I. I. RADCHENKO. JULY 1902

Dear friend! First of all, I heartily congratulate you (and your friends) on the enormous success: the beginning of the reorganization of the local committee. This matter may become a turning point in our entire movement, and therefore carrying this reorganization through to the end is the most important and most urgent task. Take extra care of yourself in order to manage to accomplish it.

I now come to business. You ask me to help you with “a concrete outline of a plan for local work in connection with the general Russian one.” In order to fulfill your request immediately, I am writing to you for the time being alone (so as not to delay matters by communicating with other members of the editorial board, who are now scattered in different places; perhaps later they will add something themselves). I am not entirely sure that I correctly understand your request. My sources at present are: your letter of 21/VI and the letter from 2a 3b about the two meetings (yours, 2a 3b’s, and Krasikov’s) with Vanya (the Petersburg Union). Judging from these sources (especially the second one), Vanya “has now turned out to be our like-thinker, frankly acknowledging the shortcomings of his previous position.” Proceeding from this, I shall write further, addressing both you and Vanya, and I leave entirely to your discretion whether to convey my letter to Vanya (and to Manya = the workers’ organization) now or later, whether to convey it in full or with certain corrections, which, if necessary, I also authorize you to make (informing us of all these corrections, as far as possible, of course).

Strictly speaking, I cannot, of course, give you now “a concrete outline of a plan for local work in connection with the general Russian one”: this task is impossible for me without a series of detailed consultations with both Vanya and Manya. All I can give is an outline of the practical steps that must be taken immediately and above all by Vanya, now that he has become a new Vanya or wants to become such de facto. And it seems to me that the steps outlined by all of you at the second meeting with Vanya (and described in the letter from 2a 3b) are entirely correct. I fully agree that “the first thing is to openly declare oneself a supporter of certain views.” This is precisely the first thing, and it can be done only by an open declaration. I well know that most or many of Vanya’s comrades (i.e., the committees and their members) have a strong prejudice against such open declarations, or at least are unaccustomed to them. This trait is entirely understandable from the standpoint of the stage of the movement already passed and the mistakes already rejected. But precisely because Vanya holds such an important position, precisely because in the past he openly declared his old views, which decidedly diverged from the “Iskra-ist” ones—precisely for this reason I would especially warmly advise the comrades (= Vanya) to overcome this unaccustomedness and prejudice. Our local work until now has suffered most of all from narrowness and isolation, from the unwillingness of local activists to actively and resolutely tackle the general questions of the party. So let Vanya, in becoming a supporter of revolutionary Social-Democracy, immediately break with this tradition and declare for all to hear that his basic theoretical views and organizational ideas are as follows, and that he now undertakes himself to realize these ideas, inviting all the other committees to do likewise. This declaration will have enormous significance both for Vanya and for the whole of Russia; it will in itself already be a major deed. One should not be afraid of offending Vanya’s old friends who held different views: any shadow of offense will be removed here precisely by the fact that Vanya himself openly and frankly acknowledges that circumstances and experience have convinced him of the incorrectness of his former theoretical views, tactical principles, and organizational plans, which were connected in one way or another with Economism. There will not be even a shadow of an attack on these old views, but simply an acknowledgement of his own evolution. The frank directness of this admission will have ten times greater influence on the actual unification of all Russian Social-Democrats and on the complete cessation of the “polemic” among them than a hundred protests against the “polemic.”

So, first of all and most of all: an open printed declaration (in a local leaflet or in Iskra, best of all both there and here). This step absolutely should not be delayed for even a week, for without it all the other steps can easily prove fruitless (a failure, and so forth), whereas with it the new path is immediately consolidated.

What should be included in this declaration? If Vanya were to ask me for comradely advice on this (but not before, of course, than he asked me), I would answer: 1) acknowledgement of his renunciation of his old views (theoretical, tactical, organizational) with the most general (if possible in one or two words) characterization of those views. 2) Acknowledgement of his conversion to being a supporter of Iskra, of its theoretical, tactical, and organizational views, recognition of it as the leading organ (NB: leading does not at all mean that one must necessarily agree with it in everything. It means precisely only solidarity with the leading principles of such-and-such an organ. This recognition is fully compatible with pointing out particular disagreements, if any exist, and with indicating that I desire such-and-such changes and I, the present-day supporter of Iskra, will promote them and strive to achieve them in Iskra itself). 3) Advancing to the forefront the unification, or rather the restoration of a de facto united all-Russian Social-Democratic workers’ party through joint work, which must begin with rallying around Iskra in order to transform it into an instrument of genuinely nationwide agitation, and which (work) must lead to the creation of a militant all-Russian organization capable of delivering a decisive onslaught on the autocracy. 4) Acknowledgement (already made but not yet published by Vanya) of the need to reorganize the constitution and functioning of Vanya with Manya (their relations, etc.), the proclamation (so to speak) of a revision of the constitution. 5) Acknowledgement of the need for closer rapprochement and merger with the Russian organization of Iskra for the accomplishment of tasks that are henceforth common to Vanya and to that organization. 6) Detailing one or several (perhaps from Vanya and from Manya, etc.) members of the Petersburg Committee to the function of immediately proceeding to the practical implementation of the aforesaid, i.e., to the merger with Iskra and the unification of the party.*

Of course, of these six points the sixth absolutely cannot be published, and perhaps also other points. The declaration could put dots and explicitly stipulate that such-and-such (or “further”) points are not subject to publication for conspiratorial reasons. But I repeat: if Vanya has really become our supporter, he must not postpone this declaration for even a week.

It is at this conference of the delegates of the Petersburg Committee with Sonya (the Russian organization of Iskra) and with the Iskra editorial board (abroad) that a genuinely concrete plan will be worked out not only for the reconstruction of the Petersburg work, but also for the direct unification of the party, the constituting of an Organizing Committee for the preparation of the Second Party Congress, and so forth and so on.

Further, at your second meeting it was proposed “before carrying out the aforementioned project (sending delegates abroad in July) to conduct a preliminary familiarization with the state of affairs in various localities of our vast fatherland, so as to have a basis for judgments at the congress.” This decision I (frankly speaking) consider a mistake and would advise abandoning it. This means dragging out the matter and chasing two hares. Let us first catch the first one: let us come to an agreement (we with Vanya) ourselves. That will already be tantamount to full solidarity of Vanya with Sonya. And with this solidarity, the further practical task (a tour of Russia) will be accomplished by Vanya and Sonya (? or =) quite easily. But there is no sense in scattering our forces now: first (1) we shall finally convince Vanya and Manya, then (2) we shall declare our standpoint for all to hear, next (3) we shall immediately come to an understanding with Iskra (abroad, where Iskra already has a whole archive of data on the question of the state of affairs in various places of our vast fatherland: do not disregard this archive, comrades!), and (4) with Sonya, and then (5) a tour of Russia with the direct practical aim of the actual unification of work (and the convocation of an all-party congress).

Here you have, if you like, a “concrete outline of a plan” of immediate practical tasks. If point 2 presents difficulties, point 3 can be pushed into the foreground (this will, of course, mean a certain delay, but under certain conditions an unavoidable delay). But we must insist on both 2 and 3 at all costs. It is extremely important here that the members of Vanya who are coming here be provided with the broadest possible powers, and that there be 2 of them if possible, and not 1 (though this depends entirely on local conditions, and you can judge this much better).

On this, it seems, I can conclude. Please write as soon as possible your opinion: have I understood your request correctly? is my “concrete plan” feasible? and so on. I am somewhat apprehensive that things are still not so good, that Vanya is not yet a full supporter. Especially suspicious is that Manya has still not been given What Is to Be Done?* It would be a good thing for you to repeat the meeting with Vanya in pleno (i.e., in full composition of the Petersburg Committee): this would be extremely important in order to ascertain exactly whether there are opposi-

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* This (point 6) has also already been decided de facto at your second meeting: sending abroad in order to reach a final agreement.

* See V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 5th ed., vol. 6, pp. 1–192. – Ed.