The rise of the working-class movement in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century attracted the attention of the whole world, awakening the hope among the socialists of Western Europe that the development of this movement would not only lead to the destruction or weakening of tsarism, but also serve as an impulse to unleash the revolutionary initiative of the proletariat in their own countries. The history of the struggle of the Russian proletariat, its formation as the hegemon of the liberation movement in Russia, the revolutionary vanguard of the working people of all countries is one of the most urgent scientific problems. Attention to this topic has increased especially since the 1950s. It was then that a series of articles appeared on the relocation of the center of the world revolutionary movement to Russia, and then other works related to this important issue. 2
The problem includes such little-studied aspects as the class solidarity of the proletariat of various countries, the awareness and recognition by the advanced representatives of the working class of each country of the contribution of the proletarians of other countries and their political vanguard of social-democratic parties to the practice and theory of the international workers ' and socialist movement. It is of independent interest to study the responses of socialists and advanced workers of Western European countries to the proletarian movement in Russia in 1901-1904 in connection with the perception and assessment of the contribution of the Russian proletariat to the international labor movement .3
The journalism of Western socialists, the illegal press of Russia, which contained greetings from workers from abroad, documents of the congresses of the Second International and the International Socialist Bureau (MSB), program and other party materials - such is the source base, which was still poorly studied from the point of view of the topic during the period under review.

1 For the historiography of the problem, see: Suvorov K. I. Lenin's concept of turning Russia into the center of the world revolutionary movement (To the results of studying the problem). In: II Congress of the RSDLP - a turning point in the history of the Russian and international revolutionary movement (to the 75th anniversary of the Congress), Moscow, 1979.

2 History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Tt. I-2. Moscow, 1964, 1966. History of the Second International. Vols. 1-2. Moscow, 1965-1966; Mezhdunarodnoe rabochoe dvizhenie [International Labor Movement]. Voprosy istorii i teorii [Questions of History and Theory], vol. 2, Moscow, 1976; Volin M. S. International significance of the first Bolshevik Program. -Questions of history, 1961, N 11; Mikhalev, M. the emergence of the proletarian party of a new type in Russia and its impact on the world labor movement. - Scientific Notes of the Oryol Pedagogical Institute, 1964, vol. 25; Lenin and the International Labor Movement, Moscow, 1969; Krivoguz I. M. Osnovnye periody i zakonomernosti mezhdunarodnogo rabochego dvizheniya do Oktyabrya 1917, Moscow, 1976; Bolshevism and Reformism, Moscow, 1978; et al.; see also: Brief bibliography of sources and literature on the history of the international labor movement 2. Rabochoe dvizhenie v period perekhoda k imperializmu [Working-class Movement in the Period of Transition to Imperialism], Moscow, 1976.

3 Some factual data on this issue can be found in the collective monograph "The Working Class of Russia from the birth to the beginning of the XX century", Moscow, 1983, pp. 423-430.

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K. Zetkin's correspondence "From the Russian Movement", published on March 22, 1890 in "Der Sozialdemokrat": "Defenders of the Workers' Cause (in Russia), provides an insight into the political role of the Russian working class and the prospects of its struggle for the Social Democrats of Western Europe before the beginning of the proletarian stage of the liberation movement in Russia. - Yu. K.) must be recruited from the proletariat itself, as is often the case in Western Europe. The workers cannot count on the intelligent youth as a whole for their emancipation, for they are beginning to forget the people. Now some of them claim that there is no working class in Russia, while others believe that the workers are too stupid to be consulted. " 4
In the early 90's of the 19th century, F. Engels wrote that the Russian proletariat was "still too weak for revolution," 5 but expressed confidence that in the future it would play "a decisive role in the overthrow of the autocracy." 6 During a meeting with V. I. Zasulich on December 31, 1894, Engels said to her: "It is fortunate for Germany that the political bourgeois revolution in it was so late that it fell to the share of the already awakened working class. This does not allow the German working class to go into a purely craft struggle, like the English, and it supports its social and political interests. The same happiness awaits Russia... in it, the working class reads, wakes up, and consequently takes a conscious part in political emancipation. " 7
Describing the turning point in the development of the working-class movement in Russia at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, connected with the transition of the proletariat from economic to mass political struggle, Lenin wrote: "First the economic strikes of the workers (1896-1900), then the political demonstrations of workers and students (1901-1902), peasant riots (1902), the beginning of mass political strikes in various combinations with demonstrations (Rostov 1902, summer strikes 1903, January 9, 1905) " 8 . Each of these transitions was prepared by the work of socialist thought and, on the other hand, by "profound changes in the living conditions and in the entire mental structure of the working class, by the awakening of new and new strata of it to a more conscious and active struggle." 9
The first news that reached Western Europe about the turning point that had begun in Russia apparently dates back to April 5, 1901, when a letter was sent to the International Socialist Bureau from two of its Russian delegates, G. V. Plekhanov and B. N. Krichevsky, containing a detailed description of the open support of student "unrest" by workers ' actions. "The events of February and March in Russia," they wrote, " mark a historic turn in the Russian revolutionary movement... Thousands upon thousands of workers intervened in the struggle and thereby transformed the initial purely university clash into a revolutionary movement directed against the autocracy - a fact that surpassed the most optimistic hopes of the Russian socialists, and shows that Russia has entered a revolutionary period of great historical significance not only for the socialist and revolutionary movement in Russia, but also for the whole world. international socialism... the Russian proletariat, prepared by

4 Cit. po: Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation of Labor group. - Kommunist, 1983, N 13, p. 97.

5 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 38, p. 136.

6 Voden A.M. Iz vospominanii [From memories]. Conversations with Engels. In: Russkie sovremenniki o K. Marx i f. Engels, Moscow, 1969, p. 105.

7 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 39, pp. 435-136.

8 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 14, p. 3.

9 Ibid., vol. 9, p. 294.

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for years of propaganda and agitation of the RSDLP, he is an overdose unit in the battle that is now being given to the autocracy. " 10
The letter from the Russian delegates was immediately published by the MSB secretariat in the newspaper Le Peuple, the organ of the Belgian Workers ' Party. Events in Russia were covered in the press in various directions, primarily in socialist newspapers. April 21 at the suggestion of Zh. The MSB issued an appeal "To the workers' parties of all countries on the events in Russia". It called on the socialists to combine the celebration of May 1 in 1901 with a demonstration in honor of the revolutionary forces of Russia who openly opposed tsarism, and thereby support the struggle of the Russian proletariat, and to hold rallies of solidarity in all large cities and large workers 'and university centers with the movement of workers and intellectuals of Russia "fighting against the combined force of capitalism and tsarism" 11 . This appeal was signed by representatives of the social-democratic parties of 15 countries, including G. Hyndman and D. Keir-Hardy (England), P. Singer (Germany), W. Adler (Austria), E. Vandervelde (Belgium), E. Vaillant and J. Schulz. Jaurès (France), E. Ferry and F. Turati (Italy), E. Dietzgen (USA) and others. Articles of similar content were published in the socialist press of a number of countries12 .

The significance of the February-March 1901 speeches was also captured by K. Kautsky, who at that time still held Marxist positions. He drew attention to the change in the social composition of wrestlers and their organization: "In the country of tsarist despotism, revolutionary elements have emerged so strong that they are trying to throw off their fetters, although they are not yet able to break them... We certainly have the right to attach the greatest importance to the current movement. Twenty years ago the revolutionary movement was barely visible even in St. Petersburg, but now it has spread to all the big cities of the Russian state; at that time only the flower of youth took part in it, and now thousands of workers are joining the revolutionary ranks. At that time, the socialist movement was not organized only in Russia... now Russia is covered with workers 'organizations." 13
At the beginning of 1902, Kautsky wrote an article entitled "The Slavs and the Revolution", which was translated from the proof print and published in the March issue of Iskra. Based on the experience of the struggle 1901, Kautsky pointed to the prospect of further movement "of the center of gravity of revolutionary thought and the revolutionary cause" from Germany to Russia. He attributed this, on the one hand, to the entry of the Russian proletariat into the struggle, to the growing consciousness of new fighters, to the expectation of "great deeds", and, on the other hand, to the spread of the social movement.-

10 Iskra, 1901, May, N 4. In: Iskra. Issue 1. l. 1925, p. 89; Leaflet of Rabochy Delo, 1901, April, N 7, p. 1-2.

11 Bureau Socialiste International. Vol. 1. P.-La Haye, 1969, pp. 27-28; Iskra, 1901, May, No. 4. In: Iskra. Issue 1, pp. 88-89; Leaflet of Rabochy Delo, April 1901, No. 7, pp. 39-40; First of May. London. Ed. the social-democratic organization "Life". 1902, p. 32-33; Mezhdunarodnoe rabochoe dvizhenie, vol. 2, p. 461; Filosofsko-literaturnoe nasledie G. V. Plekhanov, vol. II. G. V. Plekhanov i mezhdunarodnoe rabochoe dvizhenie, Moscow, 1973, pp. 26-27, 326.

12 Le Socialiste. P., 1901, 28.IV-5.V, N 7, p. 1.

13 Przeglad Robotniczy, 1901, maj, No. 4; see also: Bulletin (Zhizni) 30(17).V. 1901, No. 3, p. 2. This corresponded to the assessment of the situation in Russia expressed by the left-wing figure of the English social-democracy, F. A. Schulz. The Russian people, not a handful of intellectuals, are rising up to fight, and in spite of all possible concessions and reprisals, the revolutionary period has already begun... Comrades all over the world! Our sworn enemy, the Russian autocracy, is approaching its doom" (cit. in: Anti-war traditions of the International Labor Movement, Moscow, 1972, p. 98).

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Western democracies of the spirit of philistinism and politicking 14 . Similar opinions were expressed at that time by French, Italian, Hungarian and other socialists .15
The advanced workers and social-democrats of the Western European countries followed the development of the proletarian movement in Russia and supported it with demonstrations, solidarity meetings, greetings, material resources, and actions directed against the repressions of the tsarist authorities and aimed at discrediting the autocracy in Europe. In the spring of 1901, meetings of socialists, workers and labourers were held in France, England, Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden, and Bulgaria to express solidarity with the struggle of the Russian proletariat. 16 On April 22, a large rally was held in Sofia on the initiative of social-democratic and other revolutionary organizations. Its resolution stated that the participants "express their warm sympathy to the Russian workers and students over the recent events in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, etc." 17 In Cluj (Austria-Hungary), a workers ' rally of one and a half thousand people on the occasion of May 1 adopted a resolution greeting the proletariat of Russia in connection with the February-March events of 1901 and expressing their sympathies to it .18 At the beginning of June 1901, British workers held a demonstration expressing their approval of the struggle of students and workers of Russia for freedom, and sympathy for their victims. The International Socialist Conference held in Brussels in 1901 adopted a resolution that denounced the use of weapons against strikers and paid tribute to the revolutionary enthusiasm of the participants in the Obukhov Defense.

The Independent Workers ' Party of England at its regular congress expressed its sympathy for the fighters against tsarism. A similar resolution was adopted by the Congress of the British Social - Democratic Federation in 1902. Admiring the heroic struggle of Russian workers and students, the congress declared that " by fighting for the freedom and happiness of their homeland, they are fighting for the freedom and happiness of all mankind." Similar resolutions were adopted by the Congress of Bulgarian Social-Democrats in Sofia (August 1901) and the Congress of Austrian Social-Democrats in Vienna (November 1901) .19
On June 28, 1902, the People's assembly in Augsburg (more than 2 thousand participants), in connection with receiving news about the use of weapons by the tsarist authorities during the dispersal of the March demonstration in Batum, in a special resolution on the report of K. Zetkin, welcomed "selfless fighters for political freedom" in Russia, who sacrificed their freedom and lives for the common good, expressed their gratitude to them the warmest sympathies "on the part of the class-conscious German proletariat". The Assembly expressed the hope that the Russian Revolutionary

14 Kautsky K. Slavs and Revolution. - Iskra, 10. III. 1902, N 8. In the book: Iskra. Issue 3. l. 1926, p. 41-42. Lenin referred to this article in his works (Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 40, pp. 325-326; vol. 41, pp. 4-5; vol. 38, pp. 305-306).

15 See: May Day, pp. 32-33; Nepszava, 22. III. 1902. Cit. By: Istoriya Kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soyuza [History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union], Vol. 1, p. 413. Italo-Russian public relations (1860s-1900). Moscow, 1968, pp. 40-41.

16 Iskra, 1901, May, No. 4; July, No. 6. In: Iskra. Issue 1, pp. 89, 125, 128; Leaflet of Rabochy Delo, April 1901, No. 7, pp. 2, 3.

17 Iskra, 1901, July, N 6. In: Iskra. Issue 1, p. 128.

18 Dokumente din istoria miscarii muncitoresti din Romania. 1900 - 1909. Bucuresti. 1975, p. 40; Shternberg Ya. I. From the stories of revolutionary ties between Russia and Hungary in the late XIX - early XX centuries. In: International Relations in Central and Eastern Europe and their Historiography, Moscow, 1966, p. 68.

19 Justice, 1901, vol. XVIII, No. 906, p. 6; Leaflet of Rabochy Delo, 1901, April, No. 7, p. 3; Latest News, 9. V. 1902, p. 3; Rabochy Delo, Zhekeva, 1902, No. 11-12, p. 58; Internationalizmit na BKP. 1891-1944. Documents and materials. Sofia, 1974, p. 46.

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the intelligentsia "will join most closely to the Russian social-democratic workers' movement, because only it is a reliable guarantee of the impending collapse sooner or later... despotism in Russia " 20 . Protest rallies against the repression of participants in the 1902 May Day demonstration in Vilna were held in Paris, Marseille, Berlin, Orenburg, and Berne21 .

On December 29, 1902, at a meeting in the People's House in Brussels, Belgian workers honored the participants of the 2nd SME Conference. The speech of the Russian delegate, who spoke about the events in Rostov-on-Don in November 1902, as well as about the heroic behavior of the participants of the May Day demonstrations in Nizhny Novgorod, Sormovo and Saratov at the trial, was enthusiastically received. The speaker concluded with the words "on the impending overthrow of the autocracy by the forces of the class-conscious proletariat, on the liberation of Russia from tsarism, which will at the same time rid international social-democracy of its worst enemy." The Belgian workers "enthusiastically welcomed the young and promising strength of the Russian proletariat - a new reliable comrade of the proletariat of all countries in the struggle for socialism and freedom" 22 In protest against the shooting of workers in Zlatoust and the events in Kishinev, the French Socialist Party (Guedists and Blanquists) held a meeting in Paris on May 28, 1903, with the participation of representatives of the workers ' parties of Belgium, Russia and Poland. Soon another meeting was held, called by the Allemanists .23
Especially significant were the foreign responses to the general strikes of July and August 1903 in the cities of Southern Russia, which were perceived as the eve of the" political catastrophe " of tsarism. 24 The role of these strikes in the development of the international working-class movement was fully recognized by the Social-Democrats, first of all in Russia itself. G. V. Plekhanov, who noted in connection with the Rostov strike of 1902 that the mass of many thousands of workers who took part in it then turned "into a conscious detachment of the conscious army of the international proletariat", wrote in Iskra events: "After the brilliant victories won by German social-democracy during the last Reichstag elections, the biggest and most remarkable phenomenon in the life of the European proletariat was a series of 'general' strikes in various cities of the Russian South." Such events, according to Plekhanov, "prepare for great changes in the balance of forces that have a huge impact on the course of social development throughout Europe." 25
At the Dresden Congress of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany in September 1903, K-Zetkin, presumably under the impression of the general summer strikes in southern Russia, issued a fervent appeal for a compromise.-

20 Iskra, 1902, July, N 22. In: Iskra. Issue 3, p. 145; Vishnyakov-Vishnevetsky K. A. V. I. Lenin and the revolutionary relations of the Russian and German Proletariat. 1903-1910, L. 1974, pp. 66-67.

21 Le Socialiste, 19(32, N 77; Latest News, 12.VI 3, 17.VII.1902; Leaflet of "Life", London, 21. VII. 1902, pp. 20-21.

22 Krasnoe Znamya, 1903, January, No. 3, adj., pp. 1-4.

23 See: Latest news, 11.VI (29.V) 1903; Vorwarts, 1903, N 125.

24 Berliner Tageblatt, 26. VII. 1903; Independance beige, 2, 12. VIII. 1903; Frankfurter Zeitung, 8, 11. VIII. 1903 (morning edition); Neue Freie Presse, Wien, 11. VIII. 1903 (evening edition); Berliner Local-Anzeiger, 12. VIII. 1903 (evening issue); Neues Wiener Journal, 23. VIII. 1903 (for clippings and reprints from these and other newspapers, see: TsGIA SSSR, f. 776, op. 32, d. 148, ll. 132-139); Iskra, 15.XII.1903. On the coverage of the general strikes of 1903 by English newspapers, see: Latest News, 30 (17). VII. 1903; Berlin and Paris newspapers-Osvobozhdenie, 2(15). VIII. 1903, p. 66; see also: History of Poland, Vol. 2. Moscow 1955, p. 460; Nekochea R. E. History Rabochy dvizheniya v Chili [The labor movement in Chile], Moscow, 1961, p. 236.

25 Plekhanov G. V. The significance of the Rostov strike. - Iskra, 25. I. 1903. In: Iskra. Issue 5. L. 1928, p. 24; his. "General" strikes in the South. - Iskra, 15. VIII. 1903. In: Iskra. Issue 7. L. 1929, p. 29.

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hold the Russian revolutionary movement 26 . The Council of Workers 'Unions of Australia expressed" sympathy to the families and friends of Russian workers " who fell in the struggle and suffered from repression. "The spirit of freedom still inspires the hearts of our Russian comrades," the letter said....And freedom will come to Russia, defeating those who are now shedding blood. " 27 The organ of the German left Social-Democrats, the Leipziger Volkszeitung, wrote in March 1904 that Russia was "on the eve of revolution." "Why shouldn't the Russian proletariat be the first?!" exclaimed the newspaper 28 .

The Amsterdam Congress of the Second International in August 1904, at the suggestion of the representative of the left Social-Democrats of Holland, Mr. Roland-Golst, addressed greetings to the proletariat of Russia. "The workers of the whole world recognize themselves in solidarity with his struggle against absolutism," it said....The proletariat of Russia, while fighting for its own emancipation, is simultaneously fighting for the emancipation of the world proletariat. " 29 Some time later Kautsky wrote about the Russian proletariat: "Only a few years ago, any possibility of it acquiring any political significance was still disputed, but now it has become the center of all European democracy, the heart of the entire international proletariat." 30
The struggling proletariat of Russia received from the workers (as well as the intelligentsia, students) European and US financial assistance. Iskra and other organs of the illegal workers ' press reported that the "American comrades" had sent money for the strikers (they were sent to the Ivanovo-Voznesensky district), that funds had been raised for the Obukhovites in Paris, Geneva, and Berlin, and that they had been sent from Darmstadt in 1901, and that money had been received from Paris, Brussels, and Lausanne for the purpose of raising funds. workers who suffered during the Rostov strike of 1902, on the collection of funds in Switzerland and France for strikers in the Caucasus and the South in 190331 . This marked the beginning of a widespread campaign in various countries of the world to provide material support to the participants of the revolutionary movement in Russia.

The struggle of the Russian working class was also welcomed abroad in connection with the Second Congress of the RSDLP. Vorwarts noted that the program and charter adopted by the Congress were "strictly Marxist in spirit" and united numerous social-democratic organizations into a single union. In addition to Vorwarts, articles and notes on the congress were published by other socialist organs of Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Switzerland, etc.: the Congress gave vivid evidence of "the spread of the revolutionary working-class movement... The new program, on a clear Marxist basis, brilliantly defines the demands and goals of the party." The editorial board of Iskra received telegrams on the occasion of the Second Congress of the RSDLP.

At the end of 1903-beginning of 1904, the socialists of a number of European countries at the

26 History of the Second International, vol. II, p. 91.

27 This letter, signed by S. Barker, Secretary of the Soviet, was sent to P. A. Kropotkin, a "socialist who lived abroad" (Nizhegorodsky Rabochy Listok, 7.1 II. 1904, p. 2).

28 Cit. by: Aizin B. A. The rise of the working-class movement in Germany at the beginning of the XX century (1903-1906). Moscow, 1954, p. 132.

29 Iniernationaler Sozialistenkongress zu Amsterdam (14, bis 20. August 1904). Brl. 1904, S. 50; Materials on the history of the First and Second International. Moscow, 1926, p. 274; see also: Iskra, 25. VIII. 1904; Flying Leaflet of the Kiev Committee of the RSDLP, 1904, N 1, p 4.

30 Kautsky K. The International significance of the Russian Proletariat (translated from a manuscript written specifically for the Yearbook). In: Rabochy yezhdnik [Working Yearbook]. Year one. St. Petersburg, 1906, p. 1.

31 Iskra, 10. IX, 20. XII. 1901; 1.1, 15.11.1902; 1. II, 1, 15. VIII, 15. IX. 1903; Krasnoe znamya, 1902, N 2, p. 20; Posledniye izvestiya, 5. III. 1903. In some cases, Russian political emigrants organized fundraising for the strikers.

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The Congress of Russian Social Democrats was welcomed at rallies and gatherings. At a rally in London, G. Hyndman and G. Quelch spoke, in Vienna-V. Adler, in Paris at a meeting of members of the Seneca Federation of the Socialist Party of France with the participation of representatives of the socialist parties of some other countries on February 14 (27), 1904, P. Lafargue, J. Lagardel, S. Rappoport and others made speeches. The resolution stated that the French Socialists " emphasize the solidarity that exists between them and the world proletariat, and especially the working class of Russia... and they exclaim: Long live the Russian Social-Democratic Workers ' Party! Long live the upcoming Russian Revolution! Long live the International Workers ' Union!" Meetings were also held in Bern, Lausanne, Zurich, Berlin, Leipzig and other locations. The unification of the socialist groups of Russia into "one strong organization "was welcomed in 1904 in the Letter of the Japanese Socialists. 32
In February 1904, the plenum of the MSB, having approved the results of the Second Congress of the RSDLP, expressed the hope that all the "socialist forces of Russia" would unite .33 However, neither the MSB nor most of the socialist parties of the West were able to assess the true significance of the congress, the creation of a new type of proletarian party, and the struggle of Lenin and his associates against the opportunists and reformists.

The solidarity of the advanced workers and socialists of the Western countries with the struggle of the Russian proletariat had certain political consequences. The meetings and demonstrations that took place in France and Austria-Hungary forced Nicholas II to limit his visits to these countries mainly to country residences, and not to drive around the streets of the capitals, as in October 1896. From a visit at the end of 1903. He was forced to abandon Italy altogether as a result of the Socialists ' protest campaign .34 This solidarity action was welcomed by working groups and the illegal press in Russia35 .
Shifts in the Russian labor movement in the first years of the twentieth century had both quantitative and qualitative expressions. One of the most important indicators of the strength of a working-class movement is, as is well known, the number of its participants, primarily strikers. In 1905 - 1907, Russia was ahead of other countries in terms of the number of strikers. The minimum number of strikers in Russia during this three-year period exceeded the maximum ever achieved in the most developed capitalist countries of the world .36
32 Istoriya CPSU. Vol. 1, pp. 517-518; Lenin and the International Labor Movement, pp. 55; Lenin in the Struggle for the Revolutionary International, Moscow 1970, pp. 60-62; Seleznev K. L. Iz istorii revolyutsionnogo sotrudnichestva bol'shevikov s germanskimi levymi sotsial-demokratami v 1903-1905 gg. - Voprosy istorii CPSU, 1975, No. 10, p. 109; Goldberg D. I. Essay on the history of the workers ' Socialist Movement in Japan (1868-1908). Moscow, 1976, p. 125-126; Olkhovsky E. R., Evaluation of the historical significance of the Second Congress of the RSDLP by Russian and international social Democracy in 1903-1904. In: The Second Congress of the RSDLP and the Struggle against Opportunism in Local Party Organizations. Issue No. 2. Omsk, 1983, p. 141-142; Iskra, 15. XII. 1903; 25. II., 1. IV. 1904; Nizhegorodsky rabochy listok, 7. III. 1904, p. 2; Polessky listok, Sept. 1904, N 1, p 2; Lyadov M. Iz zhizni partii in 1903-1907. (Memoirs). M. 1956, p. 19; Dokumentumok a imagyar parttortenet tanulmanyozasahoz. I. 1848-1917. Budapest 1954, p. 85; Nèpszava, 19. XII. 1903; Vorwarts, 20. XII. 1903; Sociaiismo, 10. I. 1904.

33 Bureau Socialiste Internationale. Vol. I, p. 100.

34 Misiano K. F. Italianskoe rabocheye dvizhenie na rubezhe XIX i XX vv M 1976. pp. 208-211.

35 [Borovsky V.]. Russian Tsar and Italian socialists. - Iskra, 15. IX. 1903. In: Iskra. Issue 7, pp. 110-112; Leaflet of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee of the RSDLP. 1903, No. 1, pp. 9-10; Latest News, 6. X (23. IX), 14. (1), X. 7. XII (24. XI), 1903; Slap in the face to the autocracy, or the tsar's failed trip to Italy. - Leaflet of the Struggle of the Proletariat, 15 (28). XI. 1903 (reprint from Iskra, No. 48); Leaflet of the Odessa Committee of the RSDLP "To all". October 1903 In: Leaflets of the revolutionary Social-Democratic Organizations of Ukraine. 1896 - 1904. Kiev, 1963, pp. 585-567.

36 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 19, p. 380.

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The period under review played an important role in the preparation of this leap.

Factory inspection data, which are usually used to characterize the scope and strength of the strike movement in Russia, are very incomplete: they do not take into account the speeches of workers in the mining and mining industry, transport, construction, as well as workers in Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan and some provinces of the Caucasus. Filling in these gaps and calculating the number of strikers in Russia in 1901-1904, based on a specially compiled "Chronicle" of all known workers ' actions, gives the following picture (in thousands; factory inspection data are given in parentheses for comparison): 1901 -85 (32), 1902 -95 (37), 1903 -268 (98), 1904 -53 (34), 1905-no exact information (2863). The corresponding maximum annual rate in the largest capitalist countries is as follows: Great Britain, 1902 -257, USA, 1903 -788, Germany, 1904 -145 (1905 -542), France, 1904 -271 37 . Updated data indicate that on the eve of the revolution, in 1903, Russia caught up with and began to overtake the largest European countries in terms of the number of strikers, and lagged only behind the United States.

The growth of the working-class movement, the development of its forms, and the formation of the leading role of the proletariat of Russia in the liberation struggle contributed to its entry into the vanguard of the international working-class movement, enriching the latter with Russian experience. For the first time in history, the Russian proletariat emerged as the hegemon of the liberation struggle at the bourgeois-democratic stage of the revolution, influencing the development of the revolutionary movement of the peasantry, democratically-minded layers of students, and intellectuals in the first years of the twentieth century .38 The experience of the mass strikes of 1903 in Russia was of undoubted interest to the international working-class movement. In the first years of the twentieth century, mass strikes of workers in certain branches of production or large regions, and sometimes really general ones, also took place in Belgium, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the United States; the question of mass and general strikes became topical. The role of the so - called general strike has long been a subject of intense debate among socialists in many countries, with the anarcho - syndicalists exaggerating it and the reformists virtually dismissing it.

At the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International, a resolution was adopted in which the mass strike, contrary to the opinion of the opportunists, was recognized as an important weapon for protecting and expanding the rights of the working class; it was pointed out that, depending on circumstances, it could become "an extreme means of struggle, which should be used very carefully." At the same time, the resolution drew attention to the inconsistency of the anarcho-syndicalist idea of a general strike, supposedly capable of ending the capitalist system without combining it with other means of struggle. The resolution warned against " the fascination with the propaganda of a general strike on the part of anarchists, aimed at:

37 In Great Britain, Germany, France, and the United States, the annual number of strikers was respectively as follows (in thousands): in 1901, 180, 68, 111, and 564; in 1902, 257, 70, 213, and 692; in 1903, 117, 135, 123, and 788; in 1904, 87, 145, 271 and 574; in 1905 - 94, 542, 178 and 302 (see: Strike struggle of workers. The end of the XIX century - the 70s of the XX century (Statistics). Moscow, 1980, p. 63, 72, 91, 98, 113). For calculations of new data on Russia, see: Kiryanov Yu. I. Statistics of strike actions of Russian workers on the eve of the Revolution of 1905-1907. In: The Working Class of Russia in the period of Bourgeois-Democratic Revolutions, Moscow, 1978, pp. 23, 42, 43.

38 For more details, see: The Working Class of Russia from the birth to the beginning of the XX century, pp. 418-423; Questions of the hegemony of the proletariat in the liberation movement of Russia in the period of imperialism, Moscow 1982, pp. 20-22, et al.

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to distract the workers from the very important daily professional, political, and cooperative struggle. " 39 In an interview he gave in connection with the discussion of the question at the Amsterdam Congress, T. V. Plekhanov compared the strikes of 1903 in the cities of Southern Russia with mass, "general" strikes in other countries. Instead of considering the general strike as a means of making a social revolution, he pointed out, it should be considered as a means of agitation, clearing the way for this revolution .40 And it is noteworthy that Mrs. Roland-Holst, in a pamphlet on the general strike specially published after the congress, wrote that the movement of 1903 in Russia, i.e., the strikes in the cities of the South, "was a model of the revolutionary upheaval, which has now grown to such an extent that it finally manages to demolish the stronghold of absolutism to the ground; it was the first the wave of the Russian revolution" 41 " expressed the same idea. Luxemburg: "Just at the time when the last international Congress was sitting in Amsterdam (1904), the first rumblings of the impending thunderstorm were already being heard in Russia, which was destined to revolutionize the tactics of the international fighting proletariat, and the first and most striking consequence of which was the completely new coverage given to the question of the general strike." 42
The struggle of the proletariat in Russia developed as a movement of workers of various nationalities. And this experience has received international recognition. The Amsterdam Congress hailed "the heroic proletariat of Russia gathering in fraternal unity of its forces, without distinction of nations, under the glorious banner of socialism to fight against the autocracy and to win political rights." 43
Describing the period from the Paris Commune to the First World War (1871-1914), Lenin noted that it gave rise to a tendency in the working class "to recognize bourgeois patriotism." 44 In the conditions of imperialism, the task of combating militarism and wars became particularly acute. The International Social Democracy paid tribute to the Russian working class and its revolutionary vanguard in connection with the struggle against militarism. The Stuttgart Congress of the Second International (1907) ranked such actions of the Russian proletariat during the Russo - Japanese War among the most significant examples of the struggle against war .45 They began in 1904, when the Social Democrats launched a broad anti-war campaign and demonstrations were held in many parts of Russia against mobilization, war, and tsarism .46 A number of Western newspapers not only covered the course of military operations at that time, but also closely followed the development of the workers ' anti-war and anti-government movement. Thus, the Frankfurter Zeitung described in detail the demonstration of workers in Warsaw on November 13, 1904 - a march with red banners, singing revolutionary songs.

39 International Socialist Congresses, St. Petersburg, 1906, p. 72. Internationaler Sozialistenkongress zu Amsterdam, p. 24-25.

40 Lagardel G. The General Strike and socialism. International questionnaire. Opinions and Documents (To the Amsterdam International Congress of 1904), St. Petersburg, 1907, pp. 254-255; Philosophical and literary heritage of G. V. Plekhanov, vol. II, pp. 31-32.

41 Roland-Golst G. The General strike and Social Democracy. St. Petersburg, 1906, p. 114.

42 Luxemburg p. The general strike and German Social democracy. Kiev, 1906, p. IV; 15, 19-22, 48.

43 International Socialist Congresses, p. 90.

44 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 26, p. 164.

45th International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. St. Petersburg, 1907, p. 86; see also: Struggle for Peace. Materials of Three Internationals, Moscow, 1967, p. 68.

46 The Proletariat and the Russo-Japanese War. In: The Working Class of Russia from the birth to the beginning of the XX century, pp. 398-403; Anti-war traditions of the international labor movement, pp. 98-103; Narastanie rewolucji w Królestwie Polskim w latach 1900-1904. Warszawa. 1960, s. 642, 646 - 655, 684, 708.

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songs, shouts of " Down with war, down with autocracy!", which ended in a clash with police and soldiers, during which 9 people were killed and 31 wounded. 47
On August 21, 1904, the XI Congress of Bulgarian Social-Democrats, in a resolution on the attitude towards the Russo-Japanese war, expressed fraternal solidarity with the Russian and Japanese social - Democrats who opposed the war, and especially with the revolutionary proletariat of Russia, which is heroically fighting for the political liberation of the entire people .48
During the Amsterdam Congress, Plekhanov and A. Barsky met with Sen Katayama to discuss the joint campaign against the Russo-Japanese war, the publication in Russian and Polish of a leaflet to prisoners of war who were in Japan, and its distribution by Japanese comrades .49 As you know, the principled position of the Russian and Japanese Social Democrats on the war was recognized at the Amsterdam Congress, where at the first meeting the handshake of the two vice - presidents of the Congress, Plekhanov and Katayama, and their statements in the spirit of proletarian solidarity were met with approval by all present50 .

Russian revolutionary social-democracy also contributed to the development of the theory of the international labor movement. Its defense of the principles of revolutionary Marxism became all the more important because, as J. Guesde noted at the Paris Congress of the Second International in 1900, "its backbone (international socialism. - Yu. K.) has not become stable as before " 51 . Suffice it to say that in the spring of 1899 the book "Prerequisites for Socialism and Tasks of Social Democracy" by E. Bernstein appeared, which was soon translated and published in a number of European countries. The author argued that many of the provisions of the Communist Manifesto, Capital, and other works of Karl Marx and Fr. Engels ' claims were outdated or not confirmed, and he pretentiously declared that "the further development and improvement of Marxist teaching must begin with its criticism." 52 In the late 90's of the 19th century, various theories of petty-bourgeois socialists became popular. One of them was "cooperative socialism". The author of this theory is Sh. Gide published in France in 1898 the book "Cooperation", which was reprinted many times in other countries, including Russia. The proponents of this reformist theory saw the cooperative movement as a method of transforming capitalism into socialism, thereby leading the working people away from the path of class struggle. In 1899, the "Millerand incident" took place - the entry of one of the French socialists into the bourgeois government. This was a time when, in Lenin's words, the whole world was shouting about the" crisis of Marxism, " and Russian liberal journalism was even shouting about the disintegration of its structure .

The revolutionary social-democracy of Russia has taken full responsibility for carrying out the tasks assigned to it by history.

47 The truth about the war. Bulletin of the Berne Assistance Group of the RSDLP. - "Forward", Bern, 20. XI. 1904, N 3.

48 Internationalizmit na BKP, p. 56.

49 Essays on revolutionary relations between the peoples of Russia and Poland, 1815-1917, Moscow, 1976, p. 348.

50 Plekhanov G. V. In Amsterdam, pp. 10-11; his own, Soch. Vol. XVI. Moscow-l. 1925, pp. 311-312; see also: Goldberg D. I. Rabochoe i sotsialisticheskoe dvizhenie v Jap'anii 1897-1906 gg. - Voprosy istorii, 1960, N 6, pp. 84-85.

51 Cit. In: Istoriya Vtorogo Internatsionala [History of the Second International], vol. I, p. 365.

52 Bernstein E. Problemy sotsializma i zadachi sotsial ' -demokrati [Problems of Socialism and tasks of Social democracy], Moscow, 1901, p.46.

53 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 6, p. 294.

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In an editorial response to Kautsky's article "The Slavs and the Revolution", which contained an assessment of the prospects for the development of the Russian revolutionary and working-class movement, Lenin's Iskra wrote on March 10, 1902: "To be at the head of the world revolution, to be a leading skirmisher in the struggle of the world proletariat - can there be a more honourable and enviable share for the revolutionary proletarian party imbued with the idea of the international character of their struggle?" And, as if answering the question of what must be done to rise to the occasion, the newspaper went on: "Revolutionary thought and revolutionary action are the areas in which Russian social-democracy must really become the first, and not only in name, if it is to rise to the historic role that it is to play.". We must " declare an irreconcilable struggle against everything that undermines our revolutionary spirit, introducing into it elements of flabbiness, narrowness, and vulgarity. We must take the leadership of the struggle of all the revolutionary and oppositional strata of the Russian people into our own hands, because how can we dream of standing at the head of the world revolution if we fail to stand at the head of the Russian revolution? War on all falsifiers of revolutionary Marxist theory in the field of thought and war on all falsifiers of the revolutionary social-Democratic struggle in the field of action - such should be our motto!" At the same time, in March 1902, Lenin wrote: "Everyone is now waiting for the Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party to come up with solutions that are equal to all the revolutionary tasks of our time. " 54
Lenin and the revolutionary Social-Democrats pointed out the need to study and propagate the experience of the working-class movement in other countries, but at the same time took into account the importance of its critical development. At the beginning of 1902, Lenin wrote: "The social-democratic movement is international in its very essence. This means not only that we must fight national chauvinism. It also means that a movement starting in a young country can only be successful if it applies the experience of other countries. And for such an implementation, it is not enough to simply get acquainted with this experience or simply rewrite the latest resolutions. This requires the ability to be critical of this experience and independently verify it. " 55
At that time, the Revolutionary Social-democracy of Russia was the only party in the world that clearly formulated in its Program the idea of a socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, whereas the programs of the Western European social-democratic parties were silent about the dictatorship of the proletariat, declaring only "the achievement of the possession of political power "(German, Austrian, and English social-democrats) .56 which was theoretically wrong, but in practice was a concession to the opportunists .57 The solution of other important questions of the proletarian liberation struggle and, ultimately, the idea of the prospect of a socialist revolution were also connected with one or another attitude to this fundamental position. The dictatorship of the proletariat was seen as a prerequisite for success in suppressing the resistance of class enemies in conditions when the proletariat was not yet the majority of the population.

54 Ibid., p. 295.

55 Ibid., p. 24; see also: vol. 4, p. 189-190; vol. 17, p. 182; vol. 25, p. 3; vol. 38, p. 307.

56 This refers to the programs of: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Erfurt, 1891), the Belgian Workers ' Party (Brussels. 1893), the French Socialist Party (1902 Tour), the Austrian Social Democratic Party (Vienna. 1901), the Swiss Social Democratic Party (Zurich. 1904), the Italian Socialist Party (Genoa. 1892). (See: Enzor R. Modern socialism. Justification of it in the speeches and writings of its most prominent representatives and party programs M 1906)

57 See Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 41, p. 249.

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The RSDLP's contribution to the theory of Marxism was the disclosure of the link between democratic reforms and the ultimate tasks of the proletariat. The demand for a republic was not included in the program documents of most parties (except for the programs of the British and Belgian Social Democrats), although at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In Europe, there were only two states with a republican form of government - France and Switzerland. The question of attitudes to the form of State government was raised in a number of speeches at the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International. Here is what A. Bebel said about this: "No matter how much we envy you, the French, your republic, and no matter how much we want it for us, we would not break our heads because of it: it is not worth it! (Thunder of applause). Both the bourgeois monarchy and the bourgeois republic are class states: both by their very nature serve to support the capitalist system... where you have seen more cynical, more bestial, more vile treatment of the workers than in the great overseas bourgeois republic, which is the ideal for many people. Even in Switzerland, a much more democratic republic than your own France, the militia was sent out six times in that short summer against the workers. " 59
While the idea of socialists in Western Europe, even left-wing social democrats, when discussing the form of state government under capitalism in the first years of the twentieth century did not go beyond the concept of "bourgeois republic", with reference to its negative aspects, and the statements of Marx and Engels about the Paris Commune were forgotten, The revolutionary Social-Democrats of Russia raised the question of the struggle for a democratic republic and included this demand in their program .60 A few years later, in February 1908, Lenin touched upon the question of the attitude of the socialists of Western Europe towards the struggle for a"bourgeois republic." "The Republican tradition has greatly weakened among the socialists of Europe," he wrote. - This is understandable and can be partly justified, precisely in so far as the proximity of the socialist revolution takes away the practical significance of the struggle for a bourgeois republic. But not infrequently the weakening of Republican propaganda does not mean that the desire for complete victory of the proletariat is lively, but that the consciousness of the revolutionary tasks of the proletariat in general is weak. It was not without reason that Engels, in 1891, when criticizing the draft Erfurt program, pointed out with all his energy to the German workers the importance of the struggle for the republic. " 61
The agrarian part of the RSDLP Program also traces a combination of two ideas: raising the peasants to a bourgeois-democratic revolution (against the remnants of serfdom) and preparing the conditions for the struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution ("the free development of the class struggle in the countryside").

58 Enzor R. Uk. soch., pp. 395, 423.

59 [Goed J., Bebel A., Vaillant E.]. Amsterdam Congress. Speeches of Guesde, Bebel, and Vaillant. St. Petersburg, 1905, pp. 9-10; see also the speech of Jaures. (In: Materials on the History of the First and Second International, p. 251).

60 Developing the idea of fighting not just for a bourgeois republic, like those that already existed in some Western countries, but for a "democratic republic", which was a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry and personified the "autocracy of the people", and also summarizing the experience of two bourgeois-democratic revolutions in Russia, Lenin wrote: "Marxism differs from anarchism in that it recognizes the necessity of a state for the transition to socialism-but (and this is the difference from Kautsky and Co.) not such a state as an ordinary parliamentary bourgeois democratic republic, but such a state as the Paris Commune of 1871, and the Soviets of Workers 'Deputies of 1905 and 1917" (Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 31, p. 180).

61 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 16, pp. 441-442.

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He had reason to declare: "No political party in Europe has yet offered the peasantry such an extensive program at once" (62). In dealing with the national question, the RSDLP program also went incomparably further than the social-democrats of European countries, including multinational ones (such as Austria-Hungary, Germany, etc.). At best, the programs of these parties spoke about the equality of nations. 63 The right of nations to complete self-determination was fixed only in the Program of the RSDLP.

The outstanding achievement of the revolutionary social-Democrats of Russia was not only the defense and development of the revolutionary theory of Marxism, but also the creation of a party that, based on this theory, was able to fulfill the mission entrusted to it by history - to lead the proletariat victoriously to the assault on tsarism and capitalism. They justified the position that the militant revolutionary party is the leading, organizing and guiding force of the working-class movement, whereas the programs of other social-democratic parties often made concessions to the theory of its spontaneous development .64
The characteristic features of the parties of the Second International were organizational looseness, weakness of centralism and discipline. Lenin remarked in the first half of 1904: "Not in Germany alone, but in France and Italy as well, the opportunists are all in favor of autonomism, of weakening party discipline, of reducing it to zero; everywhere their tendencies lead to disorganization, to the perversion of the 'democratic principle' into anarchism " 65 Many parties were organizationally federations with broad autonomy. The Bundists tried to introduce the same principle in the RSDLP, who saw the party not as a single organization ,but as a union of independent organizations built on national grounds (they referred to the example of Austria) .66 The federal principle of the party's organizational structure was, as is well known, rejected by the Second Congress of the RSDLP.

Equally important was the principled raising of the question of party membership at the Congress. The statutes of the German, French, Italian and other social - Democratic parties did not specify whether a party member was required to belong to a particular party organization. 67 This position was defended by Lenin in his speech at the Second Congress. The Bolsheviks ' report to the Amsterdam Congress of the Second International noted that Lenin's formulation of paragraph 1 of the Party Charter took into account the sad experience of the Social Democratic Party of Germany: the use of the old wording of this paragraph by disorganizing elements .68 The correctness of Lenin's approach became more and more obvious. "Recent events in the German Party, -

62 Second Congress of the RSDLP. July-August 1903. Protocols, Moscow, 1959, p. 222.

63 Thus, the Program of the Austrian Social Democratic Party stated that the party "rejects the privileges of nations"; the Erfurt program of the Social Democratic Party of Germany stated that the party fights "against every kind of exploitation and oppression, whether directed against class, party, gender or nationality", and provided for " self-determination and self-government the " people "in the empire, individual states (included in the empire), province and community" (Enzor R. Uk. soch., pp. 387-388, 403).

64 Volin M. S. Uk. soch., pp. 74-77.

65 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 8, p. 388.

66 Cm. The Second Congress of the RSDLP. Protocols, pp. 53-54.

67 For example, the charter of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (1900) stated: "Everyone who recognizes the principles of the party's program and regularly supports the party with monetary funds is considered a member of the party" (Handbuch der sozialdemokrati - schen Parteitage von 1863 bis 1909. Munchen. 1910, p. 369; Enzor R. Uk. soch., p. 387).

68 From the history of creating a new type of party. Report of the Bolsheviks to the International Socialist Congress in 1904, Moscow, 1963, p. 74.

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It was said in one of his letters to Iskra in 1904, " I think we have already sufficiently shown how dangerous it is to mix up elements that are useless and cannot be organized with elements that are organized... repeat the mistake of the German comrades... it means refusing to use their experience on their own and to follow their every step in a cliched way. " 69
The struggle for the organizational principles of revolutionary social-democracy was of international significance .70 It is no accident that Lenin, in connection with the Jena Congress of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany in September 1905 and its revision of its charter, noted: "It is important to emphasize the extremely characteristic main feature of this revision: the tendency to further, more complete and more rigorous implementation of centralism, to create a stronger organization " 71 This was reflected, in particular, in the recognition of the provision on the mandatory membership of every Social Democrat in one of the party organizations.

The development and adoption of a revolutionary Marxist program, the creation of an organization based on the revolutionary principles of Marxism, the definition of the party's role as the foremost leader of the proletariat and all the working masses, and its intransigence to opportunism on the right and "left" made Lenin's supporters a new type of party, fundamentally different from the social-Democratic party of the Second International, which was mired in they promoted the Bolsheviks to the center of the international socialist movement.

The aggravation of socio - economic contradictions in Russia at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, as in no other country, the brewing of a national crisis with the independent participation of the proletariat, the scope and intensity of the working-class movement, and the creation of a new type of Marxist party headed by Lenin testified to the gradual relocation of the center of the international revolutionary working-class movement to Russia. The leading role of the Russian proletariat in the international labor movement already in the first years of the twentieth century. It was increasingly recognized by the Social-Democrats, the foremost representatives of the proletariat of various countries. The growing role of the struggle of the Russian working class in the international proletarian movement during the period under review was, as it were, a prelude to the crucial events of the revolution of 1905 - 1907.

69 Iskra, 25. VI. 1904, N 68, appl.

70 For more information, see: Bolshevism and Reformism, p. 63.

71 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 11, p. 324.

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