Letter to Inessa Armand, July, prior to 4th, 1914

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Author(s) Lenin
Written 4 July 1914


MIA-bannière.gif
Written in July, prior to 4th, 1914
Published: First published in 1964 in Collected Works Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 48. Sent from Poronin to Lovran. Printed from the original.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1977, Moscow, Volume 43, pages 406-407a.
Keywords : Inessa Armand, Letter

Dear Friend,[1]

Information has been received today that the Executive Committee of the I.S.B. is calling what is known as the Unity Conference in Brussels on July 16, 17 and 18.[2]

A delegation must be formed. It is doubtful whether we shall go. Grigory maybe, but even he won’t, as likely as not.

On behalf of the CC I want to ask you to consent to be a member of the delegation. We shall pay the expenses of the journey.

We shall work out the tactics in minute detail.

If you have the slightest chance to fix up the children for 6–7 days (or even less, since the conference will last 3 days), I would ask you to agree. You are well up in the business, you speak French perfectly, and you read Pravda. We also have in mind Popov, Kamsky and Yuri. Letters have been sent to all of them.

So answer at once, without an hour’s delay. Consent!

Very truly,[3]

V. I.

We haven’t decided yet about the delegation and haven’t formed it. We are searching. It’s all at the stage of preliminary talks so far. But time is short.

We must make great haste!!

Consent, do! It will make a good change for you and you will help the cause!!

Grigory’s wife is ill. I don’t want to go “on principle”. Apparently the Germans (the resentful Kautsky & Co.) are out to annoy us. Soit! We shall calmly (I am no good for that), on behalf of the eight-tenths majority, propose our conditions in the most polite (I am no good for that either) French. You are more sure of yourself now, you have been reading,lectures, and could carry this through splendidly! If the dear comrades want unity, then here are the conditions of the majority of class-conscious workers in Russia. They can either take them or leave them!!

“They” are out to give “battle” (decisive battle) to us in Vienna. An empty threat!! They can’t do anything!!

  1. ↑ ["**" DUPLICATE 1 OF 2.]
    The words marked with an asterisk are in English in the original.—Ed.
  2. ↑ See present edition, Vol. 20, pp. 495–535.—Ed.
  3. ↑ ["**" DUPLICATE 2 OF 2.]
    The words marked with an asterisk are in English in the original.—Ed.
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