15
Speech on the Amendments to the Resolution
on the Provisional Revolutionary Government

On the whole I share the opinion of Comrade Zimin. It is only natural that, as publicist, I should have given my attention to the literary formulation of the question. Comrade Zimin has very properly stressed the importance of the aim which our struggle pursues, and I subscribe to all he has said. You cannot fight if you do not expect to capture the point you are fighting for....

Comrade Zimin's amendment to Point 2: "that the establishment, etc. ... a provisional government, which alone", etc., is quite to the purpose, and I readily accept it.

This is likewise true of the amendment to Point 3; it is very appropriate to show here that under the present social and economic conditions the bourgeoisie will of necessity grow stronger.

In point (a) of the resolution, the wording "the proletariat will demand" is better than my formulation, since it shifts the emphasis to the proletariat. In point (b) the reference to the dependence on the relation of forces is also quite appropriate. This formulation, in my opinion, renders Comrade Andreyev's amendment unnecessary^[1]. Incidentally, I should like to know the opinion of the comrades from Russia as to whether the expression "immediate demands" is clear enough or whether we should not add "the minimum programme" in parenthesis. In point (c) I use the word "are", while Comrade Zimin proposes "should be"; evidently a stylistic correction is needed here. Where Party control is dealt with, I think my old formulation "the safeguarding of the independence of the Social-Democratic Party" is better than "preserving", which Comrade Zimin proposes. Our task is not only to "preserve" the independence of the Social-Democratic Party, but constantly to "safeguard" it. Comrade Sosnovsky's amendment to this point only mars the formulation by making it vaguer. Comrade Andreyev's proposals for changes are covered in part in the points of my resolution and of Comrade Zimin's. Incidentally, it is hardly appropriate to put "provisional government" in the plural in the formulation, as Comrade Andreyev proposes. Of course, we may have many provisional governments; but we should not make a point of it, for we do not in any sense strive for such partitioning. We shall always stand for a single provisional government of all-Russia and strive to create "a single centre, and a Russian one at that". (Laughter.)

[1] Andreyev—N. A. Alexeyev, attended the Third Congress of the R.S.D.L.P. with consultative voice.