V. I.

Lenin

93

To:   A. A. JOFFE

17. III.1921

Dear Comrade Joffe:

I was highly distressed to read your deeply perturbed letter of
15/III. [1] I see that you have the most legitimate grounds for dissatisfaction and even indignation, but I
assure you that you are wrong in seeking the causes of it.

First, you are wrong in saying (repeatedly) that “I am the C.C.”. This could have been written only in a state
of great nervous irritation and overwork. The old C.C.
(1919–1920) defeated me on one of the vastly important questions, as you must know from the
discussion. [2] I cannot say how many times I have been in a minority on
organisational and personal matters. You must have seen this for
yourself on many occasions as a member of the C.C.

You should not allow yourself to be so nervous as to write such an absolutely impossible , absolutely impossible
thing that I am the C.C. This is overwork.

Second, I do not feel the slightest dissatisfaction with
you or mistrust of you in any way. Nor do the members of the C.C. , as far as I know them, have spoken to them
and seen their attitude towards you.

What then is the explanation of the matter? It is that you have been tossed about by fate. I have seen this happen
to many workers. Take Stalin, as an example. You must know that he would have stood up for himself, in any case.
But “fate” did not allow him, a single time in three and
a half years, to be either People’s Commissar for the
Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, or People’s Commissar for
Nationalities. That is a fact.

You, like rather many other leading workers, have been tossed about by fate. You are one of our first and best
diplomatists. Our diplomacy has been working on and off.
In the intervals, you have been “tried out” (W.P.I.), without giving you time to finish things. It is the fault (the
misfortune?) of the whole C.C., which has tossed about many
people in this way. If you give this some cool thought,
you will see that this is true.

Failure to be elected to the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee? Ask anyone, Trotsky, for instance, how often
the C.C. has hesitated in its views of the principle and its
decisions on this! This has happened many times! We were
forced to make maximum renewals for considerations of “democracy”.

( The new C.C. was constituted only yesterday and will take some time to “gear
up”. [3] )

My personal opinion, which is quite frank, is: (1) you must have a good rest. It is harmful to fray oneself. We are
badly in need of experienced, veteran, tested workers.
Have a good rest. Perhaps, you will decide that it is better
to go to a sanatorium, abroad. It is bad over here. Your
health must be completely restored. (2) You have been and
remain one of our leading and best diplomatists and politicians. Take Turkey? Turkestan? Can we do without you?
Rumania? I’m afraid we cannot. I think we cannot.

Have a rest. Then come to Moscow, we shall have a talk.

With best wishes, Yours, Lenin

---
Notes:
[1]
In a letter to Lenin on March 15, 1921, A. A. Joffe, who was
then in Riga as chairman of the Soviet peace delegation
negotiating with Poland, expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that
despite his extensive experience in political and especially
diplomatic work, the Party’s C.C. kept transferring him from one
job to another.

[2]
A probable reference to the Plenary Meeting of the R.C.P.(B.)
Central Committee on December 7, 1920, which discussed the
conflict between the water transport union, and Tsektran
(Central Committee of the Joint Trade Union of Rail and Water
Transport Workers). During the discussion of this question, Lenin and
his supporters were left in a minority, and the resolution
proposed by N. I. Bukharin was carried will) L. D. Trotsky’s
support. Lenin analysed this episode in his article “The Party
Crisis” (see present edition, Vol. 32, p. 45).

[3]
A reference to the Party Central Committee elected at the 13th
sitting of the Tenth Party Congress on March 14, 1921. On March
16, after the Congress had closed, a plenum of the R.C.P.(B.)
Central Committee met to elect the governing organs of the C.C.