To the Party

V. I. Lenin

TO THE PARTY

Written after May 15 (28), 1904

First published in 1930
in Lenin Miscellany XV

Published according to
the manuscript

From V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th English Edition,
Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965
Second Edition
Vol. 7, pp. 432-33.
Translated by Abraham Fineberg and by Naomi Jochel
Edited by Clemens Dutt
Prepared © for the Internet by David J. Romagnolo,djr@marx2mao.org (April 2002)

TO THE PARTY
I. Answer the tittle-tattle about Bonapartism. Nonsense. Beneath dignity to reply. Freedom of agitation for congress. No stand by Central Committee qua talis,[*] unlike Central Organ.
It's the committees that must decide, and the Central Committee invites them to weigh the pros and cons calmly and carefully, hear both sides, study the documents without undue haste, with an awareness of Party duty.
II. Call for positive work. Importance of present juncture: the war. Appeal of Central Committee delegates in the Council.** Repeat. Ideological struggle must not interfere with positive work. Impermissible forms of struggle. Differences and divergencies should not be exaggerated. <"p432">
III. Attempt gradually to establish passable relations. (Karl Kautsky's appeal.[129]) Central Committee proposes terms for a modus vivendi :
1) The right for all six to publish everything at the Party's expense.
2) Idem for writers' group with representation at congress.
3) Suspension for a prolonged period of the appointment and dismissal of members.
4) Guarantee for a prolonged period of certain rights of the minority. <"fnp432">
* As such. --Ed.
** See pp. 147-49 of this volume. --Ed. [Transcriber's Note: See section 1 of Lenin's Session of the Council of the R.S.D.L.P. (January 15-17)". -- DJR]
5) Guarantee that all Party publications will be distributed and delivered at a committee's wish.
6) Truce for at least six months; the finale -- a 16-page pamphlet shared half-and-half. The minority to have the last word.

^{<"en129">[129]} In a letter printed in Iskra, No. 66 (May 15, 1904), Karl Kautsky had urged that no Party Congress to discuss the differences between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks should be called until a "truce" was established in the Party. [p. 432]