Date: 1922-02-15
Source: ru:PSS/v44

LETTER TO G. V. CHICHERIN
November 15, 1922
Comrade Chicherin!
In Krasin’s telegram dated February 13 (incoming no. 1466/s), Lloyd George stated: “If the Soviet government refuses to recognize the Cannes resolutions, this will threaten to derail the entire conference and, in any case, will make it easier for Poincaré to withdraw…”
The wording is more “threatening” than precise!
Yet, judging by our newspapers, the entire English press has repeatedly asserted that no prior recognition of the Cannes terms was required—or even expected—when extending the invitation to the Genoa Conference; and that the French view to the contrary is mistaken.
We must gather all available materials in order to establish the facts with absolute precision and formal certainty.
Three facts had seemed to me beyond dispute:
(1) When inviting us, we were not asked to issue a precise, clear, formal declaration affirming that we recognized the Cannes terms.
(2) We did not make such a declaration in our reply—and we were not informed that our response was incomplete.
(3) Throughout the dispute with the French, the entire English bourgeois press acknowledged that prior recognition of the Cannes terms was not mandatory.
With comradely greetings, Lenin
First published in 1959 in Lenin Collection XXXVI

Printed from manuscript