Pages: 198-199

The two letters of V.I. Lenin to A.M. Kalmykova printed below, concerning the split at the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., are of particular interest among the other documents presented in this collection. These letters were written during the first month after the congress, under the fresh impression of what had occurred. In them, on the one hand, the full fervour of the struggle that took place at the congress is still vividly felt, while on the other, an analysis is performed, objective results are summed up, the actual significance and political meaning of the events that took place are clarified.

A.M. Kalmykova occupied an exceptional position in relation to *Iskra*, to the leading group of the *Iskra* organization, and to V.I. Lenin himself. From the time of the Narodnaya Volya movement, she maintained close personal ties with the Emancipation of Labour group, which later joined the editorial board of *Iskra*, while on the other hand, from the mid-1890s, the closest relations were established with the group of "young ones," especially with Potresov and Lenin, with whom she was connected through work in Petersburg and who, together with Martov, made up the second half of the *Iskra* editorial board. In the practical, organizational side of affairs, A.M. Kalmykova gave the "young ones" the most active support. Above all, she was a constant source and hub of material resources for the publication of *Iskra*. Mainly thanks to her tireless energy and devotion, the uninterrupted existence of *Iskra* during its first three years was ensured. Thus, she was a person with whom the old *Iskra* and the *Iskra* organization were bound by the closest ties, and to whom the party, in the initial period of its construction, was very deeply indebted. The personal profound trust and respect with which Vladimir Ilyich regarded Kalmykova further heighten the significance of his letters to her at the moment of the split in the *Iskra* organization.

A.M. Kalmykova died on 4 April 1926 in Detskoye Selo. For information on her biography and her relations with *Iskra*, the *Iskra* organization, and V.I. Lenin, see the article by N.K. Krupskaya in *Pravda* No. 75 of 2 April 1926.

In the interests of the greatest completeness and clarity, the letters of A.M. Kalmykova to which Vladimir Ilyich’s letters were a reply are also presented here.

18.  
A.M. KALMYKOVA TO V.I. LENIN.  
Monday, 31 August 1903. [Dresden].

I received both letters 2). At different times, Viscount 3) and Cousin 4) visited me in passing. I am now informed of everything that happened 3) in its essential part. But it is one thing to know what happened, and another to understand how it could have happened. This latter simply will not fit into my head, or rather into my soul, and torments, gnaws, and drives me to fury.

I do not enter into an assessment of what happened, for I was not there myself. All my thoughts are focused on the future and on an assessment of the past. This past is in plain sight of all: in the very shortest period, out of nothing and in the presence of a sufficient number of hostile elements, something large, strong, and commanding universal recognition grew up. 6) It was created by collective labour. And suddenly all this has been reduced to naught, and what had been a collective further building became almost a lone enterprise.

Was this really necessary for the cause, is its growth under such circumstances really more assured than before? I ask because my head refuses to understand... I think it all played out under the influence of terrible nervous overstrain, in the stupefying atmosphere of small fry 7) milling about on the spot. O Lord, and the small fry are the heritage and even the inevitable heritage of life, and one has to work for their good, and, as it happens, they are ready to trample you with their tiny hooves—and they do trample you. Well, so be it, for they are a "compact majority," but to take them as comrades in work, as judges, is impossible. I see, waking and sleeping, only the heavy, troubled, chilling impression that the news of the discord will produce at home there. How faith, a guiding authority, was needed there...