V. I.

Lenin

39

To:   E. Y. LEVIN [2]

Dear comrades, We were extremely glad to receive your letter informing us of the views and
plans of the remaining editors of Yuzhny Rabochy . [3] We
whole-heartedly welcome your proposal for the closest contact and co-operation
between Yuzhny Rabochy and Iskra . The most vigorous steps
should immediately be taken to consolidate these close relations and pass to
united activities resulting from the unity of our views. In the first
place, we shall avail ourselves for this purpose of your proposal to negotiate
with
Chernyshev. [4] Let us have his address. Is he going to be abroad (as we
have heard) and will he not visit us? [1]

Secondly, let us know also who your official representative is. Give us at once a direct address for letters to you
from abroad and from Russia , as well as a rendezvous address to
you. We have already taken steps for members of the Iskra organisation
in Russia to meet you and confer about everything in detail. Nob to waste time,
we ask you, too, to write to us about matters in greater detail. What are the
immediate practical plans of the editorial board of Yuzhny Rabochy ? Is
it in contact with the southern committees and does it have formal relations
with them? From your statement that you intend to conduct affairs as they were
conducted prior to the formation of the League of Southern Committees
and
Organisations [5] we infer that both the composition and
trend of the present editorial board of Yuzhny Rabochy differ
from the composition and trend which existed in the spring, at the time of the conference. What exactly is the difference between these trends,
and what is the position adopted here by the southern committees, i.e., which of
them support the trend of the League of Southern Committees and Organisations
and which of them are in favour of your trend? What is your opinion of the
extent of this divergence, does it prevent Party unity, and what measures are
desirable for speedy achievement of solidarity? In what relation do the six
provincial groups you have written about stand to the southern committees (and
to the two trends which you have mentioned)? We should very much like you to
help us to clear up fully all these questions, for that would be of great
assistance in bringing closer together your friends and the members of the
Iskra organisation in Russia working in the south.