Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 16 - From Marx to Mao

328TO THE COMRADES STUDYING AT THE SCHOOLIN BOLOGNA 128Dear Comrades,I cannot agree to your proposal that I should undertaketo read lectures in Bologna, firstly, on grounds of principleand secondly, because it is impossible for me to come toBologna.Both the trend and the methods of the group which hasorganised the school on the island of Capri and in BolognaI consider harmful to the Party and un-Social-Democratic.The “platform” put forward by the organisers of theCapri school and a section (true, a minority) of their pupils,consists of a defence of digressions from Marxism in philosophy,in politics, and in the definition of the tactical aimsof our Party. Moreover, the organisation of the school atBologna contradicts both this “platform” and the pro-Partyprinciple, because the organisers are acting schismatically,not only giving no assistance (whether in money theypossess, or in personal service) to the school commissionwhich was appointed by the plenum of the Central Committeein January 1910, but directly sabotaging all the initiativestaken by this commission.Hence it is clear that I can take no part in anything undertakenby this anti-Party group which is divorcing itselffrom the principles of Social-Democracy.But I should have great pleasure, of course, in giving thestudents of the Bologna school, irrespective of their viewsor sympathies, a series of lectures on tactics, on the situationof the Party and on the agrarian question. With thisin mind I take the liberty of inviting the student comradesto come to Paris on their way back. A whole series of lectures