Date: 1904
Source: ru:PSS/v9

Dear Comrades! At today’s meeting of the inner circle of overseas Bolsheviks{48}, the question—long since settled in principle—of establishing a periodic party organ dedicated to upholding and developing the principles of the majority in the struggle against the organizational and tactical confusion introduced into the Party by the minority has been definitively resolved, while also serving the constructive work of Russian organizations that are now, almost everywhere across Russia, subjected to an exceedingly fierce campaign waged by agents of the minority—a campaign that is profoundly disruptive to the Party at this crucial historical juncture, a campaign conducted entirely through the most shameless means and tactics of factionalism, all while hypocritically lamenting the very schism it seeks to provoke within the so‑called Central Committee of the Party. We have done everything in our power to pursue the struggle along party lines; since January, we have been striving for a Party Congress as the only truly worthy party-based solution to this untenable situation. It has now become abundantly clear that nearly all of the activities undertaken by the Central Committee—which has now defected to the minority—are devoted to a desperate campaign against the Congress; the Council will stop at nothing—engaging in the most outrageous and utterly unacceptable maneuvers—in order to delay the convening of the Congress. The Council is openly sabotaging the Congress: those who have not yet been convinced of this by reading its latest resolutions appended to Nos. 73–74 of Iskra will see it for themselves in Orlovsky’s recently published pamphlet, “The Council Against the Party.” It has become even more evident that without unity and resolute resistance to our so‑called central organs, the majority cannot defend its position or preserve the Party’s identity in its struggle against cliquism. The unification of Russian Bolsheviks has long been placed squarely on their agenda. Recall the tremendous outpouring of support that greeted the programmatic resolution of the 22nd[20]—in the sense of our internal party struggle’s program; recall the proclamation issued in print by the Moscow Committee (October 1904), authored by 19 comrades; and finally, nearly every Party committee knows that, in the very recent past—and in part still today—several private conferences have taken place among the committees of the majority{49}, with the most energetic and determined efforts being made to forge strong bonds among the majority committees in order to resist the brazen Bonapartist tendencies entrenched in the Council, the Central Committee, and the Central Executive Committee.

The alienation from Russia, the suffocating atmosphere of that accursed foreign exile, weighs so heavily upon us here that the only true salvation lies in living, vibrant communication with Russia. Let those who do not merely pay lip service but genuinely seek to regard—and to make—our organ as the organ of the entire “majority,” as the organ of the mass of Russian working people, never forget this. Let everyone who considers this organ their own, and who recognizes the duties of a social democrat—a Party member—renounce once and for all the bourgeois habit of thinking and acting as one does toward legal newspapers: “It’s their job to write; ours is to read.” All social democrats must work together to shape the social democratic newspaper. We urge all comrades to contribute, especially the workers. Let us broaden the opportunities for workers to write to our paper—writing about absolutely everything, writing as much as possible about their everyday lives, their interests, and their work; without such material, a social democratic organ is worth little, and it will hardly deserve to be called social democratic. We also ask that you write—not just for correspondence, not necessarily for publication, but rather for friendly exchanges with the editorial staff, keeping them informed—not only about facts and events, but also about moods, about the mundane, “uninteresting,” ordinary, routine aspects of the movement. Without having traveled abroad, you cannot imagine how urgently we need such letters (and there is absolutely nothing conspiratorial about them; indeed, to write such an unencrypted letter once a week, twice a week, is quite feasible—even for the busiest of individuals). Write to us about discussions held in workers’ circles, about the character of these conversations, about the topics under consideration, about the questions raised by the workers, about the methods of propaganda and agitation, about connections within society, in the military, and among youth—above all, write about the discontent among workers toward us, the social democrats; write about their doubts, their inquiries, their protests, and so forth. Questions concerning the practical organization of our work are particularly relevant now, and there is no better way to acquaint the editorial staff with these issues than through lively, non‑correspondence‑oriented, simply comradely exchanges. Of course, not everyone possesses the skill or the inclination to write—but don’t say, “I can’t”; instead, say, “I don’t want to.” Whenever one sets one’s mind to it, in any circle, in every group—even the smallest, even the most minor (for it is often the minor groups that play the most important, though sometimes unseen, role)—one can always find one or two comrades who are capable of writing. Here, we have adopted a broad-based approach to secretarial work, drawing on the experience of the old Iskra; and we ask you to bear in mind that anyone—absolutely anyone—who approaches this task with patience and energy will easily ensure that nine-tenths, if not all, of their letters reach their destination. I say this based on three years of experience with the old Iskra, which had more than one such correspondent-friend—often unknown to anyone on the editorial staff—who maintained the most meticulous correspondence. The police have long been utterly incapable of intercepting foreign letters (they may occasionally seize them only in cases of extraordinary carelessness on the part of the sender), and the vast majority of the old Iskra’s material was always delivered in the most ordinary manner, via ordinary letters sent to our usual addresses. We would especially like to caution against the tendency to concentrate correspondence solely within the committee and solely in the hands of the secretaries. There is nothing more harmful than such a monopoly. Just as unity in action and in decision-making is essential, so too is diversity in general information-gathering and in correspondence. Very often, it is precisely the letters from relatively “outsider” figures—those who are distant from the committees—that prove most interesting, for they often perceive many things with greater freshness, whereas the seasoned veteran tends to take certain matters for granted and overlook them. Let us give young activists more opportunities to write to us: to youth, to workers, to “centralists,” to organizers, and to ordinary rank-and-file members of leaflets and mass campaigns.

Only then—and only on the condition of such broad-based correspondence—can we, together, make our newspaper a truly effective organ of the workers’ movement in Russia. We earnestly request that you read this letter at every conceivable gathering, in every circle, subgroup, and so forth, spreading its message as widely as possible—and that you write to us, telling us how the workers have received this appeal. We view with great skepticism the idea of separating off a “popular” workers’ organ from the broader, guiding organ of the intelligentsia: we would prefer that the social democratic newspaper serve as the organ of the entire movement, that the workers’ newspaper and the social democratic newspaper merge into a single organ. This can succeed only with the most active support of the working class.

With comradely greetings,

Written November 29 (December 12), 1904

Printed in December 1904 in Berlin as a separate leaflet

Reprinted according to the text of the leaflet