V. I.

Lenin

Materials Relating to the Revision of the Party Programme

1

Preface to the Pamphlet Materials Relating to the Revision of the Party Programme

The Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour
Party (“Bolsheviks”) has instructed the undersigned to publish
immediately the material at present in the possession of the
Central Committee relating to the revision of the Party
Programme.

This material consists of the following:

a) The initial draft of amendments to the theoretical and
political sections of the programme which the present writer
submitted to the All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P. on
April 24–29, 1917, and which was examined so far only by the
committee set up by the Conference for the detailed elaboration
of this question.

b) Comments on the draft, or in connection with the draft, made
by the committee or by its individual members.

c) My reply to these comments.

d) A complete draft of proposed changes in the economic minimum
programme worked out at the Conference of April 24–29, 1917 by
the sub-committee on the protection of labour.

e) A draft, supplied with brief explanatory notes, of changes to
be made in the clauses of the Party Programme dealing with
public education. This draft was drawn up by N. K. Krupskaya
after the Conference.

I am appending brief notes to this material, for I consider that
the chief purpose of the Party in publishing this material at
the present time is to secure the active participation of the
greatest possible number of comrades in the work of drawing up
the Party Programme.

Taken together, the proposed changes above enumerated form the
draft of the complete text of a new programme. I therefore give
both the old and the new texts of the programme at the end of this pamphlet, arranged so as to present the reader with
all the material in the form most convenient for comparison and
for the insertion of amendments.

On behalf of the Central Committee, I ask all comrades, both
members of the Party and sympathisers, to reprint this material
in Party publications as widely as possible, to bring it to the
attention of every member of the Party and to address all comments and proposals to the office of Pravda (32
Moika, Petrograd, marked: for the Central Committee, Material
Relating to Programme Revision).

May 20, 1917

N. Lenin

---
Notes: