V. I.   Lenin

The Question of Organisation[1]


Published: Volna, No. 18, May 10, 1906. Published according to the Volna text.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1965, Moscow, Volume 10, page 406.
Translated:
Transcription\Markup: R. Cymbala
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2004). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.README


The Bolsheviks plainly stated, in the committee appointed by the Congress to draft the Party Rules, that any attempt to curtail the autonomy of the local organisations and the rights of the opposition as formulated by the factional Third Congress will inevitably lead to a split. That is why the Bolsheviks insisted that the right to call for another Congress should not be restricted, etc. The Bolsheviks proposed that a clause be inserted in the Rules to the effect that members of the Party, on changing their place of residence, should have the right to belong to the local Party organisation. The Congress rejected this proposal, but adopted a resolution stating that it rejected the clause solely because it was superfluous and self-evident.

Thus the Mensheviks promised to remain loyal to the agreement, and not to resort to the mean trick of “chucking out” dissidents. Let the Party watchfully see to it that they keep their promise. The Party’s control is the only guarantee that a split will be precluded.


Notes

[1] Lenin wrote the note “The Question of Organisation” by way of an editorial afterword to an article of that name dealing with the relations between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks in the local Party organisations.


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