V. I.

Lenin

Letter from the Central Committee of the R.S.D.L.P. to The Administration of the League Abroad, the Party Aid Groups, and to All Party Members Abroad

Comrades, Thefinal unification of the Party now makes it essential and urgent
to develop on a wide scale the activities conduct ed by the
Social-Democrats abroad and firmly unite the efforts of all working in
this field.

Underthe Party Rules (Paragraph 13), all Party work abroad is
divided into two major spheres, organised on different lines. On
the one hand, propaganda and agitation activities abroad are
under the direct charge of the League Abroad and are concentrated in its hands. The Central Committee will take all
measures to facilitate the complete centralisation of this work
in the hands of the League and to assure it autonomy in the
exercise of this function. On the other hand, assistance by the
League to the movement in Russia is rendered only through
persons and groups specially appointed for the purpose by the
Central Committee.

Whilecalling upon all members of the League, all aid groups and all
Party members abroad to give the League the utmost support in its work
of propaganda and agitation, the Central Committee intends now to
focus its efforts on the organisation of these intermediate groups
through which assistance to the movement in Russia should be rendered.

The Central Committee considers its tasks in this field to be as
follows.

Assistanceto the Russian movement from abroad will chiefly take the
form of 1) dispatching revolutionary workers to Russia; 2) dispatching
to Russia funds collected abroad; 3) gathering abroad such Russian
contacts, items of news, and information as need to be communicated
speedily to Russia with a view to aiding the comrades active there,
preventing discovery and arrest, etc.; 4) dispatching literature to
Russia, etc.

Whilenot claiming that this is an exhaustive list of all forms of
direct assistance to the Russian movement from abroad, we think,
however, that it is sufficient for the time being to outline the chief
forms and adapt the organisation we are creating to these. Experience
will show how far this organisation will need to be modified in the
future.

Tobegin with the matter of dispatching people for work in
Russia. It would, of course, be desirable for most comrades
going there to contact directly the Central Committee’s chief
agency abroad—in Geneva—and secure from it addresses, passwords, funds and the necessary instructions. But
many of the people going will naturally not be able to come to
Geneva, and the Central Committee therefore intends to appoint
its agents in all foreign centres of any importance: London,
Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, and others. Every person
intending to leave for work in Russia is invited to apply to the
local agent of the Central Committee, who will take all measures
to enable him to reach his destination with maximum speed and
safety and to co-ordinate his first steps with the Central
Committee’s general plan of allocation of forces and funds,
etc. The Central Committee hopes that the League Abroad will
render these Central Committee agents every assistance—for
example, by acquainting as many as possible of our people abroad with the functions of these agents and the
conditions for contacting them, by helping to arrange for
maximum secrecy of these contacts, etc.

Sincethe dispatch of people to Russia from large foreign centres is a
very big job, and since one person may not always be able to acquaint
himself adequately with those being dispatched, the Central Committee
will, where required, appoint not one agent, but .a group of agents,
in accordance with Paragraph 13 of the Party Rules.

Further,as regards the dispatch of funds, the most desirable
arrangement is for the collection of funds anywhere abroad to be
completely concentrated in the hands of the League and for the
Administration of the League to pass them over to the Central
Committee. Only in urgent cases may we be obliged, as experience
suggests, to have certain sums handed over directly by local
sections of the League to local agents of the Central Committee,
as when pressure of circumstances requires immediate aid in
effecting an escape, in dispatching a person or literature,
etc. The Central Committee hopes that the Administration of the
League will give appropriate instructions to the sections and
will devise the most suitable forms of accounting for sums
collected and expended.

Next,it is common knowledge, of course, that persons arriving
abroad from Russia very often communicate information which
would be of the utmost importance to those working in Russia,
as, for example, about the extent of arrests, the need to warn
comrades in places remote from the scene of an arrest, the need
to utilise contacts in Russia which the comrade escaping or
otherwise leaving had no time or opportunity to utilise, etc. Of
course, in proportion as all the Party work comes under the
direction of the Central Committee, it will become increasingly
possible to gather all such contacts and information in Russia
itself, which is the only normal and desirable thing. But there
is no doubt that for a long time yet there will be cases when
comrades escaping from or legally leaving Russia will not
manage, for one reason or another, to pass on their contacts in
Russia, so that this will have to be done after they arrive
abroad.

Lastly,the Central Committee will, of course, endeavour to
concentrate the transport of literature as completely as
possible in the bands of a special transport group, some of
whose members will be abroad all the time. Special Central
Committee agents will therefore be appointed to manage the Party
literature depots in various foreign centres, to maintain
communication with the frontiers, etc. But how ever efficiently
the business of transport is organised, there will always, of
course, be gaps which will have to be filled by seizing such
chances as may present themselves, by (perhaps) dispatching suitcases,. utilising opportunities which may
be offered by commercial or shipping arrangements, etc. All
communications and items of information bearing on such matters should
likewise be addressed to the Central Committee agents, with whom all
such matters will be concentrated and who will act in accordance with
the Central Committee’s general plan and instructions.

Ininforming the League Administration of its plan of work, the
Central Committee expresses its confidence that the League for its
part will render every assistance to the Central Committee agents
abroad, and in particular will take steps to enable these agents to
acquaint themselves widely with the aid groups, youth circles, etc.,
etc.

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