Iskra

The first underground Marxist newspaper in Russia, cofounded by Lenin and Plekhanov. The motto of “Iskra” was "From a spark a fire will flare up". Its first issue was published in Leipzig, Germany, on December 24, 1900, and the newspaper soon moved to Munich for publication, then to London from April 1902, and to Geneva from the spring of 1903. At first, Lenin, Plekhanov, Martov, Axelrod, Potresov and Zasulich joined the editorial board of Iskra. And from the spring of 1901, Krupskaya was the secretary of the editorial board. Lenin was actually the editor-in-chief and the leader of Iskra, in which he published many articles elaborating on the basic questions of the party building and the struggle of Russian proletarian, as well as timely comments on the major events in the international sphere. After its publication abroad, Iskra was secretly shipped to Russia for reprinting and dissemination. Iskra rapidly became a center for uniting the forces of the party and gathering and training its cadres. Many cities in Russia set up groups and committees of Lenin’s Iskraists of Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party. In January 1902, a meeting of the Iskraists was held in Samara, in which the Permanent Bureau of Iskra within the borders of Russia was established.

Iskra played an important role in the establishment of a Marxist political party in Russia. With Lenin’s initiative and his personal participation, the editorial board of Iskra drew up a draft party programme and prepared the Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party. The Congress declared Iskra as the central organ of the Party.

According to the resolution of the Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party, the editorial board of Iskra was replaced with Lenin, Plekhanov and Martov. However, Martov insisted on retaining the original six-member editorial board and refused to participate in the new one. Therefore, the issues No. 46-51 of Iskra were edited by Lenin and Plekhanov. Later, Plekhanov took a turn for Menshevism and demanded that all the original editors be included in the editorial board. Lenin did not agree with this, and withdrew from the editorial board on October 19, 1903. The issue No. 52 of Iskra was then solely edited by Plekhanov. On November 13, 1903, after Plekhanov added all the original editors to the editorial board, Iskra began to be edited by Plekhanov, Martov, Axelrod, Zasulich and Potresov. As a result, with publication of the issue No. 52, Iskra became the central organ of the Mensheviks. People called the Iskra before the issue No. 52 as the "old” Iskra, and the Menshevik Iskra as the "new” Iskra. After the issue No. 100 in May 1905, Plekhanov withdrew from the editorial board. Later, Iskra ceased its publication in October 1905, with the last issue No. 112.