Date: 1914-07-06
Source: ru:PSS/v48

Source: PSS, Volume 48

Dear Suren!

I am surprised that you have not responded—nor even noticed—the crucial point in the draft bill.

How, then, are we to determine the proportional share of educational expenditures allocated to different nations? (Assuming we insist that this share must not fall below the proportion of each nation’s population within the overall population.)

You must give this serious thought. Gather the relevant data. Review the existing literature. Dig deeper into the details. Provide concrete, real‑world examples drawn from the Caucasus region.

Yet you have not said a single word about any of this!

To equate autonomy with self‑determination is fundamentally mistaken—and a grave error. Refer to my articles in “Prosvetleniye”*. You seem hesitant, “searching” for something—but in vain. What is needed is clarity: grasp the program and stand firmly by it.

Please send me your critique of my articles in “Prosvetleniye”—we can discuss them at length.

To advocate for a state language is nothing short of disgraceful; it smacks of police-state tactics. But to preach the Russian language to the smaller nations—there is not the slightest trace of policing or coercion in that! Do you really fail to see the difference between a policeman’s baton and the free, enlightened voice of a true advocate? It is truly astonishing!

“You exaggerate the danger posed by Great Russian nationalism”!!! What a curious statement! Are the 160 million inhabitants of Russia not already suffering under Armenian or Polish nationalism? Is it not shameful for a Russian Marxist to espouse the narrow, parochial perspective of an Armenian “chicken coop”?

Great Russian nationalism oppresses and shapes the policies of Russia’s ruling classes—while Armenian or Polish nationalism…? From your “Armenian” blindness, you have become a mere lackey** of Purishkevich and his brand of nationalism!

On another matter: Please collect and promptly submit precise data on the following: 1) the timing and frequency of the publication of Social Democratic newspapers in Georgian—

* See V. I. Lenin, “Critical Notes on the National Question” and “On the Right of Nations to Self-Determination” (Collected Works, 5th ed., Vol. 24, pp. 113–150, and Vol. 25, pp. 255–320). Ed.

** – a henchman. Ed.

I. F. ARMAND, July 1914

and in Armenian and other languages across the Caucasus—from such-and-such a date and year through…—a total of so many issues, including both Liquidator papers and our own. 2) The circulation figures for all of these publications. 3) The number of worker groups that contributed funds. 4) Other pertinent data. Act quickly—Vienna needs facts, not empty rhetoric.

Please reply without delay.

Yours, V. I.

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Written earlier, on July 6, 1914,

in Poronin

First published here, based on the manuscript.