2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

Probably as a result of diplomatic pressure from the Russian Embassy, Belgian police had forced the delegates to leave the country on August 6.

Draft Regulations for the convening of the Congress were adopted at a plenary session held in Orel in February 1903.

Of these, 33 supported Iskra, the party newspaper, 5 backed the Bund and there were 2 economists (Marxists who believed workers should concentrate on economic demands rather than political ones).

[4] The Congress saw the RSDLP split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks as a result of a dispute between Lenin and Julius Martov over the major points of the Party Programme.

Martov's wording was slightly different: "regular personal association under the direction of one of the party organisations".

However, a similar motion proposed by Noe Zhordania (leader of the Transcaucasian Social Democrats) was passed.

Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were united in their opposition to the Bundist proposal, calling it separatist, nationalist and opportunist.

Iskra's editorial board became the party's Central Organ and was cut from six to three members (Lenin, Plekhanov and Martov).