I am attaching the materials pertaining to the Rutgers case.
The decision must be made by the STO.
I propose that we first address the political question within the Central Committee.
The Politburo must intervene, for this involves expenditures in gold.
I request that you instruct the secretary to arrange a conference call with all members of the Politburo, so that each may set aside one hour during which they can review these materials before Friday.
Each member must thoroughly examine the documents, so that we may 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 fulfill their promises,
the benefits will be enormous. In that case, we should not hesitate to allocate 600,000 rubles in gold.
Against: Will they actually deliver? Heywood is something of a semi-anarchist—more sentimental than pragmatic. Rutger seems to have slipped into a kind of legalistic quagmire. Calvert is excessively talkative. We have absolutely no business guarantees. In an atmosphere of widespread unemployment, enthusiasts are likely to assemble a band of “adventure seekers” who will ultimately end up in bitter quarrels. And then we risk losing part of the 600,000 rubles in gold we had allocated—and, of course, some of that sum will inevitably be mishandled or lost—and we also run the risk of forfeiting as much as 1 million rubles in gold, since, under §8 (at its conclusion), we are obligated to
“repay the equivalent of the costs incurred for machinery and tools that were exported by the said emigrant.”
The risks are considerable.
For: Smirnov I. N. and Maximov (from the Urals)—both local figures—and they are in favor.
Against: Martens knows the Americans well, and he opposes the proposal.
Lenin
I request that arrangements be made so that, by Friday at 4:00 p.m., all members of the Presidium of the VSNKh are connected via telephone to the secretary of the Central Committee, in case the Central Committee should need to summon them.
P.S. I also request that this letter be forwarded to all members of the Politburo, No. 2.

1921

1. I. N. Smirnov—Chairman of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee.
K. G. Maximov—Chairman of the Economic Council in the Urals.
2. On October 14, 1921, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) resolved to postpone consideration of the question concerning the proposals of S. Pyrepc. See also the following document.
21370
LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE POLITBURO
WITH A DRAFT RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b) AND THE STO
ON THE QUESTION OF S. RUTGERS’ PROPOSALS
[Between October 12 and 15, 1921]
In my view, we cannot accept Rutgers’ proposals as they stand at this time. However, I would like to suggest attempting the following: we should urge him to revise the composition of his 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 current form—namely, the proposals put forward by Bogdanov and those presidium members who voted in support of him—the Central Committee (and subsequently the STO, in accordance with Soviet procedure) would express its firm desire that the Rutgers group not regard this rejection as final, but rather rework their proposals along the following lines: first, to alter the composition of the group—specifically, to supplement the core group of initiators 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 rubles; and third, to curtail and clarify our expenses in the event of a breach of contract.
Lenin
1. The proposals of V. I. Lenin formed the basis for the resolution adopted by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) on October 15, 1921, concerning the proposals of S. Rutgers, as well as for the STO resolution of October 17, 1921, “On the Terms of Agreement with the Rutgers Group.” See also this collection, p. 331.
The published letter bears the inscription by V. I. Lenin: “October 15, 1921 – To the Archive.”