V. I.

Lenin

Comrades Hanecki and Radek: Herrn Fürstenberg
8. Birgerjarlsgatan. 8. Stockholm

April 12, 1917

Dear Friends, Up to now we have received nothing, absolutely nothing
from you—no letters, no packets, no money. [1] Only two
telegrams from Hanecki. We are sending you two files of
Pravda : one for you, the other for Karpinsky (Mr.
Karpinsky. Bibliothèque russe. 7. rue Hugo de Senger. 7. Genève.
(Genf) Suisse), and two sets of cuttings: one for you, the
other for Karpinsky.

Notify us by postcard (M. T. Yelizarov for V. I.
Shirokaya Ul., 48, kv. 24. Petrograd) or by telegram that
you have received this letter and the papers.

Steinberg [2] has arrived, and promises to get hold of the packets which were sent. We shall see whether he
succeeds.

If you get the newspapers, they will give you an idea of
the whole situation.

In case the papers don’t reach you, let me describe it in brief.

The bourgeoisie (+Plekhanov) are furiously attacking us for travelling through Germany. They are trying to
incite the soldiers against us. So far it isn’t coming off: there
are supporters, and loyal ones, among them. Among the
S.R.s and the Social-Democrats there is the most desperate
chauvinist excitement, which has taken the form of “revolutionary defencism ” (now, they allege, there is
something to defend, namely, the republic against Wilhelm).

We are being furiously attacked for opposing “unity”, while the masses are for the unity of all Social-Democrats.
We are against.

Chkheidze has sunk completely into “revolutionary defencism”. In a bloc with Potresov. All are for the Liberty
Loan. [3] It is opposed only by us+the Nashe Slovo group+
Larin and a handful of Martov’s friends.

We are calling an all-Russia conference of Bolsheviks on April 22,
1917. [4]

We hope completely to straighten out the line of Pravda ,
which has wobbled towards “Kautskyism”. [5]

Write articles for Pravda on foreign affairs—very short
and in the Pravda spirit (it’s so small! There is so little
space! We are working to enlarge it). Also, most briefly,
about the German revolutionary movement and the Leftist
press.

Write us a letter about the doings among the Swedish
Left. [6] We have heard that the chauvinist Branting is
attacking Radek.

At the beginning of the revolution, the Soviet of
Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies concluded an agreement with
the Provisional Government for support of the latter. [7]
There is a “Contact Commission”: the Soviet “supervises”
the Provisional Government.

The position is extremely complex and exceptionally interesting. We are publishing pamphlets on
tactics. [8]
The Soviet wants a general , international socialist congress.
We want only a congress of the Left, against the social-chauvinists and against the “Centre”.

I shake your hands, and wish you all the best. Write as
often as you can and be very regular and careful in your
contacts.

Yours,
V. Ulyanov

---
Notes:
[1]
A reference to the money belonging to the R.S.D.L.P. Central
Committee which had been left abroad.

[2]
Steinberg —a Russian engineer resident in Stockholm, a go-between in the correspondence.

[3]
The “Liberty Loan” issued by the Provisional Government on
April 6 (19), 1917 to finance the war.

[4]
The Seventh (April) All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P. ( B. )
was held in Petrograd from April 24 to 29 (May 7–12), 1917.

[5]
A reference to the altitude taken by Pravda in March 1917 before
Lenin’s arrival in Russia.

From mid-March, the paper carried articles by L. Kamenev,
whom the C.C. Bureau of the R.S.D.L.P. gave permission to
insert articles without signature. In these articles, the question of
supporting the Provisional Government was presented in the light
of the Menshevik formula “insofar as...”, “until the Provisional
Government is played out”. They guaranteed support for all its
steps designed to “eradicate all the relics of the tsarist and
landowner regime ”; the government was invited to renounce
annexations, etc.—all of which tended to sow illusions. Kamenev’s
editorial, “Without Secret Diplomacy”, called for a continuation
of the war, a stand which clashed with the Bolshevik attitude
to the imperialist war.

Pravda ’s criticism of the conciliators was half-hearted. The
editors sharply cut down Lenin’s criticism of the conciliatory
leadership of the Petrograd Soviet and his exposure of the
monarchist aspirations of the Provisional Government in his first
“Letter from Afar” carried by Pravda on March 21 and 22 (April
3 and 4). J. V. Stalin took the erroneous position of exerting
pressure on the Provisional Government for an immediate opening
of peace talks.

Upon his arrival in Petrograd, Lenin became a member of the
editorial board, and Pravda started its struggle for his plan to
transform the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist
one.

[6]
A trend among Swedish Social-Democrats. During the First World
War, they took an internationalist stand and supported the

Zimmerwald Left. In May 1917 they formed the Left
Social-Democratic Party of Sweden whose congress in 1919 decided
to join the Communist International. In 1921, the party’s
revolutionary wing took the name of the Communist Party of
Sweden.

[7]
A reference to the agreement to form the bourgeois Provisional
Government concluded on March 1 (14), 1917 by the Duma
Provisional Committee and the S.R. and Menshevik leaders of the
Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies. Under the agreement the S.R.s and the
Mensheviks handed over state power to the bourgeoisie, giving the
Duma Provisional Committee a free hand in forming the Provisional
Government, which was set up on March 2 (15), 1917. It included
Prince Lvov, the Cadet leader Milyukov, the Octobrist leader
Guchkov and other representatives of the bourgeoisie and the
landowners. The S.R. Kerensky was taken into the government as a
representative of “democracy”.

The “contact commission” referred to below was formed under
a decision of the conciliatory Executive Committee of the
Petrograd Soviet of March 8 (21), 1917, to “influence” and supervise
the activity of the Provisional Government. On it were M. I.
Skobelev, Y. M. Steklov, N. N. Sukhanov, V. N. Filippovsky and
N. S. Chkheidze (later also V. M. Chernov and I. G. Tsereteli).
It helped the Provisional Government use the Petrograd Soviet
prestige to veil its counter-revolutionary policy. The Mensheviks
and S.R.s hoped it would help them keep the masses from active
revolutionary struggle for transfer of power to the Soviets. The
commission was dissolved in mid-April 1917 and its functions
transferred to the Executive Committee Bureau.

[8]
A reference to Lenin’s pamphlet Letters on Tactics . First Letter ,
published in 1917 (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 43–54).