V. I.

Lenin

97

To:   HIS MOTHER

August 25, 1899

Last Sunday we returned home, Mother dearest, and got a letter from Manyasha with newspaper cuttings (a big
merci for them), and then Neue Zeit from Anyuta and reprints (2) of my articles against
Levitsky. [2] I was particularly glad to receive them. Anyuta wrote that you are still
undecided whether to come here or not, and that you would
come if you were sure the boat would take you to Minusinsk
and back. When we read that, we decided to send you a telegram saying that the boats run until the middle of
September (last year a boat took me as far as Minusinsk
after the twentieth—of course, it was the last), so you
would have time to come if you have fully regained your
health and Mitya’s case permits it. I hope you receive the
telegram sent on the 22nd in good time. In reply to it we
shall await either you in person or a letter. Up to now (for
two years) autumn here has been fine, but I don’t know what
it will be like this year after a rainy summer.

Of the books sent by Anyuta I am particularly glad to have Mehring; I have just finished reading the second
volume and am very, very satisfied. As far as the Credo der Jungen [1] is concerned, I was amazed at the emptiness of
the phrases. It is not a Credo but a pitiful collection of
words! I intend to write in greater detail about it.

The writer’s silence is exasperating. He does not send
Webb. He does not publish articles about the “markets”, and nothing has been seen or heard about the
anti-Bulgakov article. I think you should take back all the manuscripts
and send them in to editorial offices yourselves so as to get
precise and timely answers regarding whether they will be
published, and to have direct contact. It is, of course,
inconvenient for me to do it myself, but Anyuta could do it,
I think, if other affairs do not prevent her from giving her
time to it; it would be better to send them direct than to
send them through the writer. If he has held up my article
against him merely because he has not yet finished his own answer to it—that is simply swinish on his part! It
is useless for me to write to him, because he does not answer.

Many kisses for you and regards to all.

Yours,

V. U.

---
Notes:
[1]
The creed of the young (Ger.).— Ed .

[2]
The two articles mentioned, in which Lenin criticised the views
of the liberal Narodnik N. V. Levitsky, have not been found.
They were apparently intended for Nachalo . “About a Certain
Newspaper Article” is the only article known to have been written
by Lenin in the Siberian period about N. Levitsky’s “ O nekotorykh voprosakh, kasayushchikhsya narodnoi zhizni ” (Certain Problems
Affecting the Life of the People) published in Russkiye Vedomosti