The 1st Congress of the RSDLP (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия, РСДРП) was held between 13 March – 15 March (1 March–3 March O.S.) 1898 in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) in secrecy. The venue was a house belonging to Rumyantsev, a railway worker on the outskirts of Minsk (now in the town centre). The cover story was that they were celebrating the nameday of Rumyantsev's wife. A stove was kept burning in the next room in case secret papers had to be burnt.

Proceedings

The Congress was convened by three major

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

groups from different areas of the Russian Empire. # The

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

-based

League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class The St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (russian: Союз борьбы за освобождение рабочего класса, ''Sojuz borʹby za osvobozhdenie rabochego klassa,'' known sometimes in En ...

, which had been active since 1895. The future founder of

Menshevism The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...

Juliy Martov and the future founder of

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

were among its leaders in 1895-1896. Although one of the oldest in the Empire, this group could not play a significant role since it had been recently weakened by arrests. # The General Jewish Labour Bund, which had united

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

speaking social democrats in the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...

in September 1897. At the time, the Bund was the largest socialist group in the Empire and sponsored the Congress. # The social democratic organization formed in 1897 around the

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

-based ''

Rabochaya Gazeta ''Rabochaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Рабочая Газета, p=rɐˈbot͡ɕɪjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Workers' Newspaper) was an illegal social democratic newspaper in the Russian Empire, published in 1897 in Kiev. It was an organ of the Russian Social Dem ...

'' (''Workers' Newspaper''). There were 9 delegates to the Congress representing these three groups as well as social democrats from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

. The

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

socialists refused to come thinking the move premature. There were 6 sessions, with no minutes taken because of the need for secrecy; only resolutions were recorded. The major issues discussed by the delegates were merging all social democratic groups into one party and selecting the party's name. The Congress also elected a

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of three: Stepan Radchenko, one of the oldest Russian social democrats and a leader of the Saint Petersburg League,

Boris Eidelman Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...

of ''Rabochaya Gazeta'' and Arkadi Kremer, a Jewish Bund leader. The Manifesto of the new party was written by

Peter Struve Peter (or Pyotr or Petr) Berngardovich Struve (russian: Пётр Бернга́рдович Стру́ве; pronounced ; 26 January 1870 in Perm, Russia, Perm – 22 February 1944 in Paris) was a Russian Political economy, political economist, ph ...

at Radchenko's request. The Central Committee elected by Congress printed the Manifesto and the resolutions of the Congress, but five of the nine delegates were arrested by the

Okhrana The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order (russian: Отделение по охранению общественной безопасности и порядка), usually called Guard Department ( rus, Охранное отд ...

within a month. The first Congress failed to unite the Russian Social Democracy, neither through the proposed Statutes nor the Programme. A wave of police repression followed, which prevented the party from functioning as a cohesive body for several years and ushered in a period of internal schisms and dissension. Three of the delegates weren't arrested, but only because Zubatov thought they would lead him to other members.THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF RUSSIA, Volume II - Imperial Russia, 1689-1917 page 645 It was not until 1903 that the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP was held abroad and adopted the party's Charter and Programme.

Central Committee

Notes

External links

Manifesto and some supplementary material on the congress, from a 1903 pamphlet
(Russian) {{CPSU Congresses 1898 in the Russian Empire 1898 conferences March 1898 events Congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party