Plan for a Report on the Third Congress of the RSDLP and Its Decisions

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Lenin gave the lecture on the subject in Geneva on May 19 or 20 (June 1 or 2), and soon after that in Paris. In a letter to L. A. Fotieva, who was in Paris, Lenin wrote on June 1 or 2 that he intended to go to Paris and asked her to organise his report on “The Third Congress and its Decisions”. The content of the report was, Lenin wrote, “a parallel analysis of our decisions and those of the Mensheviks. They have just issued an announcement about their conference, and I will analyse it” (see present edition, Vol. 36, p. 148). By announcement he meant the Menshevik pamphlet First All-Russia Conference of Party Workers, issued as a supplement to No. 100 of Iskra on May 15, 1905. In his plan Lenin refers to pages in this pamphlet.

Lenin elaborated on some points of his plan in the article “A Third Step Back”, which was published later (see present edition, Vol. 8, pp. 544–54). p. 166

The Third Congress and Its Decisions

A)	Why did we have a congress and a conference?
B)	The organisational question at the Congress and at the conference.
C)	Tactical questions ” [SQUIGLY] ” [SQUIGLY] ” [SQUIGLY] ”
A)	{{ 1. Legality of convoking the Congress without the Council. {{ 2. Validity of the Congress itself. {{ 3. Why not attend the Congress? (One congress turned into two.)
B)	Three main points of the organisational work of the Third Congress:
Bb)	1) § 1. 2) “Single centre.” 3) “s of the minority’s rights.”
Bc)	Organisational Rules of the conference.
C)	(1) Directing “collectives” (?). (2) “Local organisation” (? and § 1?). (3) CC and E.C.—and OC [BOX:] ??? (4) Terms of agreement? [BOX:] at the Congress?
	4.1. Provisional revolutionary government. 3.2. Armed uprising. 2.3. Present political situation. 1.4. Attitude to other revolutionary and opposition parties. 5.5. Executive Committee. 4.4. CC=E.C. + representatives of regional committees =conference. 3.3. Regional committees=elected at regional congresses. 2.2. Regional congresses=delegates of directing collectives.

1. Directing collective=committee + all district committees + special group

.The committee submits reports to district committees I and dispatches, submits its “poll” to them

.

[BOX:] The committee is almost wholly elected by members of district committees.

groups of local organisation

Some Menshevik compliments:

“gross breach of promise”

“foisting congress on the Party”

“unprecedented crime”

“betrayal of the Party’s trust”

“high-handed trick”

“juggling”

“doing violence to the will of the organised proletariat” (p. 13)

M e n s h e v i k t e r m s

“t h e w h o l e P a r t y, i.e., the mass of its effective members, must be represented” [BOX:] p. 8

“how can tactical questions be decided without a preliminary discussion by the whole Party? Is it not flippant ... armed uprising ... even the writers have just started a discussion” (p. 10)

“we have heard” (pp. 10–11).