V. I. L E N I N to P. B. AXELROD.

*) Dietz— a well-known German Social-Democratic publisher*
whose printing house in Stuttgart printed "Zarya*."
7) "Responsible"— refers to the so-called responsible editor of "Zarya,"
whose presence was required by German press laws.
8) This refers to Axelrod's article: "W. Liebknecht," published in the
first issue of "Iskra" on the occasion of the death of the organizer of the German Social-
Democratic Party and one of the most prominent leaders of the German
proletariat (died August 7/July 25, 1900). Axelrod, in addition to
this small article published in "Iskra," was also preparing a larger article on Liebknecht for the journal. This latter article did not
appear in "Zarya."
9) Karl Lehmann— a Social-Democrat, a member of the Munich organization
of the German Social-Democratic Party, who helped the Iskra group a lot
when its editorial office was in Munich. The editorial office used
his address for its correspondence.
10) See letter 1, note 5.
11) D. Koltsov— Boris Abramovich Ginzburg (1863—1920). Came out of
the Narodnik organizations of St. Petersburg in the 80s, was in contact
with the group of A. I. Ulyanov, which was preparing the assassination of Alexander III
(unsuccessful attempt on March 1, 1887). In 1893, after prison
and exile, he emigrated and in Switzerland joined the Social-Democratic Union organized here
by the Emancipation of Labor Group, having evolved to Marxism
back in Russia. In 1895-97 he was the secretary of the Union and contributed to "Rabotnik." During the split, he joined the Emancipation of Labor Group,
was the organizer of the revolutionary group "Social-Democrat" and then the "Foreign League of Revolutionary Social-
Democracy." He contributed to "Iskra" and during the split in 1903 he became
a Menshevik. After 1905 he came to Russia and worked in Menshevik
organizations, participating in the Menshevik press ("Rabochaya Gazeta"
1912—14, "Nasha Zarya,"—pseudonyms L. Sedov, Dernig, Ring). During the war— a Defencist, died in Ufa in 1920.
(See note 3 to Martov's 4th letter, p. 26, "Letters of P. B. Axelrod and Yu. O.
Martov").

3.
15/X 900 [Zurich].
Dear Friend!
Finally, yesterday I recovered from the damned Parisian
trip 1) and—what a rare bliss for me!—for the second day now I have been working, with pen in hand, not tormented and not
clutching my wretched head in despair, but as befits, I won't say, a real writer, but a person who has
literary duties in relation to society. If you are able
to transport yourself, even for a minute, into the moral state of such
a person as I, then you will understand how hard it is for me now to tear myself
away from work for this letter. But I'm afraid that silence
may give rise to some misunderstanding, and therefore
I tear myself away from work willy-nilly.
So I am writing an article for the newspaper, I am afraid that it will be longer
than it should be. But you will see better on the spot—and, depending
on the need, you will cut it. But if, against all expectations, for some reason
you have another article on hand, then let me know immediately, even
by card (with a hint) and I can verwerthen 3) mine 2), with some changes,
as part of the для журпала. Damned Mehring causes me Kopfzerbrechen 4)— and now I am especially acutely experiencing
the inconvenience of living in a provincial european city, where you can't
find either old newspapers (of the 60s) or other necessary
sources. I turned to Bebel 5), maybe he will help. It would be terribly
important for me to at least quickly look through "Demokrat.
Wochenblatt" (in '68—'69) and "YolkstfaatJ" ('70—'71) 6) on one
hand, and "Socialdemokrat)> Schweider's 7), on the other.
One way or another, I will try to prepare an article for the journal as well. The article
for the newspaper will begin to be rewritten in a decent handwriting tomorrow.
P. B. AXELROD to V. I. LENIN.

II. B. AXELROD
TO V. I. LENIN.

Now about Koltsov [B. A. Ginzburg]. He is probably terribly angry with me
for suggesting Gurevich for the job 8), and I, I swear to God, did not even suspect that he had such an intention. The
best thing, of course, would be for G[eorge Plekhanov], or, failing that,
Vera Iv[anovna Zasulich] to appease him. But if he nevertheless writes about the congress, and the article is passable, then the
duty of G[eorge Plekhanov] will be to persuade him to publish it as a separate
brochure from the Union. That Gurevich will write much better
not only than KoltsovKolstov-Ginzburg, but, in all probability,
n Nekhamkis-Steklov «(tak kak after all the first has been observing Frantzuzskie party relations for much longer, and of course, knows them more fundamentally and comprehensively)», there is hardly any
doubt about that. By the way, Nekhamkis-Steklov and his friend (the author
of the article against the "R[abochego Dela") 9) have now made a quite good impression on us 10). But in the future, your holy
Trinity 11) will still have to fuss with them. It is difficult
and inconvenient to talk about this topic in writing. But be wise as serpents...
And have you tried to enter into negotiations with Buchholtz 12)? Otherwise
it is simply a disaster—are you really moving to London? Stockholm is better—
closer to Russia and further—from emigration, which is extremely important 13).
Your message that your brother 14) is still with you—not to
offend him, it should be said—delighted me terribly. If you
both or he alone do not have absolutely important reasons,
unconditionally requiring his departure, I will allow myself to express meine
unmassgebliche Meinung 15) that before Alexei [Martov] arrives to you, it would be a sin for him to leave you.
As
you see, I reason exclusively from the point of view of business
interest, so as not to be suspected of any considerations
of a sentimental nature, in a word, of Aduevshchina 16). When
Al[exei Martov] arrives, the risk to the cause from some misfortune with your brother [Pogresov] will still not be as great
as now.
I found an English journal that looks like your description, and my wife thinks that the book looks like
the one that your sister [A. I. Elizarova] gave me 17).
I was waiting for a message from L 18) about the time of her departure (I asked her about
this in a card), in order to send the book and your sister's
pillow with her [A. I. Elizarova]. But until now I don't even know if she left. To go to her means losing half a day. Tomorrow
Lenin Collection, III.