544. To INESSA ARMAND
Dear Friend,
Please translate the enclosed resolution into French and return it to me (after having a copy made for the Lausanne German group).[1]
The resolution has been adopted here by the Lefts and is going all round Switzerland.
We must try and get it circulated among all Party members and passed through all Party organisations, however small.
Should even a single organisation, however small, adopt this resolution, it should be sent officially to both the local and central headquarters of the Party (Geschäftsleitung der Soz. Partei. Zurich. Volkshaus) with a demand that it be published.
Best regards,
Yours,
Lenin
P.S. I am sending a copy to Olga for Guilbeaux and one to Abramovich.
Notes
[1] Lenin is referring to the resolution of the Swiss Lefts demanding that a referendum be held on the question of convening the emergency party congress, which was postponed indefinitely by a ruling of the Executive of the Swiss Social-Democratic Party. The text of the resolution in German with Lenin’s amendments is in the Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the C.C., C.P.S.U. The resolution of the Lefts formed the basis of the referendum, which was held after the local organisations had gone on record for having the congress convened in the spring. On January 23, 1917, Volksrecht (No. 19) published an appeal of the referendum sponsor group under the heading “Das Referendum gegen den Parteivorstandsbeschlüss ergriffen” (“Referendum Against Executive’s Decision Has Begun”).