I Congress of the RSDLP

For the first time, the idea of ​​a congress of scattered social-democratic circles appeared in St. Petersburg in 1896, and the “4th Leaflet” group began negotiations with Vilna , Kiev and Moscow on this subject, and even offered its printing house to the future party. But the ongoing mass arrests among the Social Democratic Petersburg , Moscow and other cities of Central Russia did not allow then to begin practical work on the preparation of the party congress.

At the end of 1896 , the Vilnius group began negotiations on the congress with the St. Petersburg and Kiev organizations, after which two delegates were sent to Switzerland to negotiate with the Foreign Union of Russian Social Democrats, and in the summer of 1897 a project for unification into one party was worked out in Zurich .

The idea of ​​convening a congress was picked up by the Kiev Social Democrats. Having started negotiations with the St. Petersburg, Vilnius, and Ivano-Ascension organizations, the Kiev group “ Worker Work ” tried to convene a congress in Kiev in 1897, but since only representatives from St. Petersburg and Moscow arrived at the appointed time, it was decided to consider the congress failed and gather only in private session. It was decided to expand the preparation of the congress and arrange the publication of the all-Russian Social-Democratic Workers Newspaper (No. 1 was published in Kiev in August, No. 2 in December 1897 ). The newspaper covered the labor movement in Russia and called on local social-democratic circles and groups to unite in a single proletarian party.

The meeting discussed the question of convening a congress and instructed to organize the Kiev group, which proposed to participate in the congress of the St. Petersburg Union (faction of the "old people"), the Kiev and Moscow Unions, the Yekaterinoslav Group, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, the Bund .

However, due to disagreements at the congress, the Social Democrats who published the newspaper Rabochaya Mysl ( St. Petersburg ), representatives of the Ivano-Voznesensky, Odessa and Nikolaev Social Democratic groups, as not quite stable and insufficiently conspiracy, were not allowed. Invitations were not sent to the Workers' Banner organization in Bialystok and the Polish Socialist Party (in view of the unacceptable conditions set by it). They did not invite the “ Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad, ” fearing that its delegates would also be unable to comply with the requirements of conspiracy. The Kharkov Social Democratic group refused to participate in the work of the congress, stating that the creation of the party was untimely. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party agreed to send a delegate to the congress, but then refused.

The congress was held at the apartment of the railway station. employee of the Social Democrat P.V. Rumyantsev, in a house on Zakharyevskaya Street (during the Great Patriotic War, the house was burned by German occupiers, then completely rebuilt; now the House-Museum of the First Congress of the RSDLP on Independence Avenue, 31 / A). The congress met on March 1 to emphasize the connection with the activities of the People’s Will , and lasted three days.

There were 9 delegates representing the largest social-democratic organizations in Russia - St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinoslav and Kiev “Unions of Struggle”, as well as a group of “ Working Newspaper ” and the Bund . From the "Union for the Emancipation of the Working Class" 4 people participated in the congress - Stepan Radchenko (St. Petersburg Union), Alexander Vannovsky (Moscow Union), Pavel Tuchapsky (Kiev Union) and Kazimir Petrusevich (Yekaterinoslav Union), from Bund Shmuel Katz, Aron Kremer and Abram Mutnik , as well as 2 people from Kiev's “Rabochaya Gazeta” - Boris Eidelman and Nathan Wigdorchik . A total of 6 meetings were held. In order to conspire, no protocols were kept; only resolutions were recorded.

The main issue was the formation of the party. The congress proclaimed the creation of a Marxist workers' party and decided to call it the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party ( RSDLP ), that is, the party of the proletariat of all nationalities of Russia. The unanimously adopted decision stated that all the “Unions of Struggle”, the group of “Working Newspaper” and the Bund “... merged into a single organization called the“ Russian Social Democratic Labor Party “...” ^[2] .

The congress elected the Central Committee of the RSDLP with 3 members: S. I. Radchenko from the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle , B. L. Eidelman from the group of Rabochaya Gazeta, and A. I. Kremer from the Bund .

The official body of the party was declared "Working Newspaper." The " Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad " was recognized as part of the party and its representative abroad. The congress instructed the members of the Central Committee to draw up the "Manifesto of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party" outlining the immediate political tasks of the party. In the "Manifesto" written by P. B. Struve , it was said in particular: "... The farther to the east of Europe, the politically, cowardly and meaner the bourgeoisie becomes and the greater cultural and political tasks fall on the lot of the proletariat" ^[3] .

The "manifesto" and the decisions of the congress, printed in a separate leaflet in April 1898 in the Brudy underground printing house of Bund , were perceived by the revolutionary social democrats of Russia as documents of historical importance and received the approval of V. I. Lenin . After the congress, the Social Democratic organizations and unions adopted the name of the committees of the RSDLP .

However, the First Congress of the RSDLP failed to overcome the ideological and organizational fragmentation of the social democratic movement. He developed neither a program nor a charter. The party, as a single centralized organization, was not created at the congress. The situation was aggravated by the fact that immediately after the congress, many party organizations were defeated, 8 out of 9 congress delegates, including all members of the Central Committee, were arrested, the printing house and print media No. 3 of Rabochaya Gazeta were seized by the police.

The period of “confusion and vacillations” began in Russian social democracy (see V. I. Lenin, Poln. Sobr. Soch., 5th ed. Vol. 9, p. 51 and vol. 16, p. 100). It took at least 5 years (from 1899 to 1903 ) work to create and strengthen the party on the principles of revolutionary Marxism , to prepare its ideological and organizational unity. In July 1903 , at the Second Congress of the RSDLP , convened by the editors of Iskra , the process of uniting revolutionary Marxist organizations was completed and a party of the working class of Russia was created.

Security agents have been following B. Eidelman for a long time, bringing them from Kharkov to Minsk. There they also saw friends of Tuchapsky and Vigdorchik. Having received a telegram about this, the head of the investigation, S. V. Zubatov, did not attach much importance to this meeting, and besides, the objects had already left. But still he informed the director of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, L. A. Rataev :

According to confidential information, a congress of representatives of several local revolutionary organizations that proclaimed the union of the latter under the general name of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party took place in Minsk on March 1-2 of last year. The participants of the congress were: Borukh Eidelman, Abram Mytnikovich and Aron Kremer (from the All-Jewish Workers' Union in Russia and Poland), Kazimir Petrusevich (from the Yekaterinoslav circle), Pavel Tuchapsky (from the Kiev Union for the Emancipation of the Working Class) already involved in inquiries Vanovsky (from the same union in Moscow), one delegate from the Minsk Social Democrats and one person who remained un arrested ...

In a footnote to this place it was said: “The secretly supervised nobleman Rudolf Ivanov Danilovich, who had lived in St. Petersburg until September, from where he was registered in Warsaw, was secretly”.

And further:

The initiative of the congress and the management of its activities belonged, apparently, to the representative of the South Russian workers' organizations B. Eidelman, and the main employees in this business were probably Mytnikovich, Kremer and Rumyantsev.

From this report it is clear that Zubatov himself, even almost a year later, did not have accurate information about the congress.

Report text:

No. 371 0.0. 30/1 No. 259 Top Secret.

Head of the Department of Public Safety and Order in Moscow.

Gracious sovereign Leonid Aleksandrovich

In consequence of the letter dated December 29 of last year, No. 2277, I have the honor to inform your high honor that, according to available, completely confidential information, the congress of representatives of several local revolutionary organizations, at which the union of the latter was proclaimed under the general name of the "Russian Social Democratic Labor Party", was taking place in Minsk from February 28 to March 4, 1898. The participants in the said congress were already involved in inquiries on charges of state crimes. Borukh Eidelman, representative of the group that published the Rabochaya Gazeta, Abram Mytnikovich and Aron Kremer from the Public Labor Union in Russia and Poland, Kazimir Petrusevich from the Yekaterinoslav Circle, Pavel Tuchansky from the Kiev Union for the Emancipation of the Working Class, Alexander Vanovsky from Moscow Union struggle for the liberation of the working class. One delegate from the Minsk Social Democrats and one person who was not arrested. Two general meetings of the congress participants (7-8 people) took place in the evenings of the 1st and 2nd mortars in one house on Zakharovskaya Street, probably in the apartment of the detainee, Peter Rumyantsev, who was liquidated in July. The subjects of discussion of the congress were questions drawn up in advance under a special program: on the competence of the Central Committee of the newly formed party, on the degree of autonomy of local groups, their uniform name, on relations with the parties "socialists-revolutionaries", "people's rights", "Polish socialist" and etc. The main decisions of the congress were soon published in the second part of the famous “Manifesto of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party”. According to some available data, there is reason to believe that the initiative and organization of the congress belonged to the general leader of the South Russian workers' organizations Borukh Adelman, and Mytnikovich, Kremer and Rumyantsev were the main employees in this business. I have the honor to add that I have been verbally aware of the above and a separate corps of gendarmes, captain Ratko, who has the right to conduct inquiries about secret printing houses that were discovered last summer in the cities of Bobruisk and Minsk at the Moscow Provincial Gendarme Administration. I humbly ask you, gracious sovereign, to accept the assurance of perfect reverence and deep devotion to your humble servant. Zubatov №890 January 29, 1899 Moscow.

• II Congress of the RSDLP
• III Congress of the RSDLP

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