Letter to Vyacheslav Karpinsky, After March 19, 1917

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Martov’s plan is a good one[1]: it’s necessary to work for it, but we (and you) cannot do this directly. We shall be open to suspicion. It’s necessary that, in addition to Martov, non-Party Russians and patriotic Russians should approach Swiss Ministers (and influential people, lawyers, etc., something that can be done in Geneva as well) requesting them to have a talk about it with the German Government’s Ambassador at Berne. We cannot take part, either directly or indirectly; our participation will spoil it all. But the plan, in itself, is a very good one and is very right.

  1. At a conference of representatives of Russian political parties at Geneva on March 19, 1917, L. Martov proposed a plan to secure the passage of political émigrés via Germany in exchange for the same number of Germans and Austrians interned in Russia. All participants in the meeting recognised Martov’s plan as being the best and most acceptable.
    The plan was discussed in émigré circles and was adopted by the CC of the RSDLP at the end of March (see present edition, Vol. 24, pp. 27–29; Lenin Miscellany II, 1924, pp. 385–94).