(Demand of regional conference)
(No intelligen­ tsia forces)
Rodniki (8000) — my residence (40 orgs.).
Vichuga and district (25,000). Orgs.
about 50.
Kineshma (25,000).
Scattered factories w.w. for 15.
Conference being organized for
Kostroma Province
Regional strike being prepared (Shagov)
(100,000)
February conference distributed everywhere and workers were
guided by it (Shagov).
Ivanov9
> 700 issues
of "Pravda" "Our
Path"10 torn from hands.
200 issues of "The Ray" Bogorodsk
100—800-900 issues May
Central Committee
2 — issue CC11
February conference did not exist.
Malinovsky:
"Sandwich" with "Pravda" on Tverskaya
Street.
Illegal literature received by addresses (> 100 copies).
/
NB
In the localities they began issuing leaflets. Strike committee in major
factory areas. Their own appeals.
No shortage in the February conference.
Distributed to Moscow workers. Re­ acted favorably to the resolutions.

FROM THE RECORD OF AMENDMENTS TO THE RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RSDLP
ON THE NATIONAL QUESTION12
[October 12-13, 1913]

+ unheard-of oppression of the majority of nations in Russia, crushed by oppression + + ...

Therefore the conference, relying on the program of the RSDLP, Lenin deems it urgent to define tasks and conduct propaganda in this area.

In § 3 The struggle against nationalism will be consistent only when persistent propaganda is conducted among the broad masses.

End of § 3 The experience of revolution and counter-revolution in Russia has shown that...

§ 2 and the basic principles...

Nationalists
Populists
Legal societies reformism general strike congress
Duma work
Beilis13

1 The Conference of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party workers took place October 6-14, 1913 in the village of Poronin (near Kraków), where V. I. Lenin was living at that time. This was the second expanded Conference of the Central Committee after the Prague Conference, which summed up the work of the Bolshevik party since the Kraków Conference of the Central Committee and defined new tasks for the party. The Poronin Conference was attended by 22 delegates: members of the Central Committee, Bolshevik deputies of the Fourth State Duma, and party workers representing organizations from Petersburg, Moscow, the Central Industrial Region, Kostroma, Ekaterinoslav, Kharkov, Kiev, the Urals, and others.

The conference agenda included the following questions: reports from the localities; a report on the work of Social-Democracy in Poland and Lithuania; an account of the work of the Central Committee elected at the Prague Conference; on the tasks of agitation at the present moment; the organizational question and the party congress; on strike movement; on party press; on Duma work of Social-Democrats; on the Duma Social-Democratic faction; on work in legal societies; the national question; on the Populists; on the forthcoming international socialist congress (in Vienna). The conference was conducted under the direction of Lenin, who delivered the Central Committee's report, reports on the national question, and on the forthcoming international socialist congress. Lenin wrote the resolutions of the conference (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 24, pp. 45-61).

2 The record of reports and speeches by representatives of Moscow and the Central Industrial Region was taken during the conference. In reports from the localities, delegates shared their experience of conducting party work under conditions of illegal existence. They pointed to the successful development of party work in legal organizations—trade unions, insurance organizations and sick funds, consumer cooperatives, etc., and emphasized skillful combination of illegal party work with legal work. The reports showed enormous growth in the authority of the Bolsheviks among workers, an increase in the emergence of organizers and propagandists from the working class itself.

Delegates' reports on the state of the workers' movement and party work in the localities were published as correspondence in the newspaper "Social-Democrat," No. 32, December 15 (28), 1913.

After the reports from the localities, V. I. Lenin spoke with an account of the activities of the Central Committee of the party. He pointed out that the development of the revolutionary movement and the success of party work in Russia confirmed the correctness of the line of the Bolshevik party, outlined by the Prague Conference of 1912 and the Kraków Conference of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party workers in 1913.

On the basis of the Central Committee's report and reports from the localities, the conference adopted resolutions written by Lenin: "On the Tasks of Agitation at the Present Moment" and "On the Organizational Question and the Party Congress" (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 24, pp. 49-52), which defined the tasks of the party and the basic forms of party work in the new historical conditions.

3 R. V. Malinovsky—in 1906, for mercenary purposes, joined the workers' movement. From 1910 onward, he was a secret agent of the Tsar's secret police. In 1912 he was elected deputy to the Fourth State Duma from the workers' curia of Moscow Province, using for this purpose the services of the secret police, which removed undesired persons from his way. In May 1914, fearing exposure, he relinquished his deputy powers and fled abroad. In 1918 he came to Soviet Russia, was brought to trial, and was shot by sentence of the Supreme Tribunal of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

4 Nikolai—F. A. Balashov—delegate from Moscow and the Central Industrial Region.

5 Alexei—apparently A. I. Lobov—delegate from Moscow and the Central Industrial Region.

6 After the VI (Prague) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP, the Moscow Committee of the party was destroyed and only by the end of 1913 was restored and began to conduct energetic work.

7 N. R. Shagov—deputy to the Fourth State Duma from Kostroma Province, a Bolshevik. Participated in the Kraków and Poronin Conferences of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party workers. In 1914, together with other members of the Duma Bolshevik faction, he was arrested and exiled to permanent settlement in Siberia, from where he returned in 1917.

8 This concerns the distribution of the "Notification" of the Central Committee and the resolutions of the Kraków Conference of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with party workers, held January 8-14, 1913 and called, for reasons of conspiracy, the "February" Conference. The "Notification" and resolutions were published as a separate pamphlet in the first half of February 1913 in Paris (see V. I. Lenin, Complete Collected Works, vol. 22, pp. 249-270).

9 Ivanov—Ya. T. Novozhilov—delegate from Moscow and the Central Industrial Region (from Bogorodsk).

10 "Our Path"—a Moscow legal workers' newspaper, created on the initiative of V. I. Lenin, published from August 25 (September 7) to September 12 (25), 1913. A total of 16 issues appeared. The newspaper enjoyed great popularity among workers; 395 workers' groups supported it with their monetary collections.

11 This concerns a May Day leaflet and the newspaper "Social-Democrat."
The Central Organ of the RSDLP—the illegal newspaper "Social-Democrat"; published from February 1908 to January 1917 under the direction of V. I. Lenin.

12 These amendments were proposed in the course of discussion at the Poronin Conference of the Central Committee of the RSDLP of V. I. Lenin's report on the national question.

The national question, which at that time came to prominence among other questions of public life in Russia, was one of the main questions at the conference. In his report on the national question, Lenin emphasized that the struggle against national oppression was inseparably connected with the struggle against Tsarism, for freedom and democracy. This struggle could be successful on the condition of the consolidation of workers of all nationalities of Russia in united proletarian organizations. The conference, relying on the party program, decisively rejected the opportunistic demand for "cultural-national autonomy" put forward by Mensheviks and Bundists, and adopted the programmatic positions on the national question worked out by Lenin. The conference confirmed that the basic slogan of the party on the national question remains the slogan of the right of nations to self-determination. The resolution on the national question written by Lenin became a programmatic declaration of the party. The conference adopted a decision to include in the agenda of the forthcoming party congress the question of the national program (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 24, pp. 57-59).

13 M. T. Beilis—an attendant at a brick factory in Kiev, a Jew, falsely accused in 1911 of the murder of a Christian boy, allegedly for ritual purposes. The investigation in the Beilis case lasted more than two years. The trial was a vivid expression of the chauvinistic anti-Semitic and pogrom policy of the Tsarist government. Despite direct pressure from the government, special composition of jurors, falsification of facts, and selection of false witnesses from Black Hundreds and police, the court in 1913 was forced to acquit Beilis.

3230
EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLES ON TRADE UNIONS
PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL "DIE NEUE ZEIT"
[After March 27, 1914] "Die Neue Zeit," 32, 1 (1913-1914). Interesting articles on trade unions*.

A. Winning: "On the Strike at the Shipbuilding Yards" (No. 2; Oct. 10, 1913). In mid-July a strike began, in mid-August it ended and now thousands of unemployed remain in Hamburg (p. 55). "Growth of critical sentiments among organization members against the leadership" (italics by author) (56)... This is allegedly a "fact" (56)... History of the strike of workers at the yards: the leaders held things back (56-7); workers began a strike in Hamburg, it spread to a number of cities (57)... The administrations refused to provide relief funds... (57)... (Sic!)

"One cannot but say that this strike like a storm swept all the yards, and not a single person remained there. These were masses moved by elemental force, who in their surge pay no heed to anything. This was not the riot of individuals, but an irresistible and mighty force of nature itself. Here one must not condemn, but understand. This also applies to the decision of the union leadership not to support the strike" (57).

Employers' associations. Necessity of caution in strikes. NB.

"Apart from the tactical difficulties of struggle that such a course of events brings with it, it entails almost daily conflicts between the leadership and the members of the organizations" (italics by author) (58).

"The caution of the leadership of the organizations they (organization members) assess as lack of energy and fear. Discontent breeds distrust and a desire to remove the leadership and decisively put an end to their tactical measures, which organization members mock as a game of statesmanship..." (58) ...

The author advocates "a tactic of attrition and no respite" (59)... One cannot speak openly to union members of the actual situation, for that means telling the enemy too that we are weak...

"We need to get through this period; the trade unions still do not have sufficient strength to force, in open struggle, the most powerful opponents, the giant enterprises, to recognize us; the unions must still maneuver and restrain the fighting impetus of the exploited and oppressed masses, but they will grow, will become stronger and stronger, and soon will become strong enough to depart from the old tactics" (59).

(No. 15; Jan. 9, 1914)

Jacob Heinen. "The Organizational Form of Trade Unions"1 cites these words—"restrain"—and writes: "This restraint of the masses' striving for struggle is the cause of c o n f l i c t s" (547). The author proposes the merger of workers into a "single organization of workers"... (not only by professions and industries)... (It is necessary to unite economic strikes with political ones).

"Great discontent and fatigue from remaining in the ranks of the organization have seized the masses" (548)...

"At the party congress this year one could notice that it was precisely the leaders of the trade unions who first showed skepticism toward a mass strike. The position of the general commission exerted strong influence on the party leadership, and this led to such a resolution of the question of a mass strike as did not satisfy wide circles of party public opinion"...

Georg Riepl. "The Organizational Form of Trade Unions," p. 634-5, proposes for now larger unions (and not one general union)...

H. Beyschw­ang (p. 673-5) says that Heinen goes too far...

The cause, it seems, is not in "restraint," but in the political abstention of a large number of trade union members (674)... More trade union members in the party—that is the solution. "Representative institutions" within the trade unions...

G. Bratke (p. 790-792)... for one organization of all workers...

A. Backhaus (p. 828- ). One organization will not eliminate friction with leaders. A "system of delegations" is needed... Caution!

E. Kloth (862-867). "More strength! More members!" (867)... ((ha-ha!)) "a central strike fund" (867)... "the old form is not bad" (866).

One must attract the unorganized... "But to great regret, the masses, which allegedly, and sometimes indeed do strive for struggle, in this vital question often do not justify the hopes placed upon them" (867).

R. Woldt. "Masses and Leaders" (boast*)
(932 and 990).

Translation from German

1 These excerpts from articles on the organizational form of trade unions, the rights and obligations of trade union members, the relations of strikers with enterprise administrations, and the role of trade unions in the question of their regulation show V. I. Lenin's great interest in questions of Western European workers' and trade union movement. The excerpts were made from articles: A. Winnig. "Zum Streik auf den Seeschiffswerften" ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 2, October 10, 1913, pp. 55-59); J. Heinen. "Die Organisationsform der Gewerkschaften" ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 15, January 9, 1914, pp. 546-548); G. Riepl. "Die Organisationsform der Gewerkschaften" ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 17, January 23, 1914, pp. 634-635); H. Beyschwang. "Die Organisationsform der Gewerkschaften" ("The Organizational Form of Trade Unions") ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 18, January 30, 1914, pp. 673-675); G. Bratke. "Die Organisationsform der Gewerkschaften" ("The Organizational Form of Trade Unions") ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 21, February 20, 1914, pp. 790-792); A. Backhaus. "Ist eine Änderung der Organisationsform der Gewerkschaften notwendig?" ("Is a Change in the Organizational Form of Trade Unions Necessary?") ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 22, February 27, 1914, pp. 828-831); E. Kloth. "Form und Aktionsfähigkeit der Gewerkschaften" ("Forms and Action-Capacity of Trade Unions") ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, No. 23, March 6, 1914, pp. 862-867); R. Woldt. "Massen und Führer im Gewerkschaftskrieg" (R. Woldt. "Masses and Leaders in Trade Union War") ("Die Neue Zeit," Vol. 1, Nos. 25-26, March 20, 27, 1914, pp. 932-940, 988-995).

The excerpts were made in black ink on two sheets of notebook format.

* —boast, bravado, lie.

3287, 3304, 3306, 3307, 3309, 3311
PREPARATORY MATERIALS FOR ARTICLES
"OBJECTIVE DATA ON THE STRENGTH OF VARIOUS TRENDS
IN THE WORKERS' MOVEMENT" AND "APPEAL OF WORKERS
ON THE FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL-
DEMOCRATIC WORKERS' FACTION
IN THE STATE DUMA"1
[March—beginning of July 1914]

SKETCH OF SECTIONS OF THE TABLE OF OBJECTIVE DATA
ON THE STRENGTH OF VARIOUS DIRECTIONS IN THE WORKERS' MOVEMENT

§ 1
1*. E l e c t i o n s t o t h e S t a t e D u m a :

§ 2
2. N u m b e r o f w o r k e r s' g r o u p s m a k i n g c o n t r i b u t i o n s :

§ 7 and 8
3. E l e c t i o n s o f w o r k e r s t o i n s u r a n c e
i n s t i t u t i o n s :

§ 11
4. S i g n a t u r e s i n r e s o l u t i o n s
for the 6-th and 7-th

§ 5
5. C o n n e c t i o n s w i t h w o r k e r s' g r o u p s**

§ 4
6. C i r c u l a t i o n o f n e w s p a p e r s

§§ 12 and 13 7. F o r e i g n p r e s s***

§ 3. 6. 9.
10.14.
8. D e p e n d e n c e o n t h e b o u r g e o i s i e

and 9. B o u r g e o i s c h a r a c t e r o f t h e n e w s p a p e r a n d t r e n d

9. F i n a n c i a l d e p e n d e n c e o n w o r k e r s a n d b o u r g e o i s i e****

* The serial numbers of sections are marked in black ink and circled in red pencil.

** The original variant of this item: "Number of workers' groups that entered into relations with one or the other factions" in the manuscript is crossed out.

*** The original variant of this item: "I l l e g a l p r e s s" in the manuscript is crossed out.

**** The original variant of this item: "§ 4. F a b r i c a t i o n o f w o r k e r s ' c o r r e s p o n d e n c e i n l i q u i d a t o r p r e s s" in the manuscript is crossed out.