‘No enemies on the left’

Abstract

Milyukov's insistence on the immediate implementation of the Union of Liberation's full political programme logically led him and the Union to seek allies on the left, among the revolutionary parties. And indeed, at about the time his article was written (or shortly before) Milyukov, Struve, Bogucharskiy and Peter Dolgorukov had participated in the ‘Paris Conference’, or as it was officially called, the ‘Conference of Oppositional and Revolutionary Organizations of the Russian Empire’ which was held in Paris between 17 and 25 September (30 September – 8 October) 1904. The idea of holding such a conference became popular in oppositional and revolutionary circles in late spring/early summer 1904. The main driving force behind it was Konni Zilliacus, the leader of the Finnish Party of Active Resistance. But it was only after Plehve's assassination that he produced a concrete proposal according to which representatives of all revolutionary and oppositional parties and groups in the Russian Empire should meet in Paris in order to co-ordinate their activities. As a first step towards its realization, Zilliacus envisaged the election by the conference of a central bureau for disseminating information on developments inside Russia to the outside world. He suggested that the conference make arrangements for the publication of joint leaflets. His suggestion was rejected by the RSDRP and by five SD parties among the minorities (Bund, SD Party of Poland and Lithuania, Polish Socialist Party (‘Proletariat’), Latvian SD Party and the Ukrainian Revolutionary Party).