Lenin to Béla Kun in Budapest

Please let me know what real guarantees you have that the new Hungarian government will actually be communist, and not simply socialist, i.e., social-traitorous?

Do the communists have a majority in the government? When will the congress of Soviets take place? What does the socialists’ recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat really consist of?

It is absolutely unquestionable that a bare imitation of our Russian tactics in all details under the peculiar conditions of the Hungarian revolution would be a mistake. I must warn against this mistake, but I would like to know how you see the real guarantees.

In order to know for certain that it is you personally who are answering me, please tell me in what sense I spoke with you about the National Assembly when you were last at my place in the Kremlin.

With communist greetings,

Lenin