Friday. "Friday" personal from Lenin

Dear Comrade! Our common friend* has informed me about the letters in your possession 300 (letters from a foreign member of the Central Committee to the Russian members of the Central Committee, where it is stated that the foreign minority has become arrogant and that the resolution of the 22 undoubtedly expresses the actual will of the Party). I think you should immediately send these letters here to me.

Firstly, I am a member of the Central Committee and therefore have every right to know the correspondence between the foreign member of the Central Committee and the Russians, especially when this correspondence concerns a party-wide issue regarding the positions of the minority. Can it be that you will help the members of the Central Committee who have defected to the side of the minority to hide the true state of affairs from the Party (and even from other members of the Central Committee)?

Secondly, from the content of the letters, it follows that the members of the Central Committee (Glebov, Konyagin, and Nikitich) are directly lying by stating in their letter to the Russian committees about the compliance of the foreign minority. Since we have openly declared war on this Bonapartism, this deception of the Party (in the brochure, Galerka, on behalf of all of us, declared war), our direct duty is to expose any deception by members of the Central Committee before the Party. If, having evidence of such deception in our hands, we do not point out these proofs to the Party, we will not fulfill our duty to the Party. If we speak publicly and in print about Bonapartism while at the same time missing opportunities to document this Bonapartism, we will turn out to be mere talkers. But we use the word Bonapartism not as an insult, as Martov and Plekhanov used it.

Sometimes it is said: one cannot use private letters in political struggle.

This is incorrect. When private letters reveal abuses by party officials, it is necessary to use such letters. Plekhanov used private letters in his Vademecum* even with regard to non-officials. Moreover, the letters in question are not at all private, but rather correspondence between members of the Central Committee on Central Committee matters. And I, as a member of the Central Committee, and you, as an agent of the Central Committee, are obliged to prevent any attempt to hide the truth from the Party.

For all these reasons, I consider it absolutely necessary for you to send me these letters, or at least complete copies of them, immediately. Of course, part of them is conspiratorial, and we will never expose this part. But what concerns the interests of the entire Party and contains nothing conspiratorial must be exposed.

How and when to do this, we will think about it here.

Please reply to this letter as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you write poorly in Russian. You can even write in Yiddish. In any case, reply immediately.

If you do not agree with me about sending the letters, then we will all ask you to come here as soon as possible, in a few days. This is such an important matter that it must be discussed and resolved at all costs.

Sincerely, Your N. Lenin

* - Guide. Ed.

P.S. Be sure to tell Nik. I-cho*, "the Jacobin"* and Zhitomirsky to immediately send me their addresses. It is simply outrageous that everyone is wandering separately without connecting with each other.

* Refers to R. S. Zemlyachka. Ed.
* Refers to Nikolai Ivanovich. Ed.
* Refers to a nickname. Ed.