Date: 1917-11
Source: ru:LS/v21

Source: LS/v21 vol XXI

X II. V A R I А
STATEMENT TO THE BOLSHEVIK FRACTION
OF THE EXTRAORDINARY ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF COUNCILS
OF PEASANT DEPUTIES¹.
[November 27 (li), 1917]²
We categorically demand that the Bolsheviks issue an ultimatum, compelling the open voting on the question of promptly inviting representatives of the Government.
Should the motion to read this proposal and put it to a vote at a plenary session be rejected, then the entire Bolshevik Fraction must, in protest, withdraw from the proceedings.

The Bolshevik Fraction at the Extraordinary Congress of Peasant Deputies was small in number—roughly 45 members out of the Congress’s 330 participants.
The Congress proceeded with great intensity, amid fierce struggles, primarily over the composition of the government. Simultaneously with the Congress, negotiations were underway between the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks regarding the allocation of seats for the latter in the future Soviet Council of People’s Commissars and other bodies. Until this question was resolved, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary majority of the Congress refused to hear the report of the Sovnarkom, holding that granting Lenin the floor at the Congress would, in the words of A. L. Kolegayev as delivered at the Congress, “preempt the question of the formation of power.” Upon receiving the printed statement, the Bolshevik Fraction at the Congress emphatically raised the issue of the prompt invitation of government representatives. The Bolsheviks’ demand was rejected by the Congress, on the proposal of the majority of the Presidium; however, the Congress did frame its decision in such a way that it “formally” declined to invite the Chairman of the Sovnarkom—but if Lenin personally wished to deliver a report, the Congress would be glad to hear him. In light of this decision, Lenin addressed the Congress (on November 27) not in his capacity as Chairman of the Sovnarkom, but as a member of the Congress delegated by the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party.
Following Lenin’s report, the majority of the Congress expressed support for the participation of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in the Sovnarkom and for joint work with the Bolsheviks.
-
Justification of the date: The session of the Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies took place in Petrograd from the 23rd…