V. I.   Lenin

59

To:   LYUBOV AXELROD

Published: First published in 1929 in Lenin Miscellany XI. Sent from London to Berne. Printed from the original.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, [1977], Moscow, Volume 43, pages 95^b-96^a.
Translated: Martin Parker and Bernard Isaacs
Transcription\Markup: R. Cymbala
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive (2005). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
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Dear L. I.,

Just received your letter and am hastening to reply in order to congratulate you on such a tremendous acquisition as Stavsky. His name was mentioned in letters we received from Rostov-on-Don, but I deleted it, for fear of compromising him.^[1] I am enclosing Iskra No. 29 for you and for him, to let him see without delay our account of the events. I also enclose a letter to him with a request concerning a pamphlet on the Rostov developments.

Further, as regards “Misha the Compositor”. The pseudonym is unknown to me, but I know and worked with Vas. Andr. Shelgunov whom he mentions. Since Shelgunov spoke to him about me, please convey to him greetings from me personally and ask him to write us in detail about every thing, i.e., about the work and about himself, who he is and what his plans are at present, how long he will be abroad, and so on. You will have to devote some attention to these people: it is very important to win them over completely. If you haven’t the time to spare, send them to our people in Zurich or Geneva. We may soon be able to send a young   and very energetic and capable comrade from here (pseudonym: “Pero”) to help you.

By the way, “Misha” is mistaken about Odessa: we have letters from the “scene of action” there. There are the S.R.L. (Southern Revolutionary League of Social-Democrats) and the Committee. The latter supports Borba and opposes Iskra. The former is closer to Iskra, but not yet altogether “ours” The Odessa Committee has put out No. 3 of Rabocheye Slovo (a printed paper). The S.R.L. issues leaflets. To which “group” did “Misha” belong? The S.R.L., the Odessa Committee, or some other?

My wife will attend to the Petersburg and Moscow messages, that is, she will write to the proper people.

Best regards,
Yours,
Lenin

Notes

[1] See Lenin’s “New Events and Old Questions” (present edition, Vol. 6, pp. 278–83).—Ed.