Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 31 - From Marx to Mao

427SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE MOSCOW GUBERNIACONFERENCE OF THE R.C.P.(B.)ON ELECTIONS TO THE MOSCOW COMMITTEENOVEMBER 21, 1920Comrades, I have often—perhaps too often—had to takepart in elections: in Party elections following on a strugglewaged by various groups, trends and even factions, and inconditions of a most furious struggle marked by mutualcontrol to such a degree that no voting at any Party cellwas considered valid unless conducted in the presence ofscrutineers from both groups, who counted the votes cast.Never, however, has the principle of proportional representationbeen practised in the election of guiding bodies—the Petrograd Committee, the Moscow Committee or theCentral Committee. When two groups, two trends or factions,are contesting elections, proportional representationis essential in calling a Party conference as a directing body,or a Party congress. When, however, it is a question ofsetting up an executive body charged with the conduct ofpractical work, proportional representation has never beenapplied, and can hardly be considered justified. I thinkthat, in this connection, the preceding speaker departedfrom the proportional principle when he declared, togetherwith Ignatov, that it stood to the credit of the list presentedby him that it proposed eleven candidates, as he said.I am not in a position to verify eleven out of the thirtyeight,but I think that the concession should be greater thanthat desired by the effective majority at this assembly, orby the group that consider themselves adherents of theMoscow Committee. I have already elaborated on the motivesbehind this view, but what should stand first now is