V. I. Lenin

Note by the Vperyod Editorial Board to the Letter of Their St. Petersburg Correspondent {4}

Letter from St. Petersburg ( pp. 1–6 {1}

)

From the Editorial Board . The conclusion at which the
St. Petersburg correspondent arrives is completely in line with our own in the article: “Time to Call a Halt!”
( Vperyod
No. 1) {2}

The Mensheviks have shown themselves to be completely unwilling to work together, submitting to the majority, and now
that the institutions set up by the Second Congress have been disorganised
and they have frustrated the convocation of a third congress, the Party has
no other means of fighting them except a break. The earlier and more
complete this break with the disorganisers, the.... {3}

From the Editorial Board . The conclusion of our St. Petersburg comrade
fully bears out the correctness of our own conclusion ( Vperyod
No. 1, “Time to Call a Halt!”). We advise all committees and organisations
of the majority to exercise firmness in removing the disorganisers as soon as
possible so as to have a chance to work, instead of engaging in squabbles.

---
Notes:
{1}
The pages of the letter. — Ed .

{2}
See present edition, Vol. 8, pp. 35–39.— Ed .

{3}
Here the MS. breaks off. The text is crossed out by Lenin.— Ed .

{4}
This is the initial variant and the final text of the “Note by the
Vperyod Editorial Board to the Letter of Their St. Petersburg
Correspondent”, which has not been found. It was apparently to have gone
into the newspaper’s issue No. 4 or No. 5, but the January 9, 1905 events
must have crowded out the other reports, and then the letter was too old to
print.

Vperyod —an illegal Bolshevik weekly, published in Geneva
from December 22, 1904 (January 4, 1905) to May 5 (18), 1905. Eighteen
issues appeared, with the printing of 7,000 to 10,000 copies. It was
organised and run by Lenin, who had also proposed the newspaper’s name. On
its Editorial Board were V. V. Vorovsky, M. S. Olminsky and
A. V. Lunacharsky. The paper’s correspondence with local committees in
Russia and its reporters was handled by N. K. Krupskaya. Lenin defined the
content of the paper as follows: “The line of Vperyod is the line of the old ‘Iskra ’. In the name of the old Iskra ,
Vperyod resolutely combats the new Iskra ” (see present edition, Vol. 8, p. 130).

Lenin not only wrote the leading articles but also a great number of notes,
and edited many reports. He wrote some of the articles together with other
members of the Board (Vorovsky, Olminsky and others). The MS.s of various
authors which have been preserved show the heavy editing and extensive
insertions made by Lenin, who always read the page proofs. Even when he was
engrossed in the work of the Third Congress in London, he found the time to
read the page proofs of No. 17. Issue No. 18 appears not to have been read
by him in view of his departure from London to Geneva. More than 60
articles and notes by Lenin were carried in Vperyod , and some of
its issues—such as Nos. 4 and 5, dealing with the January 9 events and
the start of the revolution in Russia—were almost entirely done up by
Lenin.

The Third Congress passed a special resolution with a vote of thanks,
noting the outstanding p art played by Vperyod in the struggle
against the Mensheviks, for the restoration of the Party principle, in the
raising and elucidating of the tactical questions brought out by the
revolutionary movement, and in the struggle for the convocation of the
Congress. Under a decision of the Third Congress, Proletary was
published as the Central Organ of the Party and a direct successor of
Vperyod .

p. 133