ON THE DRAFT RESOLUTIONS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b) AND THE COUNCIL OF LABOR AND DEFENSE REGARDING THE PROPOSALS OF S. RUTGERS

In my view, we cannot accept Rutgers’ proposals in their current form. However, I would like to propose the following: we should urge him to revise the group—Rutgers plus Heywood plus Calvert—and to adjust the financial terms accordingly. If we were to proceed as follows:
While rejecting Rutgers’ proposals in their present form—that is, the proposals put forward by Bogdanov and those members of the Presidium of the VSNKh who voted with him—
the Central Committee (and subsequently the Council of Labor and Defense, in accordance with Soviet procedure) expresses its firm recommendation that the Rutgers group not regard this rejection as final, but instead rework their proposals on the following principles: first, to alter the composition of the group—the core group of initiators—by supplementing it with 5–8 prominent representatives of the American labor movement or other workers’ organizations; second, to reduce our government’s expenditures to a maximum of $300,000; and third, to lower and clarify our expenses in the event of a breach of the 1976 agreement.
Lenin
Written between October 12 and 15, 1921.
First published in 1959 in Volume XXXVI of the Lenin Collection.

Printed from the manuscript.

* – dollars. Ed.