NOTES
[117]
Decembrists -- Russian revolutionaries of the nobility who fought against serfdom and the autocracy. They raised an armed revolt on December 14, 1825.
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[118]
Kolokol (The Bell ) -- a political journal published under the motto Vivos voco! (I call on the living!) by A. I. Herzen and N. P. Ogaryov from July 1, 1857 to April 1865 in London, and from May 1865 to July 1867 in Geneva. Published as a monthly and for some time as a fortnightly, it put out 245 issues. In 1868 the journal was published in French (15 issues in all) with an occasional supplement in Russian. Kolokol, which was published in 2,500 copies and circulated throughout Russia, exposed the tyranny of the autocracy, the extortion and embezzlement practised by the government officials, and the ruthless exploitation of the peasants by the landlords. Kolokol addressed revolutionary calls to the masses rousing them to the struggle against the tsarist government an the ruling classes.
The leading organ of the revolutionary uncensored press and the precursor of the working-class press in Russia, Kolokol played an important role in the development of the general democratic and revolutionary movement, in the struggle against the autocracy and serfdom.
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[119]
Belinsky's Letter to Gogol was written in July 1847, and first published in 1855 in Herzen's Polyarnaya Zvezda (The Pole Star ).
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[120]
Narodism -- a petty-bourgeois trend in the Russian revolutionary movement, which arose between the sixties and seventies of the nineteenth century. The Narodniks were out to abolish the autoc-
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racy and hand over the landed estates to the peasantry. At the same time they denied the tendency towards the development of capitalist relations in Russia, and consequently, considered the peasantry, not the proletariat, the principal revolutionary force. They regarded the village commune as the embryo of socialism. In their endeavour to rouse the peasants to the struggle against the autocracy, the Narodniks went into the villages, "among the people", but they met no support there.
In the eighties and nineties the Narodniks adopted a policy of conciliation with tsarism. They expressed the interests of the kulaks and waged a fierce struggle against Marxism.
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[121]
The reference is to the First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. held in Minsk on March 1-3 (13-15), 1898. The Congress was attended by nine delegates from six organisations: the St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinoslav and Kiev Leagues of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, from the Kiev Rabochaya Gazeta group and from the Bund. The Congress elected a Central Committee of the Party, confirmed Rabochaya Gazeta as the Party's official organ, published a Manifesto, and proclaimed the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad the foreign representative of the Party.
The First Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. was significant in that it adopted decisions and a Manifesto proclaiming the establishment of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, thereby playing an important role in the matter of revolutionary propaganda. The Congress, however, did not adopt a Programme or draft Party Rules. The Central Committee elected at the Congress was soon arrested and the printing-press of Rabochaya Gazeta was seized, thus making it impossible for the Congress to unite and establish contact between the various Marxist circles and organisations. There was no single central leadership and no single line in the work of the local organisations.
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[122]
St. Petersburg Rabochy Listok (St. Petersburg Workers' Bulletin ) -- organ of the St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Two issues appeared -- No. 1 in February (dated January) 1897 mimeographed in Russia in 300 -- 400 copies, and No. 2 in September 1897 in Geneva in printed form.
The newspaper put forward the task of combining the economic struggle of the working class with broad political demands, and stressed the need for creating a workers' party.
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[123]
Rabotnik (The Worker ) -- a non-periodical symposium published abroad in 1896-99 by the Union of Russian Social-Democrats under the editorship of the Emancipation of Labour group. The symposium was issued on the initiative of Lenin who, during his journey abroad in 1895, made arrangements with Plekhanov and Axelrod for the symposium to be edited and published by the Emancipation of Labour group. On his return to Russia Lenin did much to organise support for this publication and have articles and cor-
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respondence sent to it from Russia. Before his arrest in December 1895 Lenin had prepared and forwarded to Rabotnik an obituary article "Frederick Engels' and several items of correspondence, some of which (those from A. A. Vaneyev, M. A. Silvin, and S. P. Shesternin) were published in No. 1-2 and No. 5-6 of the symposium.
Altogether six issues of Rabotnik were published in three books and 10 issues of Listok Rabotnika.
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[124]
Vperyod (Forward ) -- an illegal Bolshevik weekly published in Geneva from December 22, 1904 (January 4, 1905) to May 5 (18), 1905. Eighteen issues were put out. Its organiser, manager and guiding spirit was Lenin. Other members of the editorial board were V. V. Vorovsky, A. V Lunacharsky, and M. S. Olminsky. All correspondence, including that of the local committees in Russia, was handled by N. K. Krupskaya. Lenin defined the content of the newspaper in the following words: "The line of Vperyod is the line of the old 'Iskra'. In the name of the old Iskra, Vperyod resolutely combats the new Iskra." (See present edition, Vol. 8, p. 130 [Transcriber's Note: See Lenin's "A Brief Outline of the Split in the R.S.D.L.P.". -- DJR].) Besides leading articles, Lenin wrote numerous paragraphs for Vperyod and rewrote items of correspondence. Some articles were written by Lenin in co-operation with other members of the editorial board (Vorovsky, Olminsky and others). Over sixty articles and minor items by Lenin were published in Vperyod. Some issues of the newspaper, e.g., Nos. 4 and 5, which dealt with the events of January 9 (22), 1905, and the beginning of the revolution in Russia, were written almost entirely by Lenin. His articles in Vperyod were often reprinted in the local Bolshevik press and published in the form of leaflets and pamphlets.
The outstanding role which the newspaper played in combating Menshevism, reasserting the Party principle, formulating and elucidating the issues posed by the rising revolution, and fighting for a congress to be convened, was acknowledged in a special resolution of the Third Party Congress which recorded a vote of thanks to the editorial board. By a decision of the Third Congress the newspaper Vperyod was superceded by Proletary.
Proletary (The Proletarian ) -- an illcgal Bolshevik weekly Central Organ of the R.S.D.L.P., founded in accordance with a resolution of the Third Party Congress. By a decision of the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee of April 27 (May 10), 1905, Lenin was appointed Editor-in-Chief. Proletary was published in Geneva from May 14 (27) to November 12 (25), 1905. Twenty-six issues were put out.
Proletary carried on the line of the old, Leninist, Iskra and preserved complete continuity with the Bolshevik newspaper Vperyod.
Lenin wrote about ninety articles and paragraphs for the newspaper. His articles determined the paper's political character its ideological message and Bolshevik trend. Lenin bore a heavy burden of the work on the newspaper as manager and editor, receiving regular assistance from the other members of the editorial board -- Vorovsky, Lunacharsky and Olminsky.
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Proletary reacted immediately to all important events in the Russian and international labour movement, and waged a relentless struggle against the Mensheviks and other opportunist revisionist elements. The newspaper did a great deal to propagandise the decisions of the Third Party Congress, and played an important part in rallying the Bolsheviks organisationally and ideologically. Proletary consistently advocated revolutionary Marxism and formulated all the basic issues involved in the rising revolution in Russia. The newspaper highlighted the events of 1905 and roused the broad masses of the working people to the struggle for the victory of the revolution.
Proletary gave a good deal of attention to the local Social-Democratic organisations. Some of Lenin's articles in this newspaper were reprinted by the local Bolshevik newspapers and distributed in leaflet form. Proletary suspended publication shortly after Lenin's departure for Russia early in November 1905. The last two issues (Nos. 25 and 26) were edited by Vorovsky, but even these contained several articles by Lenin, which were published after his departure from Geneva.
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[125]
Novaya Zhizn (New Life ) -- the first legal Bolshevik newspaper published as a St. Petersburg daily from October 27 (November 9) to December 3 (16), 1905. Lenin took over the editorship upon his return to Russia early in November. Novaya Zhizn was virtually the Central Organ of the R.S.D.L.P. Closely associated with the paper were V. V. Vorovsky, M. S. Olminsky, A. V. Lunacharsky and others. Maxim Gorky was an active contributor to the paper, to which he gave substantial financial aid.
Issue No. 9 of the paper for November 10, 1905 carried Lenin's first article "The Reorganisation of the Party", which was followed by more than ten articles from his pen. The paper's circulation reached 80,000, despite constant persecution. Fifteen of the paper's twenty-seven issues were confiscated and destroyed. It was banned after publication of issue No. 27 on December 2 (15) No. 28 being put out illegally.
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[126]
Nachalo (The Beginning ) -- a legal Menshevik daily published in St. Petersburg from November 13 (26) to December 2 (15), 1905. Sixteen issues came out. The editors and publishers of the newspaper were D. M. Herzenstein and S. N. Saltykov, and among the contributors were P. B. Axelrod, F. I. Dan, L. G. Deutsch, N. I. Yordansky, L. Martov, and A. N. Potresov.
[p. 251]
[127]
Volna (The Wave ) -- a legal Bolshevik daily published in St. Petersburg from April 26 (May 9) to May 24 (June 6), 1906. Twenty-five issues were put out. Beginning with No. 9 for May 5 (18), 1906 (after the close of the Fourth Congress and Lenin's arrival from Stockholm) the paper was virtually edited by Lenin. Some twenty-five articles by him were published in the paper. Others on the editorial staff were V. V. Vorovsky and M. S. Olminsky. Volna was subjected to frequent police repressions and was eventually
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closed down by the tsarist government. Its place was taken by the legal Bolshevik paper Vperyod.
Ekho (The Echo ) -- a legal Bolshevik daily published in St. Petersburg from June 22 (July 5) to July 7 (20), 1906 in place of the suppressed newspaper Vperyod. Fourteen issues were put out. Actually the paper was edited by Lenin, whose articles appeared in every issue. Lenin also conducted the "Book and Magazine" section.
Almost every issue of the newspaper was subjected to repressions twelve of the fourteen issues being seized by the police.
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[128]
Narodnaya Duma (People's Duma ) -- a Menshevik daily published in St. Petersburg in March-April 1907 in place of the suppressed Russkaya Zhizn. Twenty-one issues of the paper came out.
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