V. I.

Lenin

52

To:   HIS MOTHER

August 2, 1898

A few days ago I received your letter of July 15, Mother
dearest.

I hope Mitya will have been released by the time you receive this. His release has been promised so many times
that he will probably be free by autumn. The investigation
of his case is dragging on much too long.

I think Manyasha’s plan to go to Brussels is a good one.
She can probably study there better than in Switzerland.
She will probably soon be able to cope with the French language. They say that the climate there is good. Nadya
has an acquaintance [1] who lived in Belgium for about five
years and is now preparing to go back there from Russia
(to Liége). He is married to one of Nadya’s close friends. [2]

Nadya is writing to her today asking her to write to
Manyasha (in Podolsk) and give her all the information and
addresses that might be useful to her.

If the janitor at your old flat says that the postman brought
“a yellow book” in May, it must have been the Voprosy Filosofii that I sent. So we may hope that the book has not
been lost and that we can still get it back. I will wait
another week to see what Mark can find out about it at work, and then report the loss.

I am very glad Anyuta intends to inform everyone not to send anything to the address of
S.M. [5] That foolish person recently received something for me and wants to make
a whole “affair” of it.... Of course I pay no attention to these
foolish antics (probably caused by our quarrel with the
Minusinsk crowd) and I shall receive the books that were
sent to her. But it would be pleasanter to manage without her. If there are still people who have not been
informed, let Anyuta write to them. A few days ago I received some of the books (mostly on philosophy) that
Anyuta bought for me. The books for me that have now been received are still in Minusinsk; they include the
continuation of the philosophical series.

Among the books the following got in by accident— I think they are Anyuta’s—Baedeker, Suisse , and Jahrbuch des Unterrichtswesens in der Schweiz , 1892, 1893 and 1894
(three volumes); Anna should write and tell me what to do
with them. If I am to return them to her, should it be now
or in the autumn (when we intend sending a box of books by
rail).

[ Apollinariya Alexandrovna
Yakubova] [3] is being sent to the village of Kazachinskoye, Yeniseisk District (I
believe I wrote this before); it is on the post road a hundred
or more versts upstream from Yeniseisk. The political exiles there are Lingling, Rostkovsky and others. She has
not yet written to us from there.

The Tes people expect to get transferred in the middle of August.

A detailed letter has arrived from the doctor in
Verkholensk in which he describes the death of N.Y. Fedoseyev,
and returns a letter from Anna to N.Y. which arrived after
his death (he does not know whose letter it is) and asks
what to do with the 25 rubles. (They are collecting money
there for a memorial.) They (the comrades in Verkholensk)
have also undertaken to pay N.Y.’s debts (about 80 rubles).

The doctor writes that the filthy accusations made against him by some scoundrel (also a political exile)
concerning money affairs had a very adverse effect on N.Y., and
he decided not to take any money from anybody (and he stuck to his decisions), so that he suffered extreme hardship,
could not work, and, as the doctor put it, “when he realised he could not work he decided that he would not live”....
After his death a telegram arrived in Verkholensk to the
effect that Maria
Germanovna [4] had been given permission to join him....

Kisses for you and regards to all. I wish Mark a pleasant
journey and a good holiday.

Yours,

V. U.

Y. V. and Nadya send regards.

---
Notes:
[1]
For purposes of secrecy Lenin’s relatives removed names from
his letter. The “acquaintance ” was N. L. Meshcheryakov and the
“friend”, his wife, A. I. Meshcheryakova (Chechurina).— Ed .

[2]

 For purposes of secrecy Lenin’s relatives removed names from
his letter. The “acquaintance ” was N. L. Meshcheryakov and the
“friend”, his wife, A. I. Meshcheryakova (Chechurina).— Ed .

[3]
For purposes of secrecy Lenin’s relatives removed this name
from the letter.— Ed .

[4]
M. G. Hopfenhaus.— Ed .

[5]
This refers to S. M. Friedmann whose address was used by exiles
to receive literature and money. The “trouble” Lenin mentions
was caused by the flight of S. G. Raichin (see Letter No. 49),
who received money from abroad at Friedmann’s address without
her permission. In view of this the Minusinsk colony of exiles
requested other exiles not to use Friedmann’s address so as to
avoid drawing the attention of the police to her.