V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v10;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

placing it in chronological order, interspersed with other documents of the same period.

The official reply of the Foreign Representative of the C.C., F. V. Lengnik, to the above-mentioned inquiry by Martov is preserved in the Lenin Institute archives in three forms: 1) a draft (with a later inscription “copy”), written in Lenin’s hand with minor corrections and additions made by F. V. Lengnik; 2) a copy written on a separate sheet in F. V. Lengnik’s hand; and 3) a copy entered in a “notebook” in an unknown hand. A comparison of all three manuscripts with each other and with the passage from the letter quoted in Martov’s pamphlet *The Struggle with the “State of Siege”* leads with complete certainty to the conclusion that the original of the letter is Lenin’s manuscript and that he is its real author.

129.
V. I. LENIN, ON BEHALF OF THE FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVE OF THE C.C., TO THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF *ISKRA*.

Copy*.

To the Editorial Board of the Central Organ.
12 XII 03 [Geneva].

I, as representative of the C.C.,¹ received today from Comrade M[art]ov an inquiry as to whether it is permissible to publish the negotiations of the C.C. with the Geneva opposition.²

I think it is, and I earnestly request the comrades on the Editorial Board of the C.O. to weigh once again the question of a good peace in the Party.

It is not yet too late to secure this peace; it is not yet too late to withhold from the knowledge of the public and our enemies the details of the split and the talk about dishonourable conduct and false lists—talk which will probably be used even by the *Moskovskiye Vedomosti*.³ I am [convinced] I guarantee that the “majority” will readily agree [to the deletion] [to the complete consignment of all this filth] to consign all this filth to oblivion, on condition that a good peace in the Party is secured.***

Everything now depends on the Editorial Board of the C.O., which includes representatives of the former opposition that rejected the C.C.’s peace proposal of 25 XI 03.⁴

I request you, comrades, to take into consideration that the C.C. has already made [and] since then two further voluntary⁵ concessions, by advising Comrade Ru to resign⁶ and by attempting to settle matters amicably with the League.⁷

Meanwhile, the boycott of the C.C., agitation against it, and the disorganisation of practical work in Russia continue.

We are receiving letters from Russia that the opposition is creating a “hell” there. We have the most positive information that the agents of the minority are systematically continuing their disorganising work, travelling around the committees. We are receiving letters from St. Petersburg about Martyn’s⁸ trip there for the said purpose. Matters have reached such a pass that the opposition is organising its own transport and, through Dan, is offering it to the C.C. on a half-share basis!⁹

[We] I consider it my duty to the Party to make one last [appeal] * request the Editorial Board of the C.O. [to do so] * to induce the opposition to sign a good peace on the basis of a sincere recognition by both sides of both centres and the cessation of mutual¹⁰ feuds, which make any joint work impossible.****

With comradely greetings,
Representative of the C.C., Vasilyev.

* This word was later inscribed by Lenin in pencil diagonally in the upper left-hand corner of the manuscript. *Ed.*
** The entire last sentence, beginning with the words: “I am [convinced]”, was inserted in the manuscript later than the subsequent text. Originally, like all the rest of the text, it was written in ink, and was then corrected in pencil by V. I. Lenin. In place of the crossed-out “convinced”, “guarantee” was written above. Instead of the crossed-out word “deletion”, the words “complete consignment to oblivion” were first written above; then the words “to” and “complete” were additionally crossed out, and the subsequent phrase was altered to read: “to consign all this filth to oblivion”, the corrected words in it not being rewritten but only having their endings changed accordingly. *Ed.*
*** The words: “appeal” and “to do so” are crossed out in pencil in the manuscript, and in pencil, in V. I. Lenin’s hand, the words “request” and “to” are written above in place of the crossed-out ones. *Ed.*
**** The word “mutual” is crossed out in pencil in the manuscript by F. V. Lengnik. *Ed.*
***** In the manuscript there is apparently a slip: it reads “impossible” (plural); this slip is repeated in the other two copies of this letter in the Lenin Institute archives. *Ed.*
****** The word “any” is omitted in the other two copies of this letter in the Institute archives, apparently due to a slip. *Ed.*
******* The document was written in ink by V. I. Lenin on behalf of F. V. Lengnik. At the beginning of the manuscript, in F. V. Lengnik’s hand in ink, the address “Esteemed Comrades” is added; at the end of the manuscript, the concluding words: “With comradely greetings. Representative of the C.C., Vasilyev” are also written by F. V. Lengnik (the first three words in ink, the last (the signature) in pencil). *Ed.*

¹ These opening words of the letter, together with F. V. Lengnik’s own signature at the end, prove that Lenin wrote this letter on behalf of the official Foreign Representative of the C.C.
² “Negotiations of the C.C. with the Geneva opposition”—these were negotiations for “peace” within the Party, initiated by Plekhanov immediately after the League Congress and expressed in a series of documents exchanged by the opposition and the C.C. during and after the negotiations, and in a number of personal talks and private conferences which Martov’s supporters held with C.C. member G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, who came abroad in the second half of November. The documents directly or indirectly relating to these negotiations were: Starover’s (A. N. Potresov’s) letter to G. V. Plekhanov of November 3, the C.C.’s “ultimatum” of November 25 in reply to Starover’s letter, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky’s letter of the same date on behalf of the C.C. to G. V. Plekhanov, G. V. Plekhanov’s letter to G. M. Krzhizhanovsky of November 26, the opposition’s reply to the C.C.’s “ultimatum” of November 26, the minutes of the Party Council meeting of November 29 and, in particular, the appended statement by Ru (L. E. Galperin) on his resignation from the Council, the C.C.’s letter of the same date to the League administration, the League administration’s reply, and an exchange of notes (all of November 29) between Lenin and Martov on the liquidation of the personal conflict between them that had occurred at the League Congress (all these documents are to be found in *Lenin Miscellany* VII, documents 76, 102–105, 108–112, pp. 203–204, 256–272, 279–295).
³ This passage of the letter, beginning with the words: “It is not yet too late to secure”, indicates an undoubted connection between this document and the above unfinished and unsent letter from F. V. Lengnik to G. V. Plekhanov on the question of publishing the minutes of the League Congress (document 118, paragraph 2, p. 23). The repetition here of the possibility of not divulging in official documents the factual details and methods of the inner-Party struggle, compromising one side or the other and the Party as a whole, “on condition that a good peace in the Party is secured”, confirms the assumption we expressed above in the introductory note to document 118 (p. 22) that the aforementioned attempt by F. V. Lengnik (his letter to G. V. Plekhanov) to prevent, through the Party Council, the publication of the minutes of the League Congress was not carried out by him on the advice of V. I. Lenin, with a view to using this proposal later in direct negotiations with the opposition for “securing a good peace”.
⁴ The C.C.’s “ultimatum” of November 25 in reply to Starover’s letter to G. V. Plekhanov (see *Lenin Miscellany* VII, document 102, pp. 256–260).
⁵ The word “voluntary” is omitted in the other two copies of this letter in the Lenin Institute archives, undoubtedly due to a simple slip. L. Martov, in his pamphlet *The Struggle with the “State of Siege” in the R.S.D.L.P.*, quotes this passage of the letter from the original, retaining the word “voluntary”, accompanying it, incidentally, with two exclamation marks in brackets.
⁶ This refers to L. E. Galperin’s resignation from the Party Council, to which he had been delegated as the second representative from the Editorial Board of the C.O. after the congress composition (Plekhanov, Lenin). For more details on this, see *Lenin Miscellany* VII, documents 84 and 108, pp. 214 and 279–284.
⁷ “The attempt to settle matters amicably with the League”—these were the concessions made by the C.C. in relation to the League with the direct participation and mediation of C.C. member G. M. Krzhizhanovsky during his trip abroad in the second half of November. For more details on this, see above, note 7 to N. K. Krupskaya’s letter of December 10 (document 127, p. 40).
⁸ More details about this trip of Martyn (V. N. Rozanov) to St. Petersburg are given in the above-mentioned letter from N. K. Krupskaya to the C.C. Bureau of December 10 (p. 39).
⁹ Dan made such a proposal to F. V. Lengnik. More details about this are given in N. K. Krupskaya’s letter to the C.C. Bureau of December 14 (below, document 132, p. 60).
¹⁰ The word “mutual” was crossed out in the manuscript by F. V. Lengnik, apparently during the final editing of the letter together with V. I. Lenin. This word is also absent from the other copies of the letter mentioned above. Martov, in replying to this letter, cites the word “feuds” also without this epithet (below, document 130, p. 54). This proves that the word was absent from the original of the letter.