In early February (between February 2 and 7), a member of the C.C., M. M. Essen, arrived abroad with the aim of informing the foreign members of the C.C., Lenin and Lengnik, about the state of affairs in Russia, in the C.C., and in the committees. Having received information about Russian affairs from M. M. Essen, V. I. Lenin wrote the letter below to G. M. Krzhizhanovsky.

174.

19088

V. I. LENIN — G. M. KRZHIZHANOVSKY*.

From the Old Man to Hans.

[Between February 2 and 7, 1904, Geneva.]

Dear friend! I have seen the beast and only from him learned of your affairs². In my opinion, you must absolutely force Lanya to leave at once and change her skin**. It is absurd and ridiculous for her to wait for a blow³. Transition to illegal status and travel — that is the only way out. And truly, it only seems to her that such a step is difficult and burdensome. One must try to take it, and quickly it will become apparent that the new situation will become normal for Lanya. (I cannot at all understand or share Konyaga's arguments against this.)

Further, regarding the entire political situation. The affair is tangled terribly. Plekhanov has gone over to the March-ists and is pressing us in the Soviet. The Soviet expressed a desire that the C.C. be enlarged (this is being printed in no. 58 of *Iskra*⁴). The Soviet has given the editorial board the right to send out agents and receive literature for distribution.

The March-ists evidently have their own military fund and are only awaiting a convenient moment for a coup d'état*** (a moment like financial collapse — we are without funds — or a fiasco in Russia, etc.). I have no doubt of this, and Kurtz and I demand that C.C. members who doubt this come here to convince themselves — otherwise it is laughable and unworthy to pull in different directions.

In my view, one must now 1) raise a fuss in the committees against the C.O. with the most military resolutions; 2) polemicize in committee leaflets against the C.O.; 3) circulate in the committees and print on the spot resolutions about the congress; 4) set Schwartz, Vakar and others to work on leaflets for the C.C.

Hans must be warned that he will certainly be put forward as a false witness against me — certainly. If Hans does not wish this, let him send at once a written categorical statement: 1) that there was no agreement about not publishing the negotiations; 2) that at the Soviet on 29 XI 03 Hans did not promise to co-opt into the C.C.; 3) that Hans understood that the March-ists were taking the C.O. for the sake of peace and that they deceived his expectations by raising war from no. 53. We shall print this statement only in the event that we are provoked.

¹ The date of the letter is established from a comparison of the date of the above-cited letter of N. K. Krupskaya to L. M. Knipovich (document 172), from which it was evident that M. M. Essen, whose arrival abroad is spoken of here, was not yet abroad at that time, and the date of the publication of no. 58 of *Iskra*, whose forthcoming publication is mentioned in the text of this letter.

² This indication dates fairly precisely the arrival of M. M. Essen abroad. Lenin wrote this letter soon after his first meeting with M. M. Essen and in any case no later than 1-2 days afterward. Thus the approximate date of the present letter can be considered, to almost the same degree, the date of M. M. Essen's arrival.

³ This concerns the possible fiasco of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky.

⁴ According to the decision of the Party Soviet (see above document 168, pp. 275 and 276), adopted on Plekhanov's proposal, in no. 58 of *Iskra* in the section "From the Party" there was published the resolution proposed by Plekhanov and adopted by the Soviet (above, pp. 194 and 246) on the necessity of co-opting into the C.C. representatives of the minority. The text of the resolution was preceded by the following informational report on the Soviet session: "Resolution of the Soviet of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party. The Council of the Party, convened by the editorial board of the C.O. for the coordination and unification of the activity of the C.C. and C.O. in the publication of party literature, took up, on the proposal of representatives of the C.C., the question 'of measures for the restoration of peace in the Party.' After prolonged discussion, the Soviet adopted and decided to publish the following resolution." There follows the text of the resolution.