Letter to Lev Kamenev, January 1, 1922

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Kamenev

Copies: Bukharin and P. P. Gorbunov

Comrade Kamenev:

I have just learned about Goldenberg’s death. They say he had a heart attack. I very much fear, am almost sure, that it is our negligence that is to blame in this case, because he was an extremely sickly man, and we failed entirely to take care of him. It is my earnest request that you make arrangements: 1) for the funeral to be held properly (I wonder if it is convenient to do this through the Moscow Soviet or the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs); 2) then we should look after his wife, who is probably absolutely without any money and who, I happen to know, is absolutely helpless and unadapted to the present Russian life; 3) we should also have the press carry an obituary.

He was obviously sent to his grave by his life as an émigré and by our Russian negligence. We have been losing valuable workers in an absolutely unpardonable manner.[1]

Lenin

  1. At the top of the document, CPC and CLD secretary Lydia Fotieva wrote: “To N. P. Gorbunov, Nikolai Petrovich, Vladimir Ilyich wants you to see that what Kamenev undertakes should be fulfilled as soon as possible, that is, to put pressure wherever necessary. 1/I–22. L. Fotieva.
    The obituary on “losif Petrovich Goldenberg (Meshkovsky)” was published in Pravda on January 3, 1922.