V. I.

Lenin

176

To:   THE PRESIDIUM OF THE MOSCOW SOVIET OF WORKERS’ AND RED ARMY DEPUTIES [1]

Dear Comrades, I have received your paper numbered 24962 with an
extract from the resolution of the Presidium of October 7.

In all conscience I must say that this resolution is so
politically illiterate and so stupid that it makes one sick.
“... The Presidium is obliged to disclaim responsibility....”
That is how capricious young ladies behave, not grown-up
politicians. You will not free yourselves of responsibility,
but increase it threefold.

If the Commissariat of Public Education does not reply to you and does not fulfil its duty towards you, then you are
obliged to complain , and with documents. You are not, children, are you, that you can’t understand this?

When did you complain? Where is the copy? Where are the documents and the proofs?

Both the whole Presidium and Vinogradov, in my opinion,
ought to be sent to prison for a week for inactivity.

If the Commissariat of Public Education “does not produce the busts” (when did you demand them? From
whom? The copy and the document? When did you complain?), you should have fought for your rights . But “to
disclaim responsibility” is the way of capricious young
ladies and stupid Russian intellectuals.

Forgive this frank expression of my opinion, and accept
communist greetings from one who hopes that you will get
your lesson in prison for inaction in authority, and from
one who is profoundly indignant at your behaviour.

Lenin

October 13, 1918