V. I.

Lenin

385

To:   A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

1915

3/I.1915

Dear Friend, I received your two letters with the news of your departure.

The arguments you have advanced against my supposition (about the
possibility of your not going to Copenhagen, not leaving Stockholm) have
fully convinced me. I see that I have overlooked a really very important
circumstance. If I have offended you, I am prepared to tender my voluble
apologies and earnestly ask you to forget it.

The village [1] is really far more dangerous now ( and in convenient for the work )
than the town.

Generally speaking, the situation now is such that the fight against
tsarism calls for the utmost care—especially as regards the preservation
of reserves. To expend still more forces (soon after our
immeasurable losses) would mean weakening ourselves completely for
the moment of more decisive actions against tsarism. Therefore I ask you
most earnestly to double and triple secrecy precautions and
1) either not go beyond asking for somebody to be sent to Sweden,
2) or confine yourself to the briefest of visits. I would ask you
earnestly to confine yourself to the former and not make the latter (if
there is the slightest possibility of not doing so).

It would be better not to go to the conference (16/I) of the
Scandinavians. Grigory and I have just discussed this for the umpteenth
time. The Swiss are not going. That means there is an obvious intrigue of
the Germans and Troelstra+Branting. They will try their hardest to muddle
things up and will not allow you to make your Swedish speech . Unless there is an absolute guarantee that you will be
allowed to make such a speech, you had better not go altogether. We should send (through Litvinov)
α) a complete translation of our manifesto, β) a translation of the government’s report concerning the arrest of
the R.S.D.L. group in the Duma—and all this to be sent not as a rapport,
not as an account (so that it should not appear as if we recognise
the conference), but as a communication .

Wishing you all the very, very best. The utmost care and sans
rancune, n’est-ce pas?

Yours, Lenin