V. I.

Lenin

112

To:   A. A. JOFFE

18/VI.

Comrade Joffe, I am extremely astonished and angry at the absence
of news from Switzerland. I am told that couriers travel
there weekly. Yet not a word!

What are Berzin and Shklovsky doing?

Please forward this letter to them and take measures to
receive a reply.

It is urgently necessary to have sent here from
Switzerland

Junius’s pamphlet, Karl Liebknecht’s pamphlet, a set of cuttings from Berner Tagwacht and other
publications (all documents on the movement of the Lefts in
Germany and
Austria). [1]

This must be republished immediately in book form (separate issues) in Switzerland.

Commission someone in Germany (in Berlin) to do the same job, using the materials of the Partei-Archiv or of
any library having complete sets of newspapers for the war years (Rühle’s article on the split in Vorwärts ,
12. I. 1915 or
1916, [2] etc.).

Referenten-Material from Niederbarnim (quoted in
Legion’s pamphlet: Warum müssen die Gewerkschaftsführer, u.s.w. ) [3] and everything of this kind to be collected
immediately.

It’s really scandalous that nothing is being done in this
field.

For this work two Germans (Borchardt would be suitable)
and two Swiss can (and should) be hired , and it should be
published immediately in German, French and English.

Lenin

Regarding the ships in Novorossiisk the matter has not yet been fully cleared up. But we have taken all measures
and I hope the order will be carried out. [4]

---
Notes:
[1]
Lenin is referring to the following writings: the pamphlet by
Rosa Luxemburg—Junius, Die Krise der Sozialdemokratie ; the
pamphlet circulated in Germany in manuscript form: Klassenkampf gegen den Krieg! Material zum “Fall” Liebknecht (Class
Struggle Against the War. Material to Liebknecht’s “Case”);
cuttings from the newspaper Berner Tagwacht , organ of the
Social-Democratic Party of Switzerland.

[2]
The article by the German Left Social-Democrat 0. Rühle, “Zur
Parteispaltung” (On the Split in the Party), was published on
January 12, 1916, in No. 11 of Vorwärts , the central organ of the
German Social-Democratic Party.

[3]
Referenten-Material aus Niederbarnim’a (Niederbarnim—suburb of
Berlin) was quoted in Legien’s pamphlet entitled Warum müssen die Gewerkschaftsfunktionäre sich mehr am inneren Parteileben beteiltgen? (Why Must Trade Union Functionaries Take More
Part in the Party’s Internal Affairs?).

[4]
This refers to the German Government’s demand for the ships
of the Black Sea Fleet to be transferred from Novorossiisk to
Sevastopol. See this volume, Document 88 and Note 60.