Date: 1921-10-27
Source: ru:PSS/v53

Source: PSS, Volume 53

October 27, 1921
Comrade Kamenev!

Being once again compelled to “suffer” through the idiotic, sloppy, and poorly written account of my own

speech—number 370—I must inform you that I am prepared to deliver the promised speech on Saturday only under the following condition: both the chair of the meeting and a specially appointed expert in journalism must, by Saturday at 12 noon, provide me with a written commitment to submit a clear, well‑written exposition—more precisely, a report on the speech—for publication. They shall be held accountable for the quality of the writing, and I reserve the right to publicly disclose their names.

Without this condition, I withdraw my consent to deliver the speech.

Sloppy, illiterate individuals undertake to “record” the entire speech—and what they produce is not a record at all, but rather an abomination, a jumble of nonsense, a source of shame and disgrace, the very epitome of ignorance.

What we need to provide is not a mere transcript of the speech, but a lucid, concise report on the speech itself.

Without guarantees that this condition will be fulfilled, I simply cannot agree to deliver the speech.

With revolutionary greetings, Lenin

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First published in 1933

in the Twenty-Third Lenin Collection

Printed from the manuscript