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Special pages :
Letter to Nikolai Poletaev, December 7, 1910
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1974, Moscow, Volume 34, page 436.
Poletayev, Nikolai Gurievich (1872–1930)—Social-Democrat, Bolshevism, a turner by trade. Took part in the workers’ circles in the 1890s. Repeatedly sentenced to imprisonment. Deputy to the Third Duma from St. Petersburg Gubernia, member of the parliamentary Social-Democratic Party. Closely associated with the publication of the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. After the October Socialist Revolution—a business executive.
I have received your two letters, which surprised me. What could be easier, it would seem, than to write and tell us simply and clearly what is the matter? We are still in the dark. It should not be difficult to find a person to write sensibly, clearly and frankly at least once a week.
Your attempt to detach the liquidators from liquidationism is unfortunate to a degree. We have never approved this distinction. Only sophists draw it. We earnestly re quest you not to believe the sophists and not to make this distinction. One can reconcile oneself to anything but the liquidators, and if you do not want the work to be ruined, keep them out of it.
With great difficulty we obtained from a publisher hero a further thousand rubles and will send them to you tomorrow. If this publisher approaches you again with questions, advice, conditions, and so on—don’t answer at all, or answer as we once advised.
Concerning the little magazine, we have had nothing from anyone.
So we repeat once more our insistent request: we have obtained for you what you require, see that you do not let us down, keep out the liquidators (there is no such thing as liquidationism without liquidators. And who could have played such a cruel joke on you by assuring you of a distinction between liquidationism and the liquidators?) and, further, see to it that we get a sensible, clear, frank and detailed letter every week. Surely these two requests are not difficult, not too much; we cannot manage without it.
Yours....