801. To G. Y. ZINOVIEV

Written on December 7 or 8, 1922 · First published in part in 1957 in the magazine Voprosy Istorii KPSS No. 4. Published in full in 1965 in Collected Works, Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 54. Printed from the original. · page 598

Comrade Zinoviev:

I do not in the slightest suspect you of being biased about Rozhkov.

Not in the slightest!

But in substance I very much fear that he will lie all he can, even if it is in the press. He will lie and we shall be circumvented.

That is what I fear.

Their slogan is: lie, leave the Party, remain in Russia.

That is what we must think and talk about.^[1]

Yours,
Lenin

Notes

[1] A reference to the deportation of a once active Menshevik, N. A. Rozhkov. The question of Rozhkov was repeatedly discussed by the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) C.C., which on - October 26, 1922, adopted this decision: “Rozhkov to be deported.” On December 7, reverting the decision of October 26, the Politbureau decided to postpone his deportation and published in Izvestia VTsIK his article on Menshevik activity and announcement of withdrawal from the Menshevik Party, together with comments by the editor Y. M. Steklov (Central Party Archives of the Institute Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U. Central Committee). See also next document.