V. I.

Lenin

78

To:   HIS MOTHER AND HIS SISTER ANNA

February 28, 1899

Today we said “Good-bye” to our guests, Mother dearest;
the people from Minusinsk came here—Gleb, Basil, Z.P., local workers and others—and stayed here from Wednesday
till today (Sunday). We had an excellent time and are now
returning to our usual tasks. The Minusinsk people intend
asking permission to come here for the summer; conditions
are very bad in town in the summer. I do not know, however,
whether material circumstances may not keep them tied to
the town. If they can come here we shall be able to spend
an excellent summer. Elvira Ernestovna, Gleb tells us, is
ill all the time. A.M. did not come—she is acting as district nurse in the village of Kuraginskoye.

Many kisses, Yours,

V.U.

Are you planning how to spend the summer and what are you thinking of doing?

Anyuta,

I have received the issues of Neue Zeit ; [2] merci for them
and for the agricultural returns, [3] and also for the clean
proofs of “markets”. I was very much pleased with the last. You must have had a lot of trouble with them, but as
a result there are practically no misprints. I have not found
any in the tables (although you write about them) and those in the letterpress are a mere bagatelle. I think the
type is satisfactory. There will be about 30 printer’s signatures (that is the maximum, there will probably be
fewer), just the number I counted on. The tables have been
set excellently. It is particularly good that the decimal
fractions stand out well and there are no tables printed sideways. [1]

The tables set in 6 point (p. 46) and in 5 point (p. 39) have come out very well—I could not wish for
anything better. [4] The sub-titles and the numbers of the sections
are all set in suitable type. In short, on this occasion I
have no reason to regret that the author cannot read the
proofs. In one of my next letters I shall send you a short
list of my acquaintances to whom I should like you to send
the book directly from Russia. It would cost more to send
a lot of copies to me and for me to send them from here,
and it would be less convenient. I hope that by the time
you receive this letter you will have gone a long way past the second chapter, which, from the proof-reader’s
point of view, is the most treacherous chapter. I shall
give the Preface a little more thought—perhaps I shall send another, or perhaps the old one can
stay. [5]

I am adding a list of misprints to this letter.

I have received Nauchnoye Obozreniye No. 1 with the article
by P.B. Struve against Ilyin only from the Minusinsk people. I am thinking of answering it, although it seems to me
that P.B.’s article is more for than against me. I do not know
whether I can now write and quote from the “markets”, i.e., will they be out in the first half of April? Write and
tell me what you think. (It is important for me to quote
in order to avoid repetitions.) [6]

All the best, Yours,

V. U.

I am enclosing a letter to Mark.

I do not know whether it would be convenient to write to him at your address or direct. (Administration of the
Moscow-Kursk Railway—is that enough?) [7]

---
Notes:
[1]
There are column headings printed sideways but they are not
in the least inconvenient. In exceptional circumstances, tables printed
sideways are not so bad, but those set in 5 point type and upright
are much better. It will be a good thing if the table on p. 504 can be
set in 5 point type. [8] — Lenin

[2]
Die Neue Zeit journal published by the German
Social-Democratic Party; although subscription to it was permitted in
Russia it was frequently confiscated if addressed to a politically
unreliable person. For this reason Lenin referred to it in Russian
( Novoye Vremya ). Lenin’s relatives had the journal sent to them in
Moscow, and sent it on to Lenin in Shushenskoye.

Letter No. 78 

[3]
Lenin refers here to one of the books of agricultural returns which
was published by the gubernia Zemstvos, and which he used in
writing his book The Development of Capitalism in Russia .

Letter No, 78 

[8]
Lenin probably refers here to the table showing categories of
industries in Chapter V of his The Development of Capitalism in Russia (see Collected Works , Vol. 3, p. 347). This table was
printed in the smallest available type, as Lenin requested.

Letter No. 78 

[4]
This refers to the table in the second section of Chapter II of The Development of Capitalism in Russia (First Edition) on the
distribution of allotment land among the various groups of
householders and the table in the first section of that chapter
illustrating the ousting of the middle group of householders in the Dnieper