V. I.

Lenin

318

To:   N. I. BUKHARIN

Comrade Bukharin, I send you today’s Pravda . Now, why print stupidities in
the guise of the article by
Pletnyov, [1] who puts on pompous airs with all the learned and fashionable words he can? I have
marked two stupidities and put a number of question marks.
The author has to learn not “proletarian” science, but simply
to learn. Can it be that the editorial board of Pravda is not
going to explain the author’s mistakes to him? Why, this
is falsification of historical materialism! Playing at historical materialism!

Yours, Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
Pletnyov, V. F. (1886–1942)—one of the leaders of the Proletcult.
He and A. Bogdanov spread anti-Marxist reactionary ideas on
culture and art claiming that such ideas represented “proletarian
culture”. For a criticism of the views of the Proletcult supporters
see present edition, Vol. 29, p. 336, and Vol. 31, pp. 316–17.