Letter to Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova, July 26, 1900

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July 26

Dear Maria Alexandrovna,

I have just received a postcard from Volodya, sent from Austria ….

The letters are a long time on the way—I got the postcard on the eighth day, which means I shall receive Volodya’s letters on the ninth or tenth day. Voiodya writes that he feels very well and ’1 am very, very pleased about it, of course, How are you keeping? Are you quite well? After the impassable mud and the dampness here, we are now enjoying wonderful days. You are probably having excellent weather too and you cars take advantage of the summer. Things are all right here now. I am sorry you and Anyuta got such an unfavourable impression of Ufa; the weather was terribly muggy at the time and our place was all higgledy-piggledy. We are still living in the same apartment but we shall probably soon be moving to a winter apartment, an excellent one that we have tried, across the road diagonally from us. I am now quite well and so is Mother. She sends you all her regards.

When Volodya was staying here in Urn he wrote Filippov a scathing letter about his having printed Volodya’s article in such distorted form.[The letter has been lost. The article was “Uncritical Criticism (Regarding Mr. P. Skvertsov’s Article ’Commodity Fetishism’ in Nauchnoye Obozreniye No. 12, 1899)” (Collected Works, Volume 8, pages 609-832).—Editor.] A letter came from Filippov after Volodya had loft in which he tried to gloss it over. ’Dear Sir, an opportunity of settling the affair has occurred. I am sending you the manuscript of Skvortsov’s article, so that you can reply. I ask you to hear the censorship conditions in mind and keep the article short.” It seemed as if he wanted to appease Volodya by sending him the article, but two days later he changed his mind and sent another letter, this time not for forwarding to V.I. as before, but to be forwarded to Mr. Ulyanov. The outward appearance of the letter alone was evidence of his disdain—a torn-off half sheet of paper on which the letter had been typed with corrections to the typing. The letter was foolishly abusive, the man does not seem to understand what he is talking about. I wrote him that I had received the two letters and could not send them on to Volodya because I did not know his address, but would send them immediately I did; I said I was returning the manuscript because if it were sent abroad there would be a long delay in getting it printed and the author would hardly be likely to approve of it. Volodya would probably not want to accept favours from that idiot. Skvortsov’s article is also excessively abusive. The same meaningless quotations from Marx and complete failure to understand one’s opponent. There is no point even iii polemicising with such a person. I doubt whether Volodya will answer him.

Maria Andreyevna called the day after Volodya’s departure. She was very nice and awfully kind. I felt a twinge of conscience-1 do not know how to he nice to people. I wanted to demonstrate my kindness by offering to help her make jam, only I remembered in time that I had never made any jam and the Lord alone knows what I might have made …. They are going to live at the farmhouse all the winter …. Well, good-bye. Many kisses for you and Anyuta and I will drop Manyasha a few lines.

Yours,

Nadya