LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE POLITBURO OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b), WITH PROPOSALS FOR A DRAFT OF DIRECTIVES
TO THE DELEGATION OF THE COMMINTERN AT THE CONFERENCE OF THE THREE INTERNATIONALS
To Zinoviev, Stalin, Kamenev, and other members of the Politburo:
I propose that
p. 11 (Part Two) — regarding the question of altering our attitude toward the Mensheviks — be deleted.
We cannot even entertain such a proposal, not even in a conditional form, at this time.
In my view, the directive should be amended as follows:
A.A.) If you wish to raise the most contentious issues—those that provoke the greatest hostility from the Third International toward the Second and the Second-and-a-Half Internationals—we agree, on the condition that:
(a) we reach an understanding with you regarding the list of questions to be addressed;
(b) … and that we establish detailed rules governing the discussion of the rights of the Third International—ensuring its rights are safeguarded with utmost rigor, and so forth, ad infinitum.
B.B.) We, for our part, propose that only the least controversial issues be brought before the assembly, viewing our goal as an attempt to foster partial yet concerted actions by the working masses.
Should A.A. be adopted, we will insert: our overall assessment of the Second and Second-and-a-Half Internationals, a comprehensive summary of the charges we level against them, and so on, and so forth.
Furthermore: on March 25, i.e., at the preliminary meeting, our delegates must exercise the utmost restraint, holding firm until hope remains that we can achieve our objective—namely, to lure all three Internationals ((both the Second and the Second-and-a-Half)) into a general conference.
Given the composition of the conference, we must not rush to split it apart; indeed, we must not split it apart at all—unless, of course, Moscow gives us explicit authorization, and unless the proposed move is utterly abhorrent, absolutely intolerable.
Lenin
Written on March 14 or 15, 1922.
First published, in incomplete form, in 1958 in the book “On the Activities of V. I. Lenin in 1917–1922,” Moscow.
Published in full in 1959.

in Lenin Collection XXXVI

Printed from the manuscript