Bolshevik Leaders correspondence

Bolshevik leadership Correspondence. 1912-1927
Collection of documents 1996.
Compiled by: A.V.Kvashonkin, L.P.Kosheleva, L.A.Rogovaya, O.V.Khlevnyuk.

No. 177

G. L. Pyatakov, K. B. Radek, V. N. Yakovleva, I. N. Stukov, V. M. Smirnov, M. N. Pokrovsky, S. N. Sheverdin, E. A. Preobrazhensky, V. M. Maksimovsky - Eastpart, Central Committee of the RCP (b), Central Control Commission, editorial board of Pravda

December 20, 1923

ISTPART.

Copy: CC.

Copy: Editorial Pravda.

Dear comrades.

With the light hand of comrade. BUKHARIN, the legend is spreading in the party about the negotiations between the Left Communists and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries in 1918 regarding the overthrow and arrest of Comrade. LENIN and the election of a new Council of People's Commissars. Tov. Zinoviev, in his speech on December 11, states the matter as follows:

"Tov. BUKHARIN told a meeting of the Krasno-Presnensky district the other day something that should become known to the entire Party, for this is a fact of gigantic historical significance. Having described the period of our internal struggle in connection with the Brest peace, comrade. Bukharin reports that at that time the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries ... made an official proposal to them, to the faction of "Left" Communists, nothing more and nothing less than to arrest the Council of People's Commissars with Comrade. LENIN at the head. And in the circles of the "left" communists, the question of the new composition of the Council of People's Commissars was seriously discussed, and they meant to appoint comrade as chairman. PYATAKOV. This, comrades, is not an anecdote; the factional struggle within our Party has been carried to the point where the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, those enraged petty bourgeois, could, with a certain hope of success, turn to a part of our party with such proposals ... Our comrades, "left" communists, as Comrade says. Bukharin, rejected the proposal of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries indignantly. However, the “Left” Communists did not tell their Central Committee about this at that time, and the Party learns about this important fact only now, six years later” (see Pravda, No. 286 of December 16, 23).

Comrade STALIN, in his article in Pravda, No. 285 of 15/XII, writes:

“It is known, for example, that the Left Communists, who then constituted a separate faction, reached such bitterness that they seriously talked about replacing the then existing Council of People's Commissars with a new Council of People's Commissars from new people who were part of the Left Communists' faction. Some of the current oppositionists, comrades PREOBRAZHENSKY, PYATAKOV, STUKOV, and others, were part of the Left Communist faction.”

In view of the fact that the matter is portrayed in a completely different way from what it really was, in the interests of restoring historical truth and in order to counteract the distortion of the history of our party, we, former active members of the Left Communist faction, consider ourselves obliged to describe those two completely insignificant incidents who could submit Comrade. Bukharin, and after him to comrades Zinoviev and Stalin, the idea of allegedly taking place negotiations on the overthrow of the Council of People's Commissars and the arrest of comrade. Lenin.

A faction of leftist communists did exist. This faction fought for a change in the party's policy both on external issues (the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and on internal issues (especially on issues of economic policy). On the question of the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, as is well known, at one time the situation in the Central Committee of the Party was such that the opponents of the Peace of Brest-Litovsk had a majority in the Central Committee. Tov. LENIN declared at a meeting of the Central Committee that if the Central Committee decides against the conclusion of the Brest Peace, he will resign his duties as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and a member of the Central Committee. When it came to a decisive vote, some of the opponents of the Brest Peace abstained from voting and, as a result, the supporters of the Brest Peace held a decision in the Central Committee - to sign the Brest Peace. The struggle of factions in the party continued even after the decision of the Central Committee,

During a meeting of the Central Executive Committee, which took place in the Tauride Palace, when LENIN was making a report on Brest, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Kamkov approached Pyatakov and Bukharin during Lenin's speech. During the conversation, which not only did not have the character of any official negotiations, but did not even have the character of a preliminary business-like, mutually groping conversation, Kamkov, by the way, half-jokingly said:

“Well, what will you do if you get a majority in the party. After all, Lenin will leave, and then you and I will have to form a new Council of People's Commissars. I think that we will then elect Comrade Sov. Pyatakov.

Of course, this is not a shorthand record of Kamkov's words, but they have been restored to the extent that it is generally possible to restore other people's words from memory, to which the participants in the conversation did not attach any serious significance even at the moment of the conversation. The “proposal” of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries was not only not rejected with indignation, but it was not rejected at all, since it was not discussed, because there was no proposal from the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries to the Left Communists.

This is the first case. In this case, there was no mention of any arrest or overthrow of the Council of People's Commissars, even by the Left SRs.

Later, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, when Pyatakov, Bubnov and Kosior left for Ukraine, a second incident took place, which also had absolutely no significance. Tov. Radek went to the then People's Commissariat of Honor, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Proshyan, to send over the radio some resolution of the Left Communists. Proshyan, laughing, said Comrade. Radek: “You are all writing resolutions. It would not be easier to arrest Lenin for a day, declare war on the Germans, and after that again unanimously elect Comrade. Lenin as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. Proshyan then said that, of course, Lenin, as a revolutionary, being forced to defend himself against the advancing Germans, scolding us and you (you leftist communists) in every possible way, nevertheless, would lead a defensive war better than anyone else. Again, this "proposal" not only was not rejected by the left communists, but it was also not discussed as a completely anecdotal and ludicrous fantasy by Proshyan. It is curious to note that back in 1918, before the uprising of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, when, after the death of Comrade Proshyan. Lenin wrote an obituary about the latter, comrade. Radek told Comrade about this incident. Lenin, and the latter laughed about such a "plan".

It should be noted that both of these cases were still unknown to many of the undersigned, although almost all of them were members of the bureau of the Left Communist faction and all were active members of the faction. This is the best evidence of the significance that these "facts" had.

20/XII 23 Former left communists:

G. Pyatakov

K. Radek

V. Yakovleva

Shevardin

In. Stukov

V. Smirnov

M. Pokrovsky

E. Preobrazhensky

V. Maksimovsky

RTSKHIDNI. F. 17. Op. 71. D. 76. L. 1-2. Typewritten text. Signatures are autographs.