V. I.

Lenin

181

To:   G. Y. ZINOVIEV [1]

Dear Gr., I have received No. 7–8 of
Sotsial-Demokrat . [2] I object to Trotsky’s signature ; signatures must be
omitted. (I have not yet read the articles.)

As regards Proletary , I think we should insert in it 1) am article on
the elections In St. Petersburg (in connection with the claptrap of
Rech [3] and Vodovozov, if Rech has not misreported him); 2) on the Swedish strike—a summing-up article is essential; 3)
ditto on the Spanish events [4] ;
4) on the Mensheviks, in connection with their (very vile) polemic with the
Geneva (Georgien [5] ) anti-liquidator; 5) in the supplement as a
special sheet, an answer to the “Open Letter” of Maximov and
Co. [6] A proper answer must be given to them so that these scoundrels
do not mislead people by their lies.

After three weeks’ holiday, I am beginning to comb round. I think I could take
No. 4 and 5, upon myself, if need be No. 1 as well, but I am still afraid to
promise. Write me your opinion and the exact deadlines . What else is
there for Proletary ?

No. 2 and 3 can be made up from Vorwärts ; I shall send it to you, if
you will undertake to write.

As regards Pravda , have you read Trotsky’s letter to Inok? If you
have, I hope it has convinced you that Trotsky behaves like a despicable
careerist and factionalist of the Ryazanov-and-Co. type ? Either
equality on the editorial board, subordination to the C.C. and no
one’s transfer to Paris except Trotsky’s (the scoundrel, he wants to
“fix up” the whole rascally crew of Pravda at our expense!)— or a break with this swindler and an exposure of him in the C.O. He pays lip-service to the Party and behaves worse than any other of the factionalists.

All the best.

N. Lenin

P.S. I’m afraid we’ll have to give Kamenev up as a bad job. An article on
The Social Movement [7] has been promised six weeks (or
six months) ago?

My address is: Mr. Wl. Oulianoff (Chez Madame Lecreux), Bombon
(Seine-et-Marne).

---
Notes:
[1]
Zinoviev, Grigory Yevseyevich (1883–1936)—joined the
R.S.D.L.P. in 1901. From 1908 to April 1917 was an emigrant abroad, member
of the editorial board of the Party’s Central Organ
Sotsial-Democrat and of the Bolshevik newspaper
Proletary . During the years of reaction (1907–10) and the new
revolutionary upsurge he adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the
liquidators, otzovists and Trotskyists. In the period of preparation and
conduct of the October Revolution he wavered and was opposed to an armed
uprising.

In November 1927 he was expelled from the Party for factional activities,
was twice reinstated and expelled again for anti-Party activities.

[2]
Sotsial-Demokrat —Central Organ of the R.S.D.L.P., an illegal
newspaper published from February 1908 to January 1917. The editorial
board, by decision of the C.C. elected at the Fifth (London) Congress of
the R.S.D.L.P., was composed of representatives of the Bolsheviks,
Mensheviks and Polish Social-Democrats. The paper was virtually run by
Lenin.

[3]
Rech (Speech)—a daily newspaper, Central Organ of the Cadet
Party, published in St. Petersburg from February 1906. Closed down by the
Military Revolutionary Committee on October 26 (November 8), 1917.

[4]
The reference is to the general strike in Sweden, which broke out on
August 4, 1909, following the lockout of 83,000 workers in various branches
of industry, and to the revolt in Catalonia. Articles on these subjects
were published in Proletary No. 47–48 under the headings:
“Lessons of the Class Struggle (the General Strike in Sweden)”, a leading
article and “Colonial Robbery and Revolution”.

[5]
The polemic Lenin intended writing about was carried on in June and
August–September 1909 in Golos Sotsial-Demokrata , Nos. 15 and 16–17, in connection with an article by a Geneva anti-liquidator
Menshevik, apparently Victor Tevzaya (Georgien), entitled “A Word on a
Topical Subject”, in which he defended the idea of an illegal party and
urged that the Menshevik organisations clear their ranks of the liquidator
legalists. In leading articles headed “Concerning the Article of a Geneva
Comrade” and “On the Organisational Discussion” the Golos
people denied that they “winked at” liquidationism and accused the author
of sectarianism. In his reply (“On the Same Subject”) Georgien quoted a
number of documents reflecting the activities of the liquidators in the
organisations in Russia. No special article on this polemic appeared in
Proletary . Reference to a promised analysis and evaluation of
liquidator ideas “piled up” in issue No. 15 of Golos Sotsial-Demokrata is contained in a footnote to Lenin’s article “The
Liquidation of Liquidationism”^^(see Vol. 15, p. 460, of this edition)^^.

[6]
This refers to the contents of the current issue, No. 47–48, of
Proletary , which published the following articles by Lenin: “The
Liquidators Exposed”, “On the Open Letter of the Executive Committee of
the Moscow Regional Committee”, and “The Elections in St. Petersburg”,
and to the supplement to this issue containing the article “The Faction of
Supporters of Otzovism and God-Building”^^(see Vol. 16 of this edition)^^.

[7]

L. B. Kamenev’s article on the Menshevik five-volume publication The Social Movement in Russia at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
edited by L. Martov, P. Maslov and A. Potresov, was published in
Proletary , Nos. 47–48 and 49, September 5 (18) and October 3
(16), 1909.