V. I.

Lenin

Copy of a Reply

Addressed to Potresov (for Dan)

December 2, 1903 “ Dear Comrade, “ The elimination of the personal conflict between
Martov and myself could be confirmed in an annex to the
minutes of the League’s
Congress. [1] For my part, I should only welcome it. But no one has either the formal or the
moral right to abbreviate anything in the minutes of the
Congress, or to delete anything from the description of what
took place.”

With comradely greetings,
N. Lenin

---
Notes:
[1]
A reference to the “personal conflict” between Lenin and Martov
at the League’s Second Congress, which amounted to the following: Martov accused Lenin that in his report at the Congress he
had portrayed Martov as a liar and intriguer in presenting the
question of organising the C.O. Editorial Board at the Party’s
Second Congress. Accordingly, he challenged Lenin to appear
before a court of arbitration. Lenin protested against such
tactics, took up Martov’s challenge and, in his turn, challenged him
to appear before a court of arbitration on the issue. The conflict
was ironed out through the mediation of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky
during his stay abroad in the latter half of November 1903, by
means of an exchange of notes between Lenin and Martov. The
Editorial Board failed to meet Lenin’s wish that the two notes
should be published in an annex to the minutes of the League’s
Congress (see Letter to F. I. Dan of December 2, 1903).
The fact that the “personal conflict had been ironed out”
was certified only in an editorial footnote to the relevant
section of the minutes. It said: “The question of a court of
arbitration has been eliminated through an exchange of explanations
between Comrades Lenin and Martov which took place after the
League Congress

__NOTE_149_NOTE__ Missing ” at end of quote.

( Minutes of the Second Congress of the League of Russian Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad , p. 66). The
notes were later published in the Commentary to the Minutes of the Second Congress of the League of Russian Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad , Geneva, 1904.