18/IX.

Dear M. F.! I apologize for the delay: I am replying at once to both your letters. Concerning the first, I hope you have already spoken with Lunacharsky in Petersburg. I failed to catch him because of my trips to the dacha and did not manage to have a word with him. I shall do so as soon as I am able.

Concerning the second (arrests) I am writing to A. M.*

Measures for their liberation have been taken. (It is impossible not to arrest, as a preventive measure against conspiracies, the entire Cadet and near-Cadet public. They are all capable of assisting the conspirators. It would be criminal not to arrest them. It is better that dozens and hundreds of intellectuals sit for a few days and weeks than that 10,000 be slaughtered. Really, truly, it is better.)

Best regards! Your Lenin

Written 18 September 1919

First published in 1959 in Lenin Miscellany XXXVI

Printed from the manuscript