I cannot agree with Comrade Yegorov. It is he who has in fringed the standing orders of the Congress and it is he who is against the clause on imperative mandates. I do not doubt the existence of the Organising Committee, just as I do not doubt the existence of the Iskra organisation, which also has its own organisation and its own Rules. But as soon as the standing orders of the Congress were announced, the Iskra organisation informed its delegates that they have full freedom of action at the Congress. Just imagine our position, as members of the Credentials Committee of the Congress, who yesterday heard two members of the Organising Committee, Comrades Stein and Pavlovich, and today are hearing an entirely new proposal. There are experienced comrades here who have attended many international congresses. These comrades could tell you what a storm of indignation has always been aroused when people say one thing at commit tees and another on the floor of the Congress.
[1] Lenin’s speech on the actions of the Organising Committee was evoked by the following incident. Before the Congress met, the Organising Committee had already rejected the demand of the Borba group for their representative to attend the Congress with a deliberative voice. The Credentials Committee endorsed the Organising Committee’s proposal. When Credentials. Committee’s decision had been reported to the Congress, one of the members of the Organising Committee demanded a recess so that this question might be reconsidered in the Organising Committee. During the recess, the Organising Committee met and by a majority of votes (against one) decided to invite the representative of the Borba group to attend the Congress with a deliberative voice.
Those mentioned in the speech were: Yegorov—the Menshevik E. Y. Levin; Stein—the Menshevik E.M. Alexandrova; Pavlovich— the Bolshevik P. A. Krasikov.
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