Pages: 18-19

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Printed below are 44 letters from Lenin to A. V. Lunacharsky,
received in the archive of ISHEL in February 1934. Of these, 4 letters
relate to 1905, when Lunacharsky, living in Florence, took a close part in the Bolshevik newspapers
"Vpered" and "Proletary," published in Geneva; 4 letters
relate to 1907 and 5 to 1908: this is the period of the revival
abroad of "Proletary," to which Lenin attracted Lunacharsky; however, the latter's collaboration proved
short-lived, as Lunacharsky, increasingly diverging from Bolshevism, soon joined the "Vperedovtsy" faction, headed
by Bogdanov, and returned to the ranks of the Bolsheviks
only in the pre-October period of 1917. Letters from 1908
were usually sent to Lunacharsky via
M. Gorky on
the island of Capri. Finally, the last letter, addressed to Lunacharsky
in Geneva, was written shortly after the February coup of 1917.
37476
1.
[August 1, 1905. Geneva] 1
Dear Anatoly Vasilievich]!
I am sending you Plekhanov's new brochure.
How petty are his attacks and "pricks" against the Machists! For me, they are all the more annoying because, in essence, Plekhanov's criticism of Mach seems to me
to be correct.
I am thinking of writing an article: "A New Statement by G. Plekhanov" 3.
Prepare a preface to your brochure: "Essays from the history
of the revolutionary struggle for the western-European proletariat". We will release a separate one on the February revolution 4.
There are letters from Russia from the Central Committee, hoping for your liter-
ary] work. It is very difficult for us without your constant and
close cooperation. The newspaper is, admittedly, going well, but there is
some monotony in it too. That's one thing. And secondly: there are no brochures, especially
popular ones. It would be necessary for you to continue in the spirit of
"How the Petersburg workers went to the Tsar?" 5
My brochure will be out this week. I will send it to you.
The congress protocols will probably be out in August 6.

Vasily Vasilievich] 7 is all bogged down in petty work and cannot
describe, which is extremely annoying.
I shake your hand. Yours, Lenin.
1 The date is established based on letter LI 2 of August 2, 1905,
in which Lenin writes: "Yesterday I sent you a 'business' letter." That
the reference is to letter No. 1 is evident from the indication in this letter
regarding the publication date of the brochure "Two Tactics," regarding which Lenin
says that the brochure "will be out this week"; the announcement of the brochure's release was printed on August 9 in No. 11 of "Proletary."
2 This refers to the second edition of F. Engels's brochure "Ludwig Feuerbach" translated and with a preface by G. Plekhanov. The preface is dated July 4, 1905. The brochure contains two appendices; one of them: the announcement of the publication of the "Library of Scientific Socialism" is dated July 20, 1905. Lenin also mentions this brochure in the letter of August 2.
3 The statement that Lenin is talking about is G. V. Plekhanov's letter
to the International Socialist Bureau dated June 16, 1905. The letter
distorted facts from the history of the party split; in particular, it
provided incorrect data on the issue of Plekhanov's representation
from the RSDLP to the ISB (see Lenin's letter to the ISB of July 24, Works, VIII, 9).
The article referred to in this letter was written later,
when the resolutions of the Menshevik so-called "January constituent conference" were received in Geneva, concerning, among other things,
the issue of the RSDLP's representation to the ISB. Lenin's article "Representation
of the RSDLP in the International Socialist Bureau" was printed
in No. 20 of "Proletary" of October 10 (Works, VIII, 275).
4 A. Lunacharsky's "Essays" were printed in Nos. 2, 9, 12, and 17 of "Vper
ed" and Nos. 7, 10 of "Proletary." Instead of the "preface" mentioned in the letter, Lunacharsky sent an "afterword," and the "Essays" with this
"afterword" were published as a brochure in Geneva in 1905, by the publishing house of the Central Committee
of the RSDLP. The feuilleton on the February Revolution of 1848 was published later
in No. 20 of "Proletary" (see letter No. 4, note 4).
5 The brochure was published in March 1905 in Geneva, by the publishing house "Vpered."
6 The protocols of the Third Congress were published in the first half of October 1905.
7 Vasily Vasilievich - one of the revolutionary pseudonyms of M. S.
Olminsky in Geneva in 1904-1905. Another pseudonym of Olminsky - Gallery - is more widely known.