[Geneva, January 27, 1904]

Esteemed Comrade, Unfortunately, we are compelled to lodge a decisive protest against the proposal by the editorial board to appoint comrade Gurwich as secretary.

First, there have been a series of conflicts between him and the C.C.

Second, he has expressed in writing (we are able to provide you with a copy) such an attitude toward the highest organ of the Party, the Soviet, that his participation in a Soviet session is entirely impossible¹.

Third — and this is the main point — we shall probably have to raise in the Soviet the question of comrade Gurwich personally, as a representative of the Lithuanian administration who has displayed, in our view, [inadmissible] incorrect conduct toward the C.C. [It will be impossible to discuss in the Soviet the correctness or incorrectness of the actions of someone present, especially when that person is the secretary!] It is inappropriate for a secretary to be a person whose conduct is subject to examination.

We also wish to draw attention to the fact that, valuing the significance of the Soviet as an instrument of unification and coordination (and not of division and discord), we immediately proposed a secretary who had taken no part in the discord and who has not been objected to by the other side either.

We are confident that the other side, the editorial board of the C.O., could likewise easily propose a candidate who has not participated in the discord and cannot serve as an object of examination in the Soviet.

Devoted to You, L[........]*

¹ This concerns the letter from F. Dan to F. V. Lengnik of November 15 (2), 1903. (See "Lenin Collected Works" VII, document 72, pp. 184—186).

* The abbreviated signature text in the manuscript is written illegibly: only the initial letter "L" is clearly written. It may be supposed that the signature was intended to mean: "Lengnik," since the letter was written on behalf of F. V. Lengnik and since this was a draft that was not in danger of compromising F. V. Lengnik's identity.

The following postscript was added in the manuscript in F. V. Lengnik's hand: "P.S. Since I shall be in the city tomorrow, please write, if you will, to Lenin's address. F. Vasiliev]."