Published:
First published In 1929 in the journal Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya No. 4.
Sent from Shushenskoye to Moscow.
Printed from
the original.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1977,
Moscow,
Volume 37,
pages 158-159.
Translated: The Late George H. Hanna
Transcription\Markup:
D. Moros
Public Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
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Text
February 18, 1898
Today I am sending you, Mark, the corrections to the Sismondi article by registered post. There were fewer corrections than I expected—only the misprints and the division, of the article into chapters (two) and paragraphs. It is to be expected that the compositors will find it much easier to work from a printed text, so there will be fewer mistakes and less proof-reading to do (but the proofs absolutely must be read). The magazine pages I am sending can go straight to the printers, but give them strict warning not to lose them[1] (they usually do lose manuscripts) and that each time they should send the original (manuscript or magazine page) together with the proofs; without this it is terribly difficult for a stranger (not the author) to correct them (I know this from my own experience) and there will be many unpleasant misunderstandings and mistakes. I hope Manyasha will find time to undertake the proof-reading. In general, it is very important for the proofs to be read by one person from beginning to end, otherwise there will be a muddle because of the signs the proof-readers use, and, furthermore, they usually forget, when subsequent proofs are received (there must be at least two), to verify whether the mistakes indicated in the first proofs have been corrected and whether fresh mistakes were not made in correcting the old ones. Accurate printing and an elegant edition are very important.
The article (together with this letter) will arrive at the very beginning of March and if you set about the printing immediately and carry it out without delay, and if you hurry the printer, you may manage to finish it and present it to the censor by Easter. That would be very good; the sale of the book will probably be much slower if it does not come out until May. I am awaiting news from you on the way things are going.
I have been thinking a lot about the other two articles (on the “heritage” and on Yuzhakov); on the one hand, caution tells me that they should not be printed, but, on the other hand, it is a pity to abandon them, especially the second.... The fact is that it analyses a book and not a magazine article.... Perhaps we should try? If experienced people had not decided that it was impossible I should not have been averse to trying. We should have to cross out a few places recalling the defunct journal[2] (I have no rough copy of the Yuzhakov article, so the publisher will have to do it. It is not a big job), and then place them at the end, so that if they are removed (in case the authorities demand it) it will not spoil the preceding articles. If you estimate the cost of the publication at 40 rubles a printer’s signature, the loss on those two articles (together four signatures) would not be so great. In any case the book should not be delayed on account of them.
If they have not yet sent you the manuscripts from St. Petersburg, write an urgent letter to Nadezhda Konstantinovna to send them immediately and start printing what I send today.
All the best,
V. U.
Please hand or send the enclosed letter to N.K. She asks me to write to Moscow now, since they will probably be moving her soon.
[1] If it has to be torn up into separate pages (printers usually do that), number them all with special numbers to prevent losses.—Lenin
[2] This refers to the journal Novoye Slovo, suppressed by the tsarist government in December 1897.—Ed.
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