V. I.

Lenin

The Fifth (All-Russian) Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.

December 21–27, 1908 (January 3–9, 1909)

2

Directives for the Committee on Questions of
Organisation

Whereas the draft resolutions submitted, and the debates on the question of
organisation, have clearly revealed two basic tendencies in the R.S.D.L.P. on
the question of the main direction in which the present organisational policy in
general is to move, the Conference instructs the Committee to base its work on the principles of
that tendency which recognises that, for work among the masses—which
remains as before the fundamental task of Social-Democracy—attention must
be focussed’ on building up and strengthening the illegal Party organisation;
and that only under the unfaltering influence of this organisation can all work
among the masses, all control of the Duma group, all the activity of the Party
around the Duma group, all use of legal and semi-legal organisations, be
properly arranged, without any debasing of the class aims of Social-Democracy.

| Written on December 24, 1908 (January 6, 1909). | |
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| Published in 1909 in the Report of the Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party on the Recent General Party Conference , Paris | |
| Published according to the text in the Report | |

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