To Molotov (for the members of the Politburo)
I propose that an inquiry be launched to determine who, in recent days, placed a telegram in the newspapers containing an exposition of Parvus’s writings.
Once the culprit has been identified, I propose that the head of this department, Rosta, be given a severe reprimand, and that the journalist directly responsible be dismissed from service—since only a complete fool or a White Guard officer could have turned our newspapers into a vehicle for advertising such a scoundrel as Parvus.
Lenin
Dictated over the telephone on February 4, 1922.
First published in 1945 in Lenin Collection XXXV.

Printed from the secretary’s record (a typewritten copy).