Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad was an organization of emigrant

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 ...

socialists, set up in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1894 on the initiative of the

Emancipation of Labour Emancipation of Labour (russian: Освобождение труда) was the first Russian Marxist group. It was founded in exile by Georgi Plekhanov, Vasily Ignatov, Vera Zasulich, Leo Deutsch, and Pavel Axelrod, at Geneva (Switzerland) in 1883. ...

group. It had its own printing press for issuing revolutionary literature, and published the newspapers ''Rabotnik'' ("The Worker") and '' Listok Rabotnika'' ("The Worker's Paper"). Initially, the Emancipation of Labour group directed the Union and edited its publications. But afterwards opportunist elements ('the young' or

Economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

) gained the upper hand within the Union. In the spring of 1898, the first congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party recognised the Union as the party representative abroad. At the first congress of the Union in November 1898, the Emancipation of Labour group announced that it would no longer edit the publications of the Union. The final break and the withdrawal of the group from the Union took place at the second congress of the Union in April 1900; the Emancipation of Labour group and its followers walked out of the congress and set up an independent organisation, '' Sotsial-Demokrat''. From April 1899 to February 1902 the Union published ''

Rabocheye Delo ''Rabocheye Delo'' ( rus, Рабочее дело, ''The Workers' Cause'') was a non-periodical political newspaper and an organ of the Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad. It ran from April 1899 to February 1902. The printing house was in G ...

'' ("The Workers' Cause") in Geneva. It was edited by Boris N. Krichevsky, Aleksandr S. Martynov, Pavel F. Teplov and Vladimir P. Ivanshin. In September 1900, the 5th International Socialist Congress of the

Second International The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...

, held in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, set up the

International Socialist Bureau The International Socialist Bureau (French: ''Bureau Socialiste International'') was the permanent organization of the Second International, established at the Paris congress of 1900. Before this there was no organizational infrastructure to the "Se ...

, the permanent organisation of the International, with representatives of all socialist parties adhered to it. Each country was to send one to three representatives to each plenary meeting, held every year. Russia initially sent Georgi Plekhanov, of Emancipation of Labour, and Boris Krichevsky, editor of ''Rabocheye Delo'', both of whom were in opposing sides of the conflict within the Union. Krichevsky remained a member of the Bureau from its formation until the 2nd meeting, in December 1902. Plekhanov was a delegate various times between the foundation and 1912.

References

Defunct socialist parties in Russia Political parties established in 1894 Political parties in the Russian Empire Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Social democratic parties in Russia Diaspora organizations of political parties {{Russia-politics-stub