Resolution to the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies(1917) |
First published in Novaya Zhizn, No. :163, October 26 (November 8), 1917, p. 3.
Translated by Emanuel Aronsberg.
Sources: The Menshevik-Internationalists’ Resolution in James Bunyan and H.H. Fisher, The Bolshevik revolution, 1917–1918: Documents and materials, Stanford University Press; London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1934, pp. 112–113;
Russian Original: National Library of Russia.
Transcribed and marked up by Zdravko Saveski for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
[First Session of the Second Congress of Soviets]
[On behalf of the Menshevik-Internationalists, L. A. Martov introduced the following resolution]:
In view of the fact (1) that the coup d’etat, which placed all authority in Petrograd in the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee on the eve of the opening of the Congress, was accomplished by the Bolshevik Party alone and by means of a military conspiracy; (2) that this d’etat threatens to produce bloodshed, civil war, and the triumph of a counter-revolution which is likely to drown in blood the proletarian movement together with all the conquests of the revolution; (3) that the sole remedy which might still prevent the outbreak of civil war is an agreement between the insurgent part of the democracy and the remaining democratic organizations, having in view the formation of a democratic government acceptable to the whole revolutionary democracy and to whom the Provisional Government might hand over its authority without a struggle – the Menshevik group calls upon the Congress to resolve that it is absolutely necessary to end the crisis in a peaceful manner, by forming a government composed of representatives of all the democratic elements. With this in view, the Menshevik-Internationalist group invites the Congress to appoint a delegation to enter into negotiations with the other organs of democracy and with all the Socialist parties.
Last updated on 12 May 2021