Letter of G.V.Chicherin to V.I.Lenin

6/IV 1920.

Dear Vladimir Ilyich, a delegation of Tred-Unions will soon appear suddenly at our border, which should be received very kindly. There will be heads of paramount largodisc caliber there. Political preparations for their visit are necessary; it is a complicated affair, requiring time and attention. Someone should be assigned to deal with it specially.

With Communist greetings

Georgy Chicherin.

Letter from V.I.Lenin to the Central Committee of the RCP(b)

I propose to Tsek such a decision:

1) To receive the leaders of the Tred-Unions, a committee consisting of Radek, Melnichansky, Feinberg + 2 more former leaders of the Tred-Unions in England and America + Chicherin should be set up.

2) Task of the Komissiya

a) to organize the printing (at least in 20-500 copies) of English leaflets to the "guests",

(b) Establish reliable interpreters, who should take turns to stay with the "guests",

c) organize a campaign in the Soviet press (short articles of 5-10 lines, totally denouncing the guests, such as social traitors, Mensheviks, participants in the British colonial plunder, etc.),

(d) The same campaign should be waged at workers' meetings in the form of inviting guests to reports and asking them "questions". Call them to hundreds of factories in St. Petersburg and Moscow,

e) in the center of the whole campaign (in newspapers, in leaflets, in rallies), put in particular the denunciation of the guests, the Mensheviks, in order to undermine the weight of their inevitable appearance in England with Menshevik speeches.

Note by V.I. Lenin to G.V. Chicherin

Com. Chicherin!

I am submitting such a proposal to the Central Committee tomorrow. What is your opinion?

Lenin.

In brief: in essence, to organize and poison, but in forms that are archival and courteous.

Additions to the draft decision of the Central Committee of the RCP(b)

Amendments and additions worked out after a telephone conversation with Comrade Lenin, Comrade Chicherin, and Comrade Radek. Radek

The campaign of discrediting should not apply to all guests. On the contrary, it is necessary to divide their left-wing and right-wing elements so that the former refute the latter.

The campaign of discredit must clearly come from below and not be clearly inspired by us. Therefore, we should limit ourselves in the press to calm, objective, factual reports about the guests, which will serve as material for the discrediting campaign. The latter should be conducted from the grassroots, by sending delegations of workers with printed orders to be handed over to the guests, and by asking questions at meetings. In general, leaflets and other publications for guests should be designed to be brought and distributed in England.

In addition to the campaign of discredit, political preparation should be made in the form of the publication of commissariat reports and the preparation of everything to be examined by the Tred Unionists.

Fond 2, op. 2, d. 270 - letter of G.V.Chicherin, letter and note of V.I.Lenin - autographs; additions - typewritten text.

1* Further crossed out: "to the press".

1Whether the draft resolution proposed by V.I.Lenin was adopted, it was not possible to establish; it is not mentioned in the minutes of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) for April 1920. In the minutes of the Politburo meeting No. 6 of May 4, it is recorded that they heard the question "On the delegation of the English Trades Unions"; it was decided: "The nature of the reception to put depending on the composition of the delegation" (RCCHIDNI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 74, l. 3). On May 15 the Politburo discussed the question of the reception of the delegation of the Trades Unions and decided: "To instruct the Orgburo to find within twenty-four hours among the workers a Russian comrade who speaks English, who should be entrusted, together with t. Kamenev, to write theses to welcome the delegation. Kamenev to write theses of the welcoming speech, which he should make at the reception of the English delegation" (ibid., d. 78, l. 1). On May 18, the Politburo again discussed the question of the reception of the delegation of the Trades Unions and it was decided: "a) For the organization of the order of reception of the English guests today, 18/V, both during the parade and in the Bolshoi Theater, is entirely responsible t. Kamenev, b) To approve the political commission for the reception of the British guests, consisting of Comrade Tomsky, Kamenev and Radek, which should be entrusted today to identify candidates for the economic commission" (Ibid., d. 79, fol. 2).

On May 18, a delegation of British Trades Unionists arrived at 13th hour at the Nikolayevsky railway station (Moscow). A meeting was held in front of the station on Kalanchevskaya Square. Until 7 o'clock in the evening the delegation was on Sverdlov Square, where the parade of the Moscow garrison units took place. Then a joint meeting of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions, Mossovet, Moscow City Council of Trade Unions, Trade Union Board and Factory Committees was held in the Bolshoi Theater with the participation of the entire delegation of the Trades Unions.

At a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(6) on May 25 it was decided: "The question of sending the English delegation to England on a Red Cross steamer going to England for medicines should be referred to the authorization of T. Kamenev and K. Komi. Kamenev and the Komissariat of Foreign Affairs" (ibid., d. 82, l. 3). Before leaving Russia, a delegation of English Trades Unions at the suggestion of L.B.Kamenev traveled "to Nizhny Novgorod and the Volga" (ibid., l. 2).