Page:Grigory Zinoviev - Report of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (1921).pdf/15

 the first group of Italian comrades a fortnight ago, we sent another telegram asking them to come in time. The members of the Party have so far failed to put in an appearance, although three weeks have already elapsed since the first of June, the originally appointed day for the opening of the Congress, and during this time about a thousand delegates from all countries have managed to arrive here. It means that the Italian comrades: do not wish to come. I am, therefore, compelled to try and explain the Italian Socialist Party.

The first article published, by Serati in the 'Avanti' immediately on his return home, contained nothing else than an attempt by Serati to discredit the Congress of the Communist: International. I shall have to quote extensively, and I ask the indulgence of the comrades beforehand. Personally I am of the opinion that the Italian question is a determining one for the political activity of the Executive during the past year. Now, here is what Serati wrote in his first article:

Firstly: "The Second Congress began under the following circumstances. The majority of the delegates had left for Russia before the 21 conditions had become known in their respective countries, and their mandates were consequently only of general and personal character."

The first Serati sentence, the first Serati truth. Then comes the following:

Secondly: "Various items on the agenda had not been discussed in the different countries, and consequently several not unimportant questions had not been made known to them at all."

I must declare that on comparing the preparations for the Second Congress and the Third, it must be