V. I.

Lenin

69

To:   HIS MOTHER

January 10, 1899

Your letter and Anyuta’s, sent on December 24, I have received, Mother dearest. As Nadya will write in detail,
there has been a hitch with the parcel. [1]

You write that my letter of the
6th [2]

arrived on the 22nd and that such a delay seems strange to you. I do not know
the reason. Perhaps the letter was late in leaving Minusinsk;
sixteen days is not long, seeing that we receive newspapers
from Moscow on the thirteenth day.

With regard to the proofs of the “markets”, I have to admit that the writer’s statement that the manuscript is
exemplary does not appease me; the writer has on one occasion shown himself to be a poor proof-reader and, in
general, it is not his business and not within his capacity to
handle such tedious work properly. I think, therefore, that it will be necessary to insist on three proofs and not
two (the last to go to Moscow), and on Anyuta being in direct
contact with the proof-reader. I am afraid of its being
published as badly as the Studies —that would be very sad.
In general it is very difficult, impossible even, to give
you answers to all minor and partial questions from here;
they must be settled there, on the spot. I am not, therefore,
quibbling over the change of the title, even though I do not
like it, and the idea that it will “go” better with a broader
title is something else I do not like. I deliberately chose a modest title. If, however, it is preserved as a sub-title
it is not so important and, I repeat, all minor questions
must be decided immediately on the spot. My answers from
here are always delayed and useless. If it is possible and
convenient I should like to have the last proofs, even if at
the rate of 5-10 signatures at a time.

I read in Russkiye Vedomosti about Tugan-Baranovsky’s debate. Yes, he should have answered
Kablukov [3] more sharply!

We shall soon be sending the fifth and sixth chapters; there may possibly be a delay with the end, but it will not
be very great. I do not think it will hold matters up.

Yours,

V. U.

Regards to all.

I am sending an addendum to the second chapter, page
152 of the fair copy. [4]

---
Notes:
[1]
See Krupskaya’s Letter No. 12.— Ed .

[2]
See Letter No. 63.— Ed .

[3]
The debate was on the occasion of Tugan-Baranovsky’s presentation of his thesis The Russian Factory, Past and Present for
the degree of Doctor of Political Economy at Moscow University
on December 19, 1898.

[4]
This addition to Chapter Two of Lenin’s book The Development of Capitalism in Russia was apparently the footnote on the book
by V. V. (V. P. Vorontsov), The Destiny of Capitalism in Russia