Lenin CW-Vol. 23.pdf - From Marx to Mao

GREETINGS TO ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY CONGRESS93Italian Socialist Party will occupy an outstanding place ininternational socialism.Our Party finds itself in incomparably more difficultconditions than the Italian party. Our entire press hasbeen clamped down. But even in emigration we have beenable to assist our comrades’ struggle in Russia. Two factsprove that our Party’s anti-war struggle in Russia is thestruggle of truly front-rank workers and the masses of workers.Firstly, our Party’s deputies in the Duma—Petrovsky,Shagov, Badayev, Samoilov and Muranov—elected by theworkers of the leading industrial gubernias, have beenexiled to Siberia by the tsarist government for revolutionarypropaganda against the war. 46 Secondly, long after theirexile, the front-rank workers in St. Petersburg belongingto our Party categorically rejected participation in the warindustries committees.A conference of Entente socialists 47 is being convenedin January 1917. We have already had one experience ofparticipation in such a conference in London. Our representativewas denied the floor the moment he dared tell thetruth about the European socialists’ betrayal. 48 We thereforeconsider that only the Bissolatis, Plekhanovs, Sembatsand tutti quanti should share in these conferences. For thatreason we do not intend to attend the conference, and weshall address a letter to the European workers exposing thesocial-chauvinists’ deception of the people.I once again convey greetings to the Congress of theItalian Socialist Party and best wishes for its success.Written in the first halfof October 1916First published in 1931in Lenin Miscellany XVIIPublished accordingto the manuscript