V. I.

Lenin

TO V. P. NOGIN

January 24, 1901

Dear Comrade, I have received your letter about the passports, have
written to my friend here who might be expected to help me
in this respect, and am now awaiting a reply. I think it
will be possible to get a foreign (Bulgarian or German)
passport (for entering Russia), but I’m not hopeful about
a Russian passport, or at least a blank passport, not filled
in. This may, of course, come off, but I should advise you to
take steps right away to secure a foreign passport, at the
risk of being left without any at all. But as regards a Russian
passport, if we succeed in getting one, it will be more likely
in Russia.

If there is to be no mention of Rabocheye Znamya in the
footnote, would you suggest another way of putting it?
For example, from (through) a member of the Rabocheye Znamya group who worked in St. Petersburg in 1897, or
something like that. I think it would be better to say somehow through whom the article was received, but if you
think otherwise, naturally we shall publish it without any
indication of how we received it.

I have been told the name of the St. Petersburg man who made the proposal (in one of the provinces, and a fairly
remote one) about publishing the translation of Kautsky.
I am afraid to entrust the name to the post; however, I
will let you have it in this form. Write down Alexei’s name,
patronymic (in Russian style) and surname, and number all the 23 letters in their order. Then the surname of this
St. Petersburg man will consist of the following letters:
6, 22, 11, 22 (for this substitute the next letter of the
alphabet), 5, 10 and
13. [2]

As to the sale of Revolution and Counter-Revolution , we shall inquire from those organisations abroad with whom
we have contacts.

Over here everything now depends on transport, which is eating up a lot of money because this is a new undertaking.
I cannot therefore give you any definite reply as regards
financial aid for fabricating passports, until it has become
clear just how much money is needed for this, and what the chances are that all the other essentials (money apart)
are available. Alexei paid out money to one influential
organisation as long ago as last spring (sic!) for the purchase of
blank passports (which they had promised), but so far has
had nothing.

Would you agree to take on yourself in the immediate future a permanent function in transportation—i.e., to
live near the frontier, travel around, communicate with
the contrabandists, etc.? Do you know German, or any language other than
Russian? [1]

Every good wish, Yours, Petrov

I enclose the paper [3] ; please show it to no one except
your friend, and let me know your opinion. No. 2 is at the
press.

Write to me at the following address:

Herrn Georg Rittmeyer , Kaiserstrasse 53 I.
München .

( Without any enclosure, if the letter is in Russian.)