From Stalin to Lenin

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

Stalin Correspondences

J. V. Stalin - V. I. Lenin

November 13, 1922

Owls. Secret.

Copy to Comrade Kamenev.

T. LENIN!

I consider it necessary to provide you with some data on two issues:

1) Today, Comrade Kamenev told me (by telephone) about the need to approve an agreement with French merchants on the organization of a mixed company for the sale of our platinum, and we must provide at least 60 poods of platinum for sale abroad to this company, but we ourselves refuse enter the foreign market with its platinum. Since there are no elements of “mixture” in this draft treaty (the platinum is all ours, the French have no platinum, they are just commission agents for the sale of platinum, and it must be assumed that, since platinum is an almost monopoly commodity, they, the French, will try to sell a minimum of platinum in order to please American platinum sellers and give them the opportunity to sell American platinum at exorbitant prices), but, on the contrary, the whole agreement is a complete mockery of Russia, I suggested so-called. Kamenev summoned all the supporters of the treaty and talked to them on the merits, advising him to annul the treaty on a "mixed" society by offering the French a certain percentage of the total amount of platinum sold for a commission. I think that one should pay attention to this issue, strongly exaggerated by Sverdlov (a person is more than unreliable)1 .

2) I received a number of statements from practitioners of the Moscow Party Organization and from members of the Russian faction of the Congress of the Comintern about some inconvenience created by your interview with the Observer correspondent about left and right communists. Statements indicate that the interview with Comrade Lenin sanctifies the existence of left communism (perhaps the workers' opposition) as a legal party phenomenon 2. Practitioners believe that now that left communism in all its forms (not excluding the workers' opposition) has been eliminated, it is dangerous and inappropriate to speak of left communism as a legitimate phenomenon that can compete with official party communism, especially since on the 11th At the Congress, we stated the complete unity of our Party, and the period following the Eleventh Congress speaks of the further strengthening of the Party in the sense of its unity and cohesion. I think that if in the diplomatic respect the emphasis on the existence of Left Communism may be useful, then in respect of the Party this emphasis leads to some negative results to the detriment of the Party and to the benefit of the workers' opposition, creates confusion and ambiguities. It would be nice to correct this shortcoming in the future.

November 13, 1922

I. Stalin.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 272. L. 1. Typewritten text. Signature - facsimile.

Notes:

On November 23, 1922, the Politburo considered the issue of a mixed company for the sale of platinum. The adopted decision provided for measures for a more detailed study of the possibility of selling platinum both independently and with the help of a mixed company. The Politburo, in particular, provided for the creation of a special commission to study the circumstances of the preparation of the treaty (RTsKhIDNI. F. 17. Op. 3. D. 323. L. 2). On January 18, 1923, at the suggestion of Stalin, the Politburo recognized the issue of platinum as settled, and the commission created earlier was liquidated (Ibid. D. 330. L. 6) *

2 This refers to Lenin’s interview with the Observer and the Manchester Guardian, published in Pravda on November 10, 1922. When asked whether the refusal to ratify one of the economic agreements between Russia and England means the victory of the “Left Communists”, Lenin replied that the unjust step of England, which opposed the admission of Russia to the Lausanne Conference, "caused such indignation in Russia and so rallied not only the right communists with the left, but also the gigantic mass of the non-party Russian population, workers, peasants, that the matter did not and could not reach what a disagreement between the left and right communists ”(Lenin V.I. PSS. T. 45. P. 242).