STATEMENT TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD MEETING OF THE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION
To Comrade Chairman of the Editorial Board Meeting of the C.O.
7 November 1910.* [Paris.]
Dear Comrade!
As I am leaving the meeting today, I feel it my duty to explain to you,
in case any party (or quasi-party) speculations or misinterpretations arise,
the true significance of my actions. I not only consider myself entitled—but indeed obligated—to decline participation in that so‑called “discussion,” which serves as a pretext for the liquidationist wing of the editorial board to peddle the vilest slanders propagated by the most rabid anti‑party elements. When Martov, for example, claims that the “retrievers” are part of the Party, while loudly circulating the most outrageous gossip spread by the most thuggish elements within the retriever emigration—that the case of Comrade Viktor has been settled or hushed up through bribery*—and at the same time calls for “protecting” Martov and Dan from such suspicions cast upon “a section of the Party”—anyone with even a modicum of discernment can see that, under the guise of “protection” from retriever blackmail, what we are being offered is nothing less than overt, active support for the worst kinds of retriever adventurism.

* In the manuscript, the date appears at the end of the letter, just before the signature. Ed.

Considering it beneath my dignity to take part in a “discussion” where such matters are aired, I hereby declare that, going forward, I will continue to strive to leave the meeting whenever such “debates” are convened.
With comradely greetings, N. Lenin.
1 The Chairman of the Editorial Board Meeting of the C.O. was, most likely,
either A. Barsky or V. Leder, who served in his stead.
2 At the January Plenum of the Central Committee in 1910, among other items on the agenda, the question arose concerning the case of Central Committee member and Bolshevik center figure V. Taratuta (“Viktor”), who had requested that the Central Committee order an investigation into the rumors circulating within the Party regarding his alleged provocation. The Central Committee Plenum appointed an investigative commission in this matter, consisting of 2 Mensheviks, 1 Bolshevik, 1 Polish Social Democrat, and 1 Bundist. Over the course of 1910, after questioning dozens of witnesses and reviewing nearly a hundred testimonies, the commission reached a unanimous decision: there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support an accusation against “Viktor” of provocation, and they fully exonerated him of all suspicion in this regard.