Letter to Ivan Radchenko, October 28, 1904

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Written by Krupskaya on Lenin’s instructions.—Ed.

From Lenin, private, to Arkady, the Urals

28/X.

Dear Comrade,

Your letter received. Please send us the resolution adopt ed by the Urals Committee. The Minority maintains that the Urals Committee came out against the congress, and Iskra has reported that it declared for peace in the Party, voicing support for the actions of the Central Committee. Everybody wants peace in the Party, and what is at issue now is how to resolve the crisis experienced by the Party, through the Party, i.e., by convening the congress, or through a private deal with the Minority. The Central Committee came out in its declaration in favour of the latter. Consequently, the Iskra statement can be under stood only in the sense that the Urals Committee has decided against the congress.

Use invisible ink, and address your letters “To Lenin, private”.

Your letter shows that you are completely uninformed about the state of affairs in the Party. I shall give you a brief outline. (See also letter to the Siberian League.) So far the following committees have declared for the congress: Siberian, Caucasian Union Committee (after the resolution given in the supplement to Nos. 73–74), Tiflis, Baku, Mingrelia-Imeretia, Odessa, Nikolayev, Yekaterinoslav, Petersburg, Moscow, Tver, Northern Committee (after the CC declaration), Nizhni-Novgorod, Kazan, Riga, and Tula (13 organisations with full rights)—formerly this would have been enough, but the Council has given the right of vote to another five committees (Smolensk (?), Orel-Bryansk (?), Samara, Astrakhan, and one more, evidently Kremenchug). All these are committees which we know in advance will declare against the congress. Moreover, the Council recognises only those committees as having come out for the congress whose resolutions it has received (the resolutions of the Nikolayev, Northern and Nizhni-Novgorod committees have probably gone astray). Further, confirmation of the resolutions is required every two months, which the committees, owing to irregular receipt of Iskra and absence of regular correspondence, may not know. The resolutions must be signed by the members of the commit tees so that no one might vote twice for the congress (only Council members may vote three times against the congress: in the Council, in the Editorial Board, and in the League). In view of the stand taken by the Council, the CC and the Central Organ (to hound those conducting agitation for the congress), the demand for signatures has a very definite purpose. The object of all this is to hamper agitation for the congress. But since the committees are taking a very definite stand, the Minority has now launched an attack against them. Everything is being done to undermine the prestige of the committees in the eyes of the local communities and the workers, who are being literally incited against the committees. Special efforts are being made to influence the periphery. How this disorganises work is easy to imagine. The Minority is now laying siege to Petersburg. Such is the situation in the Party. Not a very happy one, needless to say. Send us a secret address for contacts, people often go from here and may also go to the Urals.

With comradely greetings,

L.

P.S. Ask the CC for Majority publications.