711. To A. I. RYKOV^[1]

Written on October 6, 1920 · First published in 1965 in Collected Works, Fifth Ed., Vol. 51. Printed from the original. · page 442

Comrade Rykov,

I think we should try bargaining, but concede in the end (through the C.P.C.). Bargaining point: redemption before expiry, after 30 years, at a heightened valuation of their expenditure and labour.

Lenin

6/X.

You will concede a 50–year period for the concession.

Notes

[1] Written in connection with Chicherin’s letter to Lenin of October 5,1920, reporting Rykov’s talks with W. B. Vanderlip concerning concessions in the Far East. Rykov was insisting on shortening the term of the concessions and the right to buy them back before their expiry, but Vanderlip would not agree to this.

See also Note 440.