LETTER TO A. A. IOFFE
1. VII. 1918

Dear Comrade Ioffe!

I am angry at you, to tell the truth, to the extreme. There are 
few people, everyone is worked to exhaustion, and yet you arrange 
such a thing: you write much business matter in a personal letter to 
me (the last one, in pencil) and insert a series of personal attacks, 
outbursts, barbs, and so forth against Chicherin ("not a real" minister, 
and the like). Yet to Chicherin you write: "perspectives in a letter to 
Lenin."

What in the devil is this?!

Of course, Chicherin asks me for the letter, and I cannot show it, 
not wishing to be an instrument of intrigue. The result is damage to 
the work and damage to relations.

Chicherin is an excellent worker, most conscientious, intelligent, 
and knowledgeable. Such people must be valued. That his weakness 
is a lack of "commanding ability" is no great matter. How many 
people in the world have the opposite weakness!

It is possible to work with Chicherin, work proceeds easily, but 
even with him the work can be damaged.

You find fault with him, but the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs 
has the right to complain about you as well, since you do not reckon 
with it, and without the knowledge and permission of the Commissar 
of Foreign Affairs, diplomats certainly have no right to take decisive 
steps.

I hope you will take all measures to eliminate these deficiencies.