Resolutions and Decisions of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Volume 1 : The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party 1898-October 1917

This set of four volumes is an indispensable reference work for the study of modern Russia in general and Soviet Communism in particular. Ever since its foundation on the eve of the twentieth century, the organization now called the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been embodying its major policies in documents called 'resolutions and decisions.' These form a much more continuous and extensive record of the evolution of Soviet Communism than the writings of any single leader, and the standard Soviet anthology of these materials has gone through eight editions over a fifty-year period. Yet most of this essential material has been available only in Russian, and even in that language the standard editions have been marred by selectivity and editorial comment that is often politically motivated. At last students of modern Russian studies have access to a multi-volume work that not only presents the most important Communist Party resolutions and decisions in English, but also amplifies the standard Soviet anthology in important respects and provides editorial explanation that is independent of Kremlin politics. The rich store of materials in these four volumes ranges from the formation of the party to the fall of Khrushchev, and it deals with a wide range of issues. The clearly organized volumes each contain a major introductory essay as well as shorter background essays on each party congress, conference or Central Committee plenum. The documents approved by these meetings are often fundamental in importance, but the centralist operation of the party in power has been such that many of the most vital decisions have been issued in the name of the Central Committee when there was no meeting of that body at all. It is one of the signal achievements of these volumes that the selection of materials included was based on a list of all known part decisions, whether or not they have been included in the main Soviet reference work. The four volumes in this series are edited as an integral set. Each contains a subject index in which Russian abbreviations and acronymic names are translated. Tables summarizing the personnel of the main party executive bodies since 1917 are also provided. At the same time each of the volumes is built around a coherent period in the development of Russian Communism, and each reflects the special features of its time.Volume 1 treats the period before the October Revolution of 1917. It is the first collection of materials on the early evolution of the Russian Social Democratic Party that deals with the entire movement, so that the interaction of the various factions of the party may be understood as a whole and not merely in a partisan Leninist framework. This volume also breaks new ground in publishing in English vital records of Communist activity during the Revolution of 1917. General Editor's Introduction 7 Acknowledgments 17 Editor's Preface 19 Contents 21 Introduction 33 I. Party Congress 1-3 March 1898 65 II. Party Congress 17 July -1 o August 1903 70 III. Party Congress 12-27 April 1905 86 Unified Central Committee January 1906 121 London Congress 30 April - 19 May 1907 139 Central Committee on Legal Activities February - March 1908 152 Plenum of the Central Committee 2-23 January 1910 166 Meeting of Members of the Central Committee 28 May - 4 June 1911 173 Prague Conference of the RSDRP 5-17 January 1912 178 Cracow Meeting of the Central Committee 26 December 1912-1 January 1913 200 Meeting of the Central Committee 2-4 April 1914 219 Russian Bureau of the Central Committee 28 February -22 March 1917 228 Index 327