V. I.

Lenin

Comrades Workers! The Third Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. was recently held. This
Congress should mark a new phase in the history of our Social-Democratic
working-class movement. Russia is passing through a great historical
period. Revolution has broken out and its flames are spreading wider and wider,
embracing new regions and new sections of the population. The proletariat stands
at the head of the fighting forces of the revolution. It has already borne the
greatest sacrifices in the cause of freedom and is now preparing for the
decisive battle with the tsarist autocracy. The class-conscious representatives
of the proletariat know that freedom will not rid the working people of poverty,
oppression, and exploitation. The bourgeoisie, which now stands for the cause
of freedom, will, on the morrow of the revolution, try to deprive the workers
of as large a part of its conquests as possible and will show itself to be the
implacable enemy of the socialist demands of the proletariat. But we do not
fear a free, united, and strengthened bourgeoisie. We know that freedom will
enable us to wage a broad and open mass struggle for socialism. We know that
economic development will inexorably sap the power of capital and prepare the
victory of socialism, and that it will do this the more. rapidly, the more
freely it proceeds.

Comrades Workers! To achieve this great aim we must unite all class-conscious
proletarians in a single Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. Our Party began
to constitute itself quite some time ago, immediately following the broad
working-class movement of 1895 and 1896. The year 1898 saw the convocation of
its First Congress, which founded the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party and outlined its
aims. The Second Congress was held in 1903. It gave the Party a programme,
adopted a series of resolutions on tactics, and endeavoured, for the first
time, to build an integral Party organisation. True, the Party did not at
once succeed in this effort. The minority at the Second Congress refused
to submit to the majority and started a split that has caused great harm
to the Social-Democratic working-class movement. The first step towards
this split was the refusal to carry out the decisions of the Second
Congress and to accept the leadership of the central bodies it had set
up. The last step was the refusal to participate in the Third
Congress. The Third Congress was convened by a Bureau elected by the
majority of the committees working in Russia, and by the Central Committee
of the Party. All the committees, breakaway groups, and the periphery
organisations dissatisfied with the committees were invited to the Congress. The vast majority of these organisations,
including nearly all the committees and organisations of the Minority,
elected delegates and sent them abroad to attend the Congress. Thus
everything possible under our police regime was done to convene an all-Party
congress; it was only the refusal of three members of the former Party
Council resident abroad that resulted in the boycott of the Congress by the
entire Party Minority. The Third Congress, as will be seen from
its resolution [1] printed below, lays the entire responsibility for the
split in the Party on these three members. Nevertheless, despite the absence
of the Minority, the Third Congress took every measure to enable the
Minority to work with the Majority in one party. The Congress held the
reversion to the antiquated and superseded views of Economism discernible
in our Party to be incorrect; at the same time, it provided
precise and definite guarantees of the rights of every minority,
guarantees embodied in the
Rules of the Party and binding on all its members. The Minority now has the
unconditional right, guaranteed by the Party Rules, to advocate its views
and to carry on an ideological struggle. so long as the disputes and
differences do not lead to disorganisation, so long as they do not impede
constructive work, split our forces, or hinder the concerted struggle
against the autocracy and the capitalists. The right to publish Party literature is now grant ed by the Rules
to every qualified Party organisation. It has now been made incumbent on
the C.C. of the Party to transport all kinds of Party literature upon the
demand of five qualified committees, or one-sixth of all such committees
in the Party. The autonomy of the committees has been defined more
precisely and their membership declared inviolable, which means that the
C.C. no longer has the right to remove members from local committees or to
appoint new members without the consent of the committees themselves. This
rule admits of only one exception, namely, in cases where two-thirds of
the organised workers demand the removal of a committee; under the Rules
adopted by the Third Congress such removal is incumbent on the C.C. if
two-thirds of its members agree with the decision of the workers. Every
local committee has been accorded the right to con firm periphery
organisations as Party organisations. The periphery organisations have
been accorded the right to nominate candidates for committee
membership. The boundaries of the Party have been defined more precisely,
in accordance with the wishes of the Party majority. A single centre has
been set up instead of two or three. The comrades working in Russia have
been guaranteed a decided preponderance over the Party’s section
abroad. In a word, the Third Congress has done everything to remove all
possibility of charging the Majority with abuse of numerical superiority,
with mechanical suppression, with despotism of the central bodies of the
Party, and so on and so forth. Full opportunity has been provided for all
Social-Democrats to work in co-operation, to join confidently the ranks of
a single party, broad and virile enough, strong and welded enough to cut
loose from the old traditions of the study circle days and to wipe out all
traces of past friction and petty conflicts. Let all members of the
Social-Democratic Party who really cherish the Party spirit now respond
to the call of the Third Congress; let its decisions serve as the
starting-point for restoring the unity of the Party, for eliminating all
disorganisation, and for consolidating the ranks of the proletariat. We
are convinced that the class conscious workers, who are best able to
appreciate the importance of united and concerted work, and who have most keenly felt all the harmful effects of discord, vacillation, and strife, will
now insist with the utmost vigour on universal and unreserved recognition
of Party discipline by all Party members, whether rank and file or
leaders.

Whilestriving, in all its decisions on organisation and tactics, to maintain
continuity with the work of the Second Congress, the Third Congress sought to
take into consideration the new tasks of the moment in its resolutions on the
Party’s preparation for open action; on the necessity for the Party to
participate practically and most energetically in the armed uprising and to give
it leadership; and, finally, on the Party’s attitude towards a provisional
revolutionary government. The Congress drew the attention of all Party members
to the need for taking advantage of all waverings on the part of the government
and of every legal or actual extension of freedom for our activities in order to
strengthen the class organisation of the proletariat and to prepare for its open
action. But apart from these general and basic tasks of the Social-Democratic
working-class party, the present revolutionary moment demands of the Party that
it assume the role of foremost champion of freedom, of vanguard in the armed
uprising against the autocracy. The more stubbornly the tsarist government
resists the people’s strivings towards freedom, the more powerful will be the
force of the revolutionary onset and the more likely the complete victory of
democracy, headed by the working class. The conduct of a victorious revolution
and the defence of its conquests lay tremendous tasks on the shoulders of the
proletariat. But the proletariat will not flinch at these great tasks. It will
contemptuously brush aside all who predict that its victory will bring it
misfortune. The Russian proletariat will be able to do its duty to the very
end. It will be capable of taking the lead of the people’s insurrection. It will
not be daunted by the difficult task of participating in a provisional
revolutionary government, if it has to tackle this task. It will be able to
repel all attempts at counter revolution, to crush ruthlessly all enemies of
freedom, to defend staunchly the democratic republic, and to realise, in a
revolutionary way, the whole of our minimum programme. The Russian proletarians
should not fear such an out come, but should passionately desire it. Our victory
in the

coming democratic revolution will be a giant stride forward towards our
socialist goal; we shall deliver all Europe from the oppressive yoke of a
reactionary military power and help our brothers, the class-conscious workers of
the whole world who have suffered so much under the bourgeois reaction and who
are taking heart now at the sight of the successes of the revolution in Russia,
to advance to socialism more quickly, boldly, and decisively. With the help of
the socialist proletariat of Europe, we shall be able, not only to defend the
democratic republic, but to advance with giant strides towards socialism.

Longlive the revolution!

Longlive international revolutionary

Social-Democracy I

Central Committee, R.S.D.L.P.

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Notes:
[1]
The reference is to the resolution “On the Constitution of the Congress” published in issue No. I of Proletary , May 27 (14), 1905
(see The C.P.S.U. in Resolutions and Decisions of Its Congresses, Conferences, and Plenary Meetings of the Central Committee , Moscow, 1953, Part
I, pp. 75-76; Russ.).