''Iskra'' ( rus, Искра, , ''the Spark'') was a political
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...
of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
n
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
emigrants established as the official organ of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist po ...
(RSDLP).
History
Due to
political repression under Tsar
Nicholas II, it was necessary to publish ''Iskra'' in exile and smuggle it into Russia.
Initially, it was managed by
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 1 ...
, moving as he moved. The first edition was published in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, on December 1, 1900 (other sources say Dec. 11). Other editions were published in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
(1900–1902) and
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
from 1903. When Lenin was in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1902–1903) the newspaper was edited from a small office at 37a Clerkenwell Green, EC1, with
Henry Quelch arranging the necessary printworks.
''Iskra'' quickly became the most successful underground Russian newspaper in 50 years.
In 1903, following the split of the RSDLP, Lenin left the staff (after his initial proposal to reduce the editorial board to three – himself,
Julius Martov
Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the close ...
and
Georgi Plekhanov – was vehemently opposed); the newspaper fell under the control of the
Mensheviks and was published by Plekhanov until 1905. The average circulation was 8,000.
Political viewpoint
''Iskra''s
motto
A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mo ...
was "Из искры возгорится пламя" (''Iz iskry vozgoritsya plamya'' — "From a spark a fire will flare up") — a line from the reply
Alexander Odoevsky wrote to the poem by
Alexander Pushkin addressed to the anti-tsar
Decembrists imprisoned in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...
. The editorial line championed the battle for political freedom as well as the cause of socialist revolution.
[ The paper also ran a number of notable polemics against "economists", who argued against political struggle in favour of pure trade-union activity for the worker's economic interests, as well as the Socialist Revolutionaries, who advocated terror tactics.] In the book ''What Is to Be Done?
''What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement'' is a political pamphlet written by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (credited as N. Lenin) in 1901 and published in 1902. Lenin said that the article represented "a skeleton plan to ...
,'' Lenin argues that trade-union activity, although being a good starting point for revolution, would only stay at the level of trade-unionist politics and wouldn't be capable, in itself, to challenge the aristocracy or capitalism. Lenin, on the other hand, argues for a ''vanguard party
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form or ...
,'' made up of professional revolutionaries, to lead the political struggle and raise the average worker to the level of revolutionaries.
As outlined by Lenin in ''What Is to Be Done?
''What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement'' is a political pamphlet written by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (credited as N. Lenin) in 1901 and published in 1902. Lenin said that the article represented "a skeleton plan to ...
'', ''Iskra'' took the place of a central project to cohere the RSDLP nationally.[
]
Staff
Initial staff members:
* 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 1 ...
(Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov)
* Dmitri Ilyich Ulyanov, his younger brother
* Georgi Plekhanov
* Vera Zasulich
* Pavel Axelrod (Pinchas Borutsch)
* Julius Martov
Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the close ...
(Ilija Cederbaum)
* Aleksandr Potresov
Later:
* Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...
(Lev Davidovich Bronstein)
Some of the staff were later involved in the Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
revolution of October 1917.
Blumenfeld did the printing. Leo Deutsch
Lev Grigorievich Deutsch, also known as Leo Deutsch (russian: Лев Григо́рьевич Дейч) (September 26, 1855 – August 5, 1941) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and one of four founding members of Russia's Marxist Organisation, ...
was the administrator of ''Iskra but'' did not share in the editorial work.Lenin and the Old Iskra; Part II
in ''Lenin'', (1925) by Leon Trotsky
Savva Morozov was one of the people who financed the paper.
See also
* Nina Printing House
Nina was a Samizdat secret underground printing house in Baku, Russian Empire, established in July 1901 by the Baku ''Iskraist'' group, consisting of Lado Ketskhoveli, Leonid Krasin, Nikolay P. Kozerenko, Avel Yenukidze, Semyon Yenukidze, and Lev ...
* ''Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
''
* '' Kommunistka''
* '' Zreniye''
Footnotes
Further reading
* Allan K. Wildman, "Lenin's Battle with Kustarnichestvo: The Iskra Organization in Russia," ''Slavic Review,'' vol. 23, no. 3 (Sept. 1964), pp. 479–503
In JSTOR
{{Authority control
Communist newspapers
Newspapers published in the Russian Empire
Defunct newspapers published in Germany
Newspapers established in 1900
Publications disestablished in 1905
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party