Letter to Georgy Pyatakov, Between August 10 and 20, 1916

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Dear Comrade,

You demand for yourself very strange privileges in the Party. It is unheard-of and, given any sort of Party attitude towards the matter, unthinkable that contributors should dictate terms making the contribution of articles contingent upon the editors inviting third persons, at the choice of the contributor, or “guaranteeing” that the Editorial Board’s reply (to an article it does not know of!) will be recognised by the contributor as a “comradely” one and so on.

In the interests of the business, however, we consider it advisable, by way of exception, to accede to your ultimatum, namely:

on Point 1—we invite the comrade named by you or anybody else you may desire, who belongs to our Party;

on Point 2—all contributors are always guaranteed publication of their articles without alteration, if they so desire, or return of the articles. Your wish here is not a privilege, but a gratuitous demand;

on Point 3—all we can do is to send you the reply of the Editorial Board (or of any other contributor) to your article and leave it to you to decide whether you want both articles published or not.

With Social-Democratic greetings