34
allow him to do so, but after the elections where over Baratono succeeded in publishing a letter in which he says the following:—"If you, Serati, and your friends, have arrived at the decision that the Party must take a turn to the "Right," you must find a possibility to convene a congress, and to propose to the Party to adopt a different policy." Of course, Serati replied as usual by anecdotes and gossip. He cast suspicion on Baratono, and at last made the definite statement: "Yes, the results of the elections ought to teach us that we must turn the rudder of our Party to the Right. This is no invention of ours or of Turati's—it is a historical necessity. Even Lenin is now inclining to the Right.
That is an argument which you will find also in the notorious magazine of Levi's, "Soviet," where Levi makes the following statement in his last article. "What are the Bolsheviks doing now? They are making. concessions to the workers, and to the peasants, because it is necessary to remain in contact with the masses. I, Levi, have proposed the same thing in Germany. … In a country like Russia, where the working class is in power and the workers and, peasants constitute the majority, the Party should make concessions to the masses in order to maintain the dictatorship of the proletariat and safeguard the rule of the working class. But, in Germany they usually don’t notice that "trifling" difference, that it is not the Dictatorship of the Proletariat but the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie that is holding sway there, so that making concessions of this kind would be quite a different matter. Serati is no child and certainly understands that very well.
Such is the situation in Italy. There is no need to entertain any illusions. It will require time to win over the workers of Italy completely to our side. We must get to work. Serati is nothing to us; but the working masses are everything. Address a passionate appeal to these masses on behalf of the
