Letter to Lyubov Axelrod, December 18, 1902

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18.XII. 02

Dear L. I.,

Just received your letter and am hastening to reply in order to congratulate you on such a tremendous acquisition as Stavsky. His name was mentioned in letters we received from Rostov-on-Don, but I deleted it, for fear of compromising him. I am enclosing Iskra No. 29 for you and for him, to let him see without delay our account of the events. I also enclose a letter to him with a request concerning a pamphlet on the Rostov developments.

Further, as regards “Misha the Compositor”. The pseudonym is unknown to me, but I know and worked with Vas. Andr. Shelgunov whom he mentions. Since Shelgunov spoke to him about me, please convey to him greetings from me personally and ask him to write us in detail about every thing, i.e., about the work and about himself, who he is and what his plans are at present, how long he will be abroad, and so on. You will have to devote some attention to these people: it is very important to win them over completely. If you haven’t the time to spare, send them to our people in Zurich or Geneva. We may soon be able to send a young and very energetic and capable comrade from here (pseudonym: “Pero”) to help you.

By the way, “Misha” is mistaken about Odessa: we have letters from the “scene of action” there. There are the S.R.L. (Southern Revolutionary League of Social-Democrats) and the Committee. The latter supports Borba and opposes Iskra. The former is closer to Iskra, but not yet altogether “ours” The Odessa Committee has put out No. 3 of Rabocheye Slovo (a printed paper). The S.R.L. issues leaflets. To which “group” did “Misha” belong? The S.R.L., the Odessa Committee, or some other?

My wife will attend to the Petersburg and Moscow messages, that is, she will write to the proper people.

Best regards,

Yours,

Lenin