IV Congress of the RSDLP

IV Congress of the RSDLP
IV Congress of the RSDLP
Location	;
First date	and

The IV Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (“unifying”, also the Stockholm Congress of the RSDLP ) was held April 10–25 (April 23 – May 8), 1906 in Stockholm ( Sweden ).

The congress was attended by 112 delegates with casting votes from 57 organizations, 22 delegates with deliberative votes from 13 consultative organizations and 12 representatives of national social democratic organizations ( Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania , Latvian Social Democracy , the Bund , representatives of Ukrainian, Finland and Bulgarian Social-Democratic Labor Parties). In terms of factional affiliation, out of the decisive votes, approximately 62 belonged to the Mensheviks and 46 to the Bolsheviks. The conciliators (the so-called "center") had a small number of decisive votes, in basic matters adjoining the Mensheviks. The predominance of the Mensheviks at the congress determined the nature of most of its decisions.

Content

1 Questions
- 1.1 Agricultural program
- 1.2 Other matters
- 1.3 Charter
- 1.4 Elected bodies
- 1.5 Expropriation
2 Association
3 notes
4 Literature
5 Links

Questions

Some congress delegates from the Bolshevik faction ^[Note. ^one]

Agricultural Program

The main issue around which the fierce struggle between the factions unfolded at the congress was the question of revising the party’s agrarian program. Speakers on this issue were made by the Bolsheviks V.I. Lenin, and by the Mensheviks, John ( P. Maslov ). The Bolshevik project of the agrarian program was justified by V. I. Lenin for the congress in the work "Revision of the agrarian program of the working party" distributed to the delegates of the congress. The essence of the Leninist agrarian program in the bourgeois-democratic revolution was reduced to the demand for the confiscation of landlord, church, monastery and other lands and, in the event of a decisive victory of the revolution, to the nationalization of the whole land. The Leninist agrarian program was built with the expectation of bringing to the end the bourgeois-democratic revolution, its development into a socialist revolution.

The Menshevik project of P. Maslov required the "alienation" of large land plots and their municipalization. Under this program, landowner lands did not come at the disposal of the peasant committees, but into the hands of the municipalities, from which the peasants each had to lease land according to their own strengths.

In addition to the main lectures on the agrarian question, G. V. Plekhanov spoke in congresses, defending the draft of P. Maslov, Schmidt (P. Rumyantsev), who defended nationalization in the spirit of the Leninist version, and the “separatist” S. A. Borisov . Borisov’s program was closest to Lenin’s, but instead of demanding the nationalization of the land, it advanced the division of confiscated land into the personal property of the peasantry. The separatists proceeded from the position of a long break between the bourgeois-democratic and socialist revolutions.

At the congress, Borisov’s program was defended by I.V. Stalin, Matveev ( V.A. Bazarov-Rudnev ), Sakarelov (N. Sakvarelidze) and other Bolsheviks. Criticizing the partition program, Lenin noted that it was erroneous, but not harmful. In order not to break the votes against the Mensheviks, Lenin voted at the congress along with the racists.

After a tense struggle, the congress approved by a small majority of votes the Menshevik agrarian program for the municipalization of the land with a number of amendments adopted under pressure from the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks managed to achieve the inclusion in the program adopted by the congress of the requirements for confiscation of landowner land, instead of "alienation" - in the original Menshevik program. At the insistence of the Bolsheviks, a clause on the nationalization of waters and forests was introduced into the program. In addition, the congress recognized that if municipalization could not be carried out, the party would favor a division of land taken from the landlords between the peasants. The congress inserted a clause on the independent organization of the agricultural proletariat into the tactical resolution on the agrarian question.

Other matters

The congress approved the Menshevik resolutions on the State Duma (it was decided to participate in the elections and the resolution was adopted "to systematically use all the conflicts that arise between the government and the Duma, as well as within the Duma itself, in the interests of expanding and deepening the revolutionary movement"), about the armed uprising and adopted half decision on partisan actions. The resolution on armed insurrection persistently called for counteraction to all attempts to draw the proletariat into armed conflict. Without discussion, the congress passed a compromise resolution on trade unions, which recognized the need for the party’s assistance in organizing unions, and a resolution on the attitude towards the peasant movement. At the congress, the issue of unification with the Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania and with the Latvian Social Democracy, which became part of the RSDLP as territorial organizations working among the proletariat of all nationalities in the region, was resolved. The congress also adopted draft conditions for unification with the Bund , but in a special resolution strongly opposed the organization of the proletariat by nationality. At the congress, on the initiative of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party, the question was raised of integration with the USDP , but an agreement with it did not take place.

Charter

The congress ended with the adoption of a new party charter. The first paragraph of the charter was approved in the wording of Lenin, which he defended at the Second Party Congress and adopted by the Third Congress.

Elective bodies

The Central Committee elected at the congress included 3 Bolsheviks and 7 Mensheviks. The editorial board of the Central Organ was composed of only the Mensheviks.

Expropriation

One of the debate issues at the congress was the issue of attitudes toward expropriations ^[Note. ^2] . Lenin and his supporters considered the expropriation of one of the forms of "guerrilla warfare" against the government and recognized the expropriation as acceptable to finance revolutionary activities. Opponents pointed to the demoralizing effect of looting on party members. As a result of the discussions, the congress adopted a resolution banning expropriations ^[1] ^[Note. ^3] .

Association

A formal union of the party took place at the congress after the split that occurred at the Second Congress ^[Note. ^4] . Recognizing in words the organizational unity of the RSDLP, the Bolshevik-Leninists reserved the right to struggle ideologically with the rest of the Social Democrats. The main ideological result of the congress was therefore, according to Lenin, “not a unification, but a clear and definite demarcation” of the factions of social democracy. Having officially eliminated the split, the congress strengthened the unity of action of party organizations for a time, but it did not lead to a real unification. According to G. E. Zinoviev , the Bolsheviks created a separate Central Committee, "illegal in the party respect" ^[2] :

The Central Committee took several of our comrades, as we said then, as hostages. But at the same time, at the congress itself, the Bolsheviks compiled their internal and illegal Central Committee in the party respect. This period in the history of our party, when we were in the minority both in the Central Committee and in the Petrograd Committee, and had to hide our separate work.

Subsequently, these actions of Lenin led to the final split of the RSDLP at the Sixth (Prague) All-Russian Party Conference of the RSDLP (January 1912 , Prague ), which marked the beginning of the registration of the Leninist faction as an independent party - the RSDLP (b) .

Notes

Notes

↑ Image source - an album on the history of the CPSU (b) , published in 1926 at the height of the factional struggle in the CPSU (b) . Perhaps this explains the fact that out of 46 Bolshevik delegates, only 26 are shown.
↑ "expropriations" or "exs" on the slang of revolutionaries called armed attacks with the purpose of robbery .
↑ In fact, Lenin and his supporters did not obey the decision of the congress and continued to maintain contact with the groups that carried out the expropriations (the so-called “ fighting squads ”), the main of which were the Urals and the Transcaucasian. During the years 1906-07, the Bolsheviks carried out dozens of expropriations in the Urals. So, in August 1906, during the robbery of a mail train on Deme, near Ufa, more than 200 thousand rubles were seized. Of this money, Lenin received 60 thousand rubles. Transcaucasian group S. T. Petrosyan-Kamo during 1905-1907. about 325-350 thousand rubles were captured, of which 250 thousand rubles. the robbery in Tiflis gave on June 25, 1907. Petrosyan personally delivered this money to the headquarters of the Bolshevik center in Finland (Felshtinsky, “Leaders in the Law”, p. 9-10).
↑ According to historian Yu. G. Felshtinsky , the dictatorial inclinations of Lenin were the cause of the split of the RSDLP. After an unsuccessful attempt at the Second Congress to take complete control of the party’s central organ - the Iskra newspaper, the party’s Central Committee and the party’s cash desk, Lenin unleashed a fierce verbal struggle, which came to swear and public insults, with those Social Democrats who refused to obey him implicitly absolute leadership (Felshtinsky, “Leaders in the Law”, p. 8).

Footnotes

↑ Felshtinsky, 2008 , p. 9.
↑ Zinoviev G. E. The History of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (hereinafter: History of the RCP (B.). Petrograd, 1923. P. 124 (cited by Nikolaevsky B.I. Secret Pages of History / Ed.-Comp. Yu. G Felshtinsky . - M .: Publishing house of the humanitarian literature , 1995. - 512 p. ISBN 5-87121-007-4 )

Literature

The Fourth (Unification) Congress of the RSDLP // Chagan - Aix-les-Bains. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1978. - ( Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vols.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 29).
History of the CPSU. T. 2.M., 1966;
The CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee T. 1. / 8th ed. M., 1970;
Lenin V.I. Unification Congress of the RSDLP April 10 (23). - Apr 25 (May 8) 1906 // Complete works. T. 12./5 ed.
Lenin V. I. Appeal to the party of delegates of the Unity Congress, who belonged to the former faction of the "Bolsheviks" // Complete Works. T. 12./5 ed.
Lenin V.I. Report on the Unity Congress of the RSDLP // Complete Works. T. 13./5 ed.
Lyadov M.N. From the life of the party in 1903-1907. (Memories). M., 1956.
Encyclopedic Dictionary . Ch. ed. B. A. Vvedensky . In 3 volumes. Volume 2.M., 1954.
The fourth (unifying) congress of the RSDLP. April (April-May) 1906: Protocols. - M.: Gospolitizdat , 1959. - XVIII + 714 p.: Ill.
Felshtinsky Yu. G. Leaders in the law . - M .: Terra , 2008 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 5-275-01878-9 .

Links

Delegates of the IV Congress of the RSDLP

[1] Image source - an album on the history of the CPSU (b) , published in 1926 at the height of the factional struggle in the CPSU (b) . Perhaps this explains the fact that out of 46 Bolshevik delegates, only 26 are shown.

[2] "expropriations" or "exs" on the slang of revolutionaries called armed attacks with the purpose of robbery .

[4] In fact, Lenin and his supporters did not obey the decision of the congress and continued to maintain contact with the groups that carried out the expropriations (the so-called “ fighting squads ”), the main of which were the Urals and the Transcaucasian. During the years 1906-07, the Bolsheviks carried out dozens of expropriations in the Urals. So, in August 1906, during the robbery of a mail train on Deme, near Ufa, more than 200 thousand rubles were seized. Of this money, Lenin received 60 thousand rubles. Transcaucasian group S. T. Petrosyan-Kamo during 1905-1907. about 325-350 thousand rubles were captured, of which 250 thousand rubles. the robbery in Tiflis gave on June 25, 1907. Petrosyan personally delivered this money to the headquarters of the Bolshevik center in Finland (Felshtinsky, “Leaders in the Law”, p. 9-10).

[5] According to historian Yu. G. Felshtinsky , the dictatorial inclinations of Lenin were the cause of the split of the RSDLP. After an unsuccessful attempt at the Second Congress to take complete control of the party’s central organ - the Iskra newspaper, the party’s Central Committee and the party’s cash desk, Lenin unleashed a fierce verbal struggle, which came to swear and public insults, with those Social Democrats who refused to obey him implicitly absolute leadership (Felshtinsky, “Leaders in the Law”, p. 8).

[_70282308ec2c33db-3] Felshtinsky, 2008 , p. 9.

[6] Zinoviev G. E. The History of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (hereinafter: History of the RCP (B.). Petrograd, 1923. P. 124 (cited by Nikolaevsky B.I. Secret Pages of History / Ed.-Comp. Yu. G Felshtinsky . - M .: Publishing house of the humanitarian literature , 1995. - 512 p. ISBN 5-87121-007-4 )