of chasing after ranks that turned out to be permeated by people who resolutely were not able to work in the Party outside the central party institutions. Yes, your
behavior has indeed vividly shown us that our Party is sick with bureaucratism, which places position above work,
which does not shy away from boycotts and disorganization for the sake of conquering
a place.
You call a decision by a majority of votes of a party congress crude and mechanical, but do not
the methods of struggle in the foreign colonies and at the congress of the League, which delivered you your shameful
victory over our party editorial board, seem crude, mechanical, and scandalous to you! You do not notice hypocrisy in the assurances of recognition of the Party by people who

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PARTY
sought and achieved to lead the Central Par- ty Organ, being a minority * of the party congress!
And these attempts to hypocritically embellish their indecent, anti-party behavior, this preaching of anarchy, these jibes
at the party congress, this opportunist justification of philistinism and circle spirit you call your new organizational point of view!
Comrades! Whoever seriously looks at himself as a member of the Par-
ty must raise a decisive voice of protest and put an end to this outrage! Whoever seriously looks at the three-
year work of the Spark and at the party congress prepared by it,
which expressed the will of truly principled and truly working Russian Social Democrats, will not
allow the foreign circle spirit to trample underfoot everything done by this party congress.
One of two.
Either we have no Party, or we are all-powerful over a foreign
literary, editorial circle, pushed aside by our congress, – and then down with these hypocritical speeches about the Party, these
false titles of “party” publications, organs, and institutions. We are not Socialist Revolutionaries; we do not need painted scenery. The Party of the proletariat demands truth.
The Party of the proletariat demands a relentlessly frank exposure
of inveterate circle spirit. Let us have the courage to admit that there is no Party, and let us take from the beginning, from the very beginning, the work of creating and strengthening a real Party. We will not be embarrassed by the temporary victory of the circle spirit, we believe and know that the Russian conscious proletariat will be able to develop a Party for itself in deed, and not a Party in words, a Party in the form of truly party institutions, and not in the form of false titles.
Or we have a Party – and then down with all circle interests, down with foreign gatherings of scandalmongers! Then let
those persons immediately withdraw from our party editorial board who
were not appointed to this post by the party congress. Then let
the editorial board of the Central Organ be restored from the comrades chosen
by the congress. Then let the views of the party majority be carried out in our party organ, let our party

* In the manuscript, "minority" is underlined in black pencil. Ed.

an organ defending the party organization and party institutions, and not trampling them in the mud.
Down with cliquishness, and above all, down with it from our party
editorial board!
Down with disorganizers!
Long live the Party of the proletariat, able to observe in deed
the decisions of the party congress, able to honor party discipline
and organization!
Down with pharisaical speeches and false headlines!
1 This note by N. K. Krupskaya testifies to the fact that for some
time Lenin's address "To the Members of the Party" was kept ready for
publication.
2 We determine the approximate date of the document based on the following
considerations: first, the indirect references in Lenin's address
to Martov's letter to Lengnik of January 17 (see below, notes
3 and 8) prove that the document was written after January 17; second,
Lenin's soft, careful treatment of Plekhanov, as the perpetrator of the co-
option of the Martovites into the editorial board (see below, note 4), testifies
to the fact that this document was written by Lenin before the convocation of the session of the Council
of the Party. Thus, the most probable date of writing the document
is the time between the mentioned letter from Martov and the beginning of the
negotiations with Plekhanov about the convocation of the Council, i.e., between January 17 and 23 (see
below, document 165, page 175).
3 Here Lenin indirectly points to such an "attempt to evade
the question" that took place in Martov's letter to Lengnik of January 17,
(see above, document 161, page 157).
4 The softness and caution shown here by Lenin towards Plekhanov
on the issue of his co-opting Martovites indicates that at this
moment Lenin had not yet lost hope of wresting Plekhanov from the bloc
with the Martovites. But this hope of his was completely dispelled during the session
of the Council of the Party (see below, documents 168 and 170, pages 181-283 and 298-300),
where Plekhanov, with all his behavior, testified to his loyalty
to his allies — the Mensheviks.
5 This refers to the conflict of the Menshevik majority of the Congress of the Foreign
League with the Central Committee: about the non-submission of the representative of the Central Committee to its demand
regarding the new charter of the League and about the ignoring by the new
administration of the League of the resolution of the Council of the Party of November 1, 1903, sanctioning
the specified actions of the representative of the Central Committee at the Congress of the League (see
"Lenin Miscellany" VII, documents 71 and 72, pages 179-186).
6 Here Lenin refers to the resolution on the report of Lenin and the co-
report of Martov on the Second Party Congress, introduced at the fourth session
of the Congress of the League by Trotsky and others and adopted by the Congress of the League almost
in the complete absence of League members, supporters of the majority of the party
congress. In the final part of this resolution, it was said,

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PARTY
among other things, the following: "...The League expresses its deep regret
regarding the fact... that the congress, in establishing the official centers
of the Party, ignored the continuous connection with the centers that had actually formed,
thereby weakening the positive significance of those steps
that it took during the first half of its work, and significantly
hindering the activities of all party workers in uniting the conscious
elements of the struggling proletariat" (see "Protocols" of the Congress
of the League, Geneva, 1904, page 83).
7 Here we are talking, first of all, about all local party organizations
that considered and approved the draft charter of the II Congress
of the R. S.-D. R. P., developed by the Organizing Committee for the convocation of the congress. § 18 of this charter
stated: "All decisions of the congress and all elections made by it
are the decision of the Party, binding on all organizations of the party.
They cannot be protested by anyone and under any pretext and
can only be repealed or changed by the next Party Congress."
(See "Protocols of the Second Party Congress, ed. 1924, page 351.) This para-
graph of the Congress Charter was a solemn promise of all party organizations
to unconditionally obey all decisions of the congress. Secondly, Lenin means
here also repeated confirmation by the members of the congress already
at the congress itself of the obligation for them and for all members of the party to
abide by the decisions of the congress.
8 In this place, Lenin refers to the following question of Martov
in his letter to Lengnik of January 17 (see above, document 161, page 159):
"...are you going to execute the unanimously adopted resolution
of the Council [of November 29, 1903. Ed.], concerning the procedure for determining
the number of copies of our publications to be published...?"