That part of the resolution which is directed expressly against otzovism encountered no serious objections on the part of the representatives of the opposition at the conference. Both these representatives admitted that otzovism, inasmuch as it was shaping into a definite trend, was deviating further and further from Social-Democracy, that some representatives of otzovism, notably its recognised leader Comrade St.,[157] have even managed to acquire a "certain tinge of anarchism". The conference unanimously recognised that a persistent and systematic struggle against otzovism as a trend was imperative With ultimatumism matters were different.

    Both representatives of the opposition at the conference called themselves ultimatumists. And both of them, in a written statement submitted when the resolution was being voted on, declared that they were ultimatumists, that the resolution proposed to repudiate ultimatumism, that this would mean repudiating themselves, which was something they could not subscribe to. Later, when several other resolutions were adopted against the votes of the opposition, the two representatives of the opposition stated in writing that they considered the resolutions of the conference irregular, that, in adopting them, the conference was declaring a split in the Bolshevik section, and that they would not submit to these resolutions or put them into practice. Later we shall dwell in greater detail on this incident, because it formally completed the breakaway of one of the representatives of the opposition, Comrade Maximov, from the extended editorial board of Proletary. Here we want to approach it from another angle.

    In assessing ultimatumism, just as, incidentally, in assessing that consistent ultimatumism which goes by the name of otzovism, we have unfortunately to deal not so much with writings as with legend. Neither ultimatumism nor otzovism have yet found expression in any more or less integral "platform". So ultimatumism must be considered in its only concrete expression -- the demand that the Social-

 
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Democratic group in the Duma be presented with an ultimatum to act in a strict Party spirit and obey all the instructions of the Party centres, or else give up their mandates. To maintain, however, that such a description of ultimatumism is quite correct and accurate is, apparently, wrong. And for the following reason. Comrade Marat, one of the two ultimatumists who attended the conference, stated that this description did not apply to him. He, Comrade Marat, admitted that there had been a great improvement lately in the work of the Social-Democratic group in the Duma, and that he did not intend to present an ultimatum to it now, immediately. He merely thought that the Party should bring pressure to bear on the Duma group by every possible means, the afore-mentioned ultimatum being one of them.

    It is of course possible to get along with ultimatumists like this within one and the same wing of the Party. Such an ultimatumist is bound to reduce his ultimatumism to zero as the work of the Duma group improves. Such ultimatumism does not preclude but, on the contrary, implies prolonged work of the Party with and on the Duma group, prolonged and persistent work of the Party in the sense of skilfully making use of activity in the Duma for the purpose of agitation and organisation. Since there are clear signs of an improvement in the activities of the Duma group, work must be continued perseveringly and persistently in the same direction. Ultimatumism will thereby gradually lose its objective meaning. In the case of such Bolshevik ultimatumists a split is out of the question. In their case it is scarcely justifiable even to draw the line of demarcation prescribed in the resolution "On Otzovism and Ultimatumism" and in the resolution "The Tasks of the Bolsheviks in the Party". Such ultimatumism is nothing more than a shade of opinion in formulating and settling one definite practical question; there is no marked difference of principle here.

    The ultimatumism which the resolution describes as an ideological trend in the Party which Bolshevism must disown, is a different thing. This ultimatumism -- and it undoubtedly exists -- rules out prolonged work on the Duma group by the Party and its central bodies, it rules out prolonged, patient Party activity among the work-

 
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ers in the sense of skilfully utilising the wealth of agitational material provided by the Third Duma. This ultimatumism rules out constructive, creative Party work on the Duma group. This ultimatumism has only one weapon -- the ultimatum which the Party must hang over the head of its Duma group like the sword of Damocles, and which the R.S.D.L.P. must accept as a substitute for all that experience in the genuinely revolutionary use of parliamentarism which the Social-Democrats in Western Europe have accumulated by dint of long persistent practice. To draw a line between that ultimatumism and otzovism is impossible. They are linked inseverably by their common spirit of adventurism. And Bolshevism, as the revolutionary trend in Russian Social-Democracy, must dissociate itself from one and the other alike.

    But what do we mean, what did the conference mean by this "dissociation"? Are there any grounds for asserting that the conference proclaimed a split in the Bolshevik section, as some representatives of the opposition would have us believe? There are no such grounds. The conference stated in its resolutions that tendencies were beginning to appear within the Bolshevik section which run counter to Bolshevism with its specific tactical principles. In our Party Bolshevism is represented by the Bolshevik section. But a section is not a party. A party can contain a whole gamut of opinions and shades of opinion, the extremes of which may be sharply contradictory. In the German party, side by side with the pronouncedly revolutionary wing of Kautsky, we see the ultra-revisionist wing of Bernstein. That is not the case within a section. A section in a party is a group of like-minded persons formed for the purpose primarily of influencing the party in a definite direction, for the purpose of securing acceptance for their principles in the party in the purest possible form. For this, real unanimity of opinion is necessary. The different standards we set for party unity and sectional unity must be grasped by everyone who wants to know how the question of the internal discord in the Bolshevik section really stands. The conference did not declare a split in the section. It would be a profound mistake for any local functionary to understand the resolutions of the conference as an instruction to expel otzovist-minded workers, let

 
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alone bring about an immediate split in organisations where there are otzovist elements. We warn local functionaries in all seriousness against such actions. Otzovism, as a coherent, independent trend does not exist among the mass of the workers. The attempts of the otzovists at self-determination and a complete statement of their views lead inevitably to syndicalism and anarchism. Persons who advocate these trends with any persistence exclude themselves automatically from section and Party alike. To put otzovist-minded workers' groups in this category, however large these groups may be, would be absurd. This kind of otzovism is largely a result of being uninformed about the work of the Duma group. The best way to combat this kind of otzovism is, first, wide publicity among the workers to keep them fully informed on the work of the Duma group and, secondly, to afford the workers opportunities to come into regular contact with the group and influence it. Otzovist sentiment in St. Petersburg, for instance, could be counteracted to a large extent by arranging a number of talks between our comrades in the Duma and the workers of St. Petersburg. Thus all efforts should be concentrated on avoiding an organisational split with the otzovists. Any ideological campaign against otzovism and its kindred doctrine syndicalism, conducted more or less persistently and consistently, would soon make all talk of an organisational split absolutely superfluous or, at worst, result in a few otzovists or groups of otzovists breaking away from the Bolshevik section and the Party.

    That, incidentally, was how matters stood at the conference of the extended editorial board of Proletary. Comrade Maximov's ultimatumism proved to be utterly irreconcilable with the Bolshevik line, which was formulated once again by the conference. After the resolutions on key issues were adopted he declared that he considered them irregular, although they had been carried by ten votes to two, some of them against a single dissentient vote (Maximov's) with one abstention (for example, the resolution "On Otzovism and Ultimatumism" as a whole). At this the conference passed a resolution disclaiming all responsibility for the political actions of Comrade Maximov. The thing was clear: once Comrade Maximov flatly rejected all the resolutions on key issues adopted by such a large majority of the confer-

 
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ence, he had to realise that there was not between the conference and himself that unanimity of opinion which is an elementary condition for the existence of a section within a party. But Comrade Maximov did not stop there: he emphatically declared not only that he had no intention of carrying out these resolutions, but that he would not submit to them. The conference had no choice but to disclaim all responsibility for the political activities of Comrade Maximov. In doing so, however, it declared (see the statement of the St. Petersburg delegate M. T.[158] and others) "that the question here is not of a split in the section but of Comrade Maximov's breakaway from the extended editorial board of Proletary".[*]

    We also find it necessary to draw all the attention of Party comrades to other resolutions of the conference: "The Tasks of the Bolsheviks in the Party", and "The Attitude to Duma Activities Among the Other Fields of Party Work". The important thing here is correctly to understand the formulation of the question of the "Party line" of the Bolsheviks, and of the attitude to legal opportunities in general and to the Duma as a platform in particular.

    Our immediate task is to preserve and consolidate the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The very fulfilment of this great task involves one extremely important element: the combating of both varieties of liquidationism -- liquidationism on the right and liquidationism on the left. The liquidators on the right say that no illegal R.S.D.L.P. is needed, that Social-Democratic activities should be centred exclusively or almost exclusively on legal opportunities. The liquidators on the left go to the other extreme:

 
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legal avenues of Party work do not exist for them, illegality at any price is their "be all and end all". Both, in approximately equal degree, are liquidators of the R.S.D.L.P., for without methodical judicious combination of legal and illegal work in the present situation that history has imposed upon us, the "preservation and consolidation of the R.S.D.L.P." is inconceivable. Liquidationism on the right, as we know, is rampant particularly in the Menshevik section, and partly in the Bund. But among the Mensheviks there have lately been significant signs of a return to partyism, which must be welcomed: "the minority of the [Menshevik] section",[161] to quote the conference resolution, "after running the full gauntlet of liquidationism, are now voicing their protest against it, and seeking anew solid party ground for their activities."[*]

    What then are the tasks of the Bolsheviks in relation to this as yet small section of the Mensheviks who are fighting against liquidationism on the right? The Bolsheviks must undoubtedly seek rapprochement with this section of the membership, those who are Marxists and partyists. There is no question whatever of sinking our tactical differences with the Mensheviks. We are fighting and shall continue to fight most strenuously against Menshevik deviations from the policy of revolutionary Social-Democracy. Nor, needless to say, is there any question of the Bolshevik section dissolving its identity in the Party. The Bolsheviks have done a good deal to entrench their positions in the Party, but much remains to be done in the same direction. The Bolshevik section as a definite ideological trend in the Party must exist as before. But one thing must be borne firmly in mind: the responsibility of "preserving and consolidating" the R.S.D.L.P., of which the resolution of the conference speaks, now rests primarily, if not entirely, on the Bolshevik section. All, or practically all, the Party work in progress, particularly in the localities, is now being shouldered by

    We are coming to the end of the debate, and I don't think there is any need to fix it in a special resolution, because we need to be careful with that. The thing was after all to thrash the matter out among ourselves. In reply to Vlasov[162] on the use of legal opportunities, I will read a draft resolution:

    "The Bolshevik Centre resolves: in order in practice to achieve -- and to achieve in a revolutionary Social-Democratic spirit and direction -- the objects now recognised by all Bolsheviks of making use of all 'legal opportunities', all legal and semi-legal organisations of the working class in general and the Duma rostrum in particular, the Bolshevik section must definitely and clearly put before itself the aim of securing at any cost the training up of a body of experienced Bolsheviks, specialised in their job and firmly established in their particular legal post (trade unions; clubs; Duma committees, etc., etc.)."

    Vlasov stated that this refers to the leaders. This is not the case. The trouble is that in our Bolshevik section the view prevails that such specialists are not required. Our forces are few: they must be utilised and allotted to the legal functions, and made responsible for carrying out these functions in the name of the section. If we speak of setting up Party cells, we must know how to do it. I have drafted a resolution on agitation by leaflets:

    "Having discussed the question of the Bolsheviks' tasks in relation to Duma activity, the Bolshevik Centre resolves to draw the attention of all local organisations to the im-

 
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portance of agitation by leaflets (in addition to the local and regional press) which spread among the masses information about the Duma work of the Social-Democrats and give direction to this work. Subjects for such leaflets might be indications of questions to be highlighted from the Duma rostrum. the summing up of the Social-Democrats' activity in the Duma and the grouping of the different parties, outlines of propagandist speeches on these questions, analysis of the political significance of particularly important Social-Democratic speeches in the Duma, pointing out omissions or inaccuracies in Social-Democratic Duma speeches, and extracts from these speeches giving practical conclusions important for propaganda and agitation, etc., etc."

    And I have also roughed-out in the form of a resolution the points on the question of our attitude to Duma activity which were discussed at the private meeting[163]:

    "II.  The difference between the revolutionary Social-Democratic use of the Duma and the reformist (or more broadly, opportunist) use can be described by the following indications, which do not pretend to be complete.

    "From the standpoint of the external relations, so to speak, of the Duma Social-Democratic group, the difference between the revolutionary Social-Democratic use of the Duma and opportunist use consists in the following: the necessity to combat the tendency on the part of deputies and very often of the bourgeois intellectuals surrounding them -- a tendency natural in all bourgeois society (and in Russia during a period of reaction especially) -- to make parliamentary activity the basic, most important thing of all, an end in itself. In particular it is essential to make every effort that the group should carry on its work as one of the functions subordinated to the interests of the working-class movement as a whole, and also that the group should be in constant contact with the Party, not drawing apart from it but implementing Party views, the directives of Party congresses and the central institutions of the Party.

    "From the standpoint of the internal content of the group's activity, it is essential to bear the following in mind. The aim of the activity of the parliamentary Social-Democratic group differs in principle from that of all other political parties. The aim of the proletarian party is not to do

 
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deals or haggle with the powers that be, not to engage in the hopeless patching-up of the regime of the feudalist-bourgeois dictatorship of counter-revolution, but to develop in every way the class-consciousness, the socialist clarity of thought, the revolutionary determination and all-round organisation of the mass of the workers. Every step in the activity of the Duma group must serve this fundamental aim. Therefore more attention must be paid to promoting the aims of socialist revolution from the Duma rostrum. Efforts must he made to ensure that speeches should more often be heard from the Duma rostrum propagandising the fundamental conceptions and aims of socialism, namely, of scientific socialism. Then, in the conditions of continuing bourgeois-democratic revolution, it is extremely important that the Duma group should systematically combat the torrent of counter-revolutionary attacks on the 'liberation movement', and the prevalent tendency (both on the part of the outright reactionaries and of the liberals, especially the Cadets) to condemn the revolution and discredit it, its aims, its methods, etc. The Social-Democratic group in the Duma must bear high the banner of the revolution, the banner of the advanced class, leader of the bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia.

    "Furthermore it is essential to point out a task of the Duma Social-Democratic group, which is exceptionally important at the present time, namely, that of participating energetically in all discussions of labour legislation. The group must utilise the rich parliamentary experience of the West-European Social-Democrats, taking special care to avoid the opportunist distortion of this aspect of its activity. The group must not whittle down its slogans and the demands of our Party's minimum programme, but draft and introduce its Social-Democratic Bills (and also amendments to Bills of the government and the other parties), in order to unmask to the masses the hypocrisy and falseness of social-reformism, in order to draw the masses into independent economic and political mass struggle, which alone can bring real gains to the workers or transform half-hearted and hypocritical 'reforms' under the existing system into strong-points for an advancing working-class movement towards the complete emancipation of the proletariat.

 
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    "The Duma Social-Democratic group and the whole Social-Democratic Party should take the same stand towards reformism within Social-Democracy, which is the latest product of opportunist vacillation.

    "Finally, revolutionary Social-Democratic use of the Duma should differ from opportunist use in that the Social-Democratic group and the Party are bound to explain to the masses in every possible way the class character of all bourgeois political parties, not confining themselves to attacks on the government and outright reactionaries, but exposing both the counter-revolutionary nature of liberalism and the waverings of petty-bourgeois peasant democracy."

 

Written June 12-13 (25-26), 1909 First published in 1934 in the book Minutes of the Conference Extended Editorial Board of "Proletary"

Text of the speech published according to the book; text of the draft resolution according to the manuscript

 
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and elevating to a principle the narrow forms of activity imposed by the temporary decline of and state of disunity in the working-class movement, these elements -- avowed liquidators oi the Party -- quite obviously took their stand upon the ground of theoretical and tactical revisionism. That the closest connection exists between liquidationism in organisation (the struggle against Party institutions) and the ideological struggle against Marxist theory and the fundamental principles of the programme of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, has now most clearly been revealed and proved by the entire history of the efforts to force an opportunist policy on our Duma group by its intellectual advisers, as well as by the entire course of the struggle between the liquidators and the partyists within the legal workers' organisations and in the workers' groups of the four congresses: of the People's Universities,[164] of the co-operatives,[165] of women[166] and of factory medical officers.[167]

    On the other hand, the Left wing of the Party, to whose lot it fell to lead the Party during this period of the decisive triumph of the counter-revolution, theoretically recognised and in practice applied the tactics of expediently combining illegal with legal Party work. This applies to all the Party work with the Duma group and all the Party work in the legal and semi-legal proletarian organisations. It is precisely these forms of work -- forms enabling the illegal Party to influence more or less broad masses -- that have been brought to the fore by the peculiar conditions of the present historical situation, in addition to the main forms of Party work. It is in these forms of activity that the Party in practice comes into conflict with liquidationism and deals it heavy blows. It is on this ground also that Social-Democrats belonging to various groups of the Party have been and are being drawn together.* And here, finally, on the very same questions of Party tactics and organisation in the con-

 
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ditions of the Third Duma period, the Bolshevik section openly disavows the pseudo-revolutionary, unstable, non-Marxist elements, which, under cover of so-called otzovism, have been opposing the new forms of Party activity.

    At the present time, outlining the basic tasks of the Bolsheviks, the extended editorial board of Proletary states:

    (1)  that in the further struggle for the Party and partyism, the task of the Bolshevik section, which must remain the foremost champion of partyism and of the revolutionary Social-Democratic line in the Party, is to give active and all-round support to the Central Committee and the Central Organ of the Party. In the present period of the re-grouping of Party forces, only the central institutions of the Party can serve as the strong and authoritative representative of the Party line, around which all genuinely partyist and genuinely Social-Democratic elements can be rallied;

    (2)  that in the Menshevik camp of the Party, whose official organ, Golos Sotsial-Demokrata, is fully controlled by the Menshevik liquidators, the minority of this faction, having explored the path of liquidationism to the very end, is already raising its voice in protest against that path and is again seeking a party basis for its activities (the letter of the "Vyborg" Mensheviks* in St. Petersburg, the split among the Mensheviks in Moscow, the split in the editorial board of Golos Sotsial-Demokrata, the corresponding division in the Bund, etc.);

    (3)  that in such circumstances the task of the Bolsheviks, who will remain the solid vanguard of the Party, is not only to continue the struggle against liquidationism and all the varieties of revisionism, but also to establish closer contact with the Marxist and partyist elements of the other groups, dictated by common aims in the struggle for the preservation and consolidation of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party.

 
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  [156] Conference of the Extended Editorial Board of "Proletary " held in Paris on June 8-17 (21-30), 1909 and was attended by nine members of the Bolshevik Centre (elected by the Bolshevik section of the Fifth [London] Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. in 1907) headed by Lenin, and representatives of the St. Petersburg, Moscow Regional and Urals organisations.
    The Conference was called to discuss the conduct of the otzovists and ultimatumists. It dealt with the following questions; (1) otzovism and ultimatumism; (2) god-building tendencies among the Social-Democrats, (3) the attitude to Duma activities among the other fields of Party work; (4) the tasks of the Bolsheviks in the Party; (5) the Party school being set up abroad (on Capri); (6) agitation for a Bolshevik congress or a Bolshevik conference separate from the Party; (7) the breakaway of Comrade Maximov; and other questions.
    The Conference was guided by Lenin, who delivered speeches on all the principal questions of the agenda. Otzovism and ultimatumism were represented and defended at the Conference by A. Bogdanov (Maximov) and V. Shantser (Marat). Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov, and Tomsky took a conciliatory stand.
    The Conference condemned otzovism and ultimatumism, which were qualified as "liquidationism from the left". Bogdanov the guiding spirit of otzovism and ultimatumism, was expelled from the ranks of the Bolsheviks. The Conference also condemned god-building and decided to combat it vigorously and expose its anti-Marxist nature.
    The headings to Lenin's speeches published in this volume have been given by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism.    [p. 425]

  ^[157] St. -- Stanislav Volsky -- A. V. Sokolov. leader of the Moscow otzovists.    [p. 428]

  ^[158] M. T. -- M. P. Tomsky.    [p. 432]

  ^[159] On the Party School Set Up Abroad -- an anti-Party school set up by Bogdanov (Maximov), Alexinsky and Lunacharsky on Capri (Italy) in 1909 with the assistance of Maxim Gorky. The school was the factional centre of the otzovists, ultimatumists and god-builders, who united to fight Bolshevism.
    Under the guise of pro-Party activities the Bogdanovites got some of the local Social-Democratic organisations to send thirteen students to attend the school.
    The school existed about four months (August-December). In November 1909 some of the students headed by the worker N. Y. Vilonov emphatically dissociated themselves from the Bogdanovites when the factional nature of this school became clear to them. They sent to the editors of Proletary a protest against the anti-Party activities of the lecturers, for which they were expelled from the school. On Lenin's invitation they came to Paris, where they attended a cycle of lectures including lectures by Lenin:

 
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"The Present Moment and Our Tasks" and "The Agrarian Policy of Stolypin". In December 1909 the group of students who remained on Capri formed, together with the lecturers, the anti-Party group "Vperyod".
    The conference of the extended editorial board of Proletary condemned the Capri school, which it qualified as "the new centre of a faction that was breaking away from the Bolsheviks".    [p. 432]

  ^[160] God-building -- a religious-philosophical literary trend, hostile to Marxism, which in the period of Stolypin reaction arose among a section of the Party intellectuals who had moved away from Marxism after the defeat of the Revolution of 1905-07.
    The god-builders (Lunacharsky, Bazarov and others) advocated the creation of a new "socialist" religion and tried to reconcile Marxism with religion. At one time Maxim Gorky supported them. An extended meeting of the editorial board of Proletary condemned god-building and declared in a special resolution that the Bolshevik group in the Party had nothing in common with "such a distortion of scientific socialism".
    The reactionary nature of god-building was exposed by Lenin in his book Materialism and Empirio-criticism (see present edition Vol. 14) and in his letters to Gorky in February-April 1908  [Transcriber's Note: See Lenin's letters of February 7, 13, 25, March 24, April 16 and 19. -- DJR] and November-December 1913  [Transcriber's Note: See Lenin's letter of November 13 as well as the undated letter written later that month. -- DJR].    [p. 432]

  ^[161] This refers to the pro-Party Mensheviks, headed by Plekhanov, who came out against the liquidators during the years of reaction. In December 1908 Plekhanov resigned from the editorial board of the liquidators' newspaper Golos Sotsial-Demokrata, and in 1909 he resumed publication of Dnevnik Sotsial-Demokrata (Social-Democrat's Diary ) for the purpose of fighting liquidationism. While adhering to Menshevism, the Plekhanovites at the same time stood for preserving and strengthening the illegal Party organisation, and consented to form a bloc with the Bolsheviks for that purpose. In 1909 groups of pro-Party Mensheviks were formed in Paris, Geneva, San Remo, Nice and other cities. In St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinoslav, Kharkov, Kiev and Baku many Menshevik workers came out against the liquidators in favour of a revival of the illegal R.S.D.L.P.
    Lenin called on the Bolsheviks to seek closer alignment with the pro-Party Mensheviks, saying that an agreement with them was possible on the basis of a struggle for the Party against liquidationism, "without any ideological compromises, without any glossing over of tactical and other differences of opinion within the limits of the Party line" (see present edition, Vol. 16, p. 101  [Transcriber's Note: See Lenin's "Methods of Liquidators and Party Tasks of the Bolsheviks". -- DJR]). The pro-Party Mensheviks participated with the Bolsheviks in the local Party committees, and contributed to the Bolshevik publications: Rabochaya Gazeta (Workers' Gazette ), Zvezda (Star ), and the Central Organ of the Party Sotsial-Demokrat. Lenin's tactics of alignment with the Plekhanovites, which were supported by the majority of the Menshevik workers in Russia, helped to ex-

 
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tend the influence of the Bolsheviks in the legal organisations of the workers and oust the liquidators from them.
    At the end of 1911 Plekhanov broke the bloc with the Bolsheviks. On the pretext of combating "factionalism" and a split in the R.S.D.L.P. he tried to reconcile the Bolsheviks with the opportunists. In 1912 the Plekhanovites, together with the Trotskyists, the Bundists and the liquidators, came out against the decisions of the Prague Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.    [p. 433]

  ^[162] Vlasov -- A. I. Rykov.    [p. 438]

  ^[163] The private meeting -- a meeting of Leninist Bolsheviks called by Lenin on the eve of the conference of the extended editorial board of Proletary. Lenin gave the meeting full information concerning the state of affairs in the Bolshevik section and the struggle against the otzovists, the ultimatumists and the god-builders. The theses contained in Lenin's report formed the basis for the resolutions adopted by the conference of the extended editorial board.    [p. 439]

  ^[164] The First All-Russian Congress of Members of People's Universities' Associations was held in St. Petersburg on January 3-6 (16-19), 1908. During the debate on the question of the activities and organisation of the people's universities the workers' group of the congress, headed by the Bolsheviks, introduced motions demanding that the workers' organisations be represented on the boards of the people's universities with the right to take part in arranging the curricula, choosing desirable lecturers on the social sciences, and recognition of the right of every nationality to give tuition in the native language. The congress rejected these demands as being outside the competence of the congress, after which the workers' representatives walked out.    [p. 447]

  ^[165] The First All-Russian Congress of Representatives of Co-operative Societies was held in Moscow on April 16-21 (April 29-May 4), 1908. It was attended by 824 delegates, about fifty of whom were Social-Democrats (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks). Reports were delivered at the congress on the international co-operative movement on the role and tasks of the co-operative movement, on the legal status of the consumer societies in Russia and other matters.
    Despite the resistance of the Mensheviks, the Bolsheviks formed a Social-Democratic group at the congress and headed the fight of the representatives from the trade unions and workers' co-operatives against the bourgeois co-operators, who were in the majority at the congress. After a number of speeches by spokesmen of the workers, the police imposed a ban on speeches that touched on questions of the class struggle, the trade unions, aid to workers during strikes and lock-outs, the co-operative press and propaganda and even the election of a congress bureau and the periodicity of congresses, the police officer attending the proceedings being instructed to arrest immediately anyone "who made socialist speeches

 
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or motions". As a demonstration of protest against this the congress was closed.    [p. 447]

  ^[166] The First All-Russian Women's Congress was held in St. Petersburg on December 10-16 (23-29), 1908. Among its delegates were many women workers. Under pressure of the latter the congress adopted resolutions on combating alcoholism, on the position of the peasant woman, on labour protection for women and children, on producers' co-operatives, and on equal rights for Jews. On the main issue -- that of the political and civic status of women in the modern community -- the women workers submitted a motion demanding universal, direct, and equal suffrage by secret ballot without distinction of sex, race and religion. The presiding committee of the congress refused to read out the motion and replaced it by one drafted in a liberal-bourgeois spirit. The women workers walked out as a demonstration of protest.    [p. 447]

  ^[167] The First All-Russian Congress of Factory Medical Officers and Representatives of Manufacturing Industry convened on the initiative of the Moscow Society of Factory Medical Officers was held in Moscow on April 1-6 (14-19), 1909. Among its delegates were 52 workers elected by the trade unions chiefly of the big industrial centres (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Ekaterinoslav, Baku, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, etc.).
    According to its sponsors, the congress was to have been a "festival of reconciliation" between workers and capitalists. The Bolsheviks, however who formed a majority of the working-class delegates, succeeded in getting the workers at the congress to take a class, proletarian line, despite the opposition of the liquidationist elements. Speaking on the concrete questions of sanitary and medical arrangements at the factories, the worker delegates exposed the ideas of "class peace" and social reform, and put forward demands based on the programme of the Marxist party. These speeches were of great political significance and had repercussions throughout the country. Especially lively were the debates on the questions of sanitary inspection arrangements (the Bolsheviks' draft resolution on this point was carried) and of the election of the factory inspection by the workers.
    The congress was unable to finish its work. After the police had demanded that no questions liable "to excite class struggle" should be touched on in the debates, and after they had forbidden the motion on the housing question to be put to the vote (since "it mentioned socialism and socialisation of the land") and forbidden some of the worker delegates including the Duma Deputy I. P. Pokrovsky, from continuity their speeches, all the workers and some of the doctors walked out of the congress hall. In view of this the presiding committee decided to close the congress.    [p. 447]