VII Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - an emergency congress held on March 6 - 8, 1918 in Petrograd . The congress was attended by 47 delegates with a decisive and 59 with an advisory vote from more than 170,000 party members. Due to the urgent convocation of the congress and the occupation by German forces of part of the territory of Soviet Russia, many party organizations were unable to send delegates. But since more than half of the party members who were in it at the previous, VI congress, were represented, according to the Charter, the congress was competent. The work of the congress was led by V.I. Lenin , who spoke at meetings 18 times, including with presentations on key issues.
The congress was held in the conditions of the strictest conspiracy; its protocols were first published only in 1923.
| VII Congress of the RCP (B.) | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| First date | |
Day Order
- Report of the Central Committee (speakers V. I. Lenin and Ya. M. Sverdlov);
- The issue of war and peace (speakers V. I. Lenin and N. I. Bukharin);
- Program review (speakers V. I. Lenin and N. I. Bukharin)
- Renaming of the party (speaker V. I. Lenin);
- Organizational matters (speaker G. E. Zinoviev);
- Elections.
Congress Decisions
In a political report, Lenin gave an analysis of the country's international and domestic situation. He focused on defending and substantiating the decisions of the Central Committee of the Party and the Soviet Government on the immediate signing of the gravest peace with Germany. In his opinion, it was necessary at all costs to achieve a peaceful respite to maintain Soviet power (the main arguments: by the spring of 1918, Soviet Russia did not actually have an army, the working masses were tired of the war and demanded peace, the economy was undermined by the war, the alleged revolution in Germany did not start). Lenin called adventurism attempts to make the fate of the October Revolution of 1917 dependent on a possible, but still only ripening revolution in Western Europe. He expressed his firm conviction that if the world was conquered, Soviet Russia would ultimately win.
On the question of war and peace, a fight broke out at the congress. 18 delegates spoke in the debate. Bukharin defended and substantiated the position of the "revolutionary war" against Germany. The decision adopted by a majority of the Central Committee of the party to conclude a peace treaty (7 versus 6) was described as surrender inside and out and demanded that this treaty be annulled. He was supported by the “Left Communists” and a number of party leaders (N. N. Krestinsky, M. S. Uritsky, A. A. Ioffe, A. S. Bubnov, G. I. Lomov, D. B. Ryazanov, V. V Obolensky (N. Osinsky), T. V. Sapronov and others). Leonid Trotsky also opposed Lenin, upholding his slogan "neither war, nor peace." The proposals of the “Left Communists” and Trotsky were rejected by the congress; The Leninist resolution on war and peace was adopted by a roll-call vote of 30 votes to 12, with 4 abstentions.
Nevertheless, after the discussion, a resolution was also adopted by G. E. Zinoviev, in which they expressed gratitude to L. D. Trotsky and the Soviet delegation at the peace talks “for her tremendous work in exposing the German imperialists, in involving the workers of all countries in the struggle against imperialist governments. "
The congress considered the question of revising the program and the name of the party. The first program, adopted at the Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, which aimed the party at making bourgeois-democratic and socialist revolutions, was implemented. It was necessary to work out a new one - for the period of building socialism. The congress elected a commission, which it instructed to prepare a program, based on the instructions of the congress. The commission included V. I. Lenin, L. D. Trotsky, N. I. Bukharin, G. E. Zinoviev, G. Ya. Sokolnikov, I. V. Stalin, V. M. Smirnov (candidates for the commission were elected K. B. Radek and V. V. Obolensky (N. Osinsky)).
As for the name of the party, neither at the VII (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) 1917, nor at the VI Party Congress (July - August 1917) the question of changing the name of the party was considered. The 7th Party Congress, Ya. M. Sverdlov opened with the words: “On behalf of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, I declare the meeting of the 7th Party Congress open”, that is, at the time of the start of the congress the official abbreviated name of the party was “RSDLP” (in the transcript of the 7th Congress and the texts of its documents the abbreviation RSDLP ( b) does not occur; it is used only in texts of a later origin, including in the headings of congress documents given to them subsequently). The resolution adopted on March 8, 1918, “On changing the name of the party ...” said: “The congress decides henceforth to call our party (the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party of the Bolsheviks) the Russian Communist Party with the addition of 'Bolsheviks' in brackets.” Thus, before the Seventh Congress, the Bolshevik Party was officially officially called the “Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of the Bolsheviks” (abbreviated RSDLP), and after it - the “Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)”, abbreviated RCP (b). The commonly used abbreviation "RSDLP (b)" arose later and was semi-official in nature.
CC
The congress elected the Central Committee of the party, composed of (by the number of votes cast):
Members of the Central Committee | Candidate members |
Literature
- History of the CPSU. T. 3. Book. 1. M., 1967
- CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenary sessions of the Central Committee. 1898-1954. T. 2./8th ed. - M., 1970.
- Lenin V.I. Seventh emergency congress of the RCP (B.), March 6-8, 1918 // Complete Works. T. 36./5 ed.
- The Seventh Congress of the RCP (B.) / B. Morozov // Safflower - Soan. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1976. - ( Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vols.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 23).
- Seventh emergency congress of the RCP (B.). March 1918: Verbatim Report. - M.: Gospolitizdat , 1962. - XLI + 402 p.: Ill.