Appendix B – Lenin’s Suppressed Letters¶
Core Argument¶
This appendix examines Lenin’s final political writings, from December 1922 to March 1923, which constituted a programme against the bureaucratic degeneration of the Soviet state. The New Economic Policy (NEP) had re-established market relations in grain to placate the peasantry, a retreat forced by the failure of European revolutions. The isolation of the Soviet Republic in a backward peasant country opened the door to bureaucratic reaction. Under NEP, concessions to capitalist elements strengthened the kulaks, stagnated heavy industry, and deepened inequality. Lenin and Trotsky agreed on the need to reinforce socialist elements against this drift.
A key controversy erupted in March 1922 over the monopoly of foreign trade, which Lenin insisted on preserving. Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev opposed him, and in October the Central Committee voted to relax the monopoly. Lenin, with Trotsky’s support, forced the decision to be rescinded in December. Lenin also turned against the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection (RABKRIN), originally created under Stalin to fight bureaucracy, which had become a hotbed of intrigue. In his last article, Lenin attacked RABKRIN and warned against Stalin’s abuse of power, advocating his removal as general secretary.
The Georgian affair crystallised the conflict. A commission chaired by Stalin’s ally Molotov rejected the Georgian resolution in September 1922. Lenin urged caution, warning that Stalin was “somewhat hasty,” and proposed amendments to accommodate the pro-independence faction. Stalin replied with abrupt rejoinders. After discussing the matter with Georgian leaders, Lenin declared “war to the death on dominant nation chauvinism.” On 23–24 December, he dictated his secret letters to the Congress, proposing a bloc with Trotsky against bureaucratism. Stalin abused Krupskaya on the telephone, leading Lenin to break off comradely relations. On 9 March 1923, Lenin suffered a third, incapacitating stroke.
The author claims to have found an original manuscript in the Central Committee’s top-secret archives proving that Stalin altered Lenin’s dictation of 23 December 1922. The changes were so skilful that even Trotsky never knew he was working from an edited text. Stalin falsified the letter to hide the extent to which Lenin’s views coincided with Trotsky’s. The planned Lenin-Trotsky bloc failed because of Lenin’s stroke; Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev then concealed Lenin’s last documents from Trotsky and launched a disinformation campaign. The myth of “Trotskyism” was invented to split Lenin and Trotsky, marking the birth of the Stalin school of falsification. The publication of these suppressed documents vindicates Trotsky’s account, condemns Stalinist lies, and proves that Marxism’s genuine ideas survive persecution and slander.