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 171-172.
Translated: The Late George H. Hanna
Transcription\Markup:
D. Moros
Public Domain:
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Text
May 10, 1898
At last, Mother dearest, my visitors have arrived.[2] They got here on the evening of May 7, and on that very day I was clever enough to go shooting, so they did not find me at home. Nadezhda Konstantinovna, I find, is not looking at all well—she will have to take more care of her health while she is here. As for me—Yelizaveta Vasilyevna exclaimed, “Oh, how fat you’re getting!”; and so, you see, you could not wish for a better report!
The terribly sad thing is that they did not bring any good news about Mitya!
I received your letter sent with them and that of April 20. A big merci for the things you sent. N.K. has made arrangements in Minusinsk about the books that are to come and I hope I shall get them soon without any trouble. I may fetch them myself as I intend going “to town”.
About steamers. They took N.K. only as far as Sorokino (some 70 versts from Minusinsk) after they had waited a week in Krasnoyarsk. The water in the river is still low; there will be high water about the end of May or beginning of June. It is 55 versts from Minusinsk to Shusha. The local steamers make irregular trips; there is no timetable, but, on the whole, once navigation begins they will probably run more or less regularly and without any unusual delays. I would very much like you to come here if you could manage it—if only Mitya is released soon.
By the way, Anyuta asked me who I was going to invite to the wedding; I invite all of you, only I do not know whether it would not perhaps be better to telegraph the invitations! As you know, N.K. has been confronted with a tragi-comic condition—she must get married immediately(sic!) or back to Ufa! Since I am not at all disposed to allow that, we have already begun “bothering” the authorities (mainly for identification papers, without which we cannot get married), so that we shall be able to marry before the Fast of St. Peter[1] ; we permit ourselves to hope that these strict authorities will consider this a sufficiently “immediate” marriage?! I am inviting the people from Tesinskoye (they are already writing that I shall certainly need witnesses) and I hope they will be allowed to come.
Regards to all.
My kisses,
Yours,
V. U.
I almost forgot—Nadya tells me that some books on philosophy were on their way to me, and that they went past here to Irkutsk. Why is it that I have never heard anything about this? Has some letter been lost? I would ask Anyuta to find out what happened.
[1] * Marriage could not be celebrated during any of the three fasts practised by the Russian Orthodox Church—Lent, St. Peter’s and Christmas.—Ed.
[2] Nadezhda Krupskaya and her mother joined Lenin at the village of Shushenskoye on May 7, 1898.
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