1st Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

The 1st Congress of the RSDLP (Russian: Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия, РСДРП) was held between March 14–March 16 (March 1–March 3, O.S.) 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus) in secrecy in a private house on the outskirts of Minsk (now in the town centre).

The Congress was convened by three major social democratic groups from different areas of the Russian Empire. The first one was the Saint Petersburg-based "Union of the Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class", which had been active since 1895. [See Leopold H. Haimson. "The Making of Three Russian Revolutionaries", Cambridge University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-521-26325-5, p.461] The future founder of Menshevism Julius Martov and the future founder of Bolshevism Vladimir Lenin were among its leaders in 1895-1896. [See Israel Getzler. "Martov: A Political Biography of a Russian Social Democrat", Cambridge University Press, 1967, pp.18-20] The group, one of the oldest in the Empire, could not play a significant role since it had been recently weakened by arrests. [See Leopold H. Haimson. Op.cit. p.468] The second group was the General Jewish Labor Union, also known as "The Jewish Bund", which had united Yiddish speaking social democrats in the Pale of Settlement in September 1897. At the time, the Bund was the largest socialist group in the Empire [For example, RSDLP membership in ethnically Russian areas in early 1905 was estimated at 8,400. Bund membership in mid-1904 was estimated at 23,000. Data from "Bol'shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya", vol. III, col. 98; ibidem, vol. XI, col. 531, quoted in Leonard Schapiro. "The Role of the Jews in the Russian Revolutionary Movement", in "Slavonic and East European Review", 40 (1961-1962): 167, reprinted in "Essential Papers on Jews and the Left", ed. Ezra Mendelsohn, New York University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8147-5571-2, p.321] and sponsored the Congress. The third group was the social democratic organization formed in 1897 around the Kiev-based "Rabochaya Gazeta" ("Workers' Newspaper"). [See Israel Getzler. Op.cit., p.30] There were 9 delegates [See "A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev", ed. Robert V. Daniels, Hanover, NH, University of Vermont, Published by University Press of New England, 1993, ISBN 0-87451-616-1, p.4] to the Congress representing these three groups as well as social democrats from Moscow and Yekaterinoslav.

There were 6 sessions, with no minutes taken because of the need for secrecy; only resulutions 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 of three: Stepan Radchenko, one of the oldest Russian social democrats and a leader of the Saint Petersburg "Union", Boris Eidelman of "Workers' Newspaper" and Alexander Kremer, [Alexander Kremer was also known as "Arkady Kremer". See Jonathan Frankel. "Prophecy and Politics: Socialism, Nationalism, and the Russian Jews, 1862-1917", ISBN 0-521-26919-9, Cambridge University Press, 1981, p.669] a Jewish Bund leader. The new party's Manifesto was written by Peter Struve [See "A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev", op. cit., p.4] at Radchenko's request.

The Central Committee elected by Congress printed the Manifesto and the resolutions of the Congress, but its members were soon arrested by the Russian secret police.

The first Congress failed to unite the Russian Social Democracy, neither it proposed the Statute nor the Programme. A wave of police repression followed, which prevented the party from functioning as a cohesive body for a number of years and ushered in a period of internal schisms and dissension. It was not until 1903 that the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP was held abroad and adopted the party's Charter and Programme.

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