On the same day, that is, March 30 (47), 4917, Vladimir Ilyich
writes 6 in the form of a letter to the editorial office of the Italian newspaper "Avanti" and the Swiss
newspaper "Volksrecht" an article entitled "The Pranks of Republican
Chauvinists." A copy of this article was sent by Comrade Lenin
to Stockholm and preserved in the archive of Comrade Shlyapnikov, who handed it over
to the Institute.
It is from this copy that we are printing Vladimir
Ilyich’s note.
9.
LENIN.
THE PRANKS OF REPUBLICAN
CHAUVINISTS.
(Letter to the Ed. of "Avanti" and "Volksrecht."
March 30 (17), 1917

I have just read in today's "Neue Zürcher
Zeitung", 30/111, 557, in the first morning edition, the following:
"Milan, March 29. A St. Petersburg correspondent reports
the arrest of a certain Chernomazov, editor of a socialist
newspaper "Pravda" that began publishing during the revolution.
Under the old regime, Chernomazov was an agent of the secret police
and received up to 200 rubles monthly.
The newspaper he led, which demanded a socialist republic, sharply attacked the
Provisional Government with the obvious aim of serving reaction. In general,
the agitation of irresponsible circles against the government arouses
suspicion of collusion with the old regime and with the enemy.
Even the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which, compared
to the Provisional Government, stands on a decidedly radical point of view, has turned away from these circles."
This message is a retelling of a telegram published in the chauvinist Italian newspaper "Evening Courier" (Corriere della Sera), Milan, 29/111 and sent there from St. Petersburg on 26/III at 10:30 p.m.
To explain to the readers what constitutes, this time, the usual «подтасовка» in general among chauvinists, I must start
somewhat from afar.
«При старом режиме», namely from April 1912 to July
1914, the daily Social-Democratic newspaper «Pravda» was published in St. Petersburg.
In fact, this newspaper was the organ of the Central Committee of our party, the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. I wrote for this newspaper
Lenin Miscellany.

LENIN MISCELLANY.
almost daily from Krakow, where I lived at that time as
a political émigré.
The Social-Democratic deputies of the
Duma, who belonged to our party and were exiled by the Tsar
to Siberia for agitation against the imperialist war, Badayev,
Muranov, Petrovsky, Shagov, Samoilov (until the summer of 1914,
Malinovsky also belonged to this group), constantly came to Krakow, and we consulted on how to direct the newspaper.
It goes without saying that the Tsarist government not only
surrounded «Pravda», which had up to 60 thousand circulation, with spies,
but also tried to introduce provocateurs among its employees.
Among the provocateurs was Chernomazov, who had the nickname «Miron» in party circles. He insinuated himself into trust
and became secretary of «Pravda» in 1913.
Observing the activities of Chernomazov together with a group of deputies, we, firstly, came to the conclusion that in his articles
he compromises our direction, and, secondly, he is suspicious in terms of political honesty.
But finding a replacement was not easy, especially since the relations of the group of deputies
with Krakow went either illegally, or through trips of deputies, and these trips could not be made very often.
Finally, in the spring of 1914, we managed to move Rozenfeld (Kamenev) to St. Petersburg, who was also exiled by the Tsar to Siberia in the late
1914 together with our deputies.
Rozenfeld (Kamenev) had the task of removing Chernomazov and removed him from affairs completely.
Chernomazov was fired.
Our Central Committee appointed an investigation into the suspicions against Chernomazov, but it was not possible to collect exact data, so the St. Petersburg comrades did not dare to declare him a provocateur.
We had to limit ourselves to removing Chernomazov from «Pravda».
That Chernomazov and, of course, other provocateurs helped
the Tsar exile our deputies to Siberia, is beyond doubt.
On November 13, 1916, we received a message from the St. Petersburg «Bureau
of the Neutral Committee» of our party that Chernomazov is again making an attempt to penetrate the illegal
organization and that the «Bureau» has removed «Miron» from the organization
and one person associated with him, and «will do so with anyone who
continues to deal with him.»

LENIN. ---- THE PRANKS OF REPUBLICAN CHAUVINISTS.
We replied, of course, that the participation of Chernomazov in the party
is unacceptable, because he has been removed by decision of the Central Committee
with the participation of the deputies named above.
Such is the history of the old «Pravda», which was published under the old
Tsarist regime and suppressed by the Tsar before the war, in July
1914.
The question arises, was Chernomazov also, directly or indirectly, a participant in the new «Pravda», which began to be published
in Petrograd after the revolution? I know nothing about this, because
since the revolution, the Guchkov-Miliukov government has not allowed
either my telegrams to «Pravda», nor, of course, telegrams from «Pravda» to me. I do not even know whether the bureau
of the Central Committee has survived, whether Kamenev and the deputies have arrived in Petrograd, who
know Miron and would immediately remove him if he took advantage of the change of faces and insinuated himself again.
The French social-chauvinist newspaper «L’Humanité» of
28/111 cites a telegram allegedly received from St. Petersburg
by the newspaper «Petit Parisien». In this telegram, Chernomazov is called
«the former editor of the extremist Social-Democratic newspaper «Pravda».»
The reader, I hope, will now understand the perfidy and baseness of the methods of struggle of the Guchkov-Miliukov government and their friends, who want to cast a shadow
on our party, which is allegedly in collusion with the old regime
and the enemy.
This government and its friends hate our party and slander it, because we declared as early as 13. X - 1915 in the 47th issue of our newspaper «Social-Democrat» (Geneva)
that we would be unconditionally against the imperialist war
even if this war is waged not by the Tsarist government, but by a chauvinist-revolutionary, chauvinist-republican Russian government.
The Guchkov-Miliukov government is precisely such a government, because it confirmed the predatory treaties of Tsarism with Anglo-French imperialism and pursues predatory goals in this war (the conquest of Armenia, Galicia, Constantinople, etc.).
N. Lenin.
I am sending it tomorrow to «Volksrecht» and to «Avanti».)