December 31, 1912 (January 13, 1913)

Speech of Mal[inovsk]y on Monday, December 31, 1912 (13. 1. 1913)

Type 1.    Lawyer. A political party of the proletariat is impossible and unnecessary.

Should be like the Cadets[^2]. And for now, join the Organising Committee[^3].

Type 2.    Author of the letter:

Type 3.   This is what the third ones say:

Mayevsky and Co. — liquidators, “we do not differ from you (Mal[inovsky]) in our assessment of liquidationism, but in the method of fighting them. You say: they must be amputated, while we: regenerate them, outgrow liquidationism.”

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(a) Bebel                 “I cannot find the boundary between the liquidators and the anti-liquidators.”

(b) Type 1 and              1. Attitude towards the Organising Committee?

Organising Committee?      2.  Towards the Initiative Group?

3.  The question in the Duma fraction?[^4]

From the debates on the Duma fraction:

Mal[inovsky]1* for the report in “Russko[ye] Sl[ovo]”[^5]…

There is no draft declaration of the liquidators.

Drawing of lots: the liquidators do not deny the fact that they were offered the drawing of lots.  | NB

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not

[   “Aggressive” policy “is out of place”  ]

Koba: “Sharp policy” within the fraction is premature and repels the 7.

The 6 have not crystallised sufficiently

Khaustov is not for the Organising Committee.

They will then say that we are splitters.

“The philistine morass has swallowed the workers: they will not understand us.”

“Unity at any cost” — all the instructions.

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Koba: “influence by all suitable means”.

Koba: delicately and cautiously with the 7

[   it's not about “Luch”   ]

Koba: Without calling them sharp words (Stolypinists, liquidators).

L’s policy is fraught with such incidents (as the stay in “Luch”).

[   Koba: a political appeal to the rank and file is premature   ]

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Koba: “influence from below, on

2*

neutralise Mi[lyu]k[o]v.

{Trusted persons — intermediaries or leaders?

Mal[inovsky]: { [Task: is the party a mass party,

{                to expand? or narrow,

{               of conscious elements?

Koba: The agents are doing nothing in St. Petersburg... and in Moscow ]

[^1]: The Krakow Conference was held December 26, 1912—January 1, 1913 (January 8–14, 1913).

[^2]: Cadets — members of the Constitutional-Democratic Party, the leading party of the liberal-monarchist bourgeoisie in Russia.

[^3]: Organising Committee (O.C.) — the leading centre of the Menshevik-liquidators, formed at the liquidators’ August conference in 1912.

[^4]: Duma fraction — the Social-Democratic fraction in the IV State Duma.

[^5]: “Russkoye Slovo” — liberal paper; for the report in it, see *Lenin’s Collected Works*, Vol. 35, p. 56.

Badayev: (1) The *Kopeika*7 is ridiculous to the workers

(2) if money flows into *Pravda*8, then *Pravda* will be shut down.

«utopian» (Petrovsky)

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[ Petrovsky: I forgot to note: A comrade from *Zhivoe Delo*9 toured the district and preached sports, dance, and similar societies. I was against that then. ]

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Petrovsky — (a) the Germans are even worse than our liquidators.

So — «in favor of unity» — that is what I wanted to say.

in session (b) It’s not a weighty argument that the workers drag the liquidators into teachers etc.

31.XII.12 (13.I.13) (c) Among the liquidators there are very developed, intelligent,

[Monday:] influential workers, whom many follow. This must be reckoned with.

Koba: «I know that the party created *Pravda*, but I do not know how *Pravda* could create the party»...

shut down

Koba: «The money will come on its own feet, once we prove our plan»...

[ (a) broad party or narrow? ]

[ (b) trusted persons ]

[ (c) *Pravda* and money ]

[ Koba and Badayev ]

Are agreements with the liquidators possible on the legal

arena? (Trotsky and Goldman).

Can *Luch* and *Pravda* be united?

«In the Duma fraction an agreement, but not unity»

Badayev: In the summer of 1912 a meeting movement arises. Circles, which had emerged from the beginning of 1912 in the factories, begin to organize meetings — first near a factory, then 2-3 factories, — then entire districts join together and a wave of the meeting movement rolls through all districts. The growth of strikes led to meetings, — meetings united districts — a new impetus to strikes — the unification of districts in the Petersburg Committee.

{| 1905: 2-3, 10 persons as advanced workers, the mass follows behind them.

NB {| 1912: advanced workers are few. The «growth» of the mass proceeds evenly. «The mass has grown, > or < equally,

{| the advanced element is lacking.» I draw from this the conclusion that lockouts will be more and more frequent.

Petrovsky: The mood of the mass in Ekaterinoslav Gubernia — a rise everywhere, to all corners... Our gubernia is not very rich in strikes. The miners did not have a broad economic movement3*. One can expect a movement of the miners in the near future.

Among the metalworkers there are more strikes, more revival... In the provinces there are no organizations, and the role of the deputy is especially important here.

Petrovsky

The expression "counter-revolutionary" against the "Luch" people brings confusion among the workers...

The extreme liquidators may perhaps depart, and others will renounce the vilification of the revolution and the underground. This question should not be raised sharply in Pravda, nor expressed in a vociferous and harsh manner.

The "Luch" people are also socialists, the difference may be only in tactics. Sharp polemics, acute and rude attacks on Luch bring confusion into the minds of the workers. Conduct polemics not in such a form.

Fond 2, inv. 1, file 2945, ll. 1-4 — autograph.

1* Further word illegible.

2* Sentence incomplete.

3* Then V.I. Lenin continued the notes on the next page, where he noted: "... Petrovsky continued ..."

1 The Conference of the Central Committee of the R.S.D.L.P. with Party Workers, called the "February" Conference, was held from December 26, 1912 (January 8, 1913) to January 1 (14), 1913 in Krakow. At 11 sessions the following questions were discussed: 1) The revolutionary upsurge, strikes and the tasks of the Party. 2) The building of an illegal organization. 3) The Social-Democratic Duma group. 4) The Party press. 5) The insurance campaign. 6) Attitude toward liquidationism. The question of unity. 7) On "national" Social-Democratic organizations. The minutes of the conference have not been preserved. The "Notification" about the conference, written by V.I. Lenin, and the resolutions were published in 1913 (see: Lenin V.I. Complete Collected Works, vol. 22, pp. 249-270).

2 Cadets — members of the Constitutional-Democratic Party, founded in October 1905.

3 The Organizing Committee (OC) was created at a conference of representatives of the Bund, the Transcaucasian Regional Committee, the Central Committee of the Social-Democracy of the Latvian Territory, and others with the aim of preparing a Social-Democratic conference in opposition to the one convened by the Bolsheviks (the Prague Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.). In August 1912 such a conference took place in Vienna (see doc. 48, note 1). After the conference, the Organizing Committee continued to function and over time became the leading center of the Mensheviks.

4 The Social-Democratic group of the Fourth State Duma included Bolsheviks: A.E. Badaev, R.V. Malinovsky, M.K. Muranov, G.I. Petrovsky, F.N. Samoilov, and N.R. Shagov (the 6); Mensheviks: A.F. Burianov, I.N. Mankov, M.I. Skobelev, I.N. Tuliakov, V.I. Khaustov, N.S. Chkheidze, A.I. Chkhenkeli (the 7). Adhering to the Mensheviks was the deputy from Warsaw, member of the P.P.S., E.I. Yagello.

5 “Russkoye Slovo” — a daily newspaper, published from 1895 to July 1918. It held moderately liberal positions.

6 “Luch” — a daily legal Menshevik newspaper, published in St. Petersburg from September 16 (29), 1912 to July 5 (18), 1913. 237 issues came out.

7 “Kopeyka” — a daily popular newspaper. Published in St. Petersburg from 1908 to 1918.

8 “Pravda” — a daily legal Bolshevik newspaper, published in St. Petersburg from April 22 (May 5), 1912.

9 “Zhivoye Delo” — a weekly legal newspaper of the Menshevik-liquidators, published in St. Petersburg from January 20 (February 2) to April 28 (May 11), 1912. 16 issues came out.