V. I.

Lenin

To:   G. M. KRZHIZHANOVSKY

Dear friend, It is essential that we clear up in all details a question on which we
apparently differ, and I beg you to forward this letter of mine for discussion
by all members of the C.C. (or its Executive
Committee [2] ). The difference is this:
1) you think that peace with the Martovites is possible
(Boris even congratulates us on peace! It is both comic and tragic!);
2) you
think that an immediate congress is an acknowledgement of our impotence. I am
convinced that on both points you are cruelly mistaken.
1) The Martovites are
heading for war. At the meeting in Geneva, Martov bluntly shouted: “We are
a force.” They vilify us in their newspaper and basely sidetrack the
issue, covering up their trickery by yelling about bureaucracy on your part. On
every hand Martov continues to clamour about the C.C. being absolutely
ineffective. In short, it is native and quite impermissible to doubt that the
Martovites are out to seize the C.C. as well by the same methods of trickery,
boycott and brawling. A fight with them on this level is beyond our strength,
for the C.O. is a powerful weapon and our defeat is inevitable, especially in
view of the arrests. By letting the time slip by you are heading for the
certain and complete defeat of the entire Majority, you are silently swallowing
the insults which the C.C. is suffering abroad (at the hands of the League) and
asking for more.
2) A congress will demonstrate our strength, will prove that not merely in words
but in fact we shall not permit a clique of brawlers abroad to boss the whole
movement. It is now that a congress is needed, when the watchword is: the
fight against disruption. Only this watchward justifies a congress, and justifies it completely In the eyes of Russia as a
whole. By losing this opportunity, you lose this watchword and prove your
impotent, passive subordination to the Martovites. To dream of strengthening our
positions by positive work in face of the attacks on the part of the C.O. and
the Martovites’ boycott and agitation is simply ludicrous. It means slowly
perishing in an inglorious struggle against the intriguers, who will say
afterwards (and are already saying): see how ineffective this Central Committee
is! I repeat, don’t harbour any illusions. Either you dictate peace to the
Martovites at a congress, or they will kick you out ingloriously or replace you
at the first setback caused by arrests. The congress now has an aim, namely: to
put an end to the intolerable disruption, to sweep away the League, which
flaunts every and any C.C., to take the Council firmly into its hands and put
the Central Organ in order. How to put it in order? At worst by leaving
even the Five (or by restoring the Six); but this worst event is improbable if
we get a big majority. Then we shall either rout the Martovites completely
(Plekhanov is beginning to talk of a new Vademecum , seeing
that there is no peace, and is threatening to attack both contending
sides. That’s just what we want!), or we shall say frankly that we have no
guiding C.O. and we shall convert it into an organ for discussion, with freedom
for signed articles of the Majority and the Minority (or even better: relegate
the polemic with the Martovites to pamphlets, and in Iskra fight only
against the government and the enemies of Social-Democracy).

And so, abandon the naïve hope of working peacefully in such an impossible
atmosphere. Send all the main forces out on tours, let Deer travel,
secure immediately the absolute support of your own committees, then
launch an attack on those of the others, and—a congress, a congress not
later than January!

P.S. If Martov asks Deer concerning publication [3] —let
Deer without fail transfer his vote to Stake; without fail, otherwise there will
be an arch-scandal! When Martov and Dan speak to Stake at rendezvous they treat
him with intolerable insolence!

P.P.S. Today, 18th, another dirty trick of the Martovites: their refusal to
publish in No. 54 my letter on why

I resigned from the editorial board, [1] on the pretext that Hans was against
publication of documents (they have become inveterate liars! Hans was against it
provided there was peace !). The refusal is accompanied by a heap of dis
gusting statements, such as that the C.C. has been trying to lay hands on the
C.O., that negotiations have gone on for restoring confidence in the C.C., and
so on. The tactic is clear: hypocritically to disguise the opposition of the
Dans, Martyns, etc., to the C.C. and on the sly to fling mud at the C.C. in the
newspaper. On no account shall I leave the vile No. 53 unanswered. Wire
immediately:
1) do you agree to the publication of my letter outside Iskra ? 203
shares;
2) do you agree to devote all efforts immediately to the congress? 204
shares. If the answer to both questions is “yes”, then wire: 407
shares. If it is “no” to both, then 45 shares.

The day after tomorrow I shall send you my letter of resignation from the
editorial board. If you do not agree to an immediate congress and intend to
suffer Martov’s Insults without saying anything, then I shall probably
have to resign from the Central Committee as well.

---
Notes:
[1]
See present edition, Vol. 7.— Ed .

[2]
The C.C.’s Executive Committee was set up in the second half of October
1903 and consisted of three C.C. members—G. M. Krzhizhanovsky,
L. B. Krasin and F. V. Gusarov.

[3]
This refers to the publication of material concerning the C.C.’s
negotiations with the Menshevik (Geneva) opposition abroad.