**Source:** PSS vol. 19

Exactly one year ago, in February 1909, in No. 2 of *Sotsial-Demokrat*, we characterized the work of the party conference of the RSDLP as putting the party "on the road" after "a year of disintegration, a year of ideological-political fragmentation, a year of party roadlessness" (article: "On the Road")[30]. We pointed out there that the severe crisis being experienced by our party was undoubtedly not only organizational, but also ideological-political in character. We saw the guarantee of the party organism's successful struggle against the decomposing influences of the counterrevolutionary period, first and foremost, in the fact that the tactical decisions of the conference correctly resolved the fundamental task: complete reaffirmation by the working-class party of its revolutionary aims, carried over from the recent storm and struggle, its revolutionary social-democratic tactics, confirmed by the experience of the direct struggle of the masses, and at the same time, the taking into account of the enormous economic and political changes occurring before our eyes, the autocracy's attempts to adapt itself to the bourgeois conditions of the epoch, to organize itself into a bourgeois monarchy, to secure the interests of tsarism and the Black Hundred landowners through an open, broad and systematically conducted alliance with the bourgeois upper strata of the countryside and with the captains of commercial and industrial capitalism. We noted the organizational task of the party, connected with the new historical moment – the task of the illegal party's utilization of all possible legal institutions, including the Duma social-democratic faction, for creating bases for revolutionary social-democratic work among the masses. Pointing out the similarity of this organizational task to that which our German comrades solved in the epoch of the exceptional law, we spoke of a "sad deviation from sustained proletarian work" in the form of the denial of Duma work by social-democracy or refusal to give direct and open criticism of the line of our Duma faction, in the form of the denial or depreciation of the illegal social-democratic party, attempts to replace it with an amorphous legal organization, to curtail our revolutionary slogans, etc.

Having cast this backward glance, we can more correctly evaluate the significance of the recently held plenum of the Central Committee of our party{87}. Readers will find elsewhere in the present issue the text of the most important resolutions adopted by the plenum{88}. The significance of these resolutions – is a major step toward the actual unity of the party, toward the consolidation of all party forces, toward the unanimous recognition of those fundamental positions concerning the tactics of the party and its organization, which determine the road of social-democracy in our difficult time. This road was correctly indicated a year ago, and now the entire party is entering upon it; all factions in the party have become convinced of its correctness. The year that has passed was a year of new factional divisions, new factional struggle, a year of the intensification of the danger of party disintegration. But the conditions of work in the localities, the difficult situation of the social-democratic organization, the urgent tasks of the economic and political struggle of the proletariat – all this impelled toward the consolidation of social-democratic forces all the factions. The more the counterrevolution strengthened, became bolder and raged, the more widely despicable renegadism and renunciation of revolution spread among the liberal and petty bourgeois-democratic strata, the stronger was the attraction toward the party felt by all social-democrats. It is extremely characteristic that under the influence of this entire complex of conditions in the second half of 1909, such far-apart members of our party as the Menshevik comrade Plekhanov, on the one hand, and the group "Forward" (a group of Bolsheviks who had departed from orthodox Bolshevism), on the other, both spoke out for party principle. The first decisively came out in August 1909 against the split and the line of party split with the slogan: "struggle for influence in the party." The second issued a platform in which, it is true, it speaks at the beginning of "struggle for the restoration of Bolshevik unity," but at the end decisively condemns factionalism, "party within the party," "the isolation and insularity of factions," decisively demanding their "dissolution" in the party, their "fusion," the transformation of factional centers into centers that are "truly only ideological and literary" (pp. 18 and 19 of the pamphlet: "The Present Situation and Tasks of the Party").

The road clearly marked out by the majority of the party has now been recognized – of course, not in details, but in essentials – unanimously by all factions. A year of intensified factional struggle has led to a decisive step in favor of the elimination of all factions and all factionalism, in favor of party unity. It has been decided to consolidate all forces on the urgent tasks of the economic and political struggle of the proletariat; announcement has been made of the closing of the Bolsheviks' factional organ; the decision on the necessity of closing *Golos Sotsial-Demokrata*, i.e., the Mensheviks' factional organ, has been unanimously adopted. A series of resolutions has been unanimously adopted, of which we must especially single out here, as the most important, the resolution on the state of affairs in the party and on the convening of the nearest party conference. The first of these resolutions, being, so to speak, the platform of factional unification, deserves especially thorough analysis.

It begins with the words: "in development of the fundamental positions of the resolutions of the party conference of 1908…" We set forth above these fundamental positions of the three main resolutions of the December conference of 1908: on the evaluation of the moment and the political tasks of the proletariat, on the organizational policy of the party and on its relation to the Duma social-democratic faction. There can be not the slightest doubt that in the party there is no unanimity regarding every detail, regarding every point of these resolutions, that the doors of party press must be widely open for their criticism, for their revision, in accordance with the indications of experience and the lessons of the complicating economic and political struggle, that all factions, or rather: all currents in the party, must now regard this work of criticism, application and improvement as a matter of their own self-determination, as a matter of clarifying their own line. But the work of criticism and correction of the party line must not hinder party unity of action, which cannot be interrupted for a moment, which cannot be vacillating, which must in all respects be directed in accordance with the fundamental positions of the indicated resolutions.

Developing these positions, the first point of the Central Committee's decision recalls the "principled foundations" of social-democratic tactics, which, in accordance with the method of all international social-democracy, cannot be calculated – especially in such an epoch as that which we are experiencing – "on the given merely concrete conditions of the immediate moment," but must be calculated on various paths, on all possible situations: both on the case of "rapid breaking" and on the case of "comparative immobility of conditions." For the first time, the proletariat is opening up the possibility of applying this tactical method in a planned and consistent manner. The tactics of our party must, at one and the same time, in one and the same action of the proletariat, in one and the same network of organizational cells, "make the proletariat ready for new open revolutionary struggle" (without this we would lose the right to count ourselves among the revolutionary social-democrats, we would not fulfill our basic task, bequeathed by the epoch of 1905 and prescribed by every trait of the present economic and political situation), – and "give the proletariat the possibility of utilizing for itself all the contradictions of the unstable regime of counterrevolution" (without this our revolutionism would be transformed into a phrase, into a repetition of revolutionary words instead of the application of the entire sum of revolutionary experience, knowledge and lessons of international social-democracy to each practical action, to the utilization of each contradiction and wavering of tsarism, its allies and all bourgeois parties).

The second point of the resolution gives a characterization of the turning point which the labor movement in Russia is experiencing. Let us consolidate and go to the aid of the new generation of social-democratic workers, so that it may be able to solve its historical task, to renew the party organization, to work out new forms of struggle, while not in the slightest renouncing the "tasks of revolution and methods of its" accomplishment, but, on the contrary, defending them, preparing a broader and more solid base for the more victorious application of these methods in the coming new revolution.

The third point of the resolution outlines those conditions which have everywhere evoked among conscious workers an "attraction toward the concentration of party social-democratic forces, toward the strengthening of party unity." At the head of these conditions stands a broad counterrevolutionary current. The enemy consolidates and advances. To the old enemies – tsarism, the arbitrariness and violence of officials, the oppression and shameless outrages from the landowners-serf-holders – is joined a new enemy: the ever more unifying bourgeoisie, united in consciously and experience-tested enmity toward the proletariat. Revolutionaries are exterminated, tortured and tormented as never before. The attempt is made to spit upon revolution, to dishonor it, to erase it from the memory of the people. But the working class in no country has ever yet allowed enemies to take away the main conquest of any revolution deserving of that name – namely: the experience of mass struggle, the conviction of millions of toilers and exploited in its necessity for any serious improvement in their condition. And the working class of Russia will carry through all trials the readiness for revolutionary struggle, the heroism of the masses with which it conquered in 1905 and will be able to conquer more than once again.

We are consolidated not only by the oppression of counterrevolution and the raging of counterrevolutionary moods. We are consolidated also by every step of modest, everyday practical work. The Duma work of social-democracy advances steadily forward, liberating itself from errors that were inevitable at first, overcoming skepticism and indifference, forging an instrument valued by all social-democrats of revolutionary propaganda, agitation, organized class struggle. And every legal congress in which workers participate, every legal institution into which the proletariat penetrates and brings its class consciousness, open defense of the interests of labor and the demands of democracy – leads to the consolidation of forces and to the development of the movement as a whole. No persecutions of the government, no stratagems of its Black Hundred and bourgeois allies are able to destroy the manifestations of proletarian struggle in the most various and sometimes unexpected forms, because capitalism itself, by every step of its development, teaches and consolidates, multiplies the ranks and strengthens the indignation of its grave-diggers.

In the same direction (attraction toward party principle) acts the fragmentation of social-democratic groups and the "petty artisanship" in work, from which our movement has suffered so much over the course of the last year and a half or two years. Practical work becomes impossible to raise without the concentration of forces, without the creation of a directing center. The Central Committee has adopted a series of decisions on the organization and functioning of this center, on the expansion of its composition with practical forces, on a closer union of its work with work in the localities, etc. Theoretical interests, which are inevitably thrust forward during times of stagnation, equally require consolidation in the defense of socialism in general and Marxism, as the only scientific socialism, in particular in the face of bourgeois counterrevolution, which mobilizes all forces for struggle against the ideas of revolutionary social-democracy.

Finally, the last point of the resolution speaks of the ideological-political tasks of the social-democratic movement. The acute process within the social-democratic movement in 1908–1909 led to the fact that these tasks too were posed up to now with extreme sharpness and were resolved by the most bitter struggle of factions. This was not an accident, but a necessary phenomenon in the situation of crisis and disintegration of party organizations. But this was precisely a necessity, and the unanimous adoption of the resolution under discussion showed clearly the general striving to move forward, from the struggle over disputed fundamental positions to their recognition as undisputed and to joint intensified work on the basis of this recognition.

The resolution recognizes that deviations of a twofold kind from the correct path are inevitably engendered by the present historical situation and bourgeois influence on the proletariat. One of these deviations is, in essence, characterized by the following features: "denial of the illegal social-democratic party, depreciation of its role and significance, attempts to curtail the program and tactical tasks and slogans of revolutionary social-democracy, etc." The connection of these errors within social-democracy with the counterrevolutionary bourgeois current outside it is understandable. Nothing is so hated by the bourgeoisie and tsarism as the illegal social-democratic party, which by its work proves its fidelity to the behests of revolution, its unshakeable readiness for merciless struggle against the foundations of Stolypin's "legality." Nothing is so hated by the bourgeoisie and the servants of tsarism as the revolutionary tasks and slogans of social-democracy. The defense of both is our unconditional task, and it is precisely the combination of illegal and legal work that especially demands of us the struggle against any "depreciation of the role and significance" of the illegal party. It is precisely the necessity of defending the party position on smaller questions, on a more modest scale, on particular grounds, within legal bounds, that especially demands our vigilance to ensure that these tasks and slogans are not curtailed, that the change in form of struggle does not eliminate its content, does not weaken its irreconcilability, does not distort the historical perspective and historical goal of the proletariat: to lead all the toilers and exploited, to lead all the masses of the people through a series of bourgeois revolutions conquering a democratic republic, to the proletarian revolution that overthrows capitalism itself.

But, on the other hand, – and here we pass to the characterization of the other deviation, – one cannot conduct, in practice, day to day, revolutionary social-democratic work if one does not learn to modify its forms, adapting them to the peculiarity of each new historical moment. "The denial of Duma social-democratic work and the utilization of legal possibilities, lack of understanding of the importance of both" represents precisely such a deviation in which, in fact, the conduct of class social-democratic politics becomes impossible. The new stage of Russia's historical development places before us new tasks: this does not mean that the old tasks have already been solved, that it is permissible to renounce them – no; but it means that we must take these new tasks into account, find new forms of struggle, develop tactics and organization corresponding to them.

Once agreement began to establish itself in the party regarding these fundamental questions, agreement regarding the necessity to "overcome" both the indicated deviations, chiefly through the expansion and deepening of social-democratic work – the main point (for the correct determination of "the ideological-political tasks of the social-democratic movement") has been achieved. Now it is necessary to systematically realize this achievement in practice, to achieve complete clarity of understanding of these tasks among all circles of the party, among all local workers, to carry through to the end the elucidation of the danger of both deviations in all areas of work, to organize work in such a way as to make wavering in either direction impossible. Practical steps in the implementation of the adopted decisions, the needs of economic and political struggle itself, will then show of themselves what remains to be done and how.

Among these needs is one that enters the usual course of party life (when this "usual course" exists). We speak of a party conference which would bring together, in one place, representatives of the party social-democratic organizations and groups from all ends of Russia who are truly occupied with work in the localities. However modest this task, the present disintegration of the country has terribly complicated it. The Central Committee resolution takes into account the new difficulties (the selection of regional delegates by individual local cells, rather than by regional conferences, since the convening of the latter is impossible) and new tasks (the attraction, with consultative voice, of party activists from the legal movement).

Objective conditions require that the basis of the party organization be modest in size and in the present forms of work – illegal workers' cells. But in order to learn to conduct revolutionary social-democratic work systematically, steadily, in a planned manner under the present difficult situation, – they are required to have far more initiative and self-activity than before, especially since they cannot expect help from experienced, old comrades in the majority of cases. And these cells cannot solve the task of constant influence on the masses and interaction with the masses without creating, first, a firm connection with each other, and second, without creating bases in the form of all sorts and all possible legal institutions. Hence the necessity of a conference of delegates of these illegal cells – in the first place, before all else, immediately and at any cost. Hence the necessity of attracting party social-democrats from the legal movement, the attraction of representatives "from social-democratic groups in the legal movement, ready to establish firm organizational connection with local party centers." Who, truly, in deed and not just in words, is a party-minded person among our legal social-democrats, who among them has truly understood the noted new conditions of work and the combination of old tasks with them, who is sincerely ready to work at the fulfillment of these tasks, what groups are truly ready to establish firm organizational connection with the party – this can be determined only in the localities, in the very course of everyday illegal work.

Let us hope that all social-democratic forces will now consolidate on this work, that party workers in the center and in the localities will undertake the preparation of the conference with full energy, that this conference will help finally consolidate our party unity and jointly advance the creation of a broader, more solid, more flexible proletarian base for the coming revolutionary battles.

*Sotsial-Demokrat* No. 11, 13 (26) February 1910

Printed according to the text of the newspaper *Sotsial-Demokrat*