706

LETTER TO J. V. STALIN FOR MEMBERS OF THE R.C.P.(B.) C.C. POLITBUREAU WITH A DRAFT TELEGRAM TO G. V. CHICHERIN

April 24, 1922

Comrade Stalin for the Politbureau

Rudzutak’s telegram protesting against the letter sent to Lloyd George shows, I believe, that Chicherin either has
already made or is quite capable of making an obvious mistake and of violating a C.C. directive. The mistake
consists in the fact that Chicherin, without achieving anything in practice, could well deprive us of the only
explanation of a break-up which is quite advantageous and
important in principle and which gives us a sure gain in
the future: namely, a break-up over our refusal to restore
the private property of foreign, capitalists.

I propose, therefore, that the Politbureau members should be polled by phone today, and that the following
telegram should be sent on my behalf:

“ To Chicherin for all the members of the delegation “ I consider Rudzutak’s opinion, stated in his telegram
of April 22, to be quite correct. I regard as a very dangerous
mistake any step and any phrase capable of depriving us of
the only advantageous ground for a break-up, which, besides, assures us of complete diplomatic and commercial
victory in the very near future, namely, the ground that
we absolutely refuse to restore the private property of the
foreign capitalists.

“ I repeat once again that we have communicated to you the absolutely exact text of our maximum concessions, from
which we will not depart in the least. As soon as it becomes quite clear that agreement on the basis of these
concessions is impossible, we authorise you to break-off,
retaining for agitation and for a subsequent diplomatic
offensive two trumps:

“1) The fundamental importance of the Russo-German treaty.

“2) Our divergence on the question of restoring the capitalists’ property.”

Please, let me know the opinion of all or at any rate of a majority of the Politbureau
members. [1]

At 7 o’clock tonight let us meet together, and if possible with Kamenev as well, for a quarter of an hour.

Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
On April 24, 1922, the text of the telegram to G. V. Chicherin,
proposed by Lenin, was approved by the Politbureau of the
R.C.P.(B.) C.C.

Lenin’s assessment of the stand taken by Lloyd George and
other British leaders, given in the telegrams to Genoa (see this
volume, Documents 704 and 705), was borne out in the course
of the conference. The British delegation subsequently even went
back on the understanding that Chicherin’s letter of April 20
would be taken as a basis for continuing the talks. In a letter
addressed to the conference chairman on April 28, Chicherin
pointed out that if the Western Powers repudiated their
-agreement to consider the points in the April 20 letter as a basis for
negotiations, the Soviet delegation would not regard itself as
being bound by this letter and would return to the standpoint
set out in its April 20 memorandum (see Dokumenty vneshnei politiki SSSR , Vol. V, Moscow, 1961, pp. 276–77).