The document below is the original draft of the preface to the brochure "Workers on the Party Split," published in July 1905 in Geneva. (Works, Vol. VIII, pp. 156-142.)
The preface is signed: "The Editors of 'Proletary'."

9.
WORKERS ON THE PARTY SPLIT *).
[July 1905]
Cover:
The Voice of Workers and the Party Split 1).
Table of Contents:
I. Preface by the Editors of Proletary.
II. Letter from an Odessa Worker.
III. Reply to the Worker's Letter. Abramov.
IV. Open Letter from the Central Committee of the RSDLP to the Organizational Commission 2).
Preface.
In No. 8 of Proletary, we already announced the publication of a letter from an Odessa worker, which, in our opinion, expresses the mood of quite a few workers. As a reply to this letter, we are publishing, firstly, an article by a member of the newspaper Proletary, Comrade Abramov: "Reply to the Worker's Letter," and secondly, the "Open Letter to the Organizational Commission" of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, which recently appeared in Russia and was published in "No. 10 of Proletary."

For our part, let us emphasize once again only one thing: unification is necessary. Comrade worker is quite right in insisting on this. But it is not enough to insist on this, one must know how to achieve unification, one must have the strength to achieve unification. To step aside, to form a third party or a neutral group - it is not difficult. But this will not bring unification closer, but will distance it, will not simplify the current confused situation, but will further
*) This title is crossed out in the manuscript. Ed.

confuse it even more. The decisions of the conference of the minority or the new-Iskrists do not give a direct and clear answer to the question: how exactly can and should unification take place? The decisions of the 3rd Congress of the RSDLP give such an answer in the form of the party's charter, which fully guarantees the rights of the minority. It would be ridiculous to consider this answer infallible, ideal. But whoever wants not only to talk about unification, but to really achieve it with real measures and proposals, let him not limit himself to reproaches and recriminations, let him not exacerbate the split by forming a third party, but let him undertake to develop his own answer to the question of the conditions and forms of unification. This task is much more difficult than simply preaching peace and love, but it is therefore also much more useful.

The Editors of "Proletary". *)
*) The words: "The Voice of Workers and the Party Split" are obviously a variant of the brochure's title.
2) The contents of the brochure correspond to the table of contents, with the exception of the "Reply to the Worker Abramov's Letter", which was not printed.