DRAFT RESPONSE TO THE SCHOOL COUNCIL’S LETTER FROM CAPRI.
[Late September–Early October 1909. Paris.]
Dear Comrades! In view of the blatantly derisive tone of your letter dated September 28, 1909, in response to our proposal “to entrust the actual organization and leadership of the undertaking—namely, the establishment of a propaganda school abroad—to the Central Committee of the Party or to an expanded editorial board of Proletariat,” we deem it superfluous to reply to it and can offer you but one suggestion: publish your letter.
1 Instead of this draft letter to the Capri School Council, a reply was sent bearing the following content: “Dear Comrades! Of the two paths outlined in our letter to you, the second proves to be the correct one: you are, in fact, unwilling to implement the resolutions of local organizations and prefer to negotiate…”

THE STRUGGLE ON TWO FRONTES

…treat the Bolshevik organ only as a separate, self-contained group. You fully understand that by adopting this stance, you are in effect making further negotiations more difficult. We can offer you but one piece of advice: print your most recent letter to us.” The author of this letter was, most likely, Zinoviev. “Our (the Bolshevik Center’s) letter to you (the workers who had arrived at the school on Capri)” was, in fact, a communication issued on behalf of the editorial board of Proletariat, sent in response to the official invitation extended by the School Council (see above, p. 37, note 1). The “two possible courses” outlined in that letter were formulated as follows: “Either our attempt, with your comradely assistance, will succeed; or—if the initiators of the school continue to pursue their own distinct group-oriented line and obstruct the Party’s proper handling of the matter—they will ultimately reveal their true intentions to all.” The Central Committee’s proposal “to print the last letter” was indeed carried out—but with considerable delay, only after classes at the school had concluded—in the “Report of the First Higher Social-Democratic Propaganda and Agitation School for Workers” (published by the School Council, Paris, 1919). There, too, the Central Committee’s letter, cited in the present note, was printed.