Letter to Georgy Chicherin, November, not before the 8th, 1922

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Written in connection with the following circumstances. On November 1, 1922, a group of fascists armed with pistols and bombs raided the Trade Department of the RSFSR Mission in Italy. They broke into the office of the foreign trade agent and at gun point led away one of the officials and shot him on the stairs.

Comrade Chicherin:

Perhaps we should kick at Mussolini and have everyone (Vorovsky and the whole delegation) leave Italy, starting to attack her over her fascists?

Let us stage an international demonstration.

This provides a very convenient pretext: you have beaten our men, you are barbarians, diehards worse than those in Russia in 1905, etc., etc.

I think we should do this.

Let us give the Italian people some serious help.[1]

Yours,

Lenin

  1. On November 1, 1922, the RSFSR Mission in Italy sent the Italian Foreign Ministry a Note of protest over the raid by a group of fascists on its Trade Department (see Dokumenty vneshnet politiki SSSR, Vol. V, Moscow, 1961, pp. 648–49).