On the Conditions for Admitting New Members into the Party
Letters to V. M. Molotov 11
To Comrade Molotov
I have no objection 12.
Much remains unclear, given the references to documents that have not been made available 13. In my view, we should require a three‑year period of active membership for workers, four years for peasants and Red Army soldiers, and five years for all other categories.
The concept of “length of service” (or “affiliations”?) must be defined more precisely.
The details should be entrusted to the Central Committee for elaboration.
9/III.
Lenin
Written on March 9, 1922.

First published from the manuscript

To Comrade Molotov
I request that you submit the following proposal to the Plenum of the Central Committee:
I consider it of utmost importance to extend the required length of service for admitting new members into the Party. According to Zinoviev’s proposal, the minimum length of service is set at six months for workers and one year for all others 14. I propose that we retain the six‑month requirement only for those workers who have actually worked as industrial laborers for at least ten years in large-scale industrial enterprises. For all other workers, we should set the minimum at one and a half years; two years for peasants and Red Army soldiers; and three years for all other categories. Special exceptions may be granted only with the joint approval of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission 15.
I regard it as extremely dangerous to leave unchanged the brief periods of service proposed by Zinoviev. It is abundantly clear that we routinely count as “workers” individuals who have never undergone even the most basic, serious training in the context of large-scale industry. All too often, those who are, in fact, petty bourgeois—individuals who happened, for the briefest of periods, to assume the status of workers—are admitted into the ranks of the working class. The astute White Guard leaders fully recognize that the so‑called proletarian character of our Party does not, in reality, offer the slightest guarantee against the possible infiltration—and indeed, within the shortest possible time—of petty‑property elements. Given the prevailing laxity and lack of systematic organization in our work, short periods of service will, in practice, amount to nothing more than a complete absence of any meaningful scrutiny to determine whether candidates are, in fact, truly tested communists. If we already have 300–400 thousand members in the Party, that number is still excessive, since all available data point to an insufficiently prepared cadre among today’s party members. For this reason, I strongly insist on the need to extend the required length of service—and then task the Organizational Bureau with drafting and rigorously enforcing rules that would make length of service a genuine test of substance, rather than a mere formality.
I believe this question must be discussed with particular care at the Congress.
Lenin
Dictated over the telephone on March 24, 1922.
First published
December 23, 1925, in the newspaper “Evening Moscow,” No. 293

Printed from the secretary’s record (a typewritten copy)

ON THE CONDITIONS FOR ADMITTING NEW MEMBERS INTO THE PARTY
To Comrade Molotov
With the request that these remarks be circulated for review among all members of the Central Committee prior to the Congress’s deliberation on the conditions for admitting new members into the Party.
Having reviewed the Plenum’s resolution of March 25 regarding the duration of candidate service required for new members to join the Party, I would like to challenge this decision at the Congress 16. However, fearing that I may not be able to speak at the Congress, I ask that you read through the following reflections of mine.
There is no doubt that, by the majority of its composition, our Party is now far from sufficiently proletarian. I do not think anyone can dispute this; a simple review of statistical data will confirm this assessment. Since the outbreak of war, factory and plant workers in Russia have become far less proletarian in their composition than they once were—because during the war, many who sought to evade military service found employment in factories. This is a well‑known fact. On the other hand, it is equally undeniable that our Party is now, on the whole and on average (when considering the vast majority of its members), less politically disciplined than is necessary for genuinely proletarian leadership in such a difficult moment—especially given the overwhelming predominance of the peasantry, which is rapidly awakening to independent class politics. Furthermore, we must bear in mind that the temptation to join the ruling party is currently immense. It suffices to recall the entire body of literature produced by the Mensheviks of the “New Course” 17 to realize how far removed from anything truly proletarian the public now captivated by the political successes of the Bolsheviks has become. Should the Genoa Conference bring us yet another political victory, the influx of petty‑bourgeois elements—and of those who are openly hostile to everything proletarian—will swell to gigantic proportions. A six‑month period of service for workers is in no way capable of stemming this tide, for there is nothing easier than artificially manipulating such a short period of service—especially since, for a great many intellectuals…

The influx of petty-bourgeois and semi-intellectual elements into the ranks of the working class under our current conditions will present absolutely no difficulties whatsoever. From all this, I draw a conclusion—reinforced in my eyes by the fact that the White Guard forces are fully aware of the non-proletarian composition of our party—that we must significantly extend the duration of the candidate period. If we are to retain a six‑month candidacy for workers, then it is absolutely essential, in order not to deceive ourselves or others, to define the term “worker” in such a way that it applies only to those who, by virtue of their actual life circumstances, should have genuinely internalized proletarian psychology. And this is impossible without many years spent in the factory, pursuing no extraneous goals whatsoever—and in accordance with the broader economic and social conditions of everyday life.
If we are not to blind ourselves to reality, we must acknowledge that at present the party’s proletarian policy is determined not by its composition, but by the immense, unchallenged authority wielded by that most refined stratum which may be called the old party guard. A relatively minor internal struggle within this stratum would, if nothing else, either undermine or at least considerably weaken that authority—such that the final decision would no longer rest with them.
Therefore, it is necessary: 1) to extend all candidate periods; 2) to define, with painstakingly detailed precision, what constitutes the genuine fulfillment of the candidate period, and to establish specific, practical criteria for verifying that the candidate period is actually being completed—and not merely treated as a mere formality; 3) it is imperative to create a qualified majority in those bodies responsible for deciding on the admission of new members to the party; 4) admission must be contingent not only upon the decisions of provincial committees, but also upon the resolutions of control commissions; 5) we must devise additional measures designed to facilitate the party’s removal of those members who are not, in any meaningful sense, communists—members who do not consciously pursue a truly proletarian policy. I am not proposing a new general purge of the party, for

ON THE CONDITIONS FOR ADMITTING NEW MEMBERS TO THE PARTY
I believe that this is practically impossible at present—but it is nonetheless necessary to identify some means of effecting a real cleansing of the party, that is, of reducing its membership. And if we give this matter careful thought, I am confident that a number of appropriate measures can be devised.
If possible, I would ask the members of the Central Committee who are reading this appeal to respond to me—with at least a brief telegram addressed to one of the secretaries of the Sovnarkom.
Lenin
26 March 1922
First published on 23 December 1925 in the newspaper “Evening Moscow,” No. 293

Printed from a typewritten copy