V. I. Lenin

MAY 30 (JUNE 12), 1917

1.

Speech Concerning an Organ of the Press for the Petrograd Committee

The desire of the Petrograd Committee to have a press organ of
its own is something new as far as the Central Committee is
concerned. It is difficult to understand how such a question
could have arisen at a time when arrangements are being made for
a printing-press of our own and an agreement is about to be
reached with the Inter-District group for getting Comrade Trotsky
to edit a popular organ.

In the West, in the capitals or big industrial centres, there is
no division of the press into local and central organs. Such a
division is wasteful and harmful. It is not advisable to have a
Petrograd Committee organ apart from the Central
Organ. Petrograd, as a separate locality, does not exist. Petrograd is the geographical, political and
revolutionary centre of all Russia. The life of Petrograd is
being followed by the whole of Russia. Every step of Petrograd’s
is a guide line for the whole of Russia. In view of this the
life of the Petrograd Committee cannot be treated as a local
affair.

Why not accept the Central Committee’s suggestion that a Press
Committee be formed? In the history of the press in the West,
where such committees have existed, there have of course been
occasional misunderstandings between the editorial board and the
committee, but these were due entirely to disagreements on
policy. What grounds are there for any disagreements on policy
between the Petrograd Committee and the Central Committee?
Whether we want it or not the organ of the Petrograd Committee
will always be the leading organ of the Party.

The experience gained in establishing an organ of its own would
quickly convince the Petrograd Committee that it is impossible
to confine the paper to local affairs. The Central Committee
does not deny the need for giving more space to the Petrograd
branch in the newspapers. The Central Committee does not deny
the need for a popular organ that would bring our slogans home
to the masses. But the establishment of a popular newspaper is a
difficult job that calls for considerable experience. That is
why the Central Committee is enlisting the services of Comrade
Trotsky, who has succeeded in establishing his own popular
organ— Russkaya Gazeta . [1]

In the history of the West the question of a popular organ has
never been so acute as it is with us. The level of the masses
there rose more evenly as a result of the cultural and educational work done by the Liberals. In countries like Bohemia
there are such popular organs. The purpose of a popular organ is
to elevate the reader to an understanding of the leading party
organ. If we do not establish a popular organ other parties will
win the masses and use them to speculate with. The popular organ
should not be of a local type, but owing to postal difficulties
it is bound primarily to serve the needs of Petrograd. In order
that local needs be adequately served the Petrograd Committee
should secure proper representation on the editorial board of
the paper.

2.

Draft Resolutions Introduced

At The Meeting Of The Petrograd Committee

First Resolution

The Central Committee is to issue two newspapers in
Petrograd—the Central Organ and a popular paper with a single editorial board. The Petrograd Committee is to receive a
consultative voice on the editorial board of the Central Organ,
and a vote in the popular organ. The Central Committee is to
devote a definite number of columns in both papers to items of
local interest.

Second Resolution

The Petrograd Committee resolves to co-operate in both papers
published by the Central Committee on the conditions proposed by
the latter, and to make every effort to serve the needs of local
activities more fully and widely and to work out in greater
detail the general line of the Party. Having reason to fear that
the Central Committee or the editorial board appointed by it may
place too much trust in the internationalist comrades who have
disagreed with Bolshevism in the past, that the Central
Committee may cramp the freedom and independence of action of
the local comrades, that the Central Committee may not give them
the influence they are entitled to as leaders of local activities, the Petrograd Committee is to elect a committee to
formulate precise guarantees of the rights of the Petrograd
Committee in the local department of both papers.

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Notes:
[1]