V. I.

Lenin

81

To:   THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE R.S.D.L.P.

Dear friends, The new political situation was fully clarified after the publication of
Iskra No. 53. It is clear that the Five in the Central Organ are out to
hound both Lenin (even going so far as slander about his having expelled the
Yuzhny Rabochy people from the Party and vile hints about
Schweitzer [1] ) and the C.C., and the Majority as a whole, Plekhanov
says bluntly that the Five on the C.O. are not afraid of any Central
Committee. The C.C. is being attacked both here and in Russia (letter from
St. Petersburg about Martyn’s journey). The issue squarely faces us. If
time is lost and we fail to give the watchword for the struggle,
complete defeat is inevitable owing, firstly, to the desperate
struggle of the Iskra Five and, secondly, to the arrests of our
people in Russia. The only salvation is—a congress. Its watchword: the fight against disrupters . Only by this watchword can we catch out the
Martovites, win over the broad masses and save the situation. In my opinion, the
only possible plan is this: for the time being not a word about the
congress , complete secrecy. All, absolutely all , forces to be
sent into the committees and on tours . A light to be waged for peace,
for putting a stop to disruption, for sub ordination to the Central
Committee. Every effort to be made to strengthen the committees with our
people. Every effort to be made to catch out the Martovites and Yuzhny Rabochy people in disruption, pin them down by documents and resolutions
against the disrupters; resolutions of the committees should p our into the
Central Organ. Further, our people should be got into the wavering
committees. Winning over the committees with the watchword: against disruption—this is the most important task. The congress must be held not later than January , therefore set to work energetically; we,
too, shall put all forces into operation. The object of the congress is to strengthen the C.C. and the Council, and perhaps the C.O. as well, either by
a trio (in the event of our being able to tear Plekhanov away, which is not very
likely), or by a Six, which I would join in the event of a peace that
is honourable for us. At the worst: their C.O., our C.C. and Council .

I repeat: either complete defeat (the C.O. will hound us) or
immediate preparation for a congress. It must be prepared secretly at first during a maximum of one month, after which during three weeks the demands of half the committees to be collected and the congress convened . Again and yet again—this is the only salvation,