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Iskra (, , the Spark) was a fortnightly political newspaper of Socialism Emigration established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).
Iskra quickly became the most successful underground Russian newspaper since 1850s. It was smuggled into Russia via Romania, and reprinted on secret presses in Kishinev and the Caucasus. Using the networks created to write for and distribute the paper, Lenin and Julius Martov prepared organisationally for the Second Congress of the RSDLP.
In 1903, following the split of the RSDLP, Chairman Georgi Plekhanov chose to seek reconciliation with dissident party members who had walked out on the vote to reduce the number of seats on the editorial board from six to three. He chose to nominate three members, all Mensheviks. Lenin resigned shortly before the nominations were finalized, leaving Iskra in Menshevik control.
As outlined by Lenin in What Is to Be Done?, Iskra took the place of a central project to cohere the RSDLP nationally. As one of the editors, Lenin was "allowed a virtual monopoly over communications with party workers in Russia and could count on the acquiescence of his colleagues in his endeavours to put his organizational program into practice."
Later:
Some of the staff were later involved in the Bolsheviks revolution of October 1917.
Iosif Blumenfeld did the printing. Leo Deutsch was the administrator of Iskra but did not share in the editorial work.
Savva Morozov was one of the people who financed the paper.
Staff
Initial staff members:
See also
Footnotes
Further reading
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