Letter to Fyodor Dan, December 2, 1903

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Copy of a Reply

Addressed to Potresov (for Dan)

December 2, 1903

“Dear Comrade,

“The elimination of the personal conflict between Martov and myself could be confirmed in an annex to the minutes of the League’s Congress.[1] For my part, I should only welcome it. But no one has either the formal or the moral right to abbreviate anything in the minutes of the Congress, or to delete anything from the description of what took place.”

With comradely greetings,

N. Lenin

  1. ↑ A reference to the “personal conflict” between Lenin and Martov at the League’s Second Congress, which amounted to the following: Martov accused Lenin that in his report at the Congress he had portrayed Martov as a liar and intriguer in presenting the question of organising the CO Editorial Board at the Party’s Second Congress. Accordingly, he challenged Lenin to appear before a court of arbitration. Lenin protested against such tactics, took up Martov’s challenge and, in his turn, challenged him to appear before a court of arbitration on the issue. The conflict was ironed out through the mediation of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky during his stay abroad in the latter half of November 1903, by means of an exchange of notes between Lenin and Martov. The Editorial Board failed to meet Lenin’s wish that the two notes should be published in an annex to the minutes of the League’s Congress (see Letter to F. I. Dan of December 2, 1903). The fact that the “personal conflict had been ironed out” was certified only in an editorial footnote to the relevant section of the minutes. It said: “The question of a court of arbitration has been eliminated through an exchange of explanations between Comrades Lenin and Martov which took place after the League Congress __NOTE_149_NOTE__ Missing ” at end of quote. (Minutes of the Second Congress of the League of Russian Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad, p. 66). The notes were later published in the Commentary to the Minutes of the Second Congress of the League of Russian Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad, Geneva, 1904.