Published:
First published in 1930 in Lenin Miscellany XIII.
Sent from Paris to Leipzig.
Printed from the original in German.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1971,
Moscow,
Volume 36,
pages 174-175.
Translated: Andrew Rothstein
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
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• README
To Comrade Karl Radek
October 9, 1910
Dear Comrade,
I intended to reply to the articles by Martov and Trotsky in a long article on the substance of the matter in Neue Zeit, But things turned out otherwise. You published a very good statement, while Comrade Karski, even before I had written to Kautsky and Wurm of my intention, had sent Neue Zeit an article against Martov.[1] Wurm sent me Karski’s article, and I agreed that that was enough.
But I cannot, however, leave unanswered Martov and Trotsky’s most incredible absurdities and distortions. About a third or a half of my article is now ready. Its subject is: “The Historical Meaning of the Inner-Party Struggle in Russia”.[2] Please give me your advice: is it possible and will it be useful to publish this article in Leipziger Volkszeitung?
If the answer depends on whether or not the editorial board likes my article, I am of course prepared to send it to you without laying down any conditions.
I should be very grateful to you if you could tell me anything about this right away. For instance, I should like to know whether you could publish a few feature articles on the subject in Leipziger Volkszeitung. What is the maximum length of an article to be? And one other thing: I do not write German, but Russian. Can you have a translation made in Leipzig—or do you find this inconvenient or difficult, and prefer that I should find a translator over here (which of course, in all probability, I can do)? Or, finally, should I write in my very had German (of which this letter is a specimen), and you can then have my bad German translated into good German in Leipzig? (A friend once told me that it was easier to translate into German from good Russian than from bad German.)
With best wishes,
Yours,
N. Lenin
My address is:
Mr. Vl. Oulianoff.
4. Rue Marie Rose. 4.
Paris. XIV.
[1] A reference to J. Marchlewski’s article against L. Martov, entitled “Ein Missverständnis” (A Misunderstanding), published in Die Neue Zeit No. 4, October 28, 1910, pp. 100–07. For details, see Lenin’s letter to Marchlewski of October 7, 1910 (see present edition, Vol. 34, pp. 424–29).
[2] Lenin’s article, “The Historical Meaning of the Inner-Party Struggle in Russia”, was published only on April 29 (May 12), 1911, in Diskussionny Listok (The Discussion Bulletin), a supplement to Sotsial-Demokrat, the central organ of the R.S.D.L.P., No. 3 (see present edition, Vol. 16, pp. 374–92).
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