CONCLUSION REGARDING V. A. KARPINSKY’S ARTICLE.
[April, after the 16th, 1908 *. Geneva.]
Not suitable.
Perhaps it could be developed into a popular pamphlet?
For Proletariat, perhaps just two pages—pages 1 and 25—could be used as a brief note on Fact 3.
1 The date is established based on V. Karpinsky’s reference to a motion recently submitted to the Duma by the Octobrists concerning the establishment of a nationwide trust for metallurgical plants. This motion was introduced into the State Duma on April 16, 1908.
2 On page 1 of V. Karpinsky’s manuscript are provided figures detailing the scale of the metallurgical industry to be consolidated under the trust; on page 25, information is given regarding the attitude of organized workers in the metallurgical industry toward the formation of the trust—the Metal Workers’ Union.
Notes based on this material from V. Karpinsky’s article in Proletarii for 1908 were never published.
LETTER TO P. S. YUSHKEVICH * \
November 10 [1908. Geneva.]
Most Gracious Sir! I do not agree to either the dilution of Marxism or to a free platform under an editorial board whose composition is unknown to me.
N. Lenin.
1 In a letter to Lenin dated October 23, 1908—and written from St. Petersburg—P. S. Yushkevich stated the following: “Dear Vladimir Ilyich! Starting January 6, 1909, periodic collections will begin to appear which, should they gain public favor and encounter no police restrictions, will eventually evolve into a journal. These collections will be of a literary–critical–publicistic–philosophical nature, devoid of a political section—something that remains impossible at present, again due to political considerations. In the realm of criticism and publicism, the primary focus will be on combating modernism, neo-Christianity, pornography, and the like. As for philosophical matters, a free platform will be reserved for ‘dialectical materialists’ and ‘Machists.’ In addition to writers from both factions, certain progressive critics will be invited—not only to address the general public but also to temper the overly concentrated solution of Marxism. The following individuals have been invited so far, several of whom have already indicated their agreement: Bazarov (agrees), Berlin (agrees), Bogdanov, Veresaev (agrees), Gorky, St. Ivanovich (agrees),
* Printed from a copy handwritten in pencil by N. K. Krupskaya on the reverse side of P. S. Yushkevich’s letter. Ed.


Kranhfel’d (agrees), Kamenev, Lunacharsky, Martov, M. Morozov (agrees), Nevedomsky (agrees), Ovsyanniko-Kulikovsky, Ortodox (agrees),
Parvus, Plekhanov, Starover (agrees), Stepanov (agrees), Trotsky, N. Yushkevich (agrees), S. Yushkevich (agrees), Chirikov, and so on........
I hope you will not decline to contribute your collaboration to these planned collections. Should you agree to do so, I would ask that you provide, for the very first collection, an essay on philosophy—a concise summary of your views on this burning question. Rumors have been circulating constantly—indeed, even the newspapers have mentioned it—that you have penned a major philosophical work in which you vigorously denounce the ‘Machists.’
Your article on this topic—whether it spans one sheet, half a sheet, or even two sheets—would be of great interest and significance. Should you consent, I would only ask that you take strict account of censorship...”