Letter to Grigori Zinoviev, After August 22, 1916

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I) I am sending Tinsky with additions (something at least should be said in the anti-S.R. vein, otherwise it is not a Social-Democratic piece of writing. And your “mottoes” are no good besides). (Mottoes, if needed, should be different.)

2) I have started to write “about Kautskyism” for Russian collections.[1] I have already written you this.

3) I shall try and sit down soon to write a reply to Yuri.[2]

4) 1,500 copies of the collections will be enough.

5) Re the 2nd collection, I am against deciding right away. Grisha’s letter is not clear: 500 frs.+paper? Am writing him. Let’s wait for his reply. The devil take him!! He isn’t clear about it!!

6) Put in Saf—chik on the Duma group (as the item on the prisoners of war is already set up and will go inde).[3]

7) Re the article on the women’s movement, I have already written you about my doubts (send in de Ms,[4] there is little space). Instead of answering, you write: “commissioned”, although you know that I did not commission it!! This is an omission. If an article isn’t written, one should first let one know the subject, plan and details, before advising to write it.

8) Re the national question, I would very much like to republish self-determination with an addition. Would Volna undertake it? Did you write to them about it?

9) The Gnevich collection??[5] In Polish or Russian?? You must find this out and also who else is writing and on what subject?? This must be made clear. What have you written him?

Best regards,

Lenin

10) I propose the enclosed translation from De Tribune for inclusion in Sbornik.[6]

  1. ↑ Lenin intended to have the article on Kautskyism published in the symposium Pod Starym Znamenem, but its publication was discontinued after the appearance of the first issue. The Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism have a plan of the article headed by Lenin, “On Kautskyism” (see Lenin Miscellany XXX, pp. 133–34). A special work on Kautsky was written by Lenin in 1918 (see “The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky”, present edition, Vol. 28. pp. 227–325).
  2. ↑ This refers to Lenin’s article “Reply to P. Kievsky (Y. Pyatakov)” (see present edition, Vol. 23, pp. 22–27).
    Points 4–7 refer to Sbornik Sotsial-Demokrata. Point 5 refers to Belenky’s proposal that the second issue of Sbornik should be published in Paris. Safarov’s articles were not published in the collections. The article about the women’s movement was that by Zinaida Lilina.
  3. ↑ After it.—Ed.
  4. ↑ de manuscrit.—Ed.
  5. ↑ Gnevich—pseudonym of Fabierkiewicz, a leader of the Polish labour movement, who was in Petrograd at the time. Two issues of the journal Zycie (Life) in the Polish language were published in 1916 with his co-operation.
  6. ↑ No. 2 of Sbornik Sotsial-Demokrata carried an article by Henriette Roland-Holst “Ambiguous Position”, which was a translation of an article published in the newspaper De Tribune on August 22, 1918.