Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

PREFACE TO THE COLLECTION TWELVE YEARS105break with many of the circle traditions, forget and discardmany of the trivial features of circle activity and circlesquabbles, so as to concentrate on the tasks of Social-Democracyin the present period. Only the broadening of theParty by enlisting proletarian elements can, in conjunctionwith open mass activity, eradicate all the residue of thecircle spirit which has been inherited from the past and isunsuited to our present tasks. And the transition to a democraticallyorganised workers’ party, proclaimed by theBolsheviks in Novaya Zhizn 62 in November 1905,* i.e.,as soon as the conditions appeared for legal activity—thistransition was virtually an irrevocable break with theold circle ways that had outlived their day.Yes, “that had had outlived their day”, for it is not enoughto condemn the old circle spirit; its significance in thespecial circumstances of the past period must be understood.The circles were necessary in their day and played apositive role. In an autocratic state, especially in thesituation created by the whole history of the Russian revolutionarymovement, the socialist workers’ party couldnot develop except from these circles. And the circles,i.e., close-knit, exclusive groups uniting a very smallnumber of people and nearly always based on personalfriendship, were a necessary stage in the development ofsocialism and the workers’ movement in Russia. As themovement grew, it was confronted with the task of unitingthese circles, forming strong links between them, and establishingcontinuity. This called for a firm base ofoperations “beyond the reach” of the autocracy—i.e.,abroad. The circles abroad, therefore, came into being throughnecessity. There was no contact between them; theyhad no authority over them in the shape of the Party inRussia, and it was inevitable that they should differ intheir understanding of the movement’s main tasks at thegiven stage, that is, an understanding of how exactly to setup a base of operations and in what way they could helpto build the Party as a whole. A struggle betweenthe circles was, therefore, inevitable. Today, in retrospect,we can clearly see which of the circles was really in a posi-* See present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 29-39.—Ed.