V. I.

Lenin

87

To:   HIS MOTHER AND HIS SISTER ANNA

May 1, 1899

On Tuesday, Mother dearest, I received Anyuta’s letter of April 12 and on Friday I received my
book [1] (3 copies)
and the manuscript of the translation. I am writing to
Anyuta separately.

This year spring has come particularly early. The trees
are breaking into leaf and the water in the river is rising
rapidly. The steamer could no doubt get as far as Minusinsk
already, but nobody can say definitely whether the high
water will last and for how long.

Mikhail Alexandrovich (Silvin) wrote me that his fiancée wants to visit him at the end of May (not earlier than
the 23rd). Her name is Papperek (Olga Alexandrovna), address, Yegoryevsk in Ryazan Gubernia (she teaches at a
secondary school there). If you decide to come, perhaps you
could set out together. In any case it will provide a convenient opportunity to send things. Mikhail
Alexandrovich has asked her to call at Podolsk on the way, but you
must, of course, get in touch with her because there may
be circumstances that prevent her from doing so.
Yermakovskoye (where M.A. lives) is 40 versts from here, and the road
there from Minusinsk is through Shushenskoye.

Yours,

V. U.

Many kisses and regards to all.

How are you fixed up now? How are you feeling? When are you expecting Manyasha?

May 1, 1899

Anyuta,

I have received your letter of April 12, my book and the Webb translation ( three registered packages).

I am very pleased with the appearance of the book. The publication is excellent thanks to the great trouble you
took with the proofs. It goes without saying that you did
well to raise the price. It is quite enough that there will
be a 25 per cent discount for students. Have you sent the
book to all our acquaintances? I think you should take a further fifteen or so copies as the author’s reserve; we shall
have to exchange them for various symposia, etc. I have
already written to you about the Studies and asked you to obtain a few more copies (send me two copies, but there
is no hurry). I am very pleased with the title of the book;
the écrivain’s correction proved worth while. If royalties
arrive do not send them yet. (I am writing to Mother about
a good opportunity to send things here that will soon occur.)

I am willing to take the job of editing the Webb translation. I shall edit it in conformity with my own translation
of the first volume. Since I have been given the job of
editing there is nothing else to wait for, and the first volume
should be sent to the press immediately, should it not?
Or will that again depend on P.B.’s “preparations”?

For the editing job the following are indispensable — (1) the English original of Volume 2 (I have only Volume 1), (2) the German translation of Volume 2 (K. Hugo, I have
only Volume 1 although Volume 2 has also been published).
If these books have not yet been sent, please write quickly
and tell them to send them immediately. I am afraid this
may also cause a delay. Is it not possible to give someone
the job of getting those books from them and sending them
to
me? [3]

I did not very much like P.B.’s sending my reply to him
on to Nauchnoye Obozreniye ; is he trying to avoid polemics
in
Nachalo ? [4] If he is, my article about Bulgakov will obviously not be published. At last I have received
Nachalo —two issues, complete. By and large I liked it very much.
But Bulgakov’s article is outrageous. Kautsky he distorts outright , and then there is that attack on
Zusammenbruch [5]
—it is an echo of Bernstein’s “criticism” [the warehouse
refused to send me Bernstein’s book; I have asked
Manyasha, but I do not know whether she will bring it. Can you
get it?] I am writing a second article against him. [2]

Of
course, polemics among one’s own people are unpleasant and I tried to tone the article down, but to keep quiet about
differences is not only unpleasant, it is downright harmful —
and, furthermore, one cannot keep quiet about the chief
differences between “orthodoxy” and “criticism” that have
come to the fore in German and Russian Marxism. Our opponents are already taking advantage of the differences
anyway (Mikhailovsky in Russkoye Bogatstvo No. 4). While
polemising among ourselves we can agree on general solidarity
against the Narodniks. I want to do this at the end of my article. [6] One of Bulgakov’s chief faults is that he did not
say exactly in what he agrees with Kautsky against the
Narodniks.

All the best,

V. U.

In Nauchnoye Obozreniye No. 3 I saw a note by Maslov against my article on the heritage. It seemed quite
uninteresting.

I am sending Negri. And what are these farming returns?

A copy of The Development of Capitalism in Russia should
be given to Maslov. Please do that through the Nauchnoye Obozreniye office, or through P.B., or through V.A.

Please send all reviews of the book and ask V.A. to send
those from the St. Petersburg newspapers.