V. I. L E N I N  — G. E. Z I N O V Y E V U .
[Summer 1909, France. Department of Seine-et-Loire.
The last two-thirds of Kamenev’s article are utterly poor and can scarcely
be salvaged. I’ve polished the first third—from page 1 to the end of page 5—but beyond that, I’m unable to improve it, for I see that what is at issue here is not merely a matter of correction, but of completely reworking the piece from scratch.
Kamenev expresses his view—that the Octoberists and the Right Wing are locked in a struggle over petty issues, that their conflict, their squabbling, their brawls are inevitable on the road to transforming monarchy into bourgeois rule; that revolution emerges from this struggle only indirectly—namely, when the proletariat enters the arena—not directly from the “leftism” of the bourgeoisie itself—in this part of the article, he conveys this idea in an exceedingly confused, convoluted manner, cluttered with countless superfluous embellishments.1
In my opinion, this version simply cannot be published as is.
Either persuade the author to completely rewrite the final two-thirds—and then we shall “polish” the article—or else try your hand at writing nearly the entire final two-thirds anew yourself.
I am attaching (pages 1–3, in ink) a tentative outline for the revision.

We were unable to locate any article by L. Kamenev on the corresponding topic.
In response to an inquiry from the Lenin Institute Archive regarding this matter, L. Kamenev wrote as follows: “With regard to the copy of Comrade Lenin’s letter that you sent me, I regret to say that I cannot determine which article is being discussed therein. It seems likely that the letter dates back to 1909 (the period of the Third Duma), and that it was written during the summer months of that year, when Lenin, Zinoviev, and I were living in three separate country estates in France and had to communicate by letter. For the rest of the time, we lived together and there was no need for written correspondence. It is quite possible that, since the article clearly did not turn out well for me, I simply abandoned it, and it was never published at all.”