Poronin 1913 Meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP with Party

a meeting held in Poronin, near Zakopane, from Sept. 23 (Oct. 6) to Oct. 1 (14). For security purposes, the meeting was called the August or Summer Meeting. There were 22 participants. The voting members were V. I. Lenin and G. E. Zinoviev from the Central Committee, L. B. Kamenev from the central press organ, A. A. Troianovskii from the editorial board of the journal Prosveshchenie, I. F. Armand from the organ of the Central Committee Rabotnitsy, and N. K. Krupskaia, secretary of the Central Committee. The remaining voting participants were members of the Social Democratic faction of the Fourth State Duma—A. E. Badaev, G. I. Petrovskii, M. K. Muranov, N. R. Shagov, and R. V. Malinovskii (later revealed to be an agent provocateur)— and the local party officials la. T. Novozhilov, F. Balashov, E. F. Rozmirovich. S. I. Deriabina, A. V. Shotman, and A. I. Lobov (later revealed to be an agent provocateur). Participating in an advisory capacity were la. S. Ganetskii, H. Stein-Kamień ski, J. Leński and Andrei (apparently Leon Fersht), all members of the rozlamovtsy (left wing of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania). Z. I. Lilina, a member of the secretariat of the Central Committee, also participated in an advisory capacity.

The meeting was led by Lenin, who presented reports on the work of the Central Committee, the national question, the international socialist congress in Vienna, and other questions on the agenda. He also drafted all the resolutions of the meeting. The participants heard reports from various local organizations on the immediate goals of political agitation, on the organizational question, on the party congress, on the strike movement, on the party press, on the activity of the Social Democrats in the Duma, on the Social Democratic faction in the Duma, on work in legal societies, and on the Narodniki (populists). The meeting noted the rise of the working class movement in the country and the approach of revolution and the general decline in influence of the Liquidators. It stressed that the main revolutionary slogans of the party remained the democratic republic, the confiscation of estates, and the eight-hour work day. The participants resolved to begin agitation for an all-Russia political strike.

The meeting stressed that the legal press had become a powerful tool for the bolshevization of the masses. The party organizations pledged to support the press with subscriptions and collections, which were considered as membership dues. At the same time, the participants resolved to expand illegal publications. In order to strengthen revolutionary agitation, it was recommended that the Bolshevik deputies make wider use of the Duma’s tribune. The meeting demanded equal rights for the Bolshevik and Menshevik deputies within the Social Democratic faction, since the Mensheviks were infringing upon the rights of the Bolshevik deputies. It was decided to intensify efforts in legal organization, such as unions and clubs, in order to transform them into party strongholds. A resolution on the national question rejected the Menshevik and Bund position concerning cultural-national autonomy and stressed that the interests of the working class required the union of proletarians of all nationalities of the state into unified political, trade-union, and cooperative educational organizations. It was also decided that Social Democrats must defend the right of oppressed nations to self-determination, including secession and the creation of independent states.

The meeting recognized its main organizational tasks to be the strengthening of the party’s ruling organizations in each city and the creation of party organizations at the oblast level. On the question of the coming party congress, the meeting instructed party organizations to prepare an agenda and draw up resolutions.

In terms of its significance in the history of the Communist Party, the Poronin meeting has the importance of a party conference.