V. I.

Lenin

53

To:   Y. O. MARTOV [3]

February 5,1903

I am sending you a copy of the Union’s letter and the draft of our
reply. [1]

The reply was sent to Plekhanov who was to await your letter from Paris. Arrange
a meeting with P. Andr. and Boris immediately and answer Plekhanov as quickly as possible whether you are satisfied with the reply or whether
changes are required. It would be desirable, of course, not to delay the reply
to the Unionists, but if changes are voted it will entail a pretty long delay;
perhaps unimportant changes can be disregarded. But, of course, if there is
disagreement on the substance of the question, it will be necessary to hold up
the reply (I am writing to Plekhanov about this) and have everyone vote.

In my opinion (with which V. I. and L. Gr. agree) the most important thing here
is that 1) the foreign section of the
O.C. [4] should be precisely a section of the Organising Committee in Russia . The Unionists’ idea, I
believe, is to have two sections with equal rights: one in Russia, the
other abroad. By no means can we accept or allow such an interpretation. The
O.C. in Russia must act cautiously (in this respect its announcement is
admirably drawn up), but in all matters and in all approaches
made to it, must behave with the utmost formality and rigour, that is
to say, in such a way that it, the O.C. in Russia, controls every thing and
no one in the Party can do anything of a general Party character or in the way of general obligations, unless authorised to do so by the Organising Committee in Russia .

Yet the Unionists, by their letter, recognise (or almost three-quarters
recognise) the O.C. and the more they recognise it, the more formally and
firmly must the Organising Committee behave. It is of the highest importance to
adopt the right tone from the very beginning and to take such a stand that the
Party position is made quite clear: either recognition of the
present O.C. and subordination to it, or war. Tertium non datur . [2]

Even now there is every chance of obtaining general recognition, without offending or irritating anyone, but
without giving way in the slightest degree .

2) The O.C. should reduce the functions of its foreign section to a
minimum. The foreign section only “deals with” affairs abroad (in the sense of preparing for unity) and assists
the Russian section. On every other question that goes the least beyond those
limits, the foreign section of the O.C. must request the opinion and decision of the Organising Committee in Russia . I strongly urge,
therefore, that the O.C. in Russia should as soon as possible write
a letter to the Union, the League and the Bund proposing that they should
form a section of their own for exercising such-and-such functions . It is essential that the O.C. in Russia should indicate the
“limits of authority” to its foreign section, and I propose below
an outline of these functions with three and only three strictly
limited items. I earnestly request you to discuss this draft as quickly as
possible with P. A. and Boris and confirm it (alternatively, put changes to
the vote). (We shall send all these data to
Yuri [5] as well, asking him to await the arrival of P. A. and Boris, who should do everything
to hasten their arrival.)

( Of course, P. A. could write a letter to the League, the
Union and the Bund Committee Abroad from here, but I think this is in the highest degree undesirable, for people
will suspect a put-up job and a fiction. Better to wait a
week or two, and have the letter sent without fail from
Russia.)

I also believe we must think of electing a member of ours to the O.C. (the
foreign section) and vote on it in advance, for owing to the members being in
different places this can take much time and it will be unpleasant if things have to
wait on this account. For my part, I vote for L. Gr.

I positively do not have time to write to Plekhanov as well. You will
simply forward to him at once both this letter and the reply to the Union , and meanwhile I will drop him a line.

All the best.

Lenin