Letter to Panteleimon Lepeshinsky and Pyotr Krasikov, June 1, 1901

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2a 3b-r—–

June 1, 1901

We should be very glad to work together with —r——. He would be particularly useful at this time of wobbling among the public in general, and of all kinds of intrigues abroad in particular. Unfortunately, our financial position is very bad, and we are absolutely unable to allocate any money for his journey and his living expenses. It is also extremely difficult to find paid employment here (we say nothing of France and French Switzerland, because we don’t know them. —r–—himself is better informed about this than we are). Only in one case could we give some financial support: if —r–—were to undertake to go abroad, get a French passport here and use it to cross the frontier two or three times in various places, taking across a couple of suitcases each time. We have to pay for such transport anyway, and should of course pay him more willingly than some outsider. With his knowledge of the language and his resourcefulness, he would certainly be able to do it, and might find someone else on the way for the same purpose. If he is agreeable, let him write at once—you will read him the whole of this letter—and tell us his distinguishing features in as great detail as possible. On the strength of these features we shall then immediately apply for a French passport, and on receipt of it will let him know, so that he can start out. In general, our cause now hinges on transport, transport and transport. Whoever wants to help us should entirely concentrate on this.

Now about the 125 rubles. We have been repeatedly caught out over advances to other organisations: we have given away a pile of money, and the result has been insignificant, almost nil. Therefore we are very much afraid of paying in advance. Furthermore, it is more important for us to have swift delivery of a small quantity (if only half a pood a month) than of 10–20 poods over 3-4 months, because our first priority is Iskra’s monthly publication and delivery. Up to now suitcases virtually alone have kept us going. So have as detailed a discussion as possible to find out whether the offer is reliable, which organisation is making it, the type of transport, and whether we could have our own man in there for supervision and participation, and then let us know. If they agree to have a trial run without payment in advance, take the decision yourselves. But if we are to hand over a sizable sum immediately, we shall have to consider and discuss all the particulars very thoroughly.