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

PREFACE TO THE COLLECTION TWELVE YEARS109viks, which began at the Second Congress (August 1903).I have cut this pamphlet down by half, since minor detailsof the organisational struggle, especially points concerningthe personal composition of the Party centres, cannot possiblybe of any interest to the present-day reader and, infact, are best forgotten. But what is important, I think,is the analysis of the controversy over tactical and otherconceptions at the Second Congress, and the polemic withthe Mensheviks on matters of organisation. Both are essentialfor an understanding of Menshevism and Bolshevismas trends which have left their mark upon allthe activities of the workers’ party in our revolution.Of the discussions at the Second Congress of the Social-Democratic Party, I will mention the debate on the agrarianprogramme. Events have clearly demonstrated that ourprogramme at the time (return of the cut-off lands 64 ) wasmuch too limited and underestimated the strength of therevolutionary-democratic peasant movement—I shall dealwith this in greater detail in Volume 2 of the present publication.*Here it is important to emphasise that even this excessivelylimited agrarian programme was at that time consideredtoo broad by the Social-Democratic Right wing. Martynovand other Economists opposed it on the grounds that itwent too far! This shows the great practical importanceof the whole struggle that the old Iskra waged against Economism,against attempts to narrow down and belittlethe character of Social-Democratic policy:At that time (the first half of 1904) our differences withthe Mensheviks were restricted to organisational issues.I described the Menshevik attitude as “opportunism inquestions of organisation”. Objecting to this P. B. Axelrodwrote to Kautsky: “My feeble mind just cannot grasp thisthing called ‘opportunism in questions of organisation’which is now being brought to the fore as something independentand having no direct connection with programmaticand tactical views.” (Letter of June 6, 1904, reprintedin the new-Iskra collection Two Years, Part II,p. 149.)* See pp. 256-58 of this volume.—Ed.