Published:
First published in 1959 in Lenin Miscellany XXXVI.
Printed from a typewritten text with Lenin’s additions and corrections.
Translated from the French.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1976,
Moscow,
Volume 45,
page 600.
Translated: Yuri Sdobnikov
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
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Text
• README
The Kremlin, Moscow, December 11, 1922
Dear Comrade Lazzari,
I thank you very much for the kind greetings you have sent me through Comrade Maffi, and send you my best wishes.
Unfortunately, because of my illness,[1] I have not been able to follow your activities since the Third Congress of the Communist International. There is now the most delicate task to cope with. The congress has decided upon the merger and it should be promoted to the best of one’s abilities.[3] I am sure that you will use all your authority and the enthusiasm of the old devoted revolutionary to achieve the great purpose which we set ourselves, that of establishing a solid and sincere union of all true revolutionaries.
I count on you especially in case Serrati may create obstacles, even though against his will: the distrust from the past is so great that he must not only be most loyal (this goes without saying), but must prove this in every way. What is more, he must especially find all possible methods (he is rather adroit and flexible in this) to avoid giving any pretext for mistrust on the part of the Communists. Unfortunately, my illness has prevented me from saying this personally to Serrati.[2]
Best regards, wishing you good
health,[4]
Lenin
Please retype, correcting my French, and return to me.
[1] The words “Unfortunately, because of my illness” are in Lenin’s hand.—Ed.
[2] This paragraph is in Lenin’s hand.—Ed.
[3] A reference to the resolution of the Fourth Congress of the Comintern (held from November 5 to December 5, 1922) on the Italian question providing for the merger of the Communist and Socialist Parties of Italy (see Kommunistichesky Internatsional v dokumentakh. Resheniya, tezisy i vozzvaniya kongressov Kominterna i plenumov IKKI. 1919–1932. Moscow, 1938, pp. 356–60).
At the time, the merger did not take place. In 1924, some groups of socialists which had formed the Left wing of the Italian Socialist Party broke with it and entered the Communist Party (see this volume, Document 794).
[4] On January 2, 1923, C. Lazzari sent Lenin a reply letter thanking him for the trust placed in him and promising to do everything he could to implement the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Comintern. However, he objected to the outlined methods for merging the parties and, referring to the services of the Italian Socialist Party, suggested that the unified party should have the old name—Italian Socialist Party (Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U. Central Committee).
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