Written: Written on February 25, 1921
Published:
Published in full in 1928 in Zapiski Instituta Lenina, Vol. III.
First published, but not in full, in 1924 in the book: G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, Tovaroobmen i planovaya rabota, Moscow.
Printed from the original.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
[1976],
Moscow,
Volume 35,
pages 476-478.
Translated: Andrew Rothstein
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
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• README
February 25
Comrade Krzhizhanovsky,
On the question of the General Planning Commission.[1]
(1) On its composition in general we shall come to an agreement after your arrival. This will not be difficult.
(2) The Central Committee has decided to leave in Larin for the time being. The danger from him is a very great one, because it is in his character to disorganise any work, seize power, overthrow all chairmen, drive specialists away, speak (without a shadow of right to do so) in the name “of the Party”, etc.
On you falls the heavy task of subordinating, disciplining, moderating Larin. Remember: directly he “begins” to go beyond limits, rush to me (or send me a letter). Otherwise Larin will upset the whole General Planning Commission.
(3) You have to set up within the General Planning
Commission a super-firm presidium (it must be without
Larin), so that organisers and strong people (capable of
giving a complete rebuff to Larin, and steadily going ahead
with this difficult work) should help you and relieve you
of administrative work (it was pointed out at the Central
Committee that you are, strictly speaking, not an
administrator). The Presidium, perhaps, could consist of two of
your assistants, one secretary, and so forth. You must be
the “leading spirit” of the work and the ideological guide
(in particular, kick out, get rid of tactless Communists
who may drive out the specialists).... Your task is to catch,
select, put on the job capable organisers, administrators
|||| N.B.
(like Osadchy, etc.)—to provide the Central Committee of
the R.C.P. with the opportunity, the data, the material, for
evaluating them.
(4) The “GOELRO” as a GOELRO, you must restore as a subcommission of the General Planning Commission. You will be chairman of this subcommission too.
(5) You will have to set up quite a number of subcommissions: we must have a talk about this, when you have a plan for them.
(6) What will be exceptionally important is the
subcommission on
study,
checking
and
“tying up”, co-ordination,
making proposals
for altering
current economic plans (for 1921 at the present moment). Larin must without fail he made a member of this subcommission but (1) not as chairman and not as vice– chairman and not as secretary; (2) counterbalancing him, say, with Sereda, as a model of balanced mind, non-fantasy, non-harrassment.
(7) I suggest that you think over the following plan (I consider it most important): to oblige a few persons, members of the General Planning Commission, systematically to present either to the Commission or to the subcommission under § 6 reports and articles on the fulfilment by various departments (and by various gubernias, uyezds, groups of factories, individual factories, etc.) of current economic plans and on the comparison of this fulfilment with various years and for printing in Ekonomicheskaya Zhizn. (I consider it most important that Larin without fail, and also Sereda, Popov, Strumilin, should be formally obliged to follow with the greatest attention the facts and figures of the real fulfilment of our economic plans, and should print regular notes in Ekonomicheskaya Zhizn for public criticism and checking. Two or three specialists could also be set to work on this. It is essential that each should answer individually for the study and the checking; and that on each part of this work there should be two persons, independent of one another, for mutual checking and for testing various methods of analysis, summarising, etc.).
Think about all this and let’s have a talk more than once after your arrival.
[1] Reference is to Russische Korrespondenz “Prawda” (“Pravda” Russian Bulletin), published by the R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee Bureau Abroad in Stockholm in 1917. It was published in German; a French edition also appeared.
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