V. I.

Lenin

615

To:   A. N. MEREZHIN [1]

Comrade Merezhin

I think an additional point should be formulated (on the
basis of the information of Rafes and others) roughly as
follows:

The experience of proletarian dictatorship in the Ukraine,
especially in those parts of it where there is a mixed population, and also in Byelorussia (and+? +? Hungary?),
has shown that national strife not only in the form of pogroms, of which not even the most democratic bourgeois
republic is free, but also in the form of petty but all–
pervading squabbling is practically disappearing. The reasons
for this:
1) the interest, attention, and-all the intellectual
powers of the workers and working peasants are wholly engrossed in the great struggle with the bourgeoisie, a
struggle that unites the working people of all nations;
2) the dictatorship of the proletariat suppresses the “freedom”
of action of the bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie and bourgeois intelligentsia, which freedom signifies the use of their
forces, influence and knowledge by the bourgeoisie to inflame the class struggle.

Cannot 2 or more concrete facts be added?