V. I.

Lenin

September 27, 1902

I have received your letter. Many thanks for your detailed reply. Until Viscount arrives I will not, as you wish,
either raise the general question of finance or give any information about your letter, except in general terms, i.e.,
neither about how you define the body of “holders”, nor about what amount you specify, nor about how soon
you can provide it (the whole immediately, or in instalments). We shall, in any case, have
vertrauliche [1] talks with Viscount about all the most important questions;
so it will be best for me first of all to show him your letter,
and to decide jointly with him on the limits, so to speak,
of any further information about its contents.

I personally incline to the view that for the time being
it would be best not to tell anyone about the whole amount
(to keep it secret), nor to tell absolutely anyone about the
possibility of obtaining it all at once, because at the
present moment there’s an infinity of “possible” expenditure
on “possible” undertakings. The abundance of escapes is
putting a mass of people at Iskra’s “disposal”, provided all of them are given maintenance , but if we start this on
a grand scale, frivolously and in haste, we shall find ourselves “on the rocks” within six months or a year. On the
other hand, if we are more “tight-fisted”, a fairly large
number of peripheral undertakings manage “to make do with their own resources”. In view of this, it is best to
arrange matters in the old way (i.e., to speak to all those
who participate in this way): you can provide a good deal yet, let us say, “ over 10 thousand”, but, first, not all at
once, and second, you wish to provide only in extreme necessity, advising them to seek regular sources to cover
current expenses themselves. I repeat that so far this is
my personal opinion, and I don’t yet know Viscount’s opinion. We wanted to raise the question with him here about
some “amicable”, “friendly” division of functions, starting from the principle that after all it is better to take
advantage of peace to bring about a stable modus vivendi
than to postpone matters once more until some “accidental”
conflict. But whether this will succeed, whether we shall
decide in this way, whether it will be convenient to raise
the question—all this is still unknown.

At present, we are very hard up for money, and there are some urgent expenses. Therefore, please send 2,000 marks
immediately, if possible: what you can, of this amount,
at once, and what you have to draw, as soon as possible
(and let us know when it will arrive). But in my opinion you
should already draw a larger amount: draw some 3,000 rubles and keep it at home, so that we could get it from
you at short notice. Otherwise we literally don’t know how
to get out of it: we already owe 150 rubles, and are putting
off a payment of 50 rubles next week. We need about 300
rubles for departures (quite essential), about 200 for the
people here soon, etc. Write as soon as you can what arrangements you have made, when and how much you will
be receiving.

I shall pass on what you say to Brock. There is a crowd
of people here, and altogether too much commotion. Yet many more are arriving in the next few days!

You write nothing about your plans for coming here, and
very vaguely about your health: only that you don’t feel
well, but what is the matter? I am also worried about the
lack of news from home.

Well, my best wishes, Yours, Lenin

---
Notes:
[1]
Confidential.— Ed .