Letter to Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova, January 19, 1900

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Author(s) Lenin
Nadezhda Krupskaya
Written 19 January 1900


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First published in 1929 in the journal Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya No. 8-9. Sent from Shushenskoye to Moscow. Printed from the original.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1977, Moscow, Volume 37, pages 286-287
Collection(s): Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya
Keywords : Letter, Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova

January 19

Dear Maria Alexandrovna,

At last matters have been settled—we may go to Russia, no further term of exile being envisaged. We are sending our luggage off on the 28th and we ourselves shall leave on the 29th. We shall have company—V.V. and Olga Alexandrovna. The Lepeshinskys also intended going, but I have very grave doubts of their being ready in time. O.A. is in a hurry to get to M.A., who has been sent to Riga; V.V. is also in a hurry. We shall probably leave Minusinsk on the 30th. The only thing I am afraid of is that there may be a delay because of me. We did not realise until recently that we ought to find out whether I would have to apply for permission to travel at my own expense. V.V. asked the police officer and discovered that the application had to be made to the Police Department, since the local officer cannot issue me with a travel permit himself because he has received no instructions about me. We are today sending telegrams to the department and to the Knipoviches, but further complications are almost certain.[1] Volodya wants to stay in Ufa for a couple of days until we know whether I shall remain in Ufa or will be sent to some place like Sterlitamak or Belebei. We do not talk of anything but the journey nowadays. We have packed the books in a box and had it weighed—about 15 poods.[2] We are sending the books and some of our things by carrier; I don’t think we shall have very many things. Because of the frosts we wanted to get a sleigh with a hood but we could not find one in the town and to have one made here is a risky business, it probably would not last as far as Achinsk. We have plenty of warm clothes so I don’t suppose we shall freeze, and the weather seems to be getting warmer; yesterday Oscar saw a cloud somewhere and the temperature this morning was only 28° below. The worst of it is that Mother keeps catching colds and is coughing again. Volodya and I go out every day, despite the frosts; we have become accustomed to fresh air but I don’t know how Mother will make the journey. Still, I wish the 29th would come soon; once we are going we might as well go. The day of our departure seems to be so close that today Mother wanted to start making pelmeni[3] to take with us. We have been advised to take pelmeni to eat on the way, everything else spoils in the frost. Mother intends making mountains of the stuff, with no fat or onions.

We are not doing much reading now. Volodya, incidentally, is writing a reply to Skvortsov.[4] We shall send Webb off today, at long last; he has made us thoroughly tired of him, I must say.

Well, good-bye. Many kisses, for you and for Manyasha and Anyuta. It is a pity I shall not be able to come to Moscow. Mother sends her regards.

Yours,

Nadya

You will probably receive this letter after a telegram from me. I hope we shall be meeting soon.

Yours,

V. U.

(I have heard [A.N. wrote ] that the censor has slashed (!!) Prokopovich’s book—and so I cannot answer him. A strange incident![5])

  1. ↑ That same day, January 19, 1900, Nadezhda Krupskaya applied to the Yeniseisk Gubernia Council for permission to travel, to Ufa at her own expense. She did not receive it by the 29th and left Shushenskoye with Lenin. She received her travel permit in Minusinsk.
    The Knipovich family were close friends of Krupskaya’s.
  2. ↑ Pood=36 lbs.—Ed.
  3. ↑ Tiny meat dumplings.—Ed.
  4. ↑ This refers to Lenin’s article “Uncritical Criticism (Regarding Mr. P. Skvortsov’s Article ’Commodity Fetishism’ in Nauchnoye Obozreniye No. 12, 1899)” (see Collected Works, Vol. 3, pp. 609- 32).
  5. ↑ S. N. Prokopovich’s The Working-Class Movement in the West. An Essay in Critical Investigation (Vol.I, Germany, Belgium) was held up by the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee (May 22, 1899) and was later passed for publication by the head of the Central Press Board. It appeared at the end of January 1900. Lenin wrote a review of this book (see Collected Works, Vol. 4, pp. 183–92).
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