V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:PSS/v44;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

TO COMRADE THOMAS BELL

Dear Comrade,

Many thanks for your letter of August 7. Owing to illness and overwork I have not read anything about the British movement in recent months.

Your communication is extremely interesting. Perhaps this is the beginning of a real mass proletarian movement in Great Britain in the communist sense. I am afraid that so far in England there have been only a few weak societies for the propaganda of communism (including the British Communist Party 48), but no real mass communist movement.

If the South Wales Miners’ Federation decided on July 24 by a majority of 120 votes to 63 to join the Third International, it is possible that this is the beginning of a new era. (How many miners are there in England? Over 500,000? How many in South Wales? 25,000? How many miners were actually represented at Cardiff on July 24, 1921?)

If these miners represent not too insignificant a minority, if they fraternise with the soldiers and begin a real “class war”, we must do everything possible to develop and strengthen this movement.

Economic measures (such as public kitchens) are good, but they are not particularly important now, before the victory of the proletarian revolution in England. What is most important now is political struggle.

The English capitalists are cunning, clever and treacherous. They will support (directly or indirectly) public kitchens in order to divert attention from political aims.

What is important (if I am not mistaken) is the following:

1) To create in this part of England a very good, real proletarian, real mass Communist Party, i.e., a party which would actually be the leading force in the entire working-class movement of this part of England (apply in this part of your country the resolution on the organisation and work of the party adopted by the Third Congress).

2) To start publishing a daily working-class newspaper for the working class of this part of England.

To start this not as a commercial undertaking (as is usually the case in newspaper work in capitalist countries), not with a large capital, not in the usual accepted manner, but as an economic and political weapon of the masses in their struggle.

Either the miners of this district are able to pay a halfpenny a day (at first, if you like, once a week) for their own daily (or weekly) newspaper—even if it is very, very small, that does not matter—or else a real mass communist movement has not begun in this part of England.

If the Communist Party in this district is unable to collect a few pounds for the daily publication of small sheets from which a real proletarian communist newspaper could develop—if that is the case and every miner does not pay his penny for this sheet, then there is no serious, real adherence to the Third International.

The British government will use the most cunning means to strangle any beginning of this kind. Therefore we must be (at first) very cautious. The newspaper should not be too revolutionary at the start. If you want to have three editors, at least one of them should be a non-communist. At least two should be real workers. If nine-tenths of the workers do not buy the newspaper and two-thirds (120/120+63) do not make special contributions (for example, one penny a week) for their newspaper, then this newspaper will not be a workers’ newspaper.

I would be very glad if you would drop me a couple of lines on this question, and I beg your pardon for my poor English.

With communist greetings,

Lenin