1

Re-balloting must be conducted. Liber is wrong. All his arguments are ridiculous sophistry. After all, who will decide the draw? We! We represent the final session of the congress. There can be no agreements. Because this is a congress, not an assembly of factions. You say that we were authorized to decide only technical and formal questions, and we have just adopted a political resolution on the loan{180}.

2

You wanted to frighten us with terrible words about a seizure of power. But we are authorized to elect candidates to the Central Committee at this session. (Noise.) Calm yourselves, comrades, you cannot shout me down anyway! You reproach us for wanting to use one vote. I find that this can and must be done. We are deciding here a political, a principled question. To leave the decision of this question to the draw—to blind chance—means to conduct a game of chance. One cannot condemn the party to a year of gambling. I warn you that if—in case of a tie—our party decides this question by drawing lots, the responsibility falls on you. Therefore, this assembly must conduct re-balloting.