To Zalutsky, Solts, and all members of the Politburo
With regard to the question of party purges, it seems to me that the facts now made public fully demonstrate the colossal success of the purge as a whole, despite the rather numerous individual errors. In my view, both of these aspects should be emphasized in the resolutions of the Party Conference. In my opinion, there is no need to set a specific deadline for a subsequent purge—so as not to tie our hands in any way.
I would recommend that the Party Conference adopt stricter criteria for admitting new members: a candidacy period of 1½ years for workers (defined as anyone who has spent at least ten years of their life working as a simple wage laborer in large-scale industry and who has since been employed for at least two to three years), while for all others the candidacy period should be three years.
In special cases—when a candidate’s loyalty to the Party and their communist steadfastness have been thoroughly demonstrated, and when this is confirmed by a two-thirds majority vote in all decisive Party bodies—the candidacy period may be reduced by half.
The same candidacy periods should apply to those who have been expelled from the Party during the current purge, provided they have not been expelled for a fixed term and provided their expulsion was not due to disgraceful misconduct.

I ask you to share this letter with your closest comrades and—should it not prove too burdensome—to send me a brief response addressed to Fotieva, even if only in a form that highlights what you agree with in this letter and what you disagree with.
Lenin
Dictated over the telephone on December 19, 1921.
First published in 1945 in Volume XXXV of the Lenin Collection.
Printed according to the secretary’s record.

Questionnaire for Delegates to the Eleventh All‑Russian Conference of the RCP(b), completed by V. I. Lenin—December 1921.