122. To V. M. MOLOTOV

Written between April 9 and 21, 1921 · First published in 1945 in Lenin Miscellany XXXV. Printed from the original. · page 119

Comrade Molotov:

Unless my memory fails me, I believe the newspapers carried a C.C. letter or circular about May Day, which   said: expose the falsehood of religion, or something to that effect.

That is not right. It is tactless. Just because it is the Easter holiday, we should recommend something quite different: 

not to expose the falsehood, 

but absolutely to avoid any affront to religion.

We should issue an additional letter or circular.^[1] If the Secretariat does not agree, then in the Politbureau.

Lenin

Notes

[1] In addition to an earlier circular, the R.C.P.(B.) Central Committee published a letter in Pravda on April 21, 1921, urging that in celebrating May Day “nothing should be done or said to offend the religious feelings of the mass of the population”.