463. To G. Y. ZINOVIEV

Written March 21, 1916 · First published in 1964 in Collected Works, Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 49. Sent from Zurich to Berne. Printed from the original. · page 522

I have just (8 p. m.) received your postcard. I definitely insist on the insertion: “repudiation of state debts”.

Only today I saw an article in Berner Tagwacht standing for this demand. And not a word there about petty proprietors, concierges, etc. Why should we worry about them. Simply say: “for the sake of the revolution and in connection with it—cancellation of payment on all state debts”—that is the only serious blow at finance capital, the only guarantee of a “democratic peace”. Unattainable without a revolution? Certainly. This is no argument against such a point, but an argument for revolution.

Certainly. There isn’t the shadow of any reason to disagree with the Dutch and Berner Tagwacht on this score.

Tomorrow I shall be sending you a long letter.^[1]

They haven’t got Tyszka 1912 here; only 1914 (Löhne,^[2] etc.), this can be had in Berne, too, in Schriften des Vereins fur Sozial-Politik. Band 145.

Salut,
Lenin

Notes

[1] This letter has not been traced.—Ed.

[2] Wages.—Ed.