From 1895 on, the Social Democratic movement in Russia began to shift from kruzhkovshchina to methods of mass agitation. This produced, among other things, a demand for agitational pamphlets for distribution among the worker masses. But there were few pamphlets available, and those only in extremely limited quantities. At that time the Union of Russian Social Democrats [Abroad] published only a few pamphlets a year and was unable to arrange adequate delivery of its publications to Russia.

Nobody was satisfied with the Listok Rabotnika [Worker Supplement] which was published abroad (there were eight issues from May 1896 to October 1898). Furthermore, its publication led to a clash between the GEL [Group for the Emancipation of Labour] and the majority of the ‘young’ comrades. As a result of these clashes, the ‘youngsters’ convened in November 1898, and decided to demand that the GEL allow them to publish independently the Listok Rabotnika and agitational pamphlets. If this right were not granted, they proposed to begin publication activities outside the Union. The ‘youngsters’ wanted the GEL to continue to edit the Rabotnik and also those pamphlets which it decided itself ought to be published. However, although it acceded to the changes demanded by the ‘youngsters’, the GEL refused to take any active part in the subsequent publications of the Union.

The ‘youngsters’ set themselves very modest tasks. According to their [new] statute, the Union's duties were: (1) to publish agitational literature and deliver it to Russia; (2) as their representative abroad, to carry out the instructions of the Party organizations in Russia; (3) to undertake other tasks that might arise, provided they were not in conflict with the Party's Manifesto.