MEMORANDUM TO V. M. MOLOTOV, INCLUDING A DRAFT RESOLUTION OF THE POLITBURO OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b) ON THE QUESTION OF AN AGREEMENT WITH THE RUTGERS GROUP
October 12, 1921
Comrade Molotov!
I am enclosing the relevant documents pertaining to the Rutgers affair. The Council of Labour and Defence should be the body responsible for making a decision.
I propose that we first address the political question within the Central Committee. The Politburo must intervene, given the substantial outlay in gold.
I ask you to instruct the secretary to arrange a conference call with all members of the Politburo, so that each member may set aside one hour during which they can review these materials by Friday. Every member must thoroughly examine the documents, so that we can reach a decision by Friday.
Let the secretary schedule the time slots and forward them to each member of the Politburo for their perusal.
The issue is a difficult one:
For: If the Americans honor their commitments, the benefits will be immense. In that case, it will not be a great loss to allocate 600,000 rubles in gold.
Against: Will they actually fulfill their promises? Heywood is something of a semi-anarchist—more sentimental than pragmatic. Rutgers seems to have drifted toward the left. Calvert is excessively talkative. We possess no real guarantees regarding business dealings. In an atmosphere of widespread unemployment, enthusiasts are likely to assemble a band of “adventure seekers,” who will ultimately end up in petty quarrels. And then we risk losing part of the 600,000 rubles in gold we have already allocated—and, of course, some of that sum will be mishandled or carelessly dispersed—and we further run the risk of losing as much as 1 million rubles in gold, since, under §8 (the concluding clause), we undertake to “repay the equivalent of the costs incurred for the machinery and tools that were exported by this particular emigrant.”
The risks are considerable.
For: Smirnov I. N. and Maximov (from the Urals)—both local figures—are firmly in favor.
Against: Martene knows the Americans well, and he opposes the agreement.
Lenin
I request that arrangements be made so that, by Friday at 4 p.m., all members of the Presidium of the All‑Russian Council of National Economy are connected via telephone to the secretary of the Central Committee, in case the Central Committee calls for a meeting.
P.S. I also ask that this letter be circulated to all members of the Politburo.
First published in 1959 in Lenin Collection XXXVI

Printed from manuscript