Letter to the Iskra Editorial Board, January 8, 1904

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This letter was an insertion to the rough copy of Lengnik’s letter sent in reply to that of Y. O. Martov.

As the representative of the CC, I consider it necessary to point out to the editors that there are absolutely no grounds for raising the question of lawfulness, etc., on the basis of heated speeches at lectures or on the basis of literary polemics. The Central Committee as such has never had, and does not have, the slightest doubt of the lawfulness of the editorial board co-opted, as Iskra No. 53 quite justly stated, in complete accord with Clause 12 of the Party Rules. The Central Committee would be ready to state that publicly as well, if necessary. If the editorial board sees these polemics as attacks upon itself, it has every opportunity of replying. It is hardly reasonable to resent what the editorial board regards as sharply worded statements in the polemic, when no mention is made anywhere of boycott or any other disloyal (from the viewpoint of the CC) form of activity. We would remind the editorial board that the CC has repeatedly expressed its full readiness to publish, and made a direct proposal to publish, immediately both Dan’s letter and Martov’s “Once Again in the Minority”, without being at all put out by the very sharp attacks to be found in these documents. In the view of the CC, it is essential to give all Party members the widest possible freedom to criticise the central bodies and to attack them; the CC sees nothing terrible in such attacks, provided they are not accompanied by a boycott, by standing aloof from positive work or by cutting off financial resources. The Central Committee states even now that it would publish criticism against itself, seeing in a free exchange...