Russian Socialist Workers Party of Internationalists

"New Life"

The party originated from a group of so-called “non-factional Social Democrats”, who occupied intermediate positions between the Bolsheviks and the Menshevik-internationalists during the years of World War I.

After the February Revolution , group members B. V. Avilov , V. A. Bazarov , V. P. Volgin , V. A. Desnitsky , N. N. Sukhanov and others united around the newspaper Novaya Zhizn and launched factional work, striving to the ideological, organizational and political unity of the various detachments of Russian social democracy. This group gained fame as “New Life”.

An attempt to unite all factions of the RSDLP

During the work of the 1st All-Russian Congress of Soviets, on their initiative, a meeting of Esdec delegates was convened, which elected a special bureau for the preparation of the unification congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party .

Previously, the bureau was entrusted with establishing relations with the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks , the OK Mensheviks , the " inter-raionists " and the leadership of the national Social Democratic parties and organizations. Such ties were established, first of all, with the OK of the Mensheviks , which included the members of the bureau (Avilov, Bazarov , G. Lindov (G. D. Leiteisen), Stroev (Desnitsky), etc.) in the Central Commission, formed by the OK also with the aim of convening unification congress of the RSDLP .

However, at the congress itself, which was held on 19-26.8.1917 in Petrograd, the desired unity was not achieved, including with its internationalist faction led by Yu.O. Martov . The delegates of the New Life qualified the decisions of the congress as a break with internationalism and, on this basis, refused to enter the created RSDLP (united) .

Create a separate batch

Unlike the Mezhrayonites who joined the Bolshevik Party at the 6th Congress of the RSDLP (b) , the “New Life” did not join the RSDLP (b) . They preferred the path of forming their own party, first establishing the "Organization of United Social Democrats-Internationalists" and local authorities in a number of large cities: Moscow , Vologda , Kazan , Perm , etc.

October 18-22, 1917 the first conference of the organization was held with the participation of delegates from 4 thousand members It addressed current issues and adopted a political platform. The essence of the latter was to deny the possibility of the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia and the need to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat .

According to the leaders of the organization, Russia should become a democratic republic led by a strong parliamentary power , but without a president . They tried to uphold this idea at the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets , supporting Martov ’s proposal to create a homogeneous socialist government on a multi-party basis.

Some of the united internationalists became part of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, where they played the role of the opposition.

14-20.1.1918 The organization of the United Social Democrats-Internationalists took shape in a party called the RSDLP (s) . At its founding congress in Petrograd, 15 local organizations have already been represented. New names appeared among the leaders: A. Lozovsky , R. P. Katanyan , K. A. Popov, A. M. Stopani , O. Yu. Schmidt and others. The congress delegates were focused on two questions: the current situation and the authorities (speaker Avilov) and the attitude of the RSDLP (s) to other socialist parties (speaker Lindov). In the resolutions adopted on them, the congress determined the political face of the party, its strategy and tactics. First of all, the socialist character of the October Revolution was denied, the impossibility of building socialism in one country was said.

At the same time, the armed struggle against the Bolsheviks was condemned, the thesis was put forward to oust them from all government bodies, including through re-election of the Soviets. In order to create a multi-party democratic power, it was proposed to fight for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly , dissolved by the Bolsheviks in alliance with the Left Social Revolutionaries . On this issue, the congress was almost unanimous. As regards the second question, such clarity was not found here. On the contrary, during its discussion, a very wide range of opinions was revealed - from the rejection of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in general to the assertion of the need for close cooperation with each of the parties. As a result of the discussion, the congress expressed the hope that the March wing would leave the RSDLP (united) and the opposition elements from the RSDLP (b) , suggesting that they both be included in the RSDLP (s) .

These hopes, however, did not materialize. Events developed so that many members of the RSDLP (o) and the RSDLP (s) broke with their parties and joined the ranks of the Bolsheviks . And the RSDLP (s) themselves gradually approached the RSDLP (b) , which undoubtedly was facilitated by the chairman of its Central Committee, Lozovsky (since March 1918 ).

Cooperation with the Bolsheviks

A gradual turn of the RSDLP (s) towards cooperation with the Bolsheviks was outlined in the autumn of 1918 , when on November 7-10, 1918 , the All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (s) supported the Soviet regime and the party’s membership in the Red Army . The Central Committee of the RCP (B.), In turn, sent a circular letter to the local party organizations in which it instructed not to obstruct the internationalists from participating in responsible Soviet and military work. This somewhat brought the positions of both parties closer, and facilitated the establishment of appropriate contacts between them. Moreover, by this time, individual members of the internationalist parties went to the Eastern Front, where they participated in battles with the rebels. Among them, the former leader of the RSDLP (s) Lindov, who passed on to the RCP (b), died in January 1919 .

Other representatives of the party worked in the people's commissariats of agriculture, public health, the post and telegraph, justice, internal and foreign affairs, in the apparatus of the Supreme Economic Council and the Cheka, in local Soviet economic and professional bodies. At the same time, a discussion began in the party about the possibility of a merger with the RCP (B.) . In accordance with the decision of the November party conference, this question was brought up for discussion at the next conference of the RSDLP (s) , which took place in January 1919 .

As a result of the exchange of opinions and reports from the field, the delegates came to the conclusion that there was everything necessary for the two parties to unite, above all the elimination of disagreements on the ways of the struggle for socialism through the dictatorship of the proletariat, and on the other, they considered it premature to merge with RCP (b) . This contradictory decision was explained by the following main reasons:

• the incorrect and extremely harmful to the working class denial of the RCP (b) of proletarian democracy, which was interpreted very broadly - from the free election of the Soviets to complete transparency, from the need to strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat to eliminate the party dictatorship over the proletariat;
• the lack of a revolutionary law and order in the country, the arbitrariness of certain groups and individuals, the granting of exclusive powers to the communist cells, and often their forcible replacement of elected bodies by appointees; a massive influx in the RCP (b) , in connection with the education of the Communists in the spirit of denying the principles of proletarian democracy and the physical suppression of any opposition, all kinds of crooks, for whom communism was only an excuse to stick to the official cake;
• an extremely unhealthy situation in the RCP (b) , which, according to the internationalists, has developed because membership has become an advantageous affair, and a party ticket has become a security deed, because by their actions and a number of resolutions the center and party organs have singled out the Communists as especially privileged with respect to the whole working class is in a position.

Lozovsky, commenting on the decision of the January conference of the RSDLP (s), wrote that the danger of moral decay and the conversion of the RCP (b) into a self-sufficient privileged apparatus fed by the proletariat provoked a healthy reaction among the old members of the Bolshevik party, who raise the question of the harsh cleaning of their ranks from everyone elements clinging to it. "

And the RSDLP (s) assigned a considerable role in this purge to the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which was a small party, but uniting a rather significant number of experienced professional party workers, which would have been important if it merged with the RCP (b) . According to Lozovsky’s testimony, it was precisely this circumstance that Ya. M. Sverdlov had in mind when, two weeks before his death, on 03.16.1919, he said during official negotiations with representatives of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (s) : “Unite with us as soon as possible, then we will quickly clear the party from the dark and suspicious elements adhering to her. We need Marxists. ”

However, the internationalists rejected the Bolshevik proposal to merge the RSDLP (s) with the RCP (b) .

Congress of Social Democrats Internationalists of All Trends

The internationalists went for rapprochement, and then for unification with another small party - the Russian party of independent social democrats of leftist internationalists, created in the summer of 1918 on the basis of a group of leftist socialist democrats who split from the RSDLP (s) . Their joint congress, which went down in history as a congress of social democrats internationalists of all currents, took place on 15-19.4.1919 in Moscow . It was attended by 35 delegates who represented the organizing bureau to convene the congress, two central party bodies and 15 local organizations, bringing together a little more than 1 thousand people.

The congress proclaimed the formation of the Russian Socialist Workers' Party of Internationalists (RSRPI) and adopted a whole package of program-political and organizational documents: theses on the program, party charter, welcome messages from the Red Army, to the proletarians of Hungary and Bavaria , resolutions on the 3rd International , etc. the focus of the congress was a report on the merger with the RCP (b) . The resolution adopted by it noted the close proximity of the international Socialist- Revolutionaries to communists, both in the field of program provisions and in understanding the immediate tasks of defending the gains of the October Revolution .

However, the presence of fundamental tactical differences was ascertained, primarily on the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Considering it inevitable and necessary in the transition from capitalism to socialism , the congress especially emphasized that the internationalists accept it “as the dictatorship of the class, and not just one of its any party,” because such a dictatorship and a system of exclusive powers gives the masses who joined the ruling party of non-communist and anti-revolutionary elements is a powerful tool for arbitrariness and terror, the tip of which is often directed not only against the enemies of the revolution, but also against the working class itself, causing discontent among its members and the ebb of the revolutionary movement. The only way to eliminate the devastation and restore order in the country, to rally the working masses of Russia to combat counter-revolution, was indicated in the document was to expand the social base of the revolution by attracting workers and peasants to participate in freely elected Soviet authorities in the center and in the localities, on the basis of Constitution of the RSFSR, implemented not in words, but in practice.

The congress advocated cooperation with the RCP (b) in the implementation of common goals and objectives, but the issue of the merger of communists and internationalists diplomatically circumvented, considering it necessary to have an independent RSRPI . In the subsequent period, the RSRPI became increasingly closer to the RCP (b) and gradually lost the role of the opposition.

Association with the RCP (b)

In December 1919 , the question arose again about its merger with the Bolshevik party. Moreover, on the initiative of the Central Committee of the RSRPI , which on December 13 made a corresponding statement, expressing a desire to carry out its merger with the RCP (b) at the upcoming congress of the party. The Politburo agreed, and on December 19 at the RSRPI Congress, the issue was resolved positively. The only thing that the internationalists asked was to count for all of them, without exception, the party experience, given the time spent in RSRPI. On December 20, a regular meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Was held , which decided to recognize, as a general rule, the time when internationalists joined the Bolshevik party and retained their party membership in the RSRPI .

However, it was stipulated that in relation to individual members, depending on the decisions of the local committees of the RCP (b) , exemptions may be allowed in the sense that they will be considered members of the RCP (b) from the day of the merger. On December 30, the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Withdrew this reservation. So ended its path RSRPI , becoming in early 1920 part of the Communist Party .

• Political parties of Russia: the end of the XIX - the first third of the XX century. M., 1996.

• Reznik A. Not red, but red: Permian "internationalists" in 1917-1920 (neopr.) . Date of treatment October 10, 2009. Archived August 22, 2011.