Date: 1922
Source: ru:PSS/v45

V. I. LENIN
2 WHAT ARE WE TO DO ABOUT RABKRIN?
There is no doubt that Rabkrin presents an enormous challenge for us. To date, nothing has truly emerged from it, and the question of its organization—and indeed, the very question of its practical utility—remains unresolved.
I believe that those who doubt its necessity are mistaken. Yet at the same time, I do not deny that the question of our state apparatus and its improvement is exceedingly difficult and far from settled.
Our state apparatus—except for the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs—represents, to the greatest extent, a relic of the old order, subjected to only the most superficial reforms. It has been merely smoothed over on the surface. In all other respects, in order to put it into proper working order, the workers’ and peasants’ state—a state founded on entirely new principles—has always required, and continues to require today, the concentrated participation within its highest hierarchical ranks of party members.
It suffices to recall how we acted during the perilous moments of the Civil War: how we pooled our best party forces in the Red Army; how we resorted to mobilizing the vanguard of party‑working-class militants—to confirm what has been said.
And so, it seems to me that, despite all our attempts to reorganize the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, the conclusion we reach is that we have yet to make one final attempt. Indeed, we have not even tried to entrust this task

MATERIALS FOR THE ARTICLE “HOW WE SHOULD REORGANIZE RABKRIN”
to our workers and peasants, placing them at the head of our Party—as members of the Central Committee.
I envision the transformation of Rabkrin as follows: several dozen (from 50 to 75 individuals), workers and peasants who have been thoroughly tested in terms of integrity and loyalty, are elected to the Party’s Central Committee in addition to the other members of the Central Committee. At the same time, Rabkrin is finally reduced (finally!) to just a few hundred individuals—on the one hand, those who have been most thoroughly tested in the affairs of Rabkrin itself, that is, the highly skilled specialists who are most familiar with the overall oversight of our apparatus, both in terms of their knowledge of our administrative machinery and in terms of their theoretical training in questions of labor organization within institutions, as well as in matters of inspection and investigation—and on the other hand, individuals belonging to the purely secretarial, auxiliary cadre.
The newly appointed members of the Central Committee, who enjoy full equality with the other members of the Central Committee, are tasked with conducting long-term, painstaking work to study and improve our state apparatus. All other employees of Rabkrin are assigned the task of assisting them in this endeavor: some, as those most familiar with the apparatus and most acquainted with the work of Rabkrin; others, as personnel of a secretarial, support staff nature.
The People’s Commissariat for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection could remain, in this regard, the same People’s Commissariat it has been until now. The new members of the Central Committee could be regarded as being on temporary assignment under its auspices. The People’s Commissar for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection could retain his title, his position, and his rights—just as the members of his collegium would likewise retain theirs.
What benefits would we derive from such an organizational structure? First and foremost, we would once and for all abandon the practice of launching new reorganizations based on insufficient study of our apparatus. Second, we would immediately elevate the authority of this People’s Commissariat—both by drawing members of the Central Committee into its ranks and by reducing the number of its employees to but a few hundred. For from the current state, in which the members of the People’s Commissariat for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection generally live on handouts from the very institutions they inspect, we would move directly to a situation whereby