V. I.   Lenin

216

To:   V. D. BONCH-BRUYEVICH

Published: First published in 1959 in Lenin Miscellany XXXVI. Printed from the original.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1975, Moscow, Volume 44, pages 169^c-170^a.
Translated: Clemens Dutt
Transcription\Markup: R. Cymbala
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive.   You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
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Dear V. D.,

I am sending you a pamphlet on the implementation of laws. Think of a title that would be most clear, striking and resounding.

And publish it as quickly as possible.^[1]

Yours,
Lenin

Notes

[1] This refers to a pamphlet containing the decree on revolutionary legality adopted by the Extraordinary Sixth All-Russia Congress of Soviets on November 8, 1918. In this decree the Congress called on “all citizens of the Republic, all bodies, all officials of the Soviet authorities, to strictly observe the laws of the R.S.F.S.R., and the decisions, regulations and instructions issued by the central authorities”. All departures from the laws, caused by the conditions of the struggle against counter-revolution, were to be kept within strictly defined limits. The decree outlined measures for waging a determined fight against bureaucracy and red tape in Soviet offices.

The pamphlet appeared in 1919 under the title Observe the Laws of the Soviet Republic! (see also Document 422 of this volume).