ABSTRACT
For us, the elections [to the Fourth State Duma] are above all a unique opportunity to mobilise all the conscious workers in the country . . . The elections are not a local, but an all-Russian concern. It is essential to strain every sinew to create an all-party apparatus. There is just one path to this, the one indicated by the last general meeting of the Central Committee of our party one year ago: to call a party conference. Serious preparatory work for a conference will link together the scattered parts into a new whole, and formulate a general programme of action acceptable to all tendencies of party thought, it will work out the slogans for the electoral campaign and strengthen our organisational apparatus. We cannot delay the elections to the Fourth Duma, they are fixed and they impose on our party a serious political challenge. It is impossible, therefore, to kick into the long grass the work on preparing a conference. Work must begin at once, from every angle at the same time.
