# A. M. KOLLONTAI

Source: PSS, Volume 49

Dear A. M.! I am deeply grateful for your letter. I will send the address of the Socialist Propaganda League—if it has not been lost in my files in Bern; if so, I will forward it from Bern itself (that is, in 2–3 weeks).

Will “Appeal to Reason” agree to reprint “Internationale Flugblatter” No. 1? Is it worth a try?

Would a Socialist Labour Party be willing to publish this material at our expense? Are these people hopeless sectarians, or not? Do you have any connections with them? Why do they not send us copies of their publications to the Internationale Sozialistische Kommission? (I happened to see part of their work.) Or are they simply obsessed with their “fixed idea” concerning a special “economic” organization of the working class?

You ask how desirable it would be for the Norwegian party to send an official delegation to the conference. Of course, it is a thousand times better to have a conscious, sensible leftist from among the youth than a right-winger—or even a half-Kautskyite—from the party.

That much is clear. If you can, please exert your influence along these lines.

I am exceedingly—and deeply—disappointed that we differ on the question of self-determination. Let us try to engage in a thorough, reasoned debate, free from the petty squabbles that some are doing their utmost to provoke on this very issue… Between us*: perhaps Alexander will show you my reply to N. I. Bukharin’s remarks (for now, this dispute must remain strictly confined to the innermost circle—but I place great trust in your discretion).

This question (“self-determination”) is of paramount importance. Moreover, it is inextricably linked to the issue of annexations.

I shake your hand warmly and send you my best regards!

Yours, Lenin

P. S. I sent Alexander a rather lengthy letter just the other day. Has he received it?

To Kristiania (Oslo)

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Written after March 19, 1916.

Sent from Zurich.

First published in 1924.

In Lenin’s Collected Works, Volume II.

Printed from the manuscript.