Statement by Three Members of Central Committee

V. I. Lenin

STATEMENT BY THREE MEMBERS
OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Published, with some changes,
in the pamphlet
The Fight for a Congress
by N. Shakhov, Geneva, 1904

Published according to
the manuscript

From V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th English Edition,
Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965

Second Edition

Vol. 7, pp. 430-31.

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)

page 430

<"p430">

STATEMENT BY THREE MEMBERS
OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

The three Central Committee members Glebov, Zverev,[127] and Lenin, having discussed the differences within the Central Committee, have arrived at the following conclusions, which shall be communicated to all members of the Central Committee:

1) The differences arose over the question of summoning a congress. After Lenin and Vasilyev had declared in the Party Council in favour of a congress, the majority of the Central Committee (by five votes to four, Travinsky 's vote having been transferred to Comrade Glebov ) declared against a congress. Lenin and Vasilyev thereupon announced their provisional resignation from the Council. This conflict has now been adjusted[*] by having Glebov and Lenin serve as the Central Committee's representatives on the Council.

2) Comrade Glebov has informed Comrade Lenin that he, Glebov, will resign from the Central Committee unless Lenin gives up agitating (outside the Central Committee) for a congress and works against a congress. Lenin, considering such an attitude to the question wrong and impermissible in principle, states that he will canvass the opinion of each of the Central Committee members and will then give his reply, which can only be whether he, Lenin, is resigning from the Central Committee or not. (What applies to Lenin likewise applies, from Comrade Glebov 's standpoint, to all Central Committee members sharing Lenin's view.)

3) To give an accurate picture of the differences within the Central Committee at the present time, it should be <"fnp430">

* Concerning this see the letter by Lenin appended hereto, which has been approved by Comrade Glebov. (Pp. 426-29 of this volume. --Ed. [Transcriber's Note: See Lenin's "Letter to the Members of the Central Committee". -- DJR]) <"p431">

page 431

stated that Comrade Valentin and Comrade Nikitich,[128] in the declaration written by them in March and approved by Comrade Glebov, stated (1) that they were emphatically opposed to co-optation at the demand of the minority; (2) that they shared the views on organisation set out in the pamphlet What Is To Be Done? and (3) that they, or at least two of them, did not approve of the opportunist position of certain Party writers. As regards a congress, Comrade Glebov is convinced (1) that the difference on this question is causing a duality of policy in the Central Committee, and (2) that a congress may lead to a split. It is because he does not wish to assume responsibility for this that he declares himself bound to resign from the Central Committee. Lenin, on the other hand, considers that the Central Committee, being a body accountable to the congress, must be neutral in the matter of the congress and allow all its members freedom of agitation. As to a split, it is unlikely, for the majority are prepared in principle to make terms at the congress, even to the point of neutralising Iskra.

4) Pending settlement of this conflict all official steps and statements by Comrade Glebov and Comrade Lenin on behalf of the Central Committee shall only be undertaken by their common consent and over their joint signatures.

Central Committee members
Glebov
Zverev
Lenin

Geneva, May 26, 1904

NOTES

^{<"en127">[127]} Zverev -- pseudonym of the Bolshevik Maria Essen, member of the Central, Committee. [p. 430]

^{<"en128">[128]} Nikitich -- pseudonym of L. B. Krasin. [p. 431]

V. I. Lenin

STATEMENT BY THREE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

STATEMENT BY THREE MEMBERS
OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE