V. I.

Lenin

TO P. B. AXELROD

November 16

I have just received, dear P. B., your remarks on the article “The Urgent
Tasks”. [1] Many thanks. What do you think about the unpopularity of this article? It won’t sound
discordant, will it?

I enclose the preface to the pamphlet May Day Demonstrations in Kharkov (some, but very small, corrections
were made in the manuscript you have). Please, let’s hear
what you think of it, and do not hesitate to make your remarks on it, in ink or in pencil.

I am also sending you a document received from Russia about the amalgamation of the St. Petersburg Workers’
Organisation and the League of
Struggle. [2] They say the
St. Petersburg people are terribly proud of it, and Kiev
is said to have adopted the programme already. It must be
written about. Would you like to do so? (After reading this “document”—this “specimen”, as my brother calls
it—please send it on to G. V., if you don’t need it.)

We have at last found a responsible editor. Ettinger has
undertaken to sign two numbers in any case, giving up all claims about the “tone”, etc., and reserving the right
after these two issues to make a statement in the press about
her disagreement with the content, and so forth. Let us
hope that she will keep to this condition (she only asks very
earnestly that we should say nothing about it to anyone
until publication), and in the meantime we shall either
find someone else, or make other arrangements. [3] I personally negotiated with Ettinger with the aid of
Buchholtz, who resigned from the Union for the purpose of taking some steps in the spirit of conciliation. I shall write in more
detail about these steps later, considering that there is
little of interest in them.

We now hope to begin setting in a few days.

With all good wishes, Yours, Petroff