[March 1911. Paris.]1
Received your letter with the news of Mikhail Mironych's summons.
You are doing well to send. Until now, the "4" (if not 6) irreconcilables have been sending. This is a substantial difference. This is one thing. And secondly, it's time to issue an ultimatum, as you yourself have become convinced, saying: "one must lose all respect for the party in order to drag this yarn out to infinity." Correct! True! Just!

Only, you must not threaten to leave the Central Committee, as you want to do. That is wrong. Do not do that! Threaten a public protest against the bureau and that you will declare it null and even worse if they, who trust you and have offered you powers, do not immediately leave for abroad.

It is in vain that you do not summon Liubich. This is a mistake. It is ridiculous to spare 200-300 extra rubles when the fate of the entire Central Committee is at stake. And Liubich is needed precisely in order not to depend on the "philistine and coward".2 It was only from your letter that it became clear to me how vile this "philistine and coward" is. Such people must be pressed against the wall and, if they do not obey, trampled in the mud. I will do this publicly, by publishing the history of relations with the "bureau" when patience runs out.

The matter has become perfectly clear. Wall against wall.

If you leave the Central Committee, it will be a flight from the battlefield, a betrayal of Bolshevism in a difficult moment. One must not leave, but send an ultimatum to Makar and, if he does not appear and does not yield, fight, as a member of the Central Committee, for the return of the money.


Either 4/8 -- one with us with R. S. D.,*3 or the victory of the Mensheviks in the Central Committee, our departure and collapse in disgrace. But if we bring at least only Makar and Liubich, the matter can still be saved: Plekhanov and the Faction will be on our side, and we will suppress the split of the Mensheviks in the bud. These scoundrels will not dare then.

I enclose a copy of a letter to me from a worker from Bologna.4 He understood the "platform" of the Forwardists!! And what scoundrels the *Golos* supporters are: Volunteer - an agent of *Golos*, a member of the party school committee, goes against its decision and agitates against it among the *existes*!5 Well, now I will expose them in print.

Semashko was sent to Bologna from the school committee. They have caught the scoundrels, they will not escape!

Return the copy of the letter.

I enclose Finikov's letter6 (return it immediately after reading). Well, tell me, am I not right that such a Bolshevik is stronger than a hundred "reconcilers", because he understood the situation, and they do not want to understand?

And we, with such units, will defeat hundreds of "reconcilers."

Greetings!
N. Lenin.

1 Justification of the date: the letter says: "Semashko was sent to Bologna from the school committee." Semashko's arrival in Bologna refers to the end of classes at the Bologna School [in March 1911] (see the report of the Second Higher Social Democratic Propaganda and Agitation School for Workers" - published by the "Forward" group, 1911, p. 29).

2 "Philistine and coward" - refers to Lindov, about whom Rykov in one of his letters to Lenin writes: "The matter is now decided by a philistine and a coward, standing far away, for a number of years, not only from the party, but also from party news."
"... Twice he agreed to the transfer of meetings abroad, and twice no one moved from the spot. Twice a Bundist came to him and not only achieved the cancellation of decisions, but also convinced him to take part in 5 against Makar with a Meke majority. Such a capacity for "changing opinions" deprives all promises and agreements of Lindov of any meaning" (archive of I. L. L 29541).
Lindov, who had withdrawn from party work for quite a long time, later returned to the Bolsheviks, and died heroically on the Eastern Front in 1919.

3 I.e., of the eight members of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee - 4 Bolsheviks + a representative of the Polish Social Democrats.
It is impossible to win in a group of seven. Therefore, it is necessary to move to a foreign plenum: to summon Makar and Liubich and explain the matter to them.