"Only a proletarian socialist revolution can lead humanity out of the impasse which imperialism and imperialist wars have created. Whatever difficulties the revolution may have to encounter, whatever possible temporary setbacks or waves of counter-revolution it may have to contend with, the final victory of the proletariat is inevitable." Written April–May, 1917.

Preface to the Pamphlet Materials Relating to the Revision of the Party Programme

The Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (“Bolsheviks”) has instructed the undersigned to publish immediately the material at present in the possession of the Central Committee relating to the revision of the Party Programme.

This material consists of the following:

a) The initial draft of amendments to the theoretical and political sections of the programme which the present writer submitted to the All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P. on April 24–29, 1917, and which was examined so far only by the committee set up by the Conference for the detailed elaboration of this question.

b) Comments on the draft, or in connection with the draft, made by the committee or by its individual members.

c) My reply to these comments.

d) A complete draft of proposed changes in the economic minimum programme worked out at the Conference of April 24–29, 1917 by the sub-committee on the protection of labour.

e) A draft, supplied with brief explanatory notes, of changes to be made in the clauses of the Party Programme dealing with public education. This draft was drawn up by N. K. Krupskaya after the Conference.

I am appending brief notes to this material, for I consider that the chief purpose of the Party in publishing this material at the present time is to secure the active participation of the greatest possible number of comrades in the work of drawing up the Party Programme.

Taken together, the proposed changes above enumerated form the draft of the complete text of a new programme. I therefore give both the old and the new texts of the programme at the end of this pamphlet, arranged so as to present the reader with all the material in the form most convenient for comparison and for the insertion of amendments.

On behalf of the Central Committee, I ask all comrades, both members of the Party and sympathisers, to reprint this material in Party publications as widely as possible, to bring it to the attention of every member of the Party and to address all comments and proposals to the office of Pravda (32 Moika, Petrograd, marked: for the Central Committee, Material Relating to Programme Revision).

May 20, 1917

N. Lenin