V. I.

Lenin

26

To:   L. Y. GALPERIN [1]

We sent you a telegram—the meaning was quite clear—agreement. But
bear in mind that communication by wire is very dangerous, for they take copies of telegrams. Try confining
yourself to the post. There is no need to come over to discuss details. All
that can be arranged by letter. Do you happen to have an experienced
printer? If so, mats, which are easy to send (in journals, etc.), can be
used. The advantages of this method are:
1) no type is needed,
1a) it is far quicker,
2) less people, which means greater safety in underground work,
3) the paper will have a foreign look, which too is a big advantage from
the stand point of secrecy. By way of experiment we shall send you shortly
matrices enclosed in book binding, addressed to
K.... [2]

Open them carefully, try them out and let us know the results as soon as
you can. A universal stereotyper for making type-casts from matrices costs
about 300 marks, but whether one can be freely obtained in Russia we do not
know. Let us know what the size of your machine is. Can it print sheets the
size of our Iskra ? In general, send us at the earliest date some
sample of your work.

If you have the technical facilities, try to put out as soon as
possible at least one complete issue of Iskra (if you find it
difficult to print an 8-page paper, such as No  6, at least put out
No. 5—it’s four pages). It would be extremely important for us to have a
copy of the Russian edition of Iskra in time for the conference [4] here, that is, within a month (at most a month and a
half).

Since when are we 800 rubles in debt? Our funds are now low and the
debt can be covered only if your printing facilities actually turn out at
least three to five thousand copies of Iskra (4–8 pages) a
month. If you manage to do that there will of course be a net income.

Where did you send the packages you received? Why send 5 poods to
Yekaterinoslav? We do not risk sending more than a pood or two as a first
try; it doesn’t matter if it costs more. Can consignments to Yekaterinoslav
be marked “Bücher” [3]

?

How long does delivery take? This is very important. When writing addresses, separate the words, otherwise you
can’t tell the name apart from the town and street.

---
Notes:
[1]
Written together with Krupskaya.— Ed .

[2]
Identity not established.— Ed .

[3]
Books.— Ed .

[4]
A reference to the “Unity” Conference of R.S.D.L.P. organisations
abroad held October 4–5, 1901, in Zurich. It was attended by 6 members of
the Iskra and Zarya organisation abroad, 8 members of the
Sotsial-Demokrat organisation (including 3 members of the
Emancipation of Labour group), 16 members of the Union of Russian
Social-Democrats (including 5 members of the Bund’s Committee Abroad), and
3 members of the Borba group. On the first item on the agenda,
“Agreement in Principle and Instructions to Editorial Boards”, Lenin
delivered an eloquent speech, censuring the opportunist activity of the
Union. When the opportunist amendments and addenda to the June resolution
adopted by the Third Congress of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats were
announced at the conference, the revolutionary section of the conference
(members of the Iskra and Zarya and the Sotsial Demokrat organisations) read out a statement saying that unity was
impossible and left the conference. On Lenin’s initiative these
organisations in October 1901 united into the League of Russian
Revolutionary Social-Democracy Abroad.