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Congresses IndexSeventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks); Petrograd city-wide conference of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks). April 1917.
The minutes of the VII (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) are one of the most important sources for studying the activities of the Communist Party during the preparation and implementation of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Protocols of the VII (April) All-Russian and Petrograd City Conferences of the RSDLP (b) were first published by the Istpart of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in 1925. and republished by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in 1934.
The Seventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (B), the first legal conference of the Bolshevik Party, was held in Petrograd on April 24-29 (May 7-12) 1917. There were 133 delegates with a decisive vote and 18 with an advisory vote, representing up to 80 thousand members parties from 78 large party organizations. On the eve of the conference, an internal party discussion on the April Theses of V.I. Lenin, who charted the party's course for a socialist revolution.
The work of the conference was directed by Lenin, who made reports more than 20 times in debates, wrote almost all draft resolutions.
In his report on the current situation, Lenin comprehensively substantiated the political course of the party for the preparation and implementation of the socialist revolution. A co-report was made by L.B. Kamenev, who tried to prove that the bourgeois-democratic revolution was allegedly not over and that Russia was not ripe for a socialist revolution. He was supported by A.I. Rykov, who argued that in Russia there are no objective conditions for the victory of the socialist revolution, that socialism must come from the West. The conference rejected Kamenev's point of view and adopted a Leninist resolution. It stated that the proletariat of Russia should lead the revolution and explain to the people the urgency of solving a number of issues: nationalization of the land, the establishment of state control over all banks with their unification into a single central bank, establishing control over insurance institutions and the largest syndicates of capitalists. The Conference declared that these measures, as well as universal labor service, could be implemented by the Soviets as soon as they become organs of the people's power.
The resolution of the conference "On Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies" substantiated the slogan "All Power to the Soviets!" and the task of the party to strengthen and expand its influence in them. Under the conditions of the dual power formed in the country, the conference put forward a course for the peaceful development of the revolution, for the conquest of power by the Soviets both in the center and in the localities.
The resolution "On the attitude towards the Provisional Government" noted that long-term work should be carried out to clarify the class consciousness and rally the proletarians of town and country, a break with the policy of trust in the Provisional Government, the organization and arming of the proletariat, strengthening its ties with the army as the most important condition ensuring a peaceful transfer of power to the Soviets.
In the resolution "On War", the conference emphasized that the imperialist war can be ended only by transferring state power to the Soviets, which will take the matter of concluding peace into their own hands, that the Bolshevik Party does not support either an imperialist war or the Provisional Bourgeois Government, which carried out the previous the policy of tsarism. The conference dissociated itself from the so-called revolutionary defencism, identifying it as one of the main obstacles on the way to a quick end to the war.
In a report on the agrarian question, Lenin substantiated the demands for the confiscation of the landowners' lands and the nationalization of all the land. The implementation of these measures would not only liquidate the landlord class, but also deal a blow to the bourgeoisie, since most of the landlord's lands were laid down in banks. The party advised the peasants to take land immediately and in an orderly manner, without waiting for the Constituent Assembly, despite the suggestions of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
Stalin's report and the resolution of the conference on the national question consolidated and developed the party's programmatic demands for complete equality of all nations and languages. The counter-rapporteur was G.L. Pyatakov, who proposed considering the national question on the basis that the victory of the socialist revolution is supposedly possible only simultaneously in the whole world or in most countries; therefore, from an economic and economic point of view, the independence of nations is an antiquated and obsolete phenomenon. In this regard, he suggested waging the struggle for socialism under the slogan "Get out of the border!" F.E. Dzerzhinsky and F.I. Makharadze believed that the demand for the right of nations to self-determination is contrary to internationalism. The conference adopted a Leninist resolution on the national question. It said that for all the nations that are part of Russia, the right to free separation and formation of an independent state must be recognized. At the same time, the conference pointed out that it is impermissible to confuse this right with the expediency of secession of this or that nation at one time or another.
The conference decided that unification with parties and groups that stand on the positions of "revolutionary defencism" is impossible, emphasizing the need for rapprochement and unification with groups and trends that actually stand on the basis of internationalism and decisively break with the policy of a bloc with the bourgeoisie.
The conference adopted Lenin's resolution on revising the program, which determined in which direction the program should be developed; instructed the Central Committee to draw up a draft of a new program and submit it for approval to the party congress.
When deciding on the "Situation in the International ..." the delegates of the conference agreed with Zinoviev's proposal to remain in the Zimmerwald Association and participate in the conference of its supporters. Lenin voted against this decision.
At the conference he was elected by secret ballot of the Central Committee of 9 people (Lenin, Zinoviev, Stalin, Kamenev, Milyutin, Nogin, Sverdlov, Smilga, Fedorov).
The conference, in terms of the completeness of its representation, in the importance of the tasks it solved, played the role of a party congress. She outlined the party's course for the development of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one.
Petrograd city conference of the RSDLP (b),
took place on April 14-22 (April 27 - May 5) 1917, on the eve of the All-Russian conference. The work of the citywide conference was based on Lenin's April theses of V.I. Lenin.
At the Petrograd conference, V.I. Lenin delivered a report on the current situation, in which he outlined the tasks of the party in the revolution. Lenin prepared draft resolutions on the attitude towards the Provisional Government, on the communal issue, on the attitude towards the Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik parties, as well as a draft resolution on the war.
Against the course for a socialist revolution outlined by V.I. Lenin, Kamenev spoke at the conference. Justifying the need to strengthen the alliance of the proletariat and the poorest part of the peasantry as the most important condition for the victory of the revolution, V.I. Lenin condemned attempts to oppose the interests of the working class and the peasant poor. "Trotskyism -" Without a tsar, but a workers' government. " This is not true, Lenin pointed out at the conference. - There is a petty bourgeoisie, it cannot be thrown out. But it has two parts. The poorest part of it goes with the working class. "
The Petrograd city-wide conference of the RSDLP (b) adopted the outlined V.I. Lenin's plan of struggle for the socialist revolution.
In the texts of the documents of both conferences, the Bolshevik party is everywhere and everywhere referred to as the RSDLP, but in the printed text of the book, including in the titles of party documents given by the editors, the party is called exclusively RSDLP (b).