Published:
First published in 1924 in the journal Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya No. 8.
Sent from the remand prison in St. Petersburg.
Printed from the original.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1977,
Moscow,
Volume 37,
pages 89-90.
Translated: The Late George H. Hanna
Transcription\Markup:
D. Moros
Public Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
You may freely copy, distribute,
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commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
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January 16, 1896
Yesterday I received your letter of the 14th and hasten to answer it, although there is not much hope of your receiving my reply before Thursday.[3]
I have already written about the need to return some underclothes that do not belong to me. I have got the things together and you must now ask for them when you are here, or tell whoever comes to ask for them in your name. I am not returning all of the things, because some are in the wash (perhaps you will ask somebody to get the rest later); I have allowed myself to keep, for the time being, a travelling rug that has done me excellent service here.
I have obtained information about the books; a small box may be left in the storeroom here.[1] It is not, of course, worth while sending all my books here. Some of the books in the list you sent me are not mine—for example, Fabrichnaya promyshlennost, Kobelyatsky—these are Alexandra Kirillovna’s and I think I took another book from her. Then the publications of the Saratov Zemstvo[4] and the Zemstvo statistical reports for Voronezh Gubernia were lent me, I believe, by some statistician. Perhaps you will find out whether they can be kept for a time. It is not worth while bringing them here. Pogozhev and Sbornik obyazatelnikh postanovleni po SPB are not mine either, I think (could they be from the library?). The legal codes and textbooks are obviously not needed at all. At the moment the only books I should like you to bring me are Ricardo, Beltov, N.—on, Ingram, and Foville. The Zemstvo publications (Tver, Nizhny Novgorod and Saratov) should be counted and be tied up in a bundle,[2] but do not bother to list them; I think you can also deliver that bundle to the storeroom. Then you will be finished with my books and not have to bother about them again. I shall be able to get the books from the storeroom (after they have been examined).
I am afraid I am causing you too much trouble. Please do not work too hard, especially in delivering books according to the list; there will be time for everything, and at the moment I have enough books.
Yours,
V. Ulyanov
Please add some pillow-slips and towels to the list of linen.
I am re-reading Shelgunov with interest and am busy with Tugan-Baranovsky; he has published a sound piece of research but his diagrams, those at-the end, for instance, are so confused that I must confess I do not understand them; I shall have to get Volume II of Capital.
[1] You can put a few clothes in there, too—an overcoat and suit, a hat. The waistcoat, frock coat and rug that were brought me can be taken back.—Lenin
[2] together with the Military Statistical Returns and the Summary.—Lenin
[3] Thursday and Monday were visiting days in the remand prison. Lenin’s mother and his sister Maria visited him on Mondays, when they were allowed a half-an-hour’s personal visit; his other sister. Anna, visited him on Thursdays, when she was allowed a longer time but had to converse with him through a grille. Anna brought him books and carried on a correspondence in code.
[4] Zemstvo—a local government body headed by the local nobility in the central gubernias of tsarist Russia; Zemstvos were introduced in 1864. The competence of the Zemstvos was very limited (the building of hospitals and roads, statistics, insurance, etc.). The activities of the Zemstvos were under the supervision of the governor and the Ministry of the Interior, who could annul any orders the government did not approve of.
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