451. To L. K. MARTENS

Written on October 19, 1921 · First published in 1959 in Lenin Miscellany XXXVI. Printed from the original. · page 346

Comrade Martens:

If Hammer is in earnest about his plan to supply 1 million poods of grain to the Urals (and it is my impression from your letter that your written confirmation of Reinstein’s words makes one believe that he is, and that the plan is not just so much hot air), you must try and give the whole matter the precise juridical form of a contract or concession.^[1]

Let it be a concession, even if a fictitious one (asbestos or any other Urals valuables or what have you). What we want to show and have in print (later, when performance begins) is that the Americans have gone in for concessions. This is important politically. Let me have your reply.

With communist greetings,
Lenin

Notes

[1] See Document 473 of this volume; also Collected Works,, Fifth (Russian) Edition, Vol. 53, Document 511.—Ed.