Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 13 - From Marx to Mao

454V. I. LENINsecondly, it never corresponded to the disagreement betweenthe materialists and the Machists, for the Machist Bazarov,for example, was with me in opposing the boycott and wrotea long article on this in Proletary).To hinder the application of the tactics of revolutionarySocial-Democracy in the workers’ party for the sake of disputeson the question of materialism or Machism, wouldbe, in my opinion, unpardonable folly. We ought to fightover philosophy in such a way that Proletary and the Bolsheviks,as a faction of the party, would not be affected by it.And that is quite possible.And you, I think, ought to help in this. You can helpby contributing to Proletary on neutral questions (that is,unconnected with philosophy) of literary criticism, publicism,belles lettres, and so on. As for your article, if youwish to prevent a split and help to localise the new fight—you should rewrite it, and everything that even indirectlybears on Bogdanov’s philosophy should be placed somewhereelse. You have other mediums, thank God, besides Proletary.Everything that is not connected with Bogdanov’sphilosophy—and the bulk of your article is not connectedwith it—you could set out in a series of articles for Proletary.Any other attitude on your part, that is, a refusal to rewritethe article or to collaborate with Proletary would, inmy opinion, unavoidably tend to aggravate the conflictamong the Bolsheviks, make it difficult to localise the newfight, and weaken the vital cause, so essential practicallyand politically, of revolutionary Social-Democracy in Russia.That is my opinion. I have told you all my thoughts andam now looking forward to your reply.We intended to go to you today, but find that we haveto postpone our visit for not less than a week, perhaps twoor three weeks.With very best regards,Yours, N. LeninFirst published in 1924in Lenin Miscellany IPublished accordingto the manuscript