Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Research Articles

The struggle of the gubernatorial Direction of the Independent Corps of Gendarmes of Bessarabia with the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP)

Among the existing institutions in the Russian Empire, responsible for the security of the autocratic regime, the Independent Corps of Gendarmes stood out. Its members were obliged to combat and annihilate various socio-political movements with a pronounced anti-government character. Among such movements and parties was the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which was also active in Bessarabia. From the moment of its emergence until the abolition of the monarchy in February 1917, this party had some influence on the revolutionary movement in the region. Organizationally structured on two levels – legal and illegal (the Combat Organization of the Revolutionary Socialist Party), the party represented a real danger to the autocratic regime. The party’s activity was closely monitored by the Regional Directorate of Gendarmes, which managed to infiltrate inside the organization a number of secret agents, who reached positions of responsibility within the committee and who kept the authorities informed of all party movements and plans. With some rare exceptions, the indigenous population remained outside the Party’s sphere of influence.

Marxists in a Declining Empire

Marxists in a Declining Empire Francis King Eric Blanc, Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics across the Russian Empire (1882–1917). 470 pp. Brill: Leiden, 2021. ISBN-13 978-9004449923. €190.00 (cloth). Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2022. ISBN-13 978-1642597646. $36.00 (paper). Histories of the "Russian" Revolution have often either largely ignored developments in the periphery of the empire altogether or appended them to the main narrative as interesting case studies of secondary importance. The major all-Russia parties (the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party [RSDRP], the factions of the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, the Constitutional Democrats, etc.) have been comprehensively studied in the literature, and the relations among them have been exhaustively analyzed. However, the smaller parties of the non-Russian national minorities, their relationships with one another and with the major all-Russia parties have received considerably less attention. Before the collapse of the USSR in 1991, in Soviet historiography the revolution in the non-Russian periphery was presented almost exclusively as the story of how the local Bolsheviks won power. In this narrative, the Bolsheviks' rivals, whether all-Russia or regional/national parties, were generally depicted as amorphously "petty-bourgeois" or "counterrevolutionary," and the details of their ideas were almost never explored. In English-language works of that time, only the revolutionary process in Ukraine could have been said to have a "historiography," produced mainly by diaspora scholars.1 Since 1991, the newly independent former union republics have had [End Page 437] to develop their own national historical narratives, and some of those with a distinctive revolutionary history, such as Georgia, have seen significant interest both at home and abroad in recovering that history. Ukraine, however has remained the most thoroughly studied area on the ex-Soviet periphery and the nation that has done the most to develop its own narrative of 1917 and after. In 2017, the Ukrainian state provided schools with lesson plans and materials to provide a national interpretation of the events of 1917.2 To emphasize the distinctiveness of their national experience, some Ukrainian and diaspora scholars have also been using decolonizing and postcolonial concepts in their presentations of this history of the revolution in Ukraine.3 The problem with these national(ist) historiographies has been their authors' need to separate these stories out from the all-Russia narrative—which, while understandable, downplays the interconnectedness of the revolutionary process across the Russian Empire. Eric Blanc's book, by eschewing both exclusively Russocentric and narrowly nationalist approaches, is therefore a welcome contribution to the historiography of the revolution. His focus is on the various social democratic (that is, avowedly Marxist) parties that operated in the periphery of the Russian Empire, and he seeks to integrate their histories into the wider history of the revolution. Few historians could undertake this sort of study, as it requires facility in several of the languages of the Russian Empire. The bibliography suggests that he has used an impressive range of primary and secondary sources. As one might expect from a book in the Historical Materialism series of monographs, it is not merely a work of historiography but also of politically engaged scholarship. Throughout the work, Blanc seeks to draw political lessons for today from the material he is presenting and to criticize or refute certain (mis)conceptions commonly found both in the scholarly community and among radical socialist activists, past and present. His researches have led him away from "traditional Leninist interpretations of revolutionary Russia" (17) and toward "retrieving the lost tradition of revolutionary social democracy" (407), which he associates particularly with the pre–World War I writings of Karl Kautsky. Blanc's ideological engagement [End Page 438] is both a strength of the work—it lends the book a vitality and intellectual coherence sometimes lacking in purely academic monographs—and, as will be discussed below, a source of some of its limitations. Besides an introduction and an epilogue, the book contains ten thematic chapters, mostly concerned with particular aspects of socialist politics, subdivided into sections dealing more with specific case studies. In his introduction, Blanc sets out his stall. His first key argument is that "the Russian revolution was far...

Как железнодорожное сообщение во второй половине XIX – начале XX века помогало распространять революционерам антиправительственную литературу (на примере Курской губернии)

Importance. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, an unstable internal political situation was observed in Russia. The activation of the oppositional political forces was facilitated by unresolved topical problems for society (for example, the peasant and workers’ question). The «awakening» of the population was facilitated by agitation and propaganda activities organized by left-wing political parties, such as the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and the Socialist Revolutionaries. At the same time, the spread of anti-government literature across the country was, as a rule, by rail. The study of the experience of agitation and propaganda work (on the example of a typical Russian province) will not only enrich the historical sphere of scientific knowledge, but also assess the effectiveness of the implemented mechanisms for the dissemination of revolutionary literature in the historical conditions. This is the purpose of this study. Materials and methods. In the process of working on the topic, the following methods of scientific cognition were used: analysis, synthesis, generalization, chronological and comparative-historical methods. Results and Discussion. It is determined that oppositional political parties used railway lines as an effective «means» of delivering revolutionary literature to provincial regions. Conclusion. However, such propaganda and agitation activities did not always lead to the desired result, and the local population was wary of the discovered «finds» in the form of revolutionary leaflets, appeals, proclamations, pamphlets, etc.

Participation of Jews in the processes of Russian social-democratic movement

The formation of social democracy in the Russian Empire was another stage in the «Russian reception» of the Western models of the socialist movement, the result of certain ideological contradictions on the Russian ground. Given the semi-feudal society of the Russian Empire, the paternalism of autocratic power, the absence of deep traditions of liberal culture, the Russian social democratic movement could hardly count on obvious success without a deep revolutionary renewal of the entire socio-economic and political system of the Russian state. Since Jews were an urban ethnic group, it is not surprising that the provinces of the Jewish Pale in the late 19th century proved to be the epicentre of the revolutionary energy concentration.Thus, in the late 19th century the processes of formation and development of not the Russian, but the Jewish social-democratic movement continued on the territory of the Jewish Pale, the prominent centres of which were the Belarusian and Ukrainian cities of the Russian Empire. Despite the low level of the industrial development in the north-western part of the Russian Empire, as well as police persecution, imprisonment, and exile of many activists, the Jewish Social Democratic movement grew qualitatively and quantitatively, got loyal supporters, and spread to other cities such as Minsk, Grodno, Bialystok and Warsaw. The Bund (the Union of Jewish Workers in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia) played a key role in organizing the Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) on March 1-3, 1898, at which the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) was founded which was supposed to unite revolutionary Marxist groups of the empire, regardless of their ethnicity. The processes of formation of the organizational and personnel structure of the Russian Social-Democracy continued during the First Russian Revolution. Jews took an active part in these processes. Their role in the organization of Russian social-democratic movement and in its staffing is difficult to overestimate. In particular, S. Dikstein, H.S. Khurgin, E.A. Abramovich, I.A. Gurvich, E.A. Gurvich, O. Belakh, L. Berkovich and many other Jewish activists found themselves at the origins of Russian social-democratic movement, and such distinguished Jewish figures of Russian social democracy as P. Axelrod and Yu. Martov in the early 19th century headed the Menshevik wing of the RSDLP.The author noted that until 1917 the model for the development of the social democratic movement in the Russian Empire was the European Social Democracy, among the recognized authorities of which were also Jews (F. Lassall, E. Bernstein, V. Adler, O. Bauer). Eventually, the Jewish origin of Marx, the founder of «scientific» socialism, canonized his doctrine in the mass consciousness of the urban Jewry of the Russian Empire, which awaited a new messiah who would «bring» them out of the ghetto of the Jewish Pale.At the same time, the theory of self-liberation of the Jewish proletariat, adopted by the Jewish Social Democrats of Vilno, Minsk, and Kyiv as opposed to the seemingly utopian ideas of the Zionists from Basel, Switzerland, became the leading ideology of the Russia’s first political organization of Jewish proletarian – the Bund, which emerged in the same 1897, when the First World Congress of Zionists took place.Thus, the intensification of state anti-Semitism, the Jewish pogroms, and the escalation of the political crisis in the Russian Empire on the eve of the First Russian Revolution pushed Russian and Jewish Social-Democracy to develop a common position on the proletariat’s participation in future revolutionary events, optimized the search for overcoming the internal party crisis that arose after the withdrawal of the Bund from the RSDLP. For the first time in its history, the Jewish Social Democrats tried to ignite the fire of the Russian revolution on the «Jewish street» and prove the political significance of the powerful revolutionary potential of the Jewish masses in the Jewish Pale for the all-Russian social democratic movement.

M. V. Goppius (1875—1961): lichnost' i vlast'

M.V. Goppius (1870-1961) was a teacher by training, and the member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party of the Bolsheviks since 1904. In 1899-1919 she was living in Arzamas, leading a local revolutionary club. On April, 4th (17th) in her apartment there was a meeting of social-democrats’ group which established the party organisation of the Bolsheviks in Arzamas.At that meeting Goppius was elected as the secretary of the committee. After October 1917 she remained at party and soviet work in Arzamas, later she was managing the propaganda department in the Nizhny Novgorod governorate committee of the party. After moving to Moscow she got a job in the sphere of education. At present one of the streets in Arzamas is called after M.V Goppius.

«Добрый совет компетентного писателя-ученого и теплое участие доброго отзывчивого человека». Письма В. Д. Ульриха к В. И. Семевскому 1893-1905 гг. как исторический источник

The article publishes letters of the Riga Social Democrat, publicist and translator Vasily D. Ulrich addressed to the prominent Narodnik historian and public figure Vasily I. Semevsky. They are of considerable interest to researchers. They help to trace with an unbiased eye the specifics of interpersonal communication between a Marxist and a Narodnik during active discussions that unfolded between these movements in the 1890s and were identified in the Soviet historiographical tradition as an ideological defeat of the Narodniks. Alongside with the principle of historicism, the authors have applied the method of biographical analysis, which made it possible to explore the life paths of the correspondent and his addressee. The archeographic method has permitted to compile a historical description of the archival collection and to publish a number of letters dating 1893?1905. The letters are kept in the personal provenance fond of the Narodnik historian in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences located in Moscow. The beginning of the correspondence dates back to May 17, 1893; it ended on December 30, 1905. The archive file includes 20 letters from Ulrich to Semevsky (51 sheets). Reasons for termination of the correspondence are unknown. It could have been Ulrich’s going underground as a member of the Riga committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party or his loss of utilitarian interest in the addressee. Chronologically, the correspondence can be divided into three periods: prior to the correspondent’s arrest, during Ulrich’s exile to Ilimsk, and after his return to the European part of Russia. The letters cover such issues as writing opinions and reviews on Ulrich’s works on the liberation of the Ostsee peasants; problem of early Marxists’ materialistic approach to history; joining the “Union of Mutual Assistance of Russian Writers” and discussing the its Charter; sending books to Ulrich in his exile and petitioning the authorities to improve his life conditions; seeking additional earnings; representing his interests in the censorship commission; functioning of the Literary Fund; describing the provincial socio-cultural atmosphere; Semevsky’s lobbying for publication of translated Marxist literature. The letters show great tact and benevolent attitude of the convinced Riga Marxist to his addressee. Ulrich’s letters to Semevsky are a valuable source of personal provenance, reflecting nature, forms, and specifics of non-public communication between the representatives of Marxism and Populism at the turn of the 20th century and awaiting its researcher and publisher.

Расстановка политических сил накануне выборов в Рязанскую городскую думу 1917 года

The paper aims to identify the role of the major political parties in social life of Ryazan city in the first half of 1917. The study focuses on analysing the parties’ activities ahead of 1917 elections to Ryazan City Duma. Scientific originality of the research involves a comprehensive analysis of the regional political landscape ahead of 1917 elections to Ryazan City Duma. The research findings are as follows: the author proves that elections to Ryazan City Duma were accompanied by violent struggle of the major political parties - the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks) and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks).

Отражение политической культуры социал-демократов Сибирского союза в литературе 1960-1980-х гг.

The article presents a survey of the Soviet literature of the 1960-1980s on political culture of representatives of the Siberian branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the author for the first time provides a historiographical analysis of the problem. The paper reveals conditions, tendencies and problems of developing the Soviet historiography of regional social democratic organizations in the period before and during the First Russian Revolution. The conducted research allows concluding that in the mentioned period, the source base of the historical and political science was considerably enlarged, the number of scientific staff increased, new coordination centres appeared, but methodological basis remained the same, so conceptually new studies could hardly appear.

Черный кот, розовые лягушки и «некрологи на память»: вологодская ссылка А.А. Богданова

The purpose of this article is to collect together separate pieces of information about A. Bogdanov’s exile in Vologda and retrace the conditions under which his formation as a politician and a thinker was taking place in those years. An outstanding scientist, philosopher, physician and revolutionary, Alexander Bogdanov spent three years in exile in Vologda (1901–03). A. Lunacharsky, A. Remizov, N. Berdyaev, B. Kistyakovsky, P. Shchegolev, B. Savinkov and his wife V. Uspenskaya, and many of the future prominent figures of the Bolshevik Party were in exile in Vologda during that period. For a year and a half, Alexander Bogdanov lived in the village of Kuvshinovo near Vologda and worked as a doctor at a psychiatric hospital, the description of which he later used in his science fiction novel Red Star. After leaving the service and obtaining permission for private practice, he used his practice as an excuse to visit his associates. He helped the Vologda exiles by giving them medical examination certificates to be submitted to the police, which allowed the exiles to stay in the governorate city rather than be sent to the remote settlements of Vologda Governorate. In the course of numerous discussions between exiles belonging to different philosophical and political camps, Bogdanov’s skill as a philosopher and polemicist was honed. Thanks to the tremendous dedication, hard work, and concentration on his scientific activities, Alexander Bogdanov had strengthened his reputation as a famous Marxist writer by the end of the exile. Moreover, due to his illegal correspondence with the editorial board of the Iskra newspaper, he established contacts with the leading circles of the emerging Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The time Alexander Bogdanov spent in exile in Vologda paid off and produced a great effect on his formation as a researcher and a political activist.

Ex-Socialists as Human Resources for the Communist Party between February and October Revolutions (March — October 1917)

At the end of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century, political parties became the main actors for Russia’s social and economic processes and events. During the last three decades, they have been the focus of scholars’ efforts since classified sources of the Soviet period were opened for public access at the end of the 20th century. Intense scholarship shaped two main approaches to the topic. One focuses on each political party individually, and the other focuses on interactions between all of them. The second approach, even considering its merits, remains limited because relationships are explained mainly through competition between political parties, whereas in reality, connections were more diverse. This article makes a first attempt to show at personal and group levels the transition of former socialists to the Bolshevik party between the February and October revolutions. It identifies specific party leaders and groups that changed their political views and positions; establishes the time and motives for their break with their former parties to join the Bolsheviks; and clarifies the impact of their joining the Bolshevik party. Based on an analysis of questionnaires of delegates who participated in the Sixth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks), the article concludes that by the end of the summer of 1917, the Bolshevik political elite consisted of almost 43 % of former socialists, among whom there was a large proportion of professional revolutionaries. Such human resources, mostly consisting of “left-socialists,” contributed to the radicalization of the RSDLP(b), reorienting the political struggle from democratic and political methods to violence and militarism.

Национальный лидер Якутии Г.В. Ксенофонтов и политические партии в 1917 г.

The present study examines the attitude of one of the national leaders of Yakutia G.V. Ksenofontov to the political parties operating in the Yakutsk region in 1917. A lawyer and politician G.V. Ksenofontov became one of the founders of the national party – the Yakut Labor Union of Federalists, whose program combined the ideas of a federal structure of Russia, Siberian regionalism and popular socialism. The analysis of the archives and periodicals shows that the Yakut Federalists collaborated with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, were involved in a political struggle against local organizations of the Kadets and Social Democrats. G.V. Ksenofontov was nominated as a candidate for membership in the Constituent Assembly from the Federalist Party. During the pre-election campaign, an active polemic was waged, the Federalists criticized the Kadets and Social Democrats for their negative attitude towards the idea of federation. The Party of People's Freedom was perceived as bourgeois, and in the ideology of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party the leaders of ethnic intelligentsia were repulsed by the orientation of the Social Democrats towards the proletariat, which was practically absent in the Yakutsk region. The bloc of Socialist-Revolutionaries and Federalists operated in the government bodies and in the elections to the Constituent Assembly. The election results showed that the union of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Federalists enjoyed support of the local population. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the history of Yakutia during the Russian Revolution of 1917 had its own characteristics. G.V. Ksenofontov contributed heavily to the political development of the region, his activity as the leader of the Federalist Party and a candidate for membership in the Constituent Assembly promoted an increase in the level of political literacy of the population, prepared the Yakut society for the transition to a new level of its development, for the formation of statehood, the creation of Yakutsk Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic.

Religion in Russian Marxism

Of all the past efforts to reconcile Marxism and religiosity, the “god-building” episode within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) is especially fascinating. Situating god building in its historical context, amidst the reaction that followed the revolutionary defeat of 1905, this essay reconstructs the intellectual drama which subsequently ensued. Maksim Gorkii and Anatolii Lunacharskii emerge as the progenitors and main protagonists of the god-building current, in debate with more orthodox Marxists like Plekhanov and Lenin. God building was articulated in a number of different literary forms, from poems and letters to novels, articles, and even philosophical treatises. Ultimately, the objections raised by Lenin and others are found to be more in line with the views of Marx and Engels, though god building does pose important questions about the redeemable content of religious belief.

«…В боевые ряды революционной коммунистической партии»: прием бывших социалистов в РСДРП(б) – РКП(б) в 1917–1924 годах

The article analyzes one of the problems of inter-party interaction in Russia in 1917–1924, which was not studies either intentionally or occasionally by Russian or foreign scholars. The subject of the research is the admission of socialists, who quit other parties, to the RSDLP(b) - RCP(b): more specifically who resigned the membership of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists), Mensheviks, Right and Left wings of Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, Socialist-Revolutionaries-autonomists, Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists, Party of Revolutionary Communism, anarchists and so on. Based on the wide range of published materials, including data from the central and local periodicals, as well as unique archival sources that were added to the ever-growing aggregate of scientific knowledge for the first time, the article investigate, when, how and on what conditions former members of socialist parties (so-called “vykhodets”) were accepted for the RSDLP(b) – RCP(b) membership. The authors conclude that during 1917-1924 the conditions of admitting to Bolshevik Party changed crucially. At different moments, the Communist leadership solved different problems allowing former socialists to join the Bolshevik ranks. In 1917-1919 the admission of former socialists was initiated in order to rise the number of members of the RSDLP(b) - RCP(b), and the target audience mainly consisted of revolutionaries who had extensive experience in party and social work. After the October Revolution in 1917, the entering former members of the other parties to the Bolshevik party was considered as a tool of splitting and fragmentation of socialist parties and groups that were opponents and / or competitor for the Bolsheviks. Since the end of 1919, the admission of socialists to the RCP(b) had been gradually lost its significance as a source of recruiting and transformed mainly into an instrument for the destruction of the Mensheviks and Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, as well as a mechanism for the adoption and incorporation of small groups with socialist and communist orientation. Since 1921, the admission of former socialists to the RCP(b) actually ceased to play the role into the process of increasing membership, but became one of the most important implement of degrading and defeating the Mensheviks and Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries. From the beginning of 1924, it was used exclusively as a factor of discrediting the socialists.

Роль Центрального комитета РСДРП(о) в создании Демократического Совещания и Предпарламента в 1917 году

Роль Центрального комитета РСДРП(о) в создании Демократического Совещания и Предпарламента в 1917 году

ОТНОШЕНИЕ ЯКУТСКИХ СОЦИАЛ-ДЕМОКРАТОВ И ЭСЕРОВ К ПОЛИТИКЕ ВРЕМЕННОГО ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВА РОССИИ

The article considers the attitude of the Yakut Socialist Revolutionary Party Committee and the Yakut Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Committee towards the policy of the Russian Provisional Government in March - October 1917. The analysis of the party press and archival documents has allowed the author to trace the local socialists’ perception of the Russian Provisional Government, changes in its structure, and crises in its activity. Regional peculiarities of the Yakut Socialists’ attitude in the period of the February Revolution are identified. The paper concludes that the Yakut Committees of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Social Democratic Labour Party mostly supported the policy of the Russian Provisional Government.

ОТРАЖЕНИЕ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ СОЦИАЛ-ДЕМОКРАТОВ СИБИРИ 1901-1907 ГГ. В РАННЕЙ СОВЕТСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ

The article provides the historiographical analysis of ideological content and opportunism as the basic components of the political culture of the representatives of the Siberian branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. After analysing the domestic literature of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s the author has identified that the problem of the ideological and political orientation of the Siberian social democracy of the First Russian Revolution period is insufficiently investigated. The paper reveals the reasons for prejudiced interpretation of the opportunism phenomenon in the Siberian branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and concludes about negative consequences of the state interference into the process of studying the regional social democratic movement just at the initial stage of the Soviet historiography.

Unfinished Trials and Sentences

Unfinished Trials and Sentences

Trotsky and his role in the revolution of 1905 - 1907 in Russian

Trotsky is dialectic and one of the most important thinkers of socialist thought in modern times. He is a distinguished preacher and influential writer in the labor movements that undermined the cesarean section of Russian both in the Revolution of 1905 and in the revolution of 1917. The research in its first part included the birth and origin of Trotsky ,The second part emphasized Trotsky's political activism until the end of 1898, his joining a group of revolutionaries, The third axis focused on Trotsky's intellectual activity until the dissolution of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, where he joined in Siberia with the stream of socialist democratic ideas and became a leader in his own name, While the fourth axis dealt with the issue of splitting the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. The fifth axis dealt with Trotsky's role in the Russian revolution of 1905-1907, his leadership of this revolution and his contribution to supporting workers' councils throughout Russia.

COLLECTION OF ILLEGAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY AT THE STATE PUBLIC HISTORICAL LIBRARY: DOCUMENTATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONS OF THE RSDRP OF PRIMORYE (1906–1909)

The documentation, proceeding from social-democratic organizations of Primorye during the revolution of 1905–1907 is considered and political reaction, presented in the Collection of Illegal Publications of the Center for Social and Political History (CSPI) at the State Public Historical Library (GPIB). Documentary collections of the library are equated to archival collections and are an important component of the Archive Fund of the Russian Federation, and the documentation contained in them, as a rule, belongs to the category of particularly valuable or unique. The Center for Social and Political History of the State Public Historical Library contains in its collection illegal publications of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), including publications of local organizations and groups. Primorye organizations include 13 documents, which are charters, cash reports, conference resolutions, mandates to deputies, reports on the status and activities, political proclamations. Most of the documents come from the Vladivostok organization of the RSDLP – officially approved by the leading organization of the Primorsky district of the RSDLP, which included all the Social Democratic groups of the Primorsky region. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the organizational structure, status and activities of the organizations of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in the Primorsky region of the Amur governor general-governorate and to determine the functional role and significance of the historical documentation presented in the department of the rare book of the CSPI, according to the surviving historical sources. Being historical sources and performing a retrospective function, during the period of its operation the collection documents carried social, political, ideological, and regulatory functions. Their importance for studying the social and political movement in the Far East, Siberia and the country as a whole can not be overestimated.

The role of Bolshevist libraries in the build-up to the Revolution. (One hundred years of the Soviet librarianship) Article three. The party’s illegal libraries

In previous articles ( see Scientific and Technical Libraries. - 2017. - Issues 6,7) the author examined V.I. Lenin’s views on Bolsheviks’ party libraries in preparing the revolution: historiography is discussed; the problem historiography is presented; legal forms of library work used by Bolsheviks for propaganda is discussed. In this concluding article, the author focuses on illegal libraries of Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (of Bolsheviks) organized at every party cell. He analyzes every library element, i.e. collections, users, librarians, and equipment, sources for collection development, specifics of underground cataloguing, etc.