5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
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The 5th (London) Congress of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...
was held in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
between May 13 and June 1, 1907. The 5th Congress had the largest attendance of the Congresses of the unified RSDLP.Thatcher, Ian D.
Trotsky
'. Routledge Historical Biographies. London: Routledge, 2003. p. 49
Thirty-five sessions of the Congress were held in the Brotherhood Church in Hackney, during which stormy debates took place. Service, Robert.
Stalin: A Biography
'. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. p. 65


Delegations

338 delegates attended the Congress. There were: * 105
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
delegates, representing 33,000 members * 97 Menshevik delegates representing 43,000 members * 59 Bundist delegates representing 33,000 members * 44 Polish Social Democrat (SDKPiL) delegates, representing 28,000 members * 29 Latvian Social Democrat delegates, representing 13,000 members * 4 'non-faction' delegates 300 of the delegates had voting rights.Minczeles, Henri. ''Histoire générale du Bund: un mouvement révolutionnaire juif''. Paris: Editions Austral, 1995. p. 475
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
was a delegate, representing the Upper Kama region. Also attending were
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
and
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
.


Debates

During the Congress, the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions of the party clashed. The Bolsheviks argued in favour of preparations for an armed uprising against Czarist rule, which Menshevik leader Julius Martov denounced as ' putschist'. Another disagreement was how the party should relate to the
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
movement.Minczeles, Henri. ''Histoire générale du Bund: un mouvement révolutionnaire juif''. Paris: Editions Austral, 1995. pp. 194–195 The Mensheviks argued for creating a 'Workers' Congress', as a first step towards transforming the party into a West European-style legal Social Democratic party. On both of these issues, the Bolsheviks were supported by Polish and Latvian Social Democrats, guaranteeing a revolutionary majority at the Congress. In the clashes between the Bolshevik–Polish–Latvian and the Menshevik–Bundist sides, Trotsky (who had escaped from captivity) acted as an intermediary (attending as a non-voting delegate). Having adopted a 'centrist' position, he was the sole person at the Congress who could mediate between the two sides. Souvarine, Boris.
Stalin: a Critical Survey of Bolshevism
'. Gardners Books, 2007. p. 107
Another debated issue was "expropriations". To support their political activities, the RSDLP and other revolutionary groups in Russia (such as the
Socialist Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...
and various
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
factions) used "expropriations", a euphemism for armed robberies of government offices or private businesses. Lenin and the most militant Bolsheviks supported continued "expropriations", while the Mensheviks advocated a non-violent approach to revolution. The 5th Congress passed a resolution which condemned participation in or assistance to all violent activity, including "expropriations", as "disorganising and demoralizing", and called for all party militias to be disbanded. This resolution passed with 65 % supporting and 6 % opposing (others abstained or did not vote). All Mensheviks and even some Bolsheviks voted in favor. Ironically, one of the most famous "expropriations" (the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, organized by a small group of Bolsheviks) took place only weeks after this vote.


Naming dispute

Another controversy erupted over the naming of the Congress. The Bolsheviks referred to the meeting as the "Fifth Congress". One delegate, Fyodor Dan, opposed this naming. In 1905 the Bolsheviks had held a " Third Party Congress", which the Mensheviks and the Bund didn't recognize as an official party meeting. Therefore, they objected to the 1907 meeting being designated the "Fifth Congress". Bundist delegate L. G. Shapiro proposed the name "London Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party", which was adopted.V. I. Lenin.
The Fifth Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.
'


Election

Although the Congress saw several victories for the Bolsheviks, in the elections to the 5th Central Committee and the editorial board of the party newspaper ''Sotsial-Demokrat'' neither of the Russian factions won a majority. The Polish and Latvian Social Democrats, who were troubled by the Bolshevik-Menshevik division, supported both sides at various times. The newly elected Central Committee had twelve full members and 22 alternate members. Two Bundists were included in the Central Committee at a later stage,
Raphael Abramovitch Raphael Abramovitch Rein (Рафаил Абрамович Рейн; 21 July 1880 – 11 April 1963), best known as Raphael Abramovitch, was a Russian socialist, a member of the General Jewish Labour Union, General Jewish Workers' Union in Lithuani ...
and Mikhail Liber. The elected Central Committee was sharply divided along factional lines, and could not function as a unified party leadership. At the end of the congress, the Bolshevik delegates elected a Bolshevik Centre led by Lenin.


References


Bibliography

* * * *
"The London Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party
– (Notes of a Delegate)", J.V. Stalin, June 20 and July 10, 1907, on marxists.org {{CPSU Congresses 1907 in London 1907 conferences Congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party May 1907 in Europe June 1907 in Europe 1900s political conferences Conferences in London