V. I.

Lenin

612

To:   A. M. HELLER [2]

18. VI. 1920

Comrade Heller,

I am sending you all the materials (in my possession).

Make up an accurate list of them at once.

I shall obtain Avanti! and send it.

Make a list of the most important documents and a
translation of those that are extremely important, showing the
deviation of the reformists (especially Turati and Co.) from
the discipline and decisions.

( As applying to Serrati, Comunismo No. 10, 15–29.II.1920,
p. 693:

“ Simile opera di epurazione—di ‘ purificazione ’ ha scritto
Francesco Misiano nello stesso ‘ Soviet ’— può essere veramente opportuna ed utile, sopratutto se si tratti di chi risolutamente si opponga alla
propaganda per la realizzazione dei principî fissati a
Bologna [3] come
met a del nostró
movimento.” [1]

)

X ||

This is the thing
to find out, by name and exactly.

Yours,
Lenin

---
Notes:
[1]
Serrati, Comunismo No. 10, 15–29.II.1920, p. 693:
“Such work
of cleansing—of ‘ purification ’—wrote Francesco Misiano in that same
‘ Soviet ’— can be truly timely and useful, especially if the matter concerns those who resolutely oppose propaganda for realising the
principles, established in Bologna as the aim of our movement” (
underlined by Lenin).— Ed.

[2]
This note was written in connection with the preparations for
the Second Congress of the Communist International. Heller,
who was appointed a representative of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) in
the Italian delegation, was directed by the Politbureau of
the C.C. “to collect passages in the Italian press against
Turati and other reformists, and in general to select all the
necessary material” =

for exposing reformism in the ranks of the
Italian Socialist Party ( Collected Works , Fifth Ed., Vol. 51,
p. 431).

Avanti! —a daily newspaper, the central organ of the Italian
Socialist Party, founded in Rome in December 1896. During the
First World War, the newspaper adopted an inconsistent
internationalist position, without breaking its ties with the reformists.
In 1926 the paper was closed down by Mussolini’s fascist
government, but continued to be published abroad; in 1943 its
publication was resumed in Italy.

Comunismo —a fortnightly journal of the Italian Socialist
Party; it was published in Milan from 1919 to 1922, edited by
D. M. Serrati.

Il Soviet —a newspaper of the Italian Socialist Party,
published in Naples from 1918 to 1922. From 1920 it was the organ

of the Communist-abstentionist
faction of the Italian Socialist Party.

[3]
This refers to the Bologna Congress of the Italian Socialist Party,
held in October 1919. The Congress decided for affiliation of the
Italian Socialist Party to the Communist International.