Glossary of Events: All-Russian Conferences of the R.S.D.L.P. (B.)

All-Russian Conferences of the R.S.D.L.P. (B.)

Seventh Conference
April 24-29, 1917

The Conference was attended by 133 delegates with a vote and 18 delegates with a consultative voice, representing 80,000 members of the Party. It was the first legal conference of the Bolshevik party to be held in Russia.

The Conference discussed the following questions:

(1) The current situation (the war and the Provisional Government, etc.)
(2) The peace conference.
(3) The attitude to the Soviets.
(4) Revision of the party programme.
(5) The situation in the International and the tasks of the Party.
(6) Unity of the Social-Democratic internationalist organisations.
(7) The agrarian question.
(8) The national question.
(9) The Constituent Assembly.
(10) The organisational question.
(11) Reports from the regions of Russia.
(12) Election of the Central Committee.

Lenin made reports and spoke on all the main questions on the agenda; his speeches reflected the views he initially put forward in the April Theses. Opposite to Lenin on the prospectus of revolution was Kamenev and Rykov, who explained that Russia was not yet ready for a socialist revolution.

Through a great deal of debate, the Conference ended unanimously adopting the positions supported by Lenin on the war, on the attitude towards the Provisional Government, on the current situation, on the revision of the Party programme, on the agrarian question, on the Soviets, on the national question and others. The Conference also elected a Central Committee of the party, headed by Lenin.