The Declaration of 46

The Declaration of 46 was a secret letter sent by a group of 46 leading Soviet communists to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party on 15 October 1923. The declaration followed Leon Trotsky's letter sent to the Politburo on 8 October and expressed similar concerns, thus laying the foundation for the Left Opposition within the Soviet Communist Party later that year.

Starting in mid-summer 1923, the Soviet economy ran into significant difficulties arising from the scissor crisis. This led to numerous strikes countrywide. Two secret groups within the Communist Party, Workers' Truth and Workers' Group, were uncovered and suppressed by the Soviet secret police.

In September–October 1923, the much anticipated Communist revolution in Germany ended in defeat.

On 8 October 1923, Trotsky sent a letter to the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission which attributed these difficulties to lack of intra-Party democracy. Trotsky wrote:

One week later, the Declaration of 46 followed.

"Declaration of the 46" to the Politburo of the CC RCP(b)

15 October 1923

Top Secret

TO THE POLITBURO OF THE CC OF THE RCP(b)

The extreme seriousness of the situation forces us (in the interests of our party, in the interests of the working class) to tell you openly that continuation of the policy of the majority of the Politburo threatens the entire party with grave misfortune. The economic and financial crisis beginning at the end of July this year, with all the political consequences flowing from it, including those within the party, has mercilessly revealed the inadequacy of the party leadership, both in the economic realm, and especially in the area of inner-party relations.

The haphazard, poorly thought through, and unsystematic decisions of the CC, which hasn't made ends meet in the economy, have led to a situation where, given the presence of undoubtedly major successes in the realm of industry, agriculture, finances and transport, - successes which were achieved by the economy of the nation spontaneously, not thanks to but in spite of the inadequate leadership, or, to be more precise, the absence of any leadership, - we are faced not only with the perspective of the halting of these successes, but with a severe crisis of the economy as a whole.

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