N.E. Fedoseev articles and letters (ed.

1958)
State publishing house political literature Moscow

A significant part of the materials included in this collection appears in print for the first
time: letters from N. Ye. Fedoseyev from “Crosses” to E. A. Sanina, regarding which
nothing was known for fifty-five lots, letters to M. G. Hopfephaus , a letter to P. V.
Balashov, three letters to P. P. Maslov, testimony and statements of Nikolai Evgrafovich
attracted in the case of propaganda among the walnut-Zuev workers and, finally,
recordings of the folk peasant songs of the Vologda province made by him during his exile
.
The rest of the materials were published at different times in historical journals, in party
history and literature collections and anthologies.

These are letters to N. A. Motovilov, N. K ’. Mikhailovsky, V.I. Oonovsky, A.A. Andreevsky,

I.L. Sergievsky and L.N. Tolstoy, as well as three articles by N. E. Fedoseyev: “Worker's
Action Program”, “Historical Background” and “Service Record ".

All the first published materials, as well as letters to NK Mikhailovsky, are printed
according to the originals kept in the archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism.

The basic materials of the collection were prepared for publication by the late Professor B.
M. Volin. Employees of the Institute of Arch and Leninism also took part in the compilation
of the compendium.

R. Ya. Tsivlina and A. P. Yakushin.

 
N.YE. FEDOSEEV

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the article “A few words about N. E. Fedoseyev” wrote that “N. E.
Fedoseyev was one of the first who pestered people to declare their affiliation to the
Marxist direction. ” Oi, according to V.I. Lenin, “enjoyed the extraordinary sympathy of all
who knew him, as a type of old-time revolutionary, totally devoted to his work ...”

"... For the Volga region and for some localities of Central Russia," noted V.I. Lenin, "the
role played by Fedoseyev was remarkably high at that time, and the public at that time in
its turn to Marxism undoubtedly experienced itself in very large influence of this
extraordinarily talented and unusually devoted to his revolutionary revolutionary "".

The Russian Marxists L. I. Ulyanova, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, P. N. Leieshlsky and others,

who knew and remembered N. E. Fedoseyev in his various short-lived revolutionary lives,
were unanimous in assessing this remarkable man.
A. M. Gorky, who knew N. Ye. Fedoseyev well during the Kazan period of their life,
recalled him with deep sympathy.

He was a fiery Marxist, a remarkable man with the temperament of a genuine

revolutionary. Lively, energetic, comprehensively educated, deeply scientific, N. E.
Fedoseyev was in the history of the development of the ideas of revolutionary Marxism in
Russia one of his most passionate, unshakable propagandists. He was one of the
organizers of those first Marxist circles and groups in Russia of the late 80s of the last
century, from which the Communist Party of the Soviet Union began its glorious path.

1.

Nikolay Yevgrafovich Fedoseev was born on April 27, 1871.1 in a hereditary noble family
in the county town of Noginsk, Vyatka province. His parents were wealthy people. Mother
was a landlady, and father - a judicial investigator and had the rank of court counselor.

In 1880, Nikolai Yevgrafovich was brought by his father to Kazan and determined to the
first class of the 1st Kazan men's gymnasium.
According to the testimony of those who knew N. Ye. Fedoseyev during the gymnasium
period, this young man was extraordinarily gifted, well-read, and possessed excellent
spiritual qualities. The atmosphere of the gymnasium, the spirit of routine and stagnation
pretended it to a searching nature, and in the sixth grade he began to take part in a circle
of self-education, and somewhat later, in early 1887, together with one of his comrades,
he organized a circle that aimed to not only self-development, but also “possible practical
activity”.

"From the gymnasium itself, - according to the memoirs of A. I. Elizarova, - he was a

magnet attracting comrades, the yeast of each circle."

  V.I. Lenin, Op., Vol. 33, p. 414, 415.

  The metric birth record of N. E. Fedoseyev in his cases was not found. In gendarme
documents, the date of his birth is marked differently: in 1869, then in 1870, then in 1871.
A number of researchers stop at 1870. We think that it is more correct to consider the
year of his birth as 1871. N. Ye. Himself confirms this year of birth in a letter of March 24,
1891. He writes: “Sanin knew me for 18 years, and now I am 20”. If in 1891 he was 20
years old, then with good reason we can be considered the year of his birth in 1871. A. I.
Elizarov and N. L. Sergievsky adhere to the same date in their memoirs about him. - Red

N. E. Fedoseev, along with other comrades who were part of the circle, organizes a secret
library, into which not only legal, but also illegal literature enters. Nikolai Evgrafovich
becomes an active propagandist and distributor of Marxist literature. With an amazing
ability and tact for his years, he leads the discussion of issues raised in books and put
forward by life, which at that time excited all the revolutionary-minded youth.

In 1887, just before the exams, N. E. Fedoseyev suddenly, at the denunciation of the
history teacher Kulagin, the gymnasium superintendent searched the literature for
searches. The search did not yield any results; they did not dissipate on suspicion.
Fedoseev was taken under surveillance. And in December 1887, at the height of the
student movement, Fedoseyev’s father was asked to take his son from the eighth grade of
the gymnasium - “for political unreliability, for the harmful direction of thoughts and for
reading forbidden books”.

Expelled from the gymnasium, N. Ye. Fedoseyev devoted himself entirely to revolutionary
work.

A. M. Gorky says that during this period Fedoseev read in the circles of the Narodniks of
the book by G. V. Plekhanov “Our Disagreements” as an ardent supporter of Marxist
views. “At that time,” writes Alexey Maksimovich, “I already knew that Fedoseyev] is a
member of a very serious circle of students. I was familiar with the weavers of the
Alafuzov factory ”
In the winter and spring of 1888, these circles were widely spread in Kazan, and
Fedoseyev became their generally recognized leader.

From the fall of 1888 to May 1889, a member of one of the Fedoseev circles was V.I.
Lenin, who returned from a Kokushka link.

Circles established relations with other cities, established close ties with local factory
workers. One of the members of the central Fedoseyev group, the worker Petrov, in his
memoirs, says that at that time workers' circles were born, which took on a certain social-
democratic color from 1889, in Kazan powder factories, in the Alafusa settlement, and in
other outskirts of Kazan G

  “Chronicle of the Revolution” № 1, 1923, p. 288,

N. Ye. Fedoseev paid much attention not only to the organization of Marxist circles and
the propaganda of Marxism in them, but also to the design and equipment of an illegal
printing house. Through typographical works N. E. Fedoseev acquired the font.

After all, Fedoseev decided to publish the popular K. Kautsky book "The Economic
Principle of Karl Marx" translated by A. Sanin by typography . Following this book,
Fedoseev wanted to publish other Marxist works in Russian.

In the summer of 1889, for the purpose of the conspiratorial equipment of the
underground printing house, Fedoseev settled in the village of Klyuchischi, near Kazan.
Together with him settled his friends. Here Fedoseev was finishing the editorial
preparation of wetted nm for publication of works.

But on July 13, 1889, when Fedoseyev and his comrades, Solov'eva and Grigoriev, were
busy in the Klyuchishcha in disassembling a typeface, gendarmes and police came to
appear. The search conducted by Fedoseev gave ample material to the gendarmes to
arrest him and other members of Kazan circles.

Fedoseev and Solov'eva were imprisoned in the Kazan prison; Grigoriev managed to
escape.
36 people were brought as defendants in the “Fedoseev case”, dozens - as witnesses.
The mass of people, mainly the youth, were drawn into this political process without any
reason, solely for intimidation.

V.I. Lenin, recalling this time, wrote: “In the spring of 1889 I went to the Samara province,
where I heard in late summer of 1889 about the arrest of Fedoseyev and other members
of the Kazan circles, by the way, and where I took part . I think that I could easily have
also been arrested if I had stayed in Kazan that summer ”

 See “Proletarian Revolution” No. 2 (37), 1925, p. 187,

 B, Ya. L? Nip, Soch., T. 33, p. 414.

Even earlier, in connection with the exclusion of Fedoseyev from the gymnasium, his
family turned away from him, and he interrupted with penny lessons, for months he ate
black bread and bread, sometimes went hungry, was hard and uncompromising. When he
was in prison, the mother refused to meet only herself, and forbade other family members
to see the stumps.

Despite the shocks caused by the defeat of the circles, Fedoseyev in prison worked hard
on the history of the rural community. He started a thick notebook in which he wrote down
extracts and his remarks. This notebook, several hundred pages later, was with him in the
St. Petersburg prison “Kresty” and in Vladimir.

One year and three months spent N. Ye, Fedoseyev in Kazan prison, and then was
administratively sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in the St. Petersburg solitary
convict prison “Kresty”. At various times, Fedoseyev’s comrades were sentenced: A.
Sanin, K. Yagodkin, II. Lavrovsky, G1. Maslov and others. At the beginning of winter, they
were sent step by step to St. Petersburg. The winter stage was long and hard. On the way
to Petersburg, the stage party stopped in the Moscow Butyrskaya prison, and on
December 29, 1890, I. Ye. Fedoseyev was brought under a reinforced convoy to the
Kresty.

“Crosses” were considered one of the worst prisons in Russia: her regime was heavy and
exhausting. Fedoseyev was extremely exhausted physically, especially in the first months
of his stay at Krostakh. By this, a bright mind and a great will overcame all difficulties. He
and in prison, persistently and stubbornly sought connections. With the strictness of the
“Crosses” regime, he managed from time to time to correspond with his comrades, most
often with A. Sanin, P. Maslov, K. Yagodkipym.

In prison correspondence. * As in many other cases, then and later Fedoseyev was
rendered invaluable assistance by the St. Petersburg student M. Gopfgaugauz, whom he
sent under the guise of his cousin for meetings with him the illegal Red Cross political
Petersburg. Since that time, the severity of solitary confinement for Fedoseev has become
significantly less.
Even during his imprisonment in the Kazan prison Fedoseyev, he was intensively
engaged in research on the economic ways of development of Russia and on the reasons
for the fall of serfdom. He amassed significant material in the first 15 prison months.
Fedoseev did not part with this work, considering small breaks for the gendarmes' wine,
until the very end of his life: in all prisons, at all stages, in all references, he persistently
developed and replenished it.

It is quite natural that Fedoseyev, like all the dowlers of the early 90s of the last century,
without exception - both Marxists and populists - was extremely interested in the fate of
the peasant community. In the May-June book of the “Legal Bulletin” for 1891, Fedoseev
found an article by P. I. Skvortsov entitled “Results of a peasant farm on the southern
tripolar black earth” - the result of a painstaking study of an enormous mass of statistical
collections on 40 districts of Chernihiv, Voronezh, Poltava, Saratov and Kursk province.
Carefully and comprehensively analyzing a number of statistical data, the author, in
contrast to the Narodniks, made the correct conclusions that “the peasantry is not only at
different levels of economic well-being, but that there are exploiters and exploited in it” .
Fedoseev was very pleased with Skvortsov’s article and endorsed his conclusion on the
process of differentiation within the community. But at the same time he saw a number of
serious mistakes made by Skvortsov. In a letter to Maslov, he expressed a number of
remarks, which were a direct accusation of Skvortsov of “objectivism” inherent in “legal
Marxism”, an accusation that was fully confirmed by Skvortsov’s further activities.

Between the hard labor (those arrested were forced to do physical labor for 12 hours) and
reading Fedoseev found time for independent study of the English language (French,
German :, Latin and Greek, he studied at the gymnasium).

The year 1891 ended ... Difficult, painful - for N. E. Fedoseev. For two and a half years he
had been languishing in prison, taken off from a revolgociopope, from friends and
comrades.

It has been 30 months of almost complete solitary confinement, deep reflection and a
couple of work on yourself.
Upon leaving the “Crosses”, Fedoseyev and Yagodkipsh went to the “cousin” - M. G.
Hopfengauz.
Via Iri dpya N. E. Fedoseyev, together with M. G. Gopfengauz and K. K. Yagodkshm, left
for Vladimir.

3.
After hard years of solitary confinement, Fedoseev hardly mastered the “normal”, “free”
life. He immediately found himself in extremely difficult material conditions.

From the very first days of his arrival in Vladimir Fedoseev, he intensely continued to work
on his work on the economic reasons for the liberation of the peasants.

A. A. Sanin, who also arrived in Vladimir soon, says: “It was clearly that when I arrived at
Vladimir from Kresty (February 1), Fedoseyev, who came running to meet me, was barely
able to get out of the carriage, , “Worrying and spent”, tell me about the details of what
rich materials on the history of the liberation of the peasants found in the Vladimir library
and with what greed he now devours them ”N.E. Fedoseev with deep interest reads and
studies everything that is directly related to his work. He analyzes the works of the
provincial committees and drafting committees of the peasant “reform” period, uses
Skrebitsky's multi-volume work in his work, comprehensively investigates the origin of the
peasant community in general, Russian in particular. He studies the role of the peasant
community in the modern Russian setting, and even specifically in the Vladimir province.
Some parts of this extensive work by Fedoseev, copied by his friends, were sent to V. I.
Lenin in Samara.

  Archive IML.

While reading a lot, he came across the book The Story of German Social Democracy by
reactionary Hans Blum. Referring to Hans Blum's assertions that the NS was a
constitutional state in Germany, I would not have Lassalle's free speeches, Fedoseyev
makes the following remark in one of the letters, testifying to his Marxist, dialectical mind:
“Freedom with pi was a bourgeois constitution "... still remains a very, very problematic
concept. And, really, what is “freedom”? Freedom for anyone, freedom for what? .. What
is truth, freedom, fraternity without concrete content? ”(See letter of February 10, 1892).

The range of questions that interested Fedoseev in the short period of his stay at large in
Vladimir was very wide.

In the two letters that have reached us — February 24 and March 15, 1892 — Fedoseyev
expresses his thoughts about the intelligentsia, about the ideals of the future, about
hunger.

Fedoseyev clearly saw that colorlessness reigns in literature and in life in Russia at the
beginning of the 1990s (letter of March 15, 1892). He also saw how folk literature tried to
embellish this unattractive Russian reality, to reconcile “society” with this “vileness”.

In hints, bluntly in words of Fedoseev, he expresses the idea that “energetic, living people
who want to live this way, but differently” will appear precisely when the very basis of life
that educates people changes, when the conditions of our material life change ".

Everyone who read this letter from Fedoseev in Kazan understood what he meant by the
change of the “very basis of life”. Developing this idea further, masking it with a shell of
menoo of suspicious words, Fedoseev wrote: “These material conditions of life will grow
beyond the framework of the modern public, modern social and regulatory regime will
grow - life will boil with the key, literature will be all of fragrant colors.”

Continuing his allegory, Fedoseev warns against limited, purely liberal-bourgeois ideas
about the nature and tasks of the immediate change of the "very foundations of life."

The destruction of the “regulatory regime,” that is, the overthrow of the autocracy, cannot
yet give the desired.

Fedoseyev wrote that the proletariat, whose ideological interests are revolutionary
Marxists, can and should limit itself to a bourgeois-democratic revolution and that the sad
experience of bourgeois revolutions in the West must be taken into account.

**
*

N.E. Fedoseyev knew about the revolutionary, Marxist activities of V.I. Lenin in the
Samara social democratic circles. On the instructions of Fedoseyev, M. G. Gopfengauz
and his friend N. L. Sergievsky delivered to Lenin in Samara certain parts of his work -
about decedents of peasant lands before 1861, about “Poshekhonskaya antiquity” of
Saltykov-Shchedrin from the point of view of a Marxist understanding of economic
reasons falls kropostpogo rights and. others

V. I. Lenin recalls these arrivals by Fedoseyev’s envoys in his article “A Few Words About
II. E. Fedoseyev ”:“ I remember that the mediator in our relations was Gopfengauz, with
whom I once saw ... ”.

Goifeiguz went to Samara not only for the transfer of Fedoseev's manuscripts to Lepine,
but also for the preparation of the alleged move to Fedoseev.

The revolutionary nature of N. E. Fedoseev could not shut herself up in the framework of
scientific development of at least topical issues of our time. He was attracted by the
ardent and fascinating work of a propagandist among the Vladimir youth, who at that time
were completely dominated by populist ideas and moods. Immediately upon arrival in
Vladimir N. Ye. Fedoseyev led an ideological struggle with parish women.

Those close to Fedoseyev at that time unanimously noted the beneficial influence of
Fedoseev on the Vladimir youth, who were beginning to gradually be freed from captivity
in populism, reconsidered their ideological background and eventually passed into the
camp of Marxism.

With the arrival of Fedoseyev to Vladimir, circumstances arose and events occurred that
determined the entire future, full of the most terrible hardships, the prison, staged, exile
life of Nikolai Evgrafovich.
Participants in the Ozhek-Zuev revolutionary circles systematically came to Vladimir to
maintain contact with local socialist groups and to obtain illegal literature that workers
organized in groups needed. They also often visited V.V. Krnvosha, who was known for
his work in Orekhovo-Zuyevo as a revolutionary, organizer of the workers' circle and
propagandist.

In September 1892 N.E. Fedoseev, together with V.V. Krivoshey, arrived for a few days at
the Morozov factory, in Nikolskoye solo. On several occasions, he spoke in circles and at
illegal workers' meetings with a statement of the “program of action” and the goals of the
proletarian struggle.

Before leaving for Vladimir after three days in Nikolsky, at the request of the workers,
Fedoseyev repeated the main points of his speeches in the form of a Letter to the
Workers and left him to the members of the circle as propaganda material. This Letter, as
it became known now, was delivered to the policemen by a group who turned out to be a
traitor, and served as serious evidence against N. E. Fedoseyev.

The police and gendarmes did not need a large pond to find out through their
provocateurs and spies what kind of workers revolutionary relations they had with
Vladimir. Numerous searches and arrests were carried out. On the night of September 9,
the workers LF Alektsky, I. K 'were arrested. Shtibletov, EF Gusev, mechanic E. A. Blinov,
caretaker of the weaving department Ya. L. Ponkov and others, and later A. Andreevsky
and V. V. Krivosheya. Fedoseev was arrested at the moment when he came to the police
chief to receive permission to move to Samara.

The relative freedom, which Fedoseyev enjoyed in Vladimir for seven and a half months,
ended, and it ended for him forever. A new period has begun - a period of heavy solitary
confinement in the Vladimir prison.

**
*

N. E. Fedoseev, greatly exhausted physically, was strong in spirit: he, as in the "Crosses",
steadfastly endured all prison wards that had fallen on his share. “Although bricked up in
stone samples, I still live ...”, - Fedoseyev wrote about himself. He even found the
opportunity to be demolished from his loner with his comrades — the workers who sat
instead with him in the walnut-Zuev case — and with the outside world — with Vladimir
Marxists and, what was especially important, with V. I. Lenin, who at that time lived in
Samara. In difficult prison conditions, Fodosoyev continued to do his research for 10-12
hours a day and conduct lively correspondence, an insignificant part of which was found
in the affairs of the Vladimir provincial gendarme department.

According to Fedoseev's letters, one can get a clear idea of his political convictions and
ideological level. In a letter to N. L. Sergievsky, he develops the idea of dialectical
materialism (“scientific materialism”) and states that for a follower of scientific materialism
there can be no talk of ready, unchanging doctrines that you just need to assimilate - and
the matter is in the bag.

Fedoseev noted that dialectical materialism is the ideology of the proletariat: "Scientific
materialism is the ideological category of the newest time, it is created, grown and
spiritualized by the idea of the working class, the proletariat."

Fedoseev focused and special attention on the tasks of the Russian proletariat. “To give
an idea,” he wrote, “to the Russian proletariat about its historical role, indicate the way in
which it must go in order to fulfill its historical mission, is the nearest Dolo of Russian
ideologues — Marxists” ... ”

He ate many persistent petitions of N. E. Fedoseyev for his provisional release from
prison, pending receipt of a sentence, the police department ordered, finally, in agreement
with the Ministry of Justice, "due to his frustrated health, to release from custody in the
inquest of Mora’s restraint, continue to resolve the case about him, special police
supervision "

September 26, 1893 N.Ye. Fedoseev again found himself in “freedom”. But this “freedom”
was supervised, and most importantly - it was very short-lived. In the context of this
relative freedom, Fedoseev continued the same hard work on his research, which he
conducted in prison. Despite his illness, he worked 16 hours a day and worked with an
enormous passion.

At this time (autumn 1893), the liberal-populist "Russian wealth" began its campaign
against the Russian Marxists. At the head of this campaign was the ideologist of the
liberal populism N. K. Mikhailovsky.

Scattered around different cities, often divided Marxist circles and individual Marxists
reacted with exceptional passion to the defiant and slanderous nature of the “Russian
Wealth” speeches, to the criticism of Mikhailovsky’s political activities of the Social
Democrats.

The reaction to Mikhailovsky’s literary remarks in October 1893 was expressed in the form
of illegal letters of protest to the editorial board of Russian Wealth and personally to II. K.
Mikhailovsky.

Mikhailovsky reported that he received a letter signed in the plural - “Marxists”, and
another - signed by the initials I. F., the author of which said about himself: “I am a“
Russian Marxist ”and, moreover, insulted by you!”. This was Fedoseyev's letter.

His letter to N. E. Fedoseyev (see the letters of N. E. Fedoseyev to N. K. Mikhailovsky)

with the wish that Mikhailovsky, with further polemics with Marxists, note that “a look at
Russian reality expressed by Marx and Engels in 1883 , significantly changed with Engels
during his closest acquaintance with Russia (his article in Isie 2oN, 1892). ” These final
words indicate that Fedoseyev had at his disposal one of the last issues of the theoretical
journal of German Social Democracy, in which F. Engels published his article “Socialism
in Germany”, in which there is such a place: “Old Russia irrevocably went to the grave on
that day, when Tsar Nicholas, desperate in himself and in Noah, took poison. The
bourgeois Russia is built on its ruins ”.

On November 24, 1893, Fedoseev was administratively sent to Vologda in stages, and
from there to a remote Solvyogodsk exile under police supervision for a period of three
years.

Breed train N. N. Fedoseev passed from hand to hand accompany him at the station II. L.
Sergievsky is a large, written in pencil letter in which practical comrades were given to his
comrades who remained in Vladimir about how to work among the Walnut-Zuev workers,
through whom you can communicate with them, what literature to use for propaganda
among them. The letter is full of touching concerns about the workers involved in the new
business, and especially about A. A. Andreevsky. In addition, it contained a number of
other extremely important conspiracy instructions.

NL Sergievsky, being inexperienced in conspiracy matters, did not attach importance to

the fact that this letter could serve as an incriminating material against II. E. Fedoseeva,
and, instead of destroying him, kept in his papers. Subsequently, by the end of Nikolai
Yevgrafovich's Solvychegodskaya exile, this letter had a fatal effect on his entire fate.

In Solyzychegodsk, N. E. Fedoseyev was one of the most important political exiles.

Watching him was relentless and everyday.

In exile, Nikolai Evgrafovich continued to be engaged in scientific work, he looked through

a huge amount of materials that he was able to obtain in one way or another.
The continuation of the controversy with Mikhailovsky, which he began in Vladimir, also
belongs to this time. From Solvychegodsk, N. E. Fedoseyev wrote him two letters. The
latter was signed nm in conjunction with Eve. Kozin, with whom Nikolay Evgrafovich
became friends in exile.

The letters of Nikolai Evgrafovich emphasize the class character of Marx’s theory and
outline the historical task of the proletariat “as the vanguard of the revolutionary army”.
The focal point of all the program requirements of N. E. Fedoseev is socialism. The
conditions for the fulfillment of the tasks set by revolutionary Marxism he formulates as
follows: “... Mastering the working class with tools and means of socialized production; the
destruction of social classes; the abolition of state power (which, nevertheless, in the form
of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” in one form or another will play the role of “midwife”
when the new social system is born); unification of the proletariat of the whole world". This
letter, dated March 19, 1894, was signed in contrast to the first by its full name - “Nikolay
Fedoseev”. He no longer had anything to hide from the royal gendarmes: he was a
political exile.

  Ivan Kozni studied at Rostovsky, m real uchi.chscho; I left high school and went to work
at the Rostov railway workshops. Soon he became an active member of one of the
workers socialist democratic circles. In 1894, Mr .. led the famous strike workers
workshops Vladikavkaz railway. Arrested, he spent a year in prison, and then for four
years he was expelled to Solvychegodsk, where he met I. Ye. Fedoseyev. - Ed.

The conditions of Solvychegodskaya exile contributed little to the fruitful work of N. E.

Fedoseev. So, in November 1895, shortly after the rocks sent him to the Moscow transit
prison to go to Eastern Siberia, Fedoseyev reported in a letter: “I did not finish my work; I
wrote one tiny essay.” This “tiny essay” sent to them The Samara Bulletin of the Moscow
prison transfer prison was the only product of I. Ye. Fedoseyev that she saw in Russia. He
sent his work to the Samara Bulletin but was accidental. Shortly before that, in 1896, a
small group of Marxists succeeded get our hands on this seedy province and turn it into a
Marxist newspaper. It was led by a friend of Fedoseyev, who served with him the
conclusion in “The Crosses”, P. P. Maslov.

The article by N.E. Fedoseyev was called the “Historical Reference” and, since it was
devoted to a critical assessment of the opinions of members of various drafting
commissions who prepared the provision on the abolition of serfdom, was intended for the
February 19 measure. But the growing censorship terror made one fear that the
newspaper would not live to see this date, and therefore the Historical Reference
appeared in two issues of the Samara Vestnik, January 16 and 17, 1897. This “tiny
sketch” represents one of numerous literary works. historical material deep criticism of the
preparation and conduct of the peasant reform, exposing the narrow class nature of the
activities of the nobility "liberators" of the peasants. Later, from Butyrskaya prison,
Fedoseev, in connection with the printing of the essay, wrote that the essay was placed
“in the editorial office, which had come out from under a red pencil,” that is, with censor's
seizures. But even that which survived the censor’s frenzy and was printed in the Samara
Messenger is a sooty literary work, showing a deep knowledge of the era, a keen mind
and great literary talent of the author.

Among the workers arrested instead of with Fedoseev was Andrei Andreevich
Andreevsky. At first, Tolstoyevian, who often pilgrized to Yasnaya Polyana to L. N. Tolstoy
and led extensive correspondence with various Tolstoyans, he gradually began to depart
from Tolstoyanism and then became deeply imbued with the ideas of socialism and class
struggle.

Great was Fedoseyev's joy when, in the second year of his exile, he received a letter from
A. A. Andreevsky, whom he reported that he finally abandoned Tolstoyanism. Fedoseev
wrote to this wonderful Russian worker with a long-haired man who was in exile in the
Nizhny Novgorod province a large letter, followed by others.

The first letter to Andreyevsky is entirely devoted to questions of the class struggle of the
Russian proletariat against the exploiters. This is a real political letter-leaflet. The second
letter is entitled “Where did and how did the Russian working class happen?” And
contains a lot of factual material. This letter, like the first one, was discovered by
Gendarmes at Andreyevsky during a search in several copies, which indicates that these
letters were essentially Fedoseev's proclamations intended for distribution among the
workers and peasants.

N. Ye. Fedoseyev was looking forward to the last day of the link - October 27, 1895. But,
quite unexpectedly, a new misfortune struck him: The reason for this unexpected raid on
Fedoseev was his letter, which he, as mentioned, still in November 1893, on the day of
his departure, was sent to N. Sergievsky on the Solvychegodskaya exile. During a search
on May 14, 1895, a bunch of letters were given and taken away from M. Sergievsky,
which was given to him for storage by his brother N. Sergievsky. In this bundle were
letters of V. I. Lenin to Fedoseyev, as well as a letter from Fedoseev to Sergievsky about
A. A. Andreyevsky.

... of the Ustyug and October lines in the Secondary Gendarme Non-Commissioned
Officers sent to Vladimir.

For more than four months the gendarmes Fedoseyev were tortured in the Vladimir
prison, the conclusion in which, but at the interrogation, Fedoseyev said was for him
"(equivalent to a death sentence."

At the end of February 1896, Fedoseev was sent the same way back to Solvychegodsk,
and only on October 28, 1896 he was informed of a new sentence - a link to five lots to
East Siberia.

N. Ye. Fedoseyev was facing an extremely tedious, full of heavy hardships, a milestone
journey from Solvychegodsk through Veliky Ustyug, Avkotgtyevsk, Monastyrka, Fompsky
stage, Totma, Kadniki, Vologda, Yaroslavl to Moscow. This aostaptic path, mostly on foot,
lasted from November 21, 1896 until the beginning of January 1897.

5.

January 4, 1897 N.E. Fedoseev was imprisoned in Butyrka. Here he was until March. In
February 1897, the first group of arrested members of the Union of Struggle for the
Emancipation of the Working Class, including G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, arrived in St.
Petersburg from Butyrki.

V.V. Starkov, P.K. Zaporozhets, A.A. Vaneev, Y. Tsederbaum (L. Martov), Ya. M.
Lyakhovsky, P.N. although he was not personally acquainted with them, and was very
disappointed when he learned that he would not succeed in meeting with V.I. Levin this
time, who received permission to go to Siberia at his own expense and therefore would
not arrive in the transfer room.

A.I. Elizarova, who then lived in Moscow, says that all the members of the “Union of
Struggle” who fell into Butyrka were completely fascinated by Fedoseyev . Oli
enthusiastically spoke of him in his letters and pas dates.
G. M. Krzhizhanovsky recalls such a conversation with Fedoseyev, but the time of their
joint walks in the small courtyard at the Round Tower Butyrok: “The spring of 1897 was
approaching. The prison frames of life were so tight on the soul that I somehow
complained to N. Ye. About the “poverty” of our situation ... I clearly remember the
reproachful look of his wonderful dark brown eyes and the indignant cry: “How can you
not give yourself report that in the torment that we experience for the sake of our great
cause, “our great happiness ?!” Nikolai Evprafovich was a proven ascetic in turning his
life, always ready to endure any suffering, if only to truly “stand up for the truth, for the
truth, the warm blood of its not ”

B Butyrkah Nikolai Evgrafovich wrote one note, but about which you will have to run a little
ahead.

In the summer of 1901, in St. Petersburg, the battleship "Emperor Alexander III"
descended. During the ceremony, strong prose began with a rainstorm, a hurricane wind
arose, and a large flag that broke from the battleship instead of the flagpole punched the
head of the St. Petersburg secret police gendarme colonel Pyramidon, known for his
ferocity.

On the subject, in the Leninist Iskra (No. 7, 1901), an article appeared “Pyramid is dead!”,
Which read as follows: “B printed in the“ Employee List ”” (No. 5) “The Service Record of
Colonel Piram and- virgin ”, compiled by the untimely 'comrade Fedoseyev who died in
exile, it was predicted that Pyramidon in his booty position" intends to produce mass
nopromes ", seizing at once not only suspects I" of revolutionary activities, but all those
familiar with such persons.

  Istiart's collection “Nikolai Yevgrafovich Fedoseev”, M. 1923, p. 21.

But in this article of Iskra, mentioning the author of the article No. 5 of the “Worker’s
Sheet” ”for 1898“ The Service Record (Head of the St. Petersburg Security Department,
Colonel Pirampdov) ”could hardly be found out now that its compiler was N. E. Fedoseev.
Now we know not only the ego, but also the fact that Fedoseyev wrote this “Service
record” of the royal gendarme in Butyrkah in anticipation of being sent to East Siberian
exile.

At the time when Fedoseev wrote about Pnramidov (1897) and handed over the
manuscript to the “will”, from where it was sent abroad, the illegal “Worker’s Sheet” was
published by the Union of Russian Social Democrats and edited by the Plekhanov’s
Liberation Labor "(after No. 10" Leaf "Worker" "went to the" workers ")).

In the twenties of March 1897, N. E. Fedoseyev in a prison car, together with his
Petersburg comrades and a group of other political exiled settlers, was sent to Eastern
Siberia for five years.

***
For more than two months, the stage lasted from Moscow through Krasnoyarsk to the
Fedoseev Exile Bridge, the city of Verkholensk. This stage, like all similar stages at that
time, was extremely painful for every political exiled settler. For Fedoseyev, he appeared
to be especially painful and fatal.

Uzho in Butyrskaya prison was brewing events that in Vrkholeiskks so tragically ended for
Fedoseev.

“In the Butyrskaya prison,” says G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, “we had to meet with a very
diverse composition of the then revolutionary underground. Pami shlp in the Siberian link
and Polish workers and Polish intellectuals from the ranks of the Polish Socialist Party;
many residents of provincial prisons of a very diverse composition were joined to us.
Among them, such as a certain Juhocknn, who later played such a fatal role in
Fedoseyev’s life in Verkholensk, were among them; there were also Zakhlystov brothers
and several other figures of this kind who, not without reason, caused a very cautious
attitude in our midst ”

It was these morally unscrupulous people who started the mean-time rule as iggtelligoptov
— N.Ye. Fedoseyev, and also the Polish socialists — Abramovich, Petkevich, Strazhtskyi
’. A whole "indictment" was concocted against Fedoseyev.

Slanderers sent a warning to all corners of Russia and, above all, to all the colonies of
Siberian political exiles, that Fedoseyev, who calls himself a Social Democrat, is
essentially a representative of the bourgeoisie. They did the same with the exiled Poles
Abramovich, Strazhetsshsh and Petkevich, whom they also declared to be
representatives of the bourgeoisie. Fedoseev reacted sharply and very painfully to this
vile Makhayevist region.

6.

The appearance of Fedoseyev in the Verkholensk exiled colony, dominated by all kinds of
populist and obscure socialist sentiments, was a significant event; he was in these distant,
deaf Siberian places the first revolutionary Marxist with a significant past revolutionary
work, who experienced numerous royal prisons, stages and exile.

Judging by one letter from V. I. Lenin to his relatives, Vladimir Ilyich became aware of the
appearance of N. E. Fedoseyev in Verkholensk, and he sends him a letter and a letter. In
a letter from Shushensky dated January 24, 1898 to A.I. Elizarova, Vladimir Ilyich, who
knew that she corresponded with Fedoseyev, wrote, “N. EF does not write to me, does
not even answer, although I wrote him 2 letters. Charge him to it if you write. "

Whether it was the fault of Nikolai Yevgrafovich’s stubborn silence that the letters of V.I.
Lenin were missing or whether he didn’t answer because of the circumstances so tragic
for him is hard to say now.
He lived Fedoseev in Verkholensk unusually hard. In connection with the slander of the
villains who poisoned him, he refused to accept any kind of help from outside, even from
the comradely box office of the warholis. Without receiving any material support from his
family, having absolutely no income in remote Verkhoyensk, Fedoseyev lived only on a
hungry “government allowance” at 9 p. 50 k. Per month, from which more than half went
to pay for the room in the hut. Fedoseyev was starving, and not only was starving, but he
was cold — he was freezing in the long, extremely frosty Yakut winter of 1897/98.

All these painful circumstances of life in Verkholensk were extremely aggravated not only
by the campaign of Fedoseyev’s slander and persecution that started in Butyrka and
continued along a landmark road, which did not stop, but began with a new force.

The colony of political exiles Verkholensk in the majority actively took the side of
Fedoseyev. In September 1897, the Verkholensk colony comprehensively discussed the
whole “issue” and came to the conclusion that all the accusations are the most disgraceful
slander that arose on the basis of the personal hostile attitudes of Messrs. Yukhotskikh to
Fedoseyev and his comrades.

On January 24, 1898, V.I. Lenin wrote to his relatives: “I heard about“ history ”in
Verkholensk: there was a disgusting brawler who attacked N. Ye.”

 V. I. Lepin, Cell., Vol. 37, p. 81,

 Ibid.

Despite these disastrous circumstances of the mental state and health of Fedoseyev, he
continued to work, ending his long-term Marxist study on the economic causes of the fall
of serfdom. Fedoseev wrote from Verkholensk to Vladimir I. L, Sergievsky about his work,
about its replenishment of materials. In the Perkholensk exile, this roared
10TsGShShI.1YI scientific feat was even harder to accomplish!, Than in the Vladimir
prison and in the head of exile.

Nikolai Evgrafovich sent three letters of L. II. Tolstoy about Dukhobors, with the position of
whom he met in Kuti.
The wax of 1.898 brought nothing joyous to Fedoseyev. From the high-winter winter, he
emerged even more dejected and physically weakened. And he made the fateful decision.

Leaving the closest friends with his farewell letter. June 21, 1898 he went into the taiga
and shot himself in the heart. The bullet went slightly lower, tore the insides and stuck in
the spine. The comrades, hearing the shot, ran to him and carried him, mortally wounded,
to the nearest hut of the political exile.

N. E. Fedoseev did not lose consciousness and lived for another nine hours, said
goodbye to his companions around him and made the last orders. After a night of
unbearable suffering, Nikolai Evgrafovich Fedoseyev died. His last words were: "How I
would like to live."
At that time, Comrade V. I. Levin in the Union of Struggle Dr. Ya. Lyakhovskiy was exiled
there in the case of the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the
Working Class. The dying Nikolai Evgrafovich ordered him to send G. M. Krzhizhanovsky
his basket with manuscripts. His last thoughts were about a great deed to which he gave
all his strength, all his short life.

V.I. Lenin wrote in a letter from Shushensky L.I. Elizarova on July 15, 1898: “About N. E.
(Fedoseyev. - V. V.) ■ received a letter from the doctor yesterday (Lyakhoveky. - B. V.) .
N. Ye. Committed suicide with a revolver shot. 23. VI was buried. He left a letter to Gleb
(G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. - B.V.) and to the same manuscript, but he told me, he told me,
that he was dying "with a complete selfless faith in life, and not from disappointment."

I did not expect that they would finish so sadly. It must be that the exile "story", raised
against him by one brawler, had a terrible effect on him. "1

In the letter mentioned by Lenin, Lyakhovsky wrote to Vladimir Ilyich that he sent
Fedoseyev a basket of papers to G.Krzhizhanovsky in Krasnoyarsk, and was worried
about the fate of the package, as well as about collecting money for the monument to
Nikolai Evgrafovich 2.

On the day of the death of N. E. Fedoseyev, the Verkhelopsky police authorities received
a message from the police department about allowing M. G. Hopfengauz to transfer
Nikolai Evgrafovich from Arkhangelsk to Verkholensk for marriage. And on July 16, 1898,
Maria Germanovna, already quite ready to leave for Verkholensk, received Fedoseyev’s
dying letter. In this letter, Fedoseev wrote to her that he was dying, not only losing faith in
the future, but fervently conveying to his comrades a covenant to maintain this faith in
himself; he only complained that his personal strength had been blown up3. On July 18,
M. G. Gopfengauz on the road to the cemetery shot herself dead.

'/ I. I. Lenin, Vol., V. 37, p. 109.

2 See Red Lottery No. 0, 1920, p. 18. i. See Proletarian Revolution No. 8 (20), 1923, p.
00.

This new tragic event, which hit the entire Archangelsk colony of political exiles, comrades
who knew the deep interest that V. I. Lenin showed to Fedoseyev, were immediately
reported to him in Shushenskoye. Vladimir Ilyich wrote in a letter to Moscow to A. I.
Elizarova on August 16, 1898: “Together with your letter I received news from
Arkhangelsk that M. G. (Gopfengauz. - V. V.) also shot herself (18. VII), received 16. VII
news of the death of N. Ye. This is a terrible tragic story! And the wild slander of some
wretched Yukhotsky (political exile in Verkholensk) played one of the main roles in this
final. YY E. was terribly impressed and depressed. Because of this, he decided not to take
help from anyone and endured terrible hardships. They say, after walking 2-3 before his
death, he received a letter in which he repeated these slanders. Hell knows what it is! The
“exile stories” are the worst in exile, but I never thought that they could reach such a size!
The slanderer has long been openly and resolutely condemned by all his comrades, and I
never thought that N. Ye. (Who had some experience with regard to exiled stories) took it
all so terribly close to heart ”

***

The revolutionary activity of N. E. Fedoseyev is a vivid expression of the fact that Marxism
"Russia has truly suffered through a half-century history of unheard of torment and
sacrifice, unprecedented revolutionary heroism, incredible energy and selfless quest ..."

Nikolai Yevgrafovich Fedoseev is a bright type of those from whom the victorious fighting
cohort of the great party Lenin was forged.

Professor B. Volin

--------

Letters

1.To N. L. Motovilov [December 1887]

Nikolai Aleksandrovich!

In the gymnasium, I am with the foursome behavior. I have the opportunity to prepare to
pass on an external certificate to the certificate of maturity, but I don’t want to: I don’t go to
the university anyway, I don’t need to, but I would have to study very intensively,
exclusively, Latin and Greek. I intend to write where I intend to enter later, if I finally
decide; now I am in doubt.

Without you, there was a lot of change. Ours diminished, only 5 people remained (We-Ã,
K-Ã, L-Ã and G-v ’dropped out), but 7 more people were grouped, but they were different
from us. We rarely read. Instead of the factory issue, they started on the peasant. Do not
understand why. If at the beginning of the program, we should become familiar with the
Russian reality, without going into the study of individual issues (to [a] Krestiap, factory,
the needs of the intelligentsia, etc.), then the reading went right; why change?
Undoubtedly, the factory question in Russia is in close connection with the peasant, by
(superficial) studying the position of workers in factories and plants will take much less
time than studying the position of the peasants; and I think that, by distributing in this way
(intellectuals, factory workers, peasants), you meant precisely the vastness of each
department. I ask you, Nikolai Aleksandrovich, to write me a program that you had in mind
for our reading; Unfortunately, I know only the first part of it, and it seems that everything
is so. Here is another common need: many books are required, and the source is one -
from V.V. *, and even then more and more on fiction, and in the Public] student library]
were given the right to take only one book. I would like to have a lot of talk with you, but I
will postpone it until the next time, because I don’t know how convenient it is for you to
write, the most important reversal occurred among students] and a turn for the better.
Zemlechestv] replenished Their goals have expanded considerably; they will no longer be
limited to purely student] affairs. One of the prominent changes in organizations of]
students] is the introduction of circle readings for the purpose of self-development.
Expelled at the university - it seems, 72, and at the Institute - 17 or 20 people. Mm 2 is
sitting in the police for the second month (since December 17), he was searched. From
Simbirsk they brought and put Gudkov and someone else in the police. Evg [eniy] Ch
[nrikov], F-v3 were arrested in Nizhny Novgorod, and persistent rumors circulate that S.
Koronin was allegedly arrested.

 Motovilov II. A. - 3rd year student of the Kazan Veterinary Institute. December 4, 1887,
during the outbreak of "student unrest" at Kazan University, was one of the leaders of the
revolutionary gathering of students of the Veterinary Institute. On the next desh. He was
expelled from the Institute and exiled to Penza. He had a great influence on N. Ye.
Fedoseyev in the sense of forming his Marxist views. - Ed.
 Comrades N. Ye. Fedoseyev in the gymnasium: V. A. Vershnvpp, Peter Kuvpnets, and
others. - Rod.
1 V. B. - a student of the law faculty of the Kazan University V. V. Vasilyev, comrade N. E.
Fedoseyev in a circle. - Rvd.
2 Mmm - M. L, Mandelstam. Ed.
3 E. II. Chirikov - ppsatol, while a student at Kazan University; FCI - KI Fadeev, student. -
Red,

Sympathetic letters from Paris were received from Russian and Polish students. The
unfortunate convicts also sent a message from Cara to themselves. It's bad for them to
live!

In our classroom, we read the circulars of the Minister of Education [one] of Education,
who are forbidden to read books that are not placed in the catalog you know; It is strictly
forbidden to borrow books from public libraries, and even more so to secret ones; to avoid
and inform the authorities on conspirators, instigators, instigators and people who have a
harmful influence in their environment, but in the end they did not resist, so as not to curse
Dobrolyubov as an agitator, a harmful person and, finally, even a scoundrel for changing
holy Russian land. What a! Write (if you will) in the name of V.V. V. 1 I remain respecting
you
N.F.

2. N. A. Motovilova February 27 [1888]

Nikolai Alexandrovich!

(I did not think that, due to the incompleteness of the news, you would deduce such a
conclusion about my leaving the gymnasium. There was nothing to do with university
riots. I went out at the request of the director, and not of my own accord. The reason for
my exclusion was the discovery of the fictitiousness of my aunt, I lived in an apartment,
comparing this fact with the previous denunciation of Kulagin about the library and the
circle, and caused me to withdraw 3 behaviors and, finally, to be expelled from the
gymnasium. I will write in more detail. At the council I decided to withdraw 3 behaviors
and invite my father to Kazan to I lived this time with me. My father arrived. The director
told him what he knew and advised my father to take me, because, in all likelihood, the
trustee will exclude him, who will be informed about me, as he reliably knows that the
trustee knows about the library, and that not only his opinion, but also the entire council
(as confirmed by Pisetsky 3 and the inspector), and that, finally, despite the library’s
unsubstantiated existence, the trustee will necessarily require my exclusion according to
the present rules. In view of all this, I, of course, cannot object - ■ and went out. I did not
agree with the need to leave Kazan until spring (as the director demanded), but I stayed
here - my father had nothing against it. That's all. Sad but nothing can be done. Regarding
the university, to tell the truth, I don’t have a specific] solution, especially it doesn’t pull; as
for her handing over to the certificate of maturity now, I decided to put it off until next year,
and use the remaining time to acquire the necessary knowledge, which I try to fulfill. In the
strength of our circle, I was sure that it was an apache, as it seemed to you that the output
of L, V, and K made an unpleasant impression on me. I know perfectly well why L came
out, yes, but the truth is, I did not attach any importance to him. V-in came out for the
simple reason that it is not suitable for passing, firstly, but talkativeness, and secondly, on
the history of Kulagin (after class, when Kulagin called him to answer a lesson in Russian
new [oh ] literature], he called such authors that K-and asked him to shut up, and a few
more facts of the same kind). Books are given to him. K-in came at the disadvantage of
attending readings, and indeed his training is small. Books are given to him too. Newly
received Yablochkov and Kartashov. The first very efficient person. The readings are
excellent, we are completing a review of reality on the peasant issue, the program is quite
extensive, and most importantly, multilateral. They are going to me (very convenient);
Prozorov, I think you have already heard, have not accepted. All those arrested on
December 4th were released, one in prison [Yulovsky] hanged himself (the rope broke, he
broke his head). 18 f [Eubral] was planted in the police of Komlev and Pletnev, after a
search they found lithographed poems], no (illegal) speeches, no printing apparatus was
found. Today Komlev was released on bail of his father. Now I want to explain to you why
and why Peter Ivanovich came. Our circle was formed completely independently, for
reading it was only necessary to select books (Golubev’s catalog wasn’t suitable), In
turned to Chir [com] wu, he indicated to you. Volkov and I] came to you only for the
program, as an experienced person. It turned out that V-v meant your joining us, I did not
know about anything like that, so I didn’t like your proposal to participate in our plow circle,
and why I’ll try to prove it to you. As early as the 6th class, I entered one circle of a part [s]
of persons, my comrade and Golubev (then my good friend) participated in the [o] tory.
Relationships between the members, a dry, formal attitude towards the grandfather, a
mechanical acquisition of the facts, but we liked it, we came out soon. Moreover, Golubev
warned men that in general this kind of circle-based society was not based on the free
exchange of ideas, that despotism in pei is developed like nowhere else. He gave me the
idea to create his own gymnasium circle, and as for the developers, this is nonsense:
catalogs, there are programs that everyone can handle; the free exchange of thoughts is
possible only with equal comrades or with people with a true desire to help another, with a
person who will allow himself the least violence to the free development of thought. Mr.
[olube] in was exiled to Siberia. V [olkovy] m and I formed a circle (at the end of the 7th
grade), set the matter too broadly — the goal of self-development and possible practical
activity. And then the meeting with you and Vl-vym. Of course, I made every effort not to
unite with you, and exposed Peter Ivanovich (he never had a member at his pass, only his
library was in his house) as a mortar; gun operated quite successfully.

 V. V. V. - V. V. Vladimirov - Studept-Medic. - Ed.

 Kulagin L, / G. - Teacher of the history of the 1st Kazan gymnasium, where he studied II.
E. Fedoseev. - Ed.
 Pisetsky M.I. - teacher of the gymnasium. - Red,

At the next meeting, all our members were against the union. A few days later you came
to me, it was an important day, an insignificant conversation with you about natural
science, it seems, then about the need to prepare for practical work, and most
importantly, your sincerity positively arranged me to you. I offered another meeting with
you to my members, and three of them have already left the circle. And then our readings
went, and, of course, thanks to you (only) I changed my opinion about circles with
unauthorized persons. Unfortunately, on December 4th, the case turned up in full swing,
and you didn’t. We received 9 books from the public] student library. I enrolled in Vor x (n]
-A f [c]] fraternity. It was divided into circles for reading. I ask you to give 1 Probably a
program for an initial reading with the young ladies I heard from V. V. that it was worked
out for you. Is it possible to find the case of 193, which was in Tlpograndsky? 1 We all
bow down to you. In-in drinks, reads a lot, translated

at the apartment to the teacher, finish.

Your II. Fy.
TsGIA, f. 102, op. 137, Letters are printed on the photo *
R - • 115/1890, l, 118 a, b, c, d, d. Copies stored
in the IML Archive

 On December 4, 1887, “student unrest” broke out in Kazan in protest against the
university in 1884. Students at the gathering accepted an appeal “to the government” and
“to society” and put forward a number of demands. The local authorities brutally cracked
down on students. Dozens of students were expelled from the university and from the
Veterinary Institute. Among the excluded was the 1 st year student of the Faculty of Law
V, I. Lepin, - Ed.
V.V. Vladimirov. - Ed.
 G. M. Volkov, with whom N. E. Fedoseev, in the beginning of 1887, organized a circle of
gymnasium students. - Red,
  Surname is called conditional, since it is difficult to disassemble. I. B. Fedoseev for the
sake of conspiracy, he wrote it by the written word. - Ed.
1 In the original, the signature is difficult to make out. Spell for conspiracy dotted, so that
the signature is read as Nedlov or Neflov. - Red

3. E. A. Sanina March 24, 1891.

I forgot to look at the post date of your letter. Letter. Received March 22.
S.P.O.T.

Nota al pie editorial

  For 55 lots, nothing was known about the correspondence of I. E. Fedoseyev with E. A, Sapina.
Only in 1946 the Institute of Marxism-Lobschism under the CPSU Central Committee received
letters to Ekaterina Alekseevna Sanina from Ekaterina, who had survived from Ekaterina, from
the “Crosses” and from Vladimir, received her death by her husband, the doctor IK Nodoshev.
The correspondence arose on the initiative of V. A. Sanina — the sister of A. A. Sanin, who was
serving a sentence in the “Crosses” together with N. E. Fedoseyev.

The letters of N. E. Fedoseyev to E. A. Savina papsapsa are small, slim, sometimes difficult to
disassemble the handwriting, and in most cases (prison letters) paragraph bos and with
abbreviations of mtsogih words. Abbreviations are restored and put in square brackets. For
readability, paragraphs have been made in some cases. The words crossed out by N. E.
Fedoseyev in the letters but restored and re-negotiated in the notes. Pso's letters of I. E.
Fedoseyev from the “Crosses” are crossed out by gendarmes in a criss-cross pattern with yellow
chemical paint for the purpose of detecting secrets. Pa all prison letters put round or oval to rest
the prosecutor of the St. Petersburg district court, indicating that they are viewed by censorship. -
Ed.

* SPOT - sapt-potterburgskoy single prison. - Ed.

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, with great pleasure I hurry to take advantage of your kind
permission and the invitation to write you frankly, that is, to your liking. This is all the more
pleasant for me that I am exactly that thirsty, like manna from heaven, and my friend
Alekfy] Alekseevich] 1 recommended you to me as my best friend. I warn you in advance
and I ask you to forgive that I will write too often, too frankly, and most importantly, a lot,
so that you need to die to death. Well, then look, tell me frankly. And now the sweat sits
back and I will write, write and write about everything that comes into my head and I
would like to receive your answer. Your letter I was extremely pleased. This was
expressed, it seems, in external actions; at least the warden mumbled: “Look, as he did,
he should, money”; and ns slept all night. I received your letter in miputs of really terrible
spiritual adversity due to one external circumstance (I will not write about Mr.). Inei did not
receive literally from anyone, except for the letters of Gutman from Tsaritsyn, whom he
would rather have sent. A man wrote to me, apparently, an extremely important letter, but
for some reason I had a fantasy to sign with a humorous signature “sad messenger”. Well,
this letter is “stuck”. After some time, he wrote a second letter in 5 lines, from it I only
found out about the “sad” first letter and that Anna Grigor wondered why I didn’t send her
books, that in Tsaritsyn I couldn’t get them and, finally, about the address (Moses
Gutman) for books. And nothing more. I cannot send books from here according to the
prison rules. As a result, and due to the extreme need of Anna -Grieg [of Ore] in some
books I ask, “You, Ekaterina Alekseevna, ask Gangardt (on my behalf), if you find it
convenient, to return some of my books (You choose) telling him for whom the books are,
and send them to Ann [e] Grieg [orchem]. Writing about my present life is very
uninteresting.

 A. A. Sanin is Yekaterina Alekseevna’s brother, one of the participants of the Fedoseyev
circles in Kazan, a friend of Fedoseyev. - Rvd.
 A. G. Solov'eva is one of the participants of the Fodoseyev circle in Kazan. - Ed.
 Head of the Kazan provincial gendarme department. - Ed.
But my time is divided into clocks, etc., and 150 rings, 200 bottoms, 200 labels, etc. I work
for the Shanshal factory for cardboard boxes, with a certain necessary intensity of labor.
At first I was delighted, I thought that the work was purely mechanical, one can think as
much as one wishes. It turned out he was fantasizing, for you would start thinking about
something - in an hour, many in two, Rose, the “b; p. Shanshal. Well, as a result, devilry.
It is extremely tiring for our Braga with such an intolerable body as an intelligent head.
The library here is seriously ill with absenteeism; although his books are excellent (Maxim
Kovalevsky, almost all of his books, Klyuchevsky, Loturpo), I kept them on a rainy day. I
don’t send money (I write frankly and without embarrassment), because May is enough
earned and sent by you; I brought my needs to the necessary minimum, and I am very
happy about it; the money will probably be needed in the 92nd year to go by the “stage”,
and to “our own”, then I will ask you to send the missing amount (by that time I will have
an “inviolable fund” 70% of rubles earnings). I’ll soon be 21 months old, only 9 will remain
(hurray!).

  One il participants Kazan circle. - Ed.

 Kopalssky M. M. (1851—1916) - Russian bourgeois
historian, sociologist, liberal political figure - Ray.
 Klyuchevsky I., O. (1841-1II) prominent Russian bourgeois historian. - Ray.

The prison, it seems, didn’t affect the psyche of the organism, or the psyche; at least,
neither Pavel Pavlovich Lavrovsky4, nor Aleksey] Alekseevich discovered any
abnormalities in me (or they wanted to say). However, I'm lying. Alexey says that as if I
had become less mobile and alive (which is not surprising and completely natural, Mr. K. I
am not “small”, but he knew me for 18 years, and now I am 20) and that I became an
“aesthetic”. A terrible hypocrite, he discovered in me, who had been sitting in muddy holes
for a little but two years, aesthetic inclinations (this is the amazing influence of prison1),
while he himself traveled all summer but with his sub-forest forests, and even with Gustav
Gross and Hume! 1 Thumbs up! But I have become talkative, this is true, as you will see
from your own bitter experience. When I was sitting in Kazan, I worked terribly a lot: I
thought and wrote, read and read (yes, and nights), and almost to my terrible grief, I didn’t
lose all my many months work (abbreviated notes and extracts on 300 sheets): wanted to
leave in the prison archive; in the end, they took pity and sent her here. It is safe and
sound in the local zachgauze. At least the heart is calm. Kazan had the opportunity to
follow journalism, which I did carefully. But I did not manage to wait until the end of the
excellent and scary for me interesting article about Klyuchevsky about Zemsky Sobor.
What I thought and think about and what I have invented - I will write next time; I would
terribly like to know what conclusions the new historian of the Catherine epoch Bilbas 2
came to regarding the economic and financial activities of the empress, in general
economic statistics and dynamics of that time, and whether he examines in detail (and
how he formulates) the causes of the Pugachev movement; The fact is that I got
acquainted with a very efficient (by the abundance of facts) monograph Dubrovin3 and
came to some important, interesting conclusions, therefore I am interested in new work:
probably there are new facts in it. What does Bilbayov say about our export trade of that
time, about its influence on diplomatic relations, etc. What does he see as the reasons for
the enslavement of Little Russian peasants. Have you also read the new book by Lappo-
Danilevsky 4 on the history of finance? Interesting to death. True, these books are in the
public library, and you read them. Write what you read. And what's new. Enrolled in
school. - I would like to start a correspondence with Pavel Nikolayevich] Skvortsov] *, if he
wishes. I saw him and Anna Mikhailovna Grigorieva] in Nizhny (thanks to Barinov). I was
so happy that I didn’t really ask or say anything, I didn’t even recognize the address, but I
only said how the police officers visited the stages and how we fried eggs. Then we could
not see him. Please find out about his address, and, most importantly, kopeko, about
Jelappi; I want to talk to him about very, very many things. My letter will end soon, but I
would like to write such a mass, - I don’t have time to write on the second sheet, since I
wrote another letter to Gutman (there’s not enough time for writing), but now I’ll go for a
walk). - Goodbye. Lingerie and other things received - very handy, thank you heartfelt.
Please nishito faster and more. Shake hands. Bow to Alexei and others. In the next letter I
will not write so randomly, if not worse. My address: St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg
solitary prison, political politician] arege [antu].

I will write next Sunday, without waiting for your answer.

Your II. Fedoseev.

Archive IML, f. 156, op, 1,

units xp 1, l. 1-2.

* Le'gschto, Charles Jean Marie (1831-1902) - French sociologist and ethnographer. - Ed.

1 Hume David (1711 - 1770) —English bourgeois philosopher, historian, economist. -

Rvd.
2 B. Bilbayov (1838-1904) - Russian liberal bourgeois historian and publicist. - Ed.
3 Dubrovin I. F. (1837–1904) - Russian nobility-bourgeois historian, editor of the “Russian
Antiquity”. - Ed.
‘Lapio-Danilevsky A.S. (1863-1919) - Russian bourgeois historian, academician. - Red,
Skvortsov P. II. - writer and statistician, one of the first Marxists with whom Fedoseyev
met in Kazan. - Red,

4. E. A. sanina March 31, 1891.

C. p. O. t.

Today, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, I almost did not think to write to you and only the
prospect of the whole Sunday (that is, p. Whole week) to be left alone without a human
word made me neglect some sad questions like “what is it ?!” “What it is” and so forth.
Unsompeppo, that hesitations to stand in simple “human” relations with a new person are
the result of solitary confinement, moral breaking, - the whole birth I have never had these
very bad doubts: “yes, will they”, “yes how to take a look "- I am writing to you about this
because I promised to write frankly. I really want to get to know you as close as possible.
These extensive "epistols" although they will partly introduce you to me (and then see you
and meet you personally), and most importantly, they positively constitute pleasure in a
real mental state. Understand, Ekaterina Alekseevna, at least “a little”, what ineffable
space in the words: “give two sheets of mail to [oh] paper and 1 convoy [ert]” - right, like
an alcoholic “kosushka” - and smile sadly This week I remain without books: I took the
December book of the Russian Herald *, to which (ie, towards the direction of) I am
without much bias, but I was not positively able to read: solid slander and insinuation, yes
“Historical] research on the topic of Pre-La Awal turned out to be a combat article against
the Austrians and“ for ”ex ilstvo to juggle with facts and so forth, and there -... memories of
Simbirsk [their] fires etc. Just disgusting to look at the book and know that it is in the same
room with you ...

Time drags on; I wake up in the morning at 5 o'clock and I dream a whole hour (the most
pleasant time); the call to “get up” frightens off fantasies and then all day imprisoning
reality, prison sounds, etc .; nor sekupdu but forget that behind the lock and behind bars.
My blood has gone somewhere. Before it was “even astonishment,” how much it was, and
now ... Odashko, this is not substantial and is also short-lived, like the remaining 9
months. - Now memories. I did not write you anything about our journey from Kazan to St.
Petersburg, but, contrary to our expectations, Krapp was interesting, flashed a month and
a half, like an instant; Of course, the main reason for this was. that we were “together”, but
beyond this and the outer life was a lot of interesting, new. Sent a pass along with the
"social deficits", so on. “Degenerative subjects” - that’s their life turned out to be extremely
interesting. Their foreheads and ears turned out to be the same as other people, contrary
to the theory of “lawyers in the field of anthropology”. In addition to acquaintance with the
sulfur, the unsightly mass of vagrants, tatey and so on, we managed at one stage to meet
with the ideologist (and, as you will see below, the purest water) the peasant, and in
addition the Tatar; he was exiled to Siberia by the verdict of the rural society, in chains,
but to the order of the police officer (the latter told us many details about the ideologue,
about [from] ryh, this was silent for some reason before us). You are probably familiar with
a whole series of scandalous lawsuits in the case of the Weiss sect.

 (Irsusky Vestnik "- political and literary. A journal published in 1856-1906, either in
Moscow or in St. Petersburg. Since the 1860s, it has become a reaction body. - Ed.
 The word could not make out. - Ed.

The Prophet Weiss himself sits in the house of the insane; we met his closest disciple and
the apostle Zabuddipov. We talked with him all night. Imagine such an incredible thing
that our Kazan "ruins of the Bulgars" will serve as the basis for the utopia of the future life
and the cause of the terrible mass of suffering, and most importantly, these ruins, we
know only about the gymnasium textbook archaeological expeditions, forcing the
inveterate “grain-grower” to break away from the plow, study sacred books, be interested
in newspapers (even foreign news) and become a preacher - the cause of the religious
movement throughout the Muslim world, as you know, or religious differences between
the old sects, and there are still some misunderstandings with the mufti. But the real,
essential lining is, of course, the reactionary ideal of the peasantry. Apostle Vaisov argued
to us that Vaisov is the legitimate and direct heir of the rebellious kingdom, that this last
year (91 years) will be restored, that people already write about this in the newspapers,
that all foreign powers recognize it. Landownership in the future Bulgars with a company
is assumed on the foundations of the Muslim legal body, the Shari'ah. Taxes will be only
10 kopecks. from the "soul", as Ivan the Terrible levied from the subdued Kazanians and
that is now illegally broken.

Zadudinov and his comrades are exiled by societies for the default payment of taxes.
Fantasy, as you can see, is utopian. It is terribly painful for these aldruistov; Zabuddiiov is
also probably a candidate for an insane asylum. We, as delicately as possible, argued to
Zabuddiiov that his interpretations of the facts were wrong, but, of course, we did not
exactly dissuade. For example, you convince him that the newspapers write only about
the reasons for the movement; it is a fact to him, proof of recognition of the law. He
dictated to us his own propriety of 1 o1!, Apparently, of another editorial board. The words
“employee of the whole world” make a terrible impression, to [ot] rye he uttered with a
peculiar nervous tremor, as though he himself was struck by their amazing depth;
although, as you can see from the above, “the whole world” consists for him in the very
narrow confines of the former Bulgarian kingdom and, moreover, with the exception of all
the “infidels”, “not ours”. In a word, utopia is purely peasant, reactionary, narrowly
particular, but it is terribly sad. The rest of our "party" - the majority of tramps. It is a
remarkable fact, I was positively convinced of it - the huge mass of fugitives from Siberia
goes to Russia not at all to try to get into their native places and sit down again on the
ground, but only with the aim of getting somewhere in Kupgur or Yekaterinburg into the
hands of the authorities. , take advantage of this in order to sneak "but to the stage" to
where, according to rumors, a good "alms". In a word, “white bread” and “pleasure” to be
together with others “in the warmth” and “well-fed” (living conditions on the run do not
allow this last one) is the main incentive of the shoots; I am not talking about the
immediate cause of the shoots, it is, of course, the lack of work in Siberia, but about the
reasons forcing me to change one ordeal for another, in our opinion, the worst.

Symbol of faith. - Ed.

Involuntarily, also, an enormous number of societies exiled by sentences, taty, not

accepted by societies, are striking. This is undoubtedly a very characteristic sign of the
times; there were superfluous members in Russian society at the time of the transition to
three-field agriculture, at the time of the transition of landowner farming to commodity
farming, when the obstinate were referred to and ran. Now, those who are deprived of
working conditions or superfluous (to [they are required to deprive of these working
conditions, in the Ziberovsky sense *), are referenced to the general cited. It seems to me
that observation of life, and most importantly, the views of the present criminals and
superfluous ones, is a very interesting and important thing. The contingent of exiled and
vagrants make up literally people from all the provinces of Russia; vagrants, Little
Russians, Rusaks, Moldovans all speak in one adverb, the distinctive features of
particular tribal life have almost completely disappeared. In one of the oncoming parties,
we met a “falconer”, a very developed subject, a former peasant, a crest, who served after
escaping in sailors from the Maize (Manjour), who was in Nagasaki, Singapore, and was
perfectly familiar with the Amur and Ussuri regions. He told us that in Japan now the
constitution - this fact, however, attracted his attention to the same extent as the officer
riding through Siberia to St. Petersburg. The “deficiencies”, especially the vagrants from
Yakutsk, Irkutsk, etc., were treated us remarkably cordially and in the same way as they
were to barts. The authorities warned us to take care of our belongings, that they were
instantly plundered, and we happened to spend the night with the oncoming party a man
in 70 (in a small room), while we were completely against our desires cleared a place for
"sleeping" and nothing all the way lost from our things, although at night and hours and
money lay unlocked. I am afraid to seem sentimental or an idealizer, and therefore I will
no longer talk about the "deficiencies" towards us. We had a lot of comedy, so we even
contemplate a comic opera, And, of course, all the way and days and nights chatted
incessantly with each other. In Kazan “forwarding” I was sitting with Peter Pavlovich] *, so
we chatted literally to a sore throat, and in the morning we could not speak. Finally, all the
way they sawed Pavel Pavlovich] because he forgot us, when we were in prison, did not
write a single line. They attacked diligently, but most of all I, like an outsider, sticking to
the women’s goods (also a social instinct), although I never counted or claimed the
special memory or attentiveness of Laurus to me [ovsky]. Interestingly, Lavr [ovsky]
justified himself with the fact that there was nothing to write, there was nothing interesting,
and we informed him that these three lines were the subject of our conversations for the
whole month, and, of course, put it in the corner . Have ears to hear ... We (passed
through "the country of the Zemstvo bosses", there are a lot of talk about them and quite
favorable ones, at least in the present state of things nothing has changed.

See gr. 100. ~ Ed

Please write to me in more detail about Skvortsov’s article in “Juridical] vest [nickname]”:
“The results of a peasant economy in a sowing [erna] threef [full] chernozem] strip.” For
me, it is very interesting. Notice, Ekaterina Alekseevna, that V. V. in recent articles about
the community in Sev [ernom] Vestnik [ike], finally becomes, albeit without reservation, a
new point of view.

 P. P. Masloa - see note on p. 173. - Ed.

 // Legal Bulletin ”- a monthly journal published in Moscow from 1867 to 1892. The
magazine sometimes gave space to articles of the Marxist direction. So, in the number 5-
6 of the journal in 1891, an article by P. II was placed. Skvortsova "Results of the peasant
economy on the southern triplex black soil," which N. Ye. Fedoseyev has in mind. - Ed.
 Explicit slip of the pen, see the previous note. - Ed.
 The pseudonym of V.P. Vorontsov (1847–1918), one of the chapters
theorists of parodppchost 80-90s. - Ed.
  “Severny Vestnik” is a literary and scientific political journal of the liberal trend, published
in St. Petersburg from 1885 to 1898. In the first years of its publication, articles of the
most popular populists were published in this journal. From 1891, the journal actually
became the organ of Russian symbolists and decadents, preaching idealism and
mysticism. - Ed.

Until now, all apologists have interpreted about redistributions, interpretations and
movements in favor of indigenous redivisions, as a characteristic modern phenomenon of
communal life. This still repeats (in [18], 88) Prugašn. But it was rather difficult to interpret
the redistribution when they were absent in the hugely-los of purely communal Russia,
and Orlov directly expressed the view that as a result I of the peasant economy needs to
look for solutions to question I about the vitality and fate of the community. V. V. resorts to
the following incorrect logical method: he identifies the redemption of the land (after the
reform) with the need to stop the first stop [her] communal land through an application, I
labor; in this and the other case, it is as if the land for some time must naturally be in
private ownership; By this he explains the lack of redistribution in the black belt from the
reform to these holes, for, he says, the first peasant has not yet become accustomed to
the new: object: right, in the first serf epoch he allegedly controlled everything in relation
to the land landowner. Of course, if a fire is not a wren (and this is obvious), but his
statement that! the cross [yane] received the ownership of land I only after the reform,
positively contradicted the post I system, to [from] paradise was not at all “legalized
expropriation” of the cross [syap'a] property, this I was equally recognized and placed
[ Ikamp] and the cross [yyanami]. "We. I am yours, and our land "; even such extreme
supporters of landlordism as Menshikov proposed to free the I peasants] with a long-term
lease (25-year), which 1 is an indirect recognition of the right to land for the first cross
[yyanami], and, finally, the reform itself, - The first fact of the redistribution of the land in
this lane that is currently being accomplished in this lane is to be found in something else.
The results of the peasant economy will give the most positive answer to this. It turns out
that the community has isolated from my midst an enormous mass of proletarians and
makes a redistribution between the rest. But it is already a fact, at that stage, that stage in
the community life, on which I now have the Western [er] [European] almendy *. I am
extremely interested in the methods Skvortsov uses and what conclusions he came to or
will come (the article, it seems, has not yet been published). I look forward to hearing
about this and what I requested in the previous letter. And nevertheless, writing as I would
like, has not improved: there is very little time. You write about randomly interesting
questions; However, this is also due to the fact that I did not receive any of your answers.
Bow down. Goodbye. Now, it seems, I will already wait for your answer, but I will not write
to it. I firmly shake your hand.

Nick. Fedoseev.
NML archive, f. 156, op. one,
units xp 1, l. 3 — b.

 V. Orlov (1848–1885) —statistics, the founder of Zemstvo statistics in Russia. - Ed.

5. E. A. Sanina April 21, 1891

S.p.po.t.

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, your letter of March 12–13 came to St. Petersburg 19, 4 airs
[sprucels] were received from the post office, and I received it 17. Now you have already
seen that it’s not my fault about the correspondence; and made sure the most unpleasant
way: "just write to him." After 12 days, our profits will be free. This moment, according to
Pavel Pavlovich, will be the last or the penultimate, when we are remembered and talked
about. And I personally fear the onset of summer. You will go home, there is a village, it is
hot, good evenings and even better mornings, there will be no correspondence. However,
in my heart I'm not sure about this outcome. Here, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, “the Neva
passed away”; it flows in front of the windows, we hear the noise of the will; it smells like a
swamp, which I, a swamp inhabitant, really like. Iraida, I drive with a pen, so today's
sleepless night tormented me. In Kazan that night I was in the prison church; the picture
was so bright and so terrible that the second time I was afraid to expose my nerves to
such a strong effect; I thought to sleep, but it turned out that the slightest unusual noise
does not allow me to fall asleep; and then there were unpleasant sounds, from the
association they again had terrible maps of ooze, and sleepless rest passed. Here are just
a "walk" is now somewhat refreshed. We are walking along a stone cord, with a rather
large diameter, around twelve feet in size ... one after another "to the back of the head", at
a certain distance from each other. From the side, we present, probably, a most amusing
picture, at least ... 1 Cerberus is very ironic and ironic. Approximately, this is the beginning
of the exclamation of the tzor [ber] and at the address of the curious Proshka: “Look, you
also look in your face, as if they know who” (and Proshka, surely, thinks: “Seem,
Orkalov ... right , no Orkalov "). Then they all go out; set the distance. Then from time to
time, humorous remarks are heard, like the following [and] x: “Look, you have nowhere to
walk a little,” or “You'll soon hit your nose with a nose.” In the pauses - only the shuffling of
"cats". Finally, jokes, apparently annoying, remarks are made angry and in the highest
notes: “Go, go, read, get up; do not go! Al-Spadin, I haven’t gotten up ... lord, keep a
distance ”, etc. Today’s air is remarkably clean, it is especially easy to breathe, it seems to
have had a very beneficial effect on Proshkin souls.

  Almenda - among the Germanic peoples in the early Middle Ages, land was in common
use by the members of the community. - Ed.

I almost went too far in fantasies. One circumstance amazes me here, to [from] I did not
notice in Kazan prison jazz, namely, the contempt of the lower administration] towards
Proshkam. For example [immer], here it seems to be surprising how a sort of climb and
steal or “if it were honest, it would be like that.” What is the reason, I do not know;
perhaps, by the great intensity of the struggle for existence, when more than once one
has to stand “at a crossroads”. In any case, in Kazan prison life, in the midst of which I
lived for so long, this pet. Oh, how tired! I wrote you almost nothing about our meeting
with Alexey; It was in the last hours, it was very sad. But we slept with Alexey all night, he
read Kutsky's mps, Nikolai Ivanovich 1 kindly returned me to [from] Rogo (by the way,
only the last two books); they talked incessantly to the soul, agreed on the future life (we
will live together with it). Your brother seems to have been a little sick, at least he had a
cheek or ear tied up; as usual (terribly nasty, although I felt an unpleasant feeling all the
time) but I didn’t ask a word about it, only when I broke up, I realized it: wasn’t it! Terribly
unpleasant and extremely annoying for such an attitude. That he writes little about his life,
so there is nothing surprising. Writing about her is unpleasant. That he does not care for
15 months with fresh forces, I am sure of that. Dear Catherine] Alekseevna. I have not
written to you yet about many very important things, including about Max, his fate
interests me terribly; I wrote to him in Sterlitamak at once, as I came here, but I haven’t
received a reply so far. I’m waiting for your replies, I’m likely to get it before you receive
this email. But forget to write about Lappo (or Linne), Danilevsky and Bilbasao (if you
read). I received the money and repeat my previous request not to send more. Farewell,
dear Ekaterina] Alekseevna, shake your hand. What is new, what explains the silence
when we depart from Kazan? Write if you can. There is a lot of unpleasant for me. Bow
Pelagia Semenov [not], do not forget Sof [s] GriPorievna], and then she, poor thing, will
have one bad thing. Sorry for the impossible letter, you probably will not be able to
disassemble [o]; but, really, I hardly sit, and my head is like a lead one. I read Leturno and
I go crazy over Ouspensky and Mikhailovsky, the blessing I remember them almost by
heart.

Your nickname. Fedoseev.

  Next, one word is illegible. - Ed.

 Apparently, one of the gendarme chiefs, - Red,
 Probably Zakharova, a member of the Fadosvov circle. - Red

I need no sweat and it is not foreseen. Just write, please, and do not forget in the
summer. Alexis my warm bow and hug.
NML archive, f. 156, op. 1, Pg] for the first time,
units xp 1, l. 7-8.
Autograph).

6. E. A. Sanina (September 1, 1891]

S. p. t.

Hello, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna. On August 24, to my great joy, I received a letter to
Vanya, pa that had long since lost all hope. I received your last two letters (dated 14
ANRs) and May 15th in May, and did not respond to them solely as a result of your order,
although this forced silence was extremely unpleasant for me, especially the second of
these letters. You, Ekaterina Alekseevna, have cruelly insulted me with them, although,
perhaps, unintentionally. They seem to me fulfilled my instructions and only, and rather,
they say, from you, so I decided to publish the letter you promised then “soon” if there is
no address at the end. You see, they say, “how to take a look”, and whether they will
understand, they are not at all as unfounded as you think; it was clear to me beforehand,
because I wrote this to you. However, let's leave it, during this time too much water has
flowed away ... In the end of May, quite unexpectedly for me, Anna Mikhailovna came
here and visited me three times. This again l revived me for a long time. At the end of
June I received from Skvortsov his article and letter in six lines. And no one else from one
line. I received no news from Anna Grigoryevna (for a year now, and donkeys weren’t
considered an answering telegram for almost a year and a half!) And I don’t know
anything about drinking; However, the first is still understandable, if we take into
consideration the well-known quotation from Tacitus of one Shchedrin teacher from
“notable hypostrans” and the mysterious, by no means logical connection between this
quotation and Pinega ... there are limits to everything; I am waiting for October as a mortal
pass. With Anna Mikhailovna, we agreed about you that she would drag you down to
Nizhny, so that you could gain strength over the summer; it would be more convenient for
you to find a good job at this time there was very easy. Anna Mikhaylovna promised to
notify me in case of a successful resolution of the matter, but she did not write; right, I did
not find you, I could only give your old address. Thanks to attentive and excellent
treatment, I feel very good now. Only 41 / month of torture remains, and there could be
only 10 days, i.e. I could be free on September 11th. Strange, when there were 10 months
left — and, I waited for freedom, God knows with some impatience, I almost didn’t
calculate the clock. And now much more cold-blooded (is it apathy ?!); so that the first
steps on the "free volya" will begin with ordeals in stages, I am completely reconciled. -
Yes, Bilbasov is not only well-known, but even, if you will, a famous historian after that
work, I asked you about the [ot] rum; he is a former professor, a former editor of the
former Golos 1 and the author of several fairly well-known KPNGs; sometimes writes in
“Rusk [oh) StarGine]” 2, sometimes in “Weight / Figure] Eir [ops]”; I read his latest article
in “[estniko] EuroGropy]” about Ekat [erin] and Gustav IV. So your knowledgeable people
laughed at you in vain. Skvortsov article probably sent to Alexey Alekseevich. Anna
Mikhailovna promised. You ask me if I need something? In addition to books and letters,
nothing exactly. I have been sitting quite a long time ago completely without books, but of
course it’s useless to turn to you for them, because if you had any opportunity, you would
have sent a long time ago. But keep in mind that Alexey Alekseevich needs books,
probably much more than me, because I’m already used to it. It would be desirable for
you to once again assure me that you will write to me often, but without "although my
letters, thank your very personal character, but they will be of great interest." Catherine]
Alekseevna, please, without pride! Right, I did not deserve even those letters of such an
attitude on your part.

 Golos is a liberal newspaper. Petersburg (1863-1884). - Ed.

  Russian Antiquity is a historical journal. Petersburg (1870-1918). - Ed.
 “European Herald” is a monthly magazine reflecting
views of the liberal bourgeoisie, in the 90s after the struggle with the Russian
Marxists. Petersburg (1866-1918). - Ed.

However, this Zasypkina street, “I am in a hurry” and, to the impossibility, a nervous

handwriting, it seems, but have a more comforting meaning than “I will know only about
August, something exact about my personal affairs”. Eh-ma! Skportsovskaya article I
extremely recovered. It is printed in the May-June book of the "Legal] Gazette." I was
fascinated by it to impossible limits in the literal sense of this impossible. I wrote him a
relatively large letter about the article and, for loyalty, I sent it by registered, but I received
a reply and even a postal receipt so far. Such a patriarchal order! I did not receive, as
well, an answer from Anna Mikhailovna to a large letter written immediately after meeting
him. You probably read the article Skvortsov or read soon.

Oops, in my opinion, extremely wonderful. The findings are polished elegant in the
mathematical sense of the word. Only one annoying slip in the chapter on education and
literacy is annoying, where he got too carried away and did not notice that the “landless”
group is here: he doesn’t have the meaning of an economic group, a characteristic feature
of [land], there is an omission in the chapter on the lease of owner and allotment land,
where a detailed comparative analysis of the data on the lease of that and other land by
higher and lower economic groups of the village reveals in a striking manner the fate of
these groups in a more or less distant future. So donkeys and one cannot still regard the
modern community as Western Almeidens, it is still a striking and highly important social
fact: spontaneous differentiation of the village led to the separation of a few independent
normal farms and many semi-independent farms, to - Godpa will have to leave tomorrow.
That is, the process, the end to which [500] is that 500 thousand people own 32 million
hectares of 49 million of the total land ownership in France and 6 million landowners own
the rest! 7, and a similar grinding process and the disappearance of small peasant farms
in South Tyrol, Bohemia and Lryroyiskaya Prussia - discovered by the cries of
“Wegethegantyus P1x1” - reached a very high stopspn and in our community land tenure.
And in the West, and in our Ostsee and Vyslinsky Territory, it began when the legal
framework (юридической оболочки) of the serf system (крепостной системы) existed,
in the transitional state (переходном состоянии) of penetration forms
(пронзводственных форм). In addition, it is annoying that he does not with due relief
define the importance of outgrowths (отхожих) and domestic trades (кустарных
промыслов), which is his idle soil ( простою почвою) for the reagents (реактивы) of
capitalist relations of production (отношений капиталистического производства),
whereas their significance is immeasurably wider than this and vividly appears at the end
of the serf system (в конце крепостной системы) when it spontaneously transitions
(самопроизвольном переходе) into the highest form of production (высшую форму
производства), as well as the fact that he attributed the uprooting disappearance of small
property in England to the XVIII century, whereas the latest research has shown that
small landowners existed up to half of this, the expiring century ; finally, the still
incomprehensible blending of a small, modern family with a family of well-known sociology
under the name of a “big, indivisible family”, zadruga, etc., despite the clear indication by
him of the figures on the working composition of families and the number of working
members of various economic groups and so on Farewell, dear Ekaterina] Alekseevna,
waiting for the letter you promised “soon”. But I will answer him no earlier than 15
September. My God, the steamboats will soon be walking! That means again the choros
of seven podel letters! Keep in mind that I have 133 days left. Firmly, firmly shake your
hand.
Nikolay Fedoseev.

Отхожий: latrines , latrine . Only in terms: a latrine fishing ( obsolete . ) - a temporary , seasonal
work ( in cities or other agricultural areas ), on which left the peasants , not breaking with its main
economy ; latrine place ( colloquial . ) - Head ,no sewerage , a sump pit .

If you see one of Aina Mikhailovna’s friends, give her my bow.

NML archive, f. 156, 071. 1, Published for the first time.

units sir 1, l. 9-10.
Autograph.
1 "Society of Social Policy", - Ed,

7. E. A. Sanina October 6, 1891.

S.P.B.O.T.
Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, thank you very much for your friendly, sincere friendship that
I received yesterday. I waited for him for two weeks, until it went to the various controlling
authorities. I wanted terribly for this letter to be from you, although I expected it from
Nizhny. By the way, it came in handy now. I was definitely burned by the too familiar
impressions and feelings that your letter caused. Though few words - you almost do not
write at all, as you write, - but in each line life and energy are seen through. And I am now
recovering from a serious illness. Easier on the soul, and all painfully sum up. Thank you
again for your letter. During this time I received in reply a large letter from Pavel
Nikolaevich; from him also breathed "zhiziyo", but from such life trends, God forbid! So
there is a lot of angry irritability, various conditional expressions! I will give you the
essence of this letter. In response to what I wrote to him regarding this article, he writes: “I
will not object to your criticism, since it would be too long. I will note only that, as far as it
is possible - judging by the letter, you have hit the “science” of Mr. V.V., the Tsrugavins
with the Company] too much, and therefore you can see forests because of the trees.
January 11, not congestion, we will see you and I will show that you were wrong! ". And
the main thing further. “For almost a year, as I interrupted my acquaintance with this
family (Anna Mihail [ovii]) 2 ... but now I absolutely do not want to have even a simple
wedging on the street; You probably ask how and why? Since A. [MiGGanlovpa]
suggested to me a question: do I consider myself smarter than others, that I have my own
opinion, different from the opinions, for example, A. A. Egor syrup. It seems clear enough
and definitely. They, t, oh, the whole family, with the exception of Misha, were and remain
Kazan burghers "... That's enough. I wrote him a sharp, categorical letter. If Pavel
Nikolaevich] remained the same, very good and honest person, as I knew him, - he, of
course, will answer me immediately and we will make peace. I would like to see it happen
that way. This is the price at which independent convictions and views are reached, but
shared by the majority in essence are not strangers at all ... Right, Yekatersha)
AloksGeupa !, this is so understandable, because it is understandable. After all, more
recently, no one would have read his articles, and even the formulation of these (his)
questions was impossible. Not on the basis of rigorous logical analysis and logic in
general, but simply on the basis of a mass of concrete life facts, these views were
considered both false and ridiculous, and the persons who divided them were either
“mass knights” or “hammers of para prasch” and therefore were bullied with the most
outrageous arrogance (for example, Mikhailovsky), in his letters of “stranger” 1 in
“Domestic] notes” for [18] 83, in a letter about Vorontsov ”! x articles). This is so in
literature, and in life it is even worse. Is it any wonder that such heavy characters are
produced in such an atmosphere? But, as it were, it was, but no one of them is in UguetzI
1 with PavSl! Nikolayevich] on yoga equality under such conditions (if he does not admit
that they are impossible) is unthinkable ... I take once more occasion to complain to you
on the scientific methods adopted by him, because I am in fact much more annoying and
unpleasant to him than he misses wrote this in a previous letter. It seems to me that an
amazing lack of instinct is needed in order to assert and look for a scientific substantiation
of what PapSel sometimes approves and tries to prove! Nikolayevich]. By this he terribly
discredits science (and methods), which he professes in the eyes of those very, very few
intelligent readers who are still interested in his works.

  P. N. Skvortsov. - Glad.

'■ * A. M. Grigorieva. — Rvd.
 “The Outsider” is the pseudonym of IK Mikhailovsky. Rey.
 Domestic Notes ”- Yasin magazine, founded in 1820 and Potorburgo. 11 1808 become
the head of the journal II. A. Nekrasov and M. K. Spltykoa-Shchedrip, who made it an
advanced democratic body. In 1884 it was closed by the tsarist government. - Ed.
 Literally - a way of life, in this case - an agreement on the conditions of peaceful
cohabitation. - Ed.

Here, for example, he is right with a microscope in his hands examining the progress in
large land tenure] and industry, whereas the background life beats the nerves with its
horrors (his article in the next book, “Legal] East [ika]”). And why is that? But serfdom also
shattered the “experience of all ages and peoples” about the unprofitability of slave labor,
and commodity-and-century-long bread production, which exhausted all the natural
conditions of land productivity, when it had to become, in order to bring the former and
even some kind of income, with capital similar to with appealing in the industrial! in
production, that is, the time has come for the need to apply crystallized labor and capital
to the land in most of Russia.

But with the existence of the feudal form, the means of raising the yield were handicraft
and off-season trades, as a result of the rise in monetary dues and a reduction in corvee,
hence, 01 [and not even the “natural connection” of the new society with the old. These
are artisanal! and otHozhne) prom [values], of course, the ns lost their pshop <! ’e1go and
after the reform, but, on the contrary, had to achieve extreme development. The earth,
with each decade, gave less and less “last crumbs”, with periodic but whole regions and
chronic hunger strikes in individual! provinces]. This is the result of 150 years of landlord
exports abroad and thirty-three peasant reformist peasants. And then progress in large
land tenure! in the form of zero integer and 5 thousandth "plows of Roisome" and as many
exterminators on that! Drano, it is terribly ridiculous and unpleasant when it is seriously
proved that, having even a small plot of land, “a peasant but standing” under the
beneficent influence of compulsory! the forces that force one to learn and teach one’s
children — the proletarian! Pavel Nikolaevich! Kabatchikov took over the proletarians. And
what are the last, we know too well. Remember the village orphan of Ouspensky and the
“horse thieves”, to [the one who dies of “pre-mortem] samo-dish” with the desire “would be
a medku”. This is the local proletariat. And the one who [em] emigrated to the cities?
Remember, Ouspensky met a birdlike little man stuffing a “tsygarka” on the platform by
Zholozvodorozhpy! - he pays a fee of “snoos”. Here it is the proletariat! But Pavel
Nikolaevich is angry, he does not want to agree that it is impossible to look for the
beginning of the lime of [th] progress to look for what is as a result of long torments]. Quite
unexpectedly, for myself, sobered again, I was “spoiled”, Catherine! Alekseevna, and
again very carried away. But once, today it is necessary to share with you and joy.
Generally, dear Catherine! AlskseSevpa], now I will write to you, without waiting for your
answers, when I have something to share with you and when I will be able to write. You,
for your part, write and write to the MP about your life in as much detail as possible; the
more detailed, the better for mepea, and not only about intellectual life, but about life as
well; I really want to know how you belly, and in this letter, in fact, you don’t write anything
about your present life. I understood too well and made a clear idea of the marital status
of Alexei and yours, dear Ekaterina Ginaz AleksSeovn] ... even then, at a brief meeting on
the train with Alox-Som] Alekseevich], of a few words. After all, indeed, Alksx [she] spent
the abyss of energy and labor, and all this is so-so, because of what - resulted in a zero.
But no one, who laid his hand on the plow and looked back, is reliable for the kingdom of
God, Christ said. Alexey and ne looks around. The mood and the views on your future
have been pleasantly affecting me in higher steppes ... Are your family's complaints
amazing? Indeed, in the case itself, for them there is a “grief river”, the most terrible real
grief. And you? Although you write that the process is for you, but imol has absolutely no
consequences, "except for the exception." But you still have a more “laboring” family and
relationships are more soulful and understandable than my family and my relationship to
drink. I only remember with deep gratitude the earliest childish years of life in the family
{before entering the gymnasium). And there is an increasing discord with each year,
mutual misunderstanding. to [from] roo alone seemed to be a lack of love, and to me an
unbearable song, until finally there was a complete alienation (of [righteousness [epnom]),
eventually a complete, final break after my arrest. Mom immediately arrived in Kazan,
learned from Varvarin about the case, took permission] about sv1shchap [nor] with me
and was not ... After all, only their dreams of my happiness came true in me, my fate was
not tied to them by material position, and now, when I feel the slightest displeasure and I
feel that my mother, in fact, I loved very much and owed much to her, but nevertheless I
am bitterly aware that even so, good relations could not be established. But they are
guilty, and I am less guilty, too. - Here is another amazingly joyful event for me. Mepya will
have dates until the end, every week. It came out completely unexpected. In August, I
received a whole pile of almond rolls, so stale that I gnawed for a whole week (with great
pleasure [Mr.] - because of Epicureanism)! ... and did not positively know who I owe such
affection to my person.

Suspected Kostya, he thought: either he was released, or his mother came to him. But in
September, on one of Tuesdays, my name is a date! At first, I could not discern the young
lady who had come from Lnnysova, to my utter embarrassment. It turned out that it was
Kuzshta. She could have been with me since July, but someone evilly made fun of me,
increased the deadline for banning meetings by 4 months. Now I am happy. I will see
each [th] second | rn [ik]. She will bring books. With literature and even worldly news, she,
like you, behind various life concerns, has not been familiar with her lately. We chat
without ceasing. I bought as many as 4 books for a part of the money sent by you and two
English studies [ik] as well.

I firmly shake your hand. Goodbye (in the letter ...) Hello knowing, if any.

Changed work. Now carpentry. Dusty from head to yogi. I get tired terribly. But then I
sometimes fall asleep with the sleep of the righteous. I'll write more next time]. O Lavrovsk
[bm] do not worry. Bol ... was sick with typhoid. Much more serious is the blues and the
illness of Petruska Masl [ova] ...

I received (I still don’t know from whom) the great last work of Kareev1 on “historiosophy”
- it amuses me and takes me very much. Less than a hundred days left. Again my head is
spinning from expectations.
NML archive, f. 156, op. one,
units xp 1, l. 11–12.
Autograph.

 The meaning of existence. - Ed.

  Further illegible. - Ed.
8 K.K. Yagodshpt. - Ed.
  MG G. Gopfopgauz. - Red

8. E. A. Sanina October 13, 1891.

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, I am afraid that my previous letter will frighten you, it will
seem to me very sick. Look, do not conclude this from individual phrases. Now I feel very
well. Today, I again began to write to you, because I have something to share with you
and somehow pleasantly and easily share with you. All that happens is like an oriental
fairy tale. But soon, it seems, and the epilogue will be. Next Sunday, or rather, the
following, I will write to you more definitely, probably; and you will inform Alexey in the
form of a summary: after all, this also concerns him somewhat.

Last time, under the vivid impression of your lines, they seemed to me a passion for what
life and joy, and when I thought about the words, it came out that you wrote this letter in
your spare time, free from darkness, the masses are overwhelmingly petty, as you called
life , but abnormal, square life. Really, Ekaterina] Alex [eevna], you cannot find any work
(well, a lesson, nanr [imer]), more appropriate to your strength-abilities, which could be
given only part of the time, and that the other part, strictly defined, was "his" own. Sorry,
dear Catherine] Alex [eevna], that I started talking about this, but it seems to me that this
is the lack of selfishness, lack of understanding and unwillingness to take care of yourself.

God knows what you are writing, that in 3-4 years you are waiting for the outcome of such
a life! What are you, Catherine] Al [ekseovia], but after all, these 3-4 years are the mass of
life, you can only get into more favorable conditions as you continue them. Have you
written about broken and sick people and “life” in relation to yourself? Well, complete
nesmizmizi something! You have so much life and strength that God forbid anyone. And
think, Ekater [ina] Alex [eevna], although this is unlikely to be especially comforting,
because there are millions, an enormous part of “humans” is in such conditions and even
much worse conditions than we are, but we have The “head” but the extreme juice was
and is in quite favorable conditions, and this is already very much, that is all. If only to live,
even a little, but if only to live. Oh, how I want to heal me again, as the life of your letter
died on me. I was skeptical of your phrase that you did not go further than Uspeisk [th]
and Zlatovritsky] *; well, I remember how you worked on Spencer, when you lived with
Keltau, which is far from all of us doing, and at the same time I put this as an example to
someone. And besides, he was ironic about you and because the public] library is now in
your other room, so to speak, but you don’t go there. Do not be angry, just kidding.

 N. N. Zlatovratsky (1845–1911) - Russian poplar writer. - Ed.

 Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903) —English bourgeois philosopher and sociologist. - Ed.

Yesterday I received a letter from Misha Grigoriev and from Anna Mih [aylovpy]. The boy
wrote me a noisy, full of enthusiasm and joy letter. He, however, is indignant that he had
to drive through Peter with the guide from the security department before the train
departed! Appa Mihailovna wrote a kind, sincere letter; writes that you have not seen in
Kazan. She wrote, by the way, the following: “I don’t know why, Pa [lu] Nikolayevich] took
it into his head to write that we were in a quarrel. I don’t know any guilt for myself in order
to give Pav [lu] Nikolayevich a reason to be angry with me (!), And I apologize to him, as a
man of suspicious and abnormal nature! ” And in essence, this “abnormal” is not at all in
such a terrible and offensive sense, because during the meeting she told me about Pavel
[le] Nikolayevich] with friendly participation, of course, no longer done, and now writes
further: “I thought it was go to him and explain, yes it is better to leave as it is. You see,
now compare the meaning of her words with the opinion of her P [avl] Nikolayevich]. All
this, of course, is very unpleasant, but it’s also funny how! Misha writes that Sof [s] Grieg
[of the Nivan] in Niyafnom]; wouldn't she meet him? I was very surprised that she stayed
10 months [months]; we were sure that oh reduced us by 2 months [month], because
Gavrik in Kazan still wrote to me: “Sonia was slowed down by 2 months [eggs]”. By the
way, Kick is doing now Gavrik? I heard that it was with him in the spring, from Ann [us]
Mih [aylovpy] and now I know nothing. You will inform me at the end of his address - I will
certainly write to him and everything else, because I am too “learned”, and besides, I had
to use his services.

I saw my cousin last Tuesday; she told me about the famine - she had to live summer in
the Saratov] province], - about the period of "export of grain" abroad in the west [s]
province; rumors of hunger in our area reached me a long time ago, and now they even
invited us to donate in favor of the “starving peasants”, and I have brought more than 2
months of work to the altar of the fatherland! I wrote you in the past a letter that I received
your money. I wrote the books on them: “Russian [th] the truth” and two English [their]
educational [ik]. Learn English] very quickly. The textbook (Forber) accidentally got very
good; especially good is the phonetic part and the mass of words (several thousand). I
learned to read in a purely mechanical way quite correctly and learned many words, which
is easy to the highest degree, because the words are either French] or German [cue]. If
Alexei has already bought a manual, then this can be recommended to him; costs only 1
p. 20 k. Pavel Pavel [ovich] now already overstepped the “danger” because he started to
walk around without crutches. Don't worry about Petrus either, I managed to do something
very substantial for him.

About the article “Gave [la] Nikolayevich]” in “Russian [th] m [r, tsli]” 1 responded
(probably, Gortsoshtstyn), as deserving of special attention. You are witty about sending
me money and your convictions, but my “Tisht” is a very relative thing, but I seriously tell
you that I needed money, but now that I have books, I will not need it; and then, after all, I
am suffering from my convictions, and most importantly, my feeling when I will eat white
bread, when you are far from some kind of mind or capitalist. Well, so that's the thing. Bye
see you. I am waiting for big letters about your life. Ns handled and not iessimized [irate],
and especially regarding us. I firmly shake your hand. Anna Mikhailovna consoles me that
“she will grind — all the torment will be.” Here is the kindest one! But he does not think
that he can grind into powder. Kuzina told about the funeral of Nikol [aya]
Vaeshesfyevich]. - Well, goodbye, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Nikolay Fedoseev.
Archive IML, f. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time.
her. xp 1, l. 13-14.
Autograph.

9. E. A. Sanina, November 24 , 1891.

If you receive a letter after December 10 [December], do not reply, because your answer
probably will not find me here.

Dear Ekaterina Aleksovpa, I read your letter with such a perplex with a shiver, with such
excitement that I had to worry about, despite the fact that for these two and a half years
there was no “nervous excitement”, but on the contrary, there were too many terribly
much. Maybe that’s why your letter made such an impression on mopa that the
experienced arousal left deep marks. What kind of letters your correspondence and
correspondence had with you, it is more lively and better felt, experienced, than can be
expressed in words. Thank you, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, for your hearty bee.

Why the MP needed a correspondence and why correspondence with you was so
important, every single letter I answered, where I didn’t skimp on the words for expressing
the most sincere way of my mental state. You didn’t understand some letters, in which my
peculiar, incomprehensible for you mental state was too vividly reflected - this affected the
hesitation of your letters; but my painfully sensitive attitude to these “fluctuations” of your
feeling, a good brotherly feeling, proves how much the sympathetic voice of a native living
person had for me. Maybe this is also like the fact that I took your kindly doubt in favor
and to my heart, as it were, the doubts about the benefits and zachionin for me (in
particular) of your correspondence, which could have occurred for a moment under the
influence of conversation and arguments of any kind. then the resonators, - so, perhaps,
the tremendous significance that your letters had for me, is explained by my personal
conditions and my particular psychic organization ... And now I cannot write positively,
and hot, hot words, a little not crying ... Sure, that I had to go through too much much
more than moral compulsions, much more than all my comrades; maybe for this purely
subjective reason I attached and attach such tremendous importance to my
correspondence.

What are the practical results of this correspondence? Ah, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, the
practical results are terribly difficult to formulate, but now I don’t even try to feel it, feel it ...
But here’s one objective explanation, a general explanation: a close friend of mine after a
few months of that long life with himself and with impulses to yaptsln, only from his own
mental content that he was facing, told me that he was "stupid and stiffened", that is, he
simply gave up in the literal sense of the word, just prepared for a long, long time otra Zylo
and on all his tight figure. It was clear that a man stood up, so to speak, not into a fighting
attitude towards adverse conditions, but into a passive one, he firmly believed that he
would not die, and became convinced by a bitter “experience” that there would be less
pain to live so slowly. Imagine, imagine what the condition is, what it cost to come to the
consciousness of its necessity, and what its results may be in changing the character and
so forth. ... Neither I, but even less op, can not be called "enthusiasts", i.e., more
expansive people, who are not able to reach such a state or "live" in it. What happens to
these latest enthusiasts? I will tell you this or write it after. After all, the psychic world was
rich and diverse, and in five, four years with no influx of new impressions, and not an
enthusiast, burning like a torch that swayed by the wind of the night, would exhaust it to
the bottom and turn into a giant egg ... Yes it is, I am convinced of it.

Enough, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, about this. "The main reason is the books of petutp."
You know, one of my comrades, in the same position, told me: “E doesn’t write me E
[katerppa] A [lexical], only asks if I need anything.” And this concern of someone,
obviously, touched him very much, despite sad regret, but no one - no. Right, dear, I
compose, but I speak the real, real truth, whether this "certain" is not another one, but I
myself. Really, dear Ekater [ipa] Alex [eevia], do you seriously think that a theory,
principles, control, and direction, can play the primary, controlling, and directing sense of
a “goodwill” etc. what else? No, not at all! Always and everywhere this feeling is
“immediate”, only in some it is suppressed, drowned out by the same “immediate” feeling
associated with interests, to put it academically, of one’s own stomach, whether these
interests have been elevated into the theory of epicoreanism or the more sublime “theory”,
the theory of resonant bourgeois - utilitarianism, while with others it occupies a dominant
position relative to other immediate feelings. That's all.

When I last read the book of one of the last theorists of utilitarian morality, Mill, it seemed
to me that it was just as much the last word of bourgeois morality as the notion of
“freedom” in the same Mill and even Lavele is a synthesis of the last word of bourgeois
constitutionalism Swiss Constitutions; Under this concept, for example, the German
constitution after October last year will in no way fit.

I completely agree with you regarding the sharp difference between the two generations in
relation to "actions", that is, to do or not to do one or the other based on "higher
considerations" (for example, that "our time is not the time for broad tasks", etc. ),
according to the meaning that they give to principles in the sphere of immediate feelings,
etc. (but precisely in relation to what should be perfect, and not to actions, as you wrote -
indeed, you will treat the latter how not according to the results). Only the difference is not
between the eighties, i.e. the mass of “mature” who have developed solid utilitarian
principles, the “seventies” and the generation of the 90s, but the first and “immature”
“seventies”, i.e. the difference the former and the present, or rather the difference in the
principles of the same mass at different ages of its life. But the generation of the 90s. to
such competent and sensitive observers as Mikhailovsky, and in part to Shelguiov, seems
far better than the “eighty-thousand”, and is comparably worse than these odes. trail; it's
just that they are physical children, lovely, but rebellious children of the "eighty-peeps".
Shelguiov noticed some future, spawning phenomena, to [from] rye associates with the
general situation of those who sing: “Death drags behind our shoulders, only the god of
heaven with us”, according to these phenomena in no case can relate to everything the
generation of the 90s. and even more or less significant parts of it.

You, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, write that you perfectly understand that “your whole life
is zero, giving no practical]“ results ”as if due to a mass of trifles relating to“ serving
”people, which involuntarily selflessly draws you without a trace. True, this personal
relationship is a trifle, as you call it, and to me it seems trivial, as necessary. inevitable
trifles, than only life for a very, very many people. To me, this personal relationship seems
trivial, despite the fact that I do not consider it at all to be “infinitely shameful worries and
dreams of warmth and contentment of a native angle”; True, these are all impossible
things, one can be reconciled with the impossibility of their realization, but still,
sometimes, even very often, “it’s painful, tormenting, I want happiness ...”. Here, for
example, I now firmly convinced that I would not have to solve a lot of important
theoretical issues on my own, but still sometimes dream.

Do you care about your personal relationships with others, even if they are unfortunate,
dying children of vulgar parents, as in the “three letters” (so involuntarily illustrated by
them), in the opposite direction or at least slow down your movement? At all the notes - it
seems to me beyond doubt from your own letters.

Well, you waited all this time for my answer to your letter and, truly, ironically thought: it
seems now with composing and forgetting everything. That it is so immobile, and I was
sure; too selfless this feeling - “goodwill”, and too jealous feeling. I received your letter
with money on October 15 (November) (and this is November 22) and did not write on the
promise of “results” of magical events; I did not answer him because I thought you didn’t
receive my letter for one extraneous reason, I suffered so much that you had to repay so
much that I lost my head ... My timid, unclear irony about my sister, fortunately and to my
shame turned out to be completely inappropriate. I now everywhere see "ugly hell",
"making me dirty tricks," like to some reverent postnik and a pastor of the past. How and
where I am going after 46 days, until I know, recently, the head in the presence of the
prosecutor said: "It seems that something ... it seems he is subject to expulsion," but what
should be served, etc. Sister will find out recently . I will certainly write to you soon. In any
case, one thing is certain - that I will be in the soldiers' barracks; I want in the Lower or
Vladimir. Does Shver remember me ?! Give him my regards. I personally punished Anna
Mikhaylovna and wrote to remind him of his promise to write to me. She said that he was
depressed in Nizhny, because Bolep de could not do anything. Warm greetings to him.
Sorry, dear.

Nicholas Fedoseev.
Archive IML, f. 156, op. one,
units xp 1, l. 15-16.
Autograph.

  Shver, V. O. - member of the Fedoseev circle, engaged in the Kazan case. - Ed.
10. E. A. Sanina, December 15 , 1891

Dear Katya, Happy New Year! .. My time is flying very fast, but the “course” is not very
high. Maybe because I have not pronounced my fateful resolution to my fate, despite my
passionate pleas and desires.

I asked permission from the police department to say goodbye to Maslov and Alexey. And
he asked to live in Kazan. Here, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, this ■ “exceptional” moment
of our acquaintance passed, which about ten months ago we both proceeded, knowing
each other almost only by name, and sure each other and your friend through your
brother, I am much more in you, what are you in iGO. However, Alexey gave me too
strong a basis for the hypothesis that I can meet with you. But you vroma "hesitated", but
now something ?! After all, do not forget that you wrote in the first November!

Now, undoubtedly for me - I have very, very old in these two and a half years, and
especially in the last year, I have grown old, of course, not physically, pet, it looks like, I
look the same, very “young gentleman”, how did you see me in a photo taken by
gendarmes after arrest. Consequently, "dog's old age." And to the people, "now I will be
treated with different stripes," which not so long ago resented me to the depths of the
soul, but in others ...

If all the “dear”, “passionately beloved” dead people would have resurrected in a few
years and, kok “burnt the head”, would have appeared to their “dearly loving” living
counterparts, they would have died again from horn, and more sentimental , perhaps,
from indignation and disgust. And the thing is human, truly human, the very essence of
humanity: the dead are dead. Well, but if you live in a coffin and others know that you live,
and even frown on the troubles caused to them by some sides of the fact that a dead man
lives! Well, in this case, what will happen to such a dead man? I'm right, but I know. It
seems that annoyance appears first, then “noble indignation”, then “contempt” (they think
“fear for the exorbitant Judean”) and, finally, just calm indifferentism (think with a sneer:
“little men”), and then the attitude is “ from different stripes. " This is terribly nasty and
unpleasant, hard.

After all, they knew that I and others were alive and remember them, but but to our
business, they (and they even) sat ... They thought (really, I am sure that they thought so):
who is Y. E. Oh yes ... But we remember him very vaguely, and most importantly, we
ourselves do not agree with ourselves as we were when I was with us. II. E. After all,
every period we are born spiritually, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter, we don’t have
mos / gn to the old periods. Finally, we are ready to get acquainted with I. E, again (only
he is so expansive), it is even interesting, yes, and interesting. - What could we write to
them? Really, there was nothing. And I deeply agree with them: "Yes, and there was
nothing."

Here, dear Katya, your fraternal letters have moderated this "bestial" logic, they did not
allow us to completely brutalize. And all this is not a sound logic (yes, judge for yourself,
make mercy, the circumstances are: family, I myself entered the service, my brother was
sick, because my husband didn’t work), she cannot give excuses ... Do not indignant me,
Katya, for these bad lines. I write frankly and frankly.

- Well, goodbye. Budote to celebrate New Year, remember us. We will celebrate the third
New Year in prison. And every time with all my heart immersed in dreams, somehow now
in the wild, they think, which summed up. In prison, after all, the results are summing up ...

I wanted to write you one poetic wish, written by one of my friends on one of these solemn
days for us, but better after.

A letter that you will receive on the last day of this year. So I passed all the nasty in the
archive. I’ll give you a little more letter to you when I receive the answer from the
department] nolits [in], and that will be the last from prison. On the flight, perhaps, Pasha
correspondence will take even more modest size. Yes, Katya, skuno, mean Whit wrote,
and this is your fault. Kostya, but apparently, the truth is healthy or, rather, sick as all the
others. Will I see you? I would like very much. After prison, I am in a soldier’s barracks,
but I still don’t know for two years or only for a year. Hello to Shrews. Well, farewell, dear
Ekat [erina] Alekseevna.

Nicholas Fedoseev.
Archive IML, f. 150, op. 1 Published for the first time.
units xp 1, l. 17-18.
Autograph.

11. E. A. Sanina (Jan 1892)

. Vladimir, January 26, [1892], '

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, you already know why I wrote you the promised letter from
prison. But now I have written and still will write to those holes until I receive letters from
you. Alex [eya] Alekseevich] I was 10 months old every day. It is amazing,
incomprehensible and unforgivable for him: to go to Kostroma, knowing that I am Mr. K
[Osty] in Vladimir! Goodbye dear. I will reply to your letter (December 15) in the very next
letter, but then when you write to me or K. Greet Shwer. I hope to receive letters from him
even now.
I shake your hand. Ii. Fedoseev

Archia NML, f. 150, op. 1, Published at first time.

eo. xp I, l. 10—00.
Logograph.

12. To E. A. Sanina February 10, 1892 (Vladimir)

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, now it's my turn to almost apologize to you for a long silence.
And the truth is, I feel guilty, even though my attempts to speak of you were explained by
the fact that I still didn’t get into a rut, I figured out the overwhelming mass of new
impressions.

I can write and write, completely influenced by my impressions from the experience of my
past life, because it was imprinted in newspapers, magazines, and heads of people who
lived “by life,” and those who slept in a deep, exhausting sleep, like me; It is under the
influence of these impressions that I write Pstrusya Maslova. This completely necessary
correspondence takes a lot of time and absorbs a lot of energy. It takes a lot of effort and
this experience again, from the very July 14th [18], 89, lived with a breathtaking interest.

 This letter is an addition to the letter of K. K. Yagodkin, of which he informs E. L. Sapina

that sweat is already 2 weeks, as they are free with I. Ye. Fedoseyev. The date is
stamped by Berry at the beginning of his letter. - Ed.

Finally, so far I have not physically returned to normal, n any mental excitement, any cold
reacting heavily on the body. So upset my body cursed Crosses! And note, Catherine]
Alons [eevia], that I came out of prison relatively healthy both mentally and physically. On
Kostya, many abnormal, murderous conditions responded much stronger and more
noticeable than on me. In general, both of us looked immediately after the release,
compared with the witnesses, much better than many who came out of the same prison
and spent less time than we did.

The first step of madness - disproportion of the causes and results of impressions - was
very clearly expressed in my psyche and Kostya, he, probably, due to a slight fit of
influenza, in a more bolus-like, acute form.

One Moscow oculist professor, in whom I was passing through Moscow, told me that I
was terribly tortured (I told him about the causes of the disease), that the "progressive
atrophy of sight" had begun.

You write, dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, that my last prison letters to you were of some
painful nature, that you did not understand everything in them. Yes, Ekaterina
Alekseevna, my painful mental state affected my son quite a bit, but I still “controlled
myself” and physically was almost healthy: thanks to one prison doctor I had an “open”
bed for 7 months, that is, I was freed from In addition to this, many very tormenting
disciplinary rules and “work as a lesson” enjoyed a very good public hospital rim with
fruits, inclusive. This is an anomaly of the prison regime; such doctors are the only one,
and, as it turned out, guided by a personal feeling of sympathy. Sabo, our boss, a stinker,
a vilest and most heartless fool, a nerd, dared to say to me: “I’m eating all of you all: all
are healthy!”.

Many, sweat, more, almost all, who have spent 5– C months in prison, feel sobeat
immeasurably worse than I, therefore, my mental state can only approximately illustrate
the mental state of all those sitting and sitting with me.
I wrote letters to you under the vivid impression of a terrible drama, a terrible volume that
more than one person is not guaranteed that he himself would not fall victim to this terrible
drama. In Camoro, on a heater (stove), politician Zass, sentenced to 5 years, hanged
himself. Oya was sitting on the gallery below me, a few cameras away from me.
Sometimes we happened to walk with him. Op completely yunty boy. On a walk he always
had the apathetic appearance of a completely desperate man, mon was somehow stiff.
He spent an amazing mass of power to strangle himself on the heater and moreover (no
more than 1 * / g arshin height from the floor) so that he would not be noticed soon ...

This drama is not unique. Later, the politician Felkovskpy, a mentally ill person, also a
young man planted for 1 year, also hung himself. Attempts to suicide, according to
rumors, were very many. At the end of March of the past year, the politician Gukovsky
rushed onto the asphalt floor from the fourth gallery (floor), but accidentally killed him to
death, and broke his legs and ribs ... He didn’t lose consciousness when he fell, but didn’t
give the slightest groan, when he was carelessly shook on the stretcher, he groaned like
an awful moan: “Be careful, for God's sake ...”. I heard that. He survived. His wife, who
arrived in Peter, begged pardon from the emperor. The Emperor had mercy. This
Gukovsky (in the Crosses, his brother is sitting for 4 years) remained for 12 months left to
sit only 6 months [eV].

A huge percentage of psychics who left the Crosses forever are cripples. Mortality for our
brother (for criminal it is lower on average, since the average term of imprisonment for
them is four times lower than that of politicians) reaches an amazing size. People are
dying in their prime. The incidence ... you can already judge about it only from the fact that
out of 9 of my comrades, about whom I had information in prison, everyone suffered from
either anomia or anemia due to debilitating catarrh of the stomach (Kostya in late July and
In early August, he completely lost his physical strength, he could stand, he almost fell),
Lavrovsky was sick with scurvy, from which he has not recovered even so far (judging by
the only letter we received from him); in general, he appears to be in an extremely
abnormal mental state. Balashov 1 was sick with typhus, Maslov "is melting like a
candle" ... Man 8-10 now sentenced to Crosses for 6 years (for example, Vladimirov,
Schepalsky, Napoleon and Anton Zeltser).

- That my mental mood, which was reflected in my letter to you on New Year's Eve, turned
out to be very fragile, that pessimistic view of people, “on friendship”, to [from] prevailed in
my views during prison life, torturing into other heavy days terrible, driving to the utter
madness, disappeared. He disappeared as soon as I was released, like a terrible, sick
dream. He disappeared under the influence of the facts of my little new life, the first days
of which for me and for Kostya (and for Al [eksey] Alekseevich) later were real, wonderful
spring. This nightmare has disappeared from the influence of big, real people, with a big,
pure heart. Disappeared op permanently. Wounds are locked completely. Mental disorder,
the result of the fear [nd] of life, the tormenting recurring blues, the suspiciousness, which
reached monstrous dimensions and the influence of the monstrously developed, painful
impressionability, has a far from drastic form.
The impressions of life, which could [us] bring us to a state of perfect mental apathy (as a
result of excessive brain work), were perceived by us relatively easily. The reason for this
was a circumstance of tremendous importance: we gradually prepared for life, began to
live in a “coffin”. The fact is that since October, my cousin began to come to me, as you
remember from my bottoms (I will, you, Ekaterina Alekseevna, repeat and explain my
feelings with which I accepted and treated for some time this weekly half hour visiting, it
would mean to reopen old purulent rapes, and this is unbearably difficult!). I can only say
that my "friends" (or, frankly, one Mic [ail] Grigoriev) were the only culprits.

  P. V. Balashov is one of the members of the Fedosei circle. - Ed.

Thanks to these visits, especially when I “ceased to be a beast”, I gradually got

acquainted with life, I could learn everything I needed about my fellow prisoners, for
whom, at the same time, the MP managed to meet with my cousin’s acquaintances, by
the way and with Alexey Alekseevich] and so on. and so on Very significant things.

With all the impressions of the dates and the news, I had the opportunity to share with
Kosta in the most detailed way, by copying with him huge letters (smuggled) almost every
day. In addition, I talked with him on a walk ...

Until mid-September, I walked, talked and corresponded occasionally with Petrusem,

walked and sat on the same gallery with Shorstobntov (10 mefshev]) and Somov; I saw
every day through the window that went out to Job and went for a “walk”, Al [o, Ksei]
Alekseevich] and Cosio, and so on.

In the last two letters, I promised you to write about my fate, which the police department
decides for me. Kostya and I asked this department to allow us to live in Dieter for a few
days, to live in Kazan or Nizhny, and, finally, we asked for meetings with our comrades
who remained in prison. The last request was the reason for the refusal to live in St.
Petersburg and the fierce attitude to the memory of the detective (security) department.

Three days before the liberation ... I wrote you the last words at 8 am; now it's 1 pm; we
didn’t sleep all night: came from [of] Grigorevna !!!!! In addition, our cousin Maria
Germanovna is already here with us for three weeks.

So, 8 days before the release, Kostya and I were asked to express in writing a desire to
travel to their own account and some place of residence but to their own choice. We
wrote: in Kazan, Lower. The day came the reprimand of the detective department [epia]
that we were ordered to live in Kazan and Nizhny. We were asked to assign other
residences. We were put in a critical position: we did not agree with Kostya about the new
place of residence. Threatened separation and complete alienation. Kostya, on
instructions, apparently, chose the finger of God, Vladimir.

Grinding called later. I declared that I have no opportunity to appoint any other city, except
for the Lower, because I have no friends anywhere and no personal funds.
We had a helper, an impudent rare, inhuman, formalist, pedant. So even this impudent
person turned into a person for a minute: he lowered his head to his arm and, beating
himself in the chest, exclaimed: “Yes, indeed, your position is absolutely impossible ... Ah,
the opposes do not want to enter into what ... terrible! What to do?!". He telephoned the
detectives for the tenth time that it was impossible for me to groan anywhere except
Inzhpego.

The Detective Boa screamed on the phone: “E-ass he is ascetic-achig in half an hour to
someone else, maybe we will send him in 24 hours, according to the stage in Pinega.

Well, after such a terrorist response, the accountant could not bear it: “He said,” he says
to me, “in Velikie Luki, there are relatives of landowners there.” I was completely in a
remote corner: I needed to know where Kostya was going, and I was offered the Great
Luke. Finally, as if accidentally let it slip that Kostya was going to Vladimir. I, of course,
also declared a desire to go there. Sassy immediately turned into sassy again and
sneaked: "At last, you-Mrs."

In the evening, on the same day, Kostya and I were told by the Department of Policies [i]
that they would not be allowed to stay in St. Petersburg, live in the capitals, cities of Tiver
and N. Novgorod, for 3 years (Ll [eksego] Alekseevich] - 2 years) is prohibited. With such
a prospect for the future, we “became” free on January 11.

The jailers again used brutal violence: they searched me and Kostya, they found one
piece of paper with an unimportant cipher. In the office, the counter robbed us for 8 rubles
[of her] earned money.
In the ceichgauze we probably learned that A [lexi] Alekseevich] will be released on
January 25th.

From the prison we were escorted to the detective department by a detective. There was
a cousin waiting for us. She, with a fight, obtained from Gresser’s hand-cradles
permission (silent) for us to remain in St. Petersburg before the evening train.

From the security department, the cousin sent us to the police minister (director] of the
police department). This gentleman received us very politely, but he broke into an
ambition about the fact that we in St. Petersburg stay pro- They came together to bid
farewell to Maslov, Sanin and Balashov!

I replied that he was superior [to the country], that we did not even think to motivate the
request to remain here by the desire to say goodbye to our comrades. What is a
completely independent request.
How much would you like to stay here?

I answered: two days.

The director of the police department was graciously allowed to live in St. Petersburg for 3
days. And at parting he gave good advice to obtain a residence permit instead of a travel
certificate so that the police would not bother us, said that he would immediately give an
order to Grssler.

At about 12 o'clock (from 9 am) we arrived at our cousin. Here, for the first time after a
long time, “sweet to our heart” was heard music and singing.

In St. Petersburg, visited bookstores and a public library. I barely missed a place in the
Italian onier for 5 rubles, by God saved. We have acquired new books: Hans Blum “The
History of German Social Democracy” (in German), Letourneau, Goridic [evolution] (in
French) language and Stockholm lectures on the primitive law of Maxim Kovalevsky. The
book of Blum, the reactionary deputy in the Reichstag, the manufacturer, the
irreconcilable enemy of modern] from the bottom of the democracy] and her “infallible
Dalai Lama” Karl Marx, whose actions in this ot Blom “exposed and refuted”, is
undoubtedly of great interest , even judging by the translation of the first chapters of it.
Blum venerates the rocks with the fierce idol Ferd [nshdom] Lassalle, comparing him with
the “evil genius” of Germany K. Marx. In vain, of course, Blum tries to make Lassalle a
monarchist more than a monarch, and pointing out his passionate speeches about the
national unification of Germans, he tries to put Lass [ala] on this issue on the notion of
"nationality of our time." Despite this, the paragraph about Ferd [inande] Lassalle contains
a lot of important factual data in the form or stepographic reports and protocols and letters
from Lass [ala] to friends, or memoirs and speeches about Lassale to people who had
relations with Lass [ale], Including Bismarck.

Looking carefully at Lassalle’s program, the content of his speeches and his practical
activities, you understand to what extent those gentlemen are mistaken who put “activity”,
Lassalle’s campaign in a close causal relationship with the “constitution”, asserting that,
but be last, not it would be the first ... “Freedom” under “any bourgeois constitution” after
the illustration (and in fact, even the proof) by Lassalle’s activities, as other gentlemen do,
remains a very, very problematic concept. And, really, what is “freedom”? Freedom for
whom, freedom for what? As for Lassalle's “activity,” it would have been possible in the
same size and under the shelter of the hereditary Hohenzollern monarchy, that is, with the
existence of a “written constitution”, discard only L [assal] from its theoretical reasoning
the notion “ class struggle ”, for which he was subjected to terrible cruel persecution by
the prosecutor’s office on the basis of a“ written constitution ”. I will try, Ekaterina
Alekseevna, to write you a complete summary of Blum's booklet, as soon as it will be
translated by Al [Eksei] Alekseevich]. The following chapters of Blum's book contain a lot
of factual data on the long-term activities of Bebel, Liebknecht and other leaders of the
social [ial] -democrats [ation] in the form of verbatim reports on the meetings of the
Reichstag and minutes of the congresses of the congresses of the social [ial] -democrats
[ats], I will soon I will do the translation of Kedadded and Leturno.

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, I cannot understand from this letter as well, how do you feel
about actions if you deny the measure of “evaluation” in relation to them? In this case,
after all, it would still be necessary to say that “passions” govern a person, direct his
activity, even if “under passions” in this case, I will understand a sense of altruism, a
feeling of selfless love for people! Without eliminating the criterion of “reasonable
assessment” of actions, one can not at all deny altruistic feelings towards people,
unlimited “service” to them, alien to every kind of pedantry, but only then these feelings
will be pa patterns of fabric based on the fabric of actions and activities, and not the main
fabric. These feelings should be the atmosphere of activity. Without them, the activity ...
for me at least, something heavy, hopeless; however, there are different people: there are
such people for! which there is only activity, stale activity. These people do not need
friendly feedback, they do not need intimate intimacy, for them there is no altruistic
feelings towards people with whom they “live”, the very altruism for them is an idea. By
this I want to say that there are different "types of spiritual development." You write that
you have found an exact summary of the philosophy of your 'life in the words: “Give free
soul to free impressions of life! ..”. Comparing this with your elimination of the “evaluation
of actions”, you involuntarily recall the continuation of these verses: “They call
brotherhood, Truth, Freedom ... Take them up, save ...” 1 What is truth, freedom, fraternity
without specific content? Alexey Alekseevich says that he remained as he was; and it
seems to me and him that op is like me: our views coincide strikingly even in the details!

Paraphrasing somewhat, N. E. Fedoseev quotes Nekrasov's famous poem “The Gesnya

Yeremupshe”, - Ed,

Will you, Catherine] Alekseovp, succeed in getting two volumes of Marx's "Capital" for
pass (in time)? Yesterday I asked Guigardt to send me my Marx by “private letter”. Until
now, we have not been able to achieve any kind of work here and there is nothing
comforting about it in the future and is not expected in the future, there are no friends
(recommendations) either.

We decided to withdraw ourselves in one common card, we will send it to you at once, as
soon as it is ready. Now it's 2 o'clock [night], in the afternoon I fell asleep for no more than
an hour, so I want to sleep deadly. Probably, my letter came out completely vague. You
ask, Ekaterina Alekseevna, whether I consider literary activity necessary now. For me,
this is a highly important question: literature (that is, literary activity) for me is the most
necessary, urgent business of the present time, without which ... or, as they said, 8111s ^
aa pop1 of anything. This is all the more so because modern literature (“Russian] m
[Yysl]”, “Vesti [ik] European [ops]”, “Moscow] Gazette]”, and even “Juridical [a] Bulletin”) is
far from satisfying requests that have arisen, does not give a solution (not because it
could not) to the most significant issues and does not even provide the necessary
materials for independently solving these basic issues.

As for my personal literary activity, I feel completely unprepared for this, I have a lot, there
are a lot of not independently resolved issues, but with someone else’s decision; I do not
have enough knowledge to solve so many issues of paramount importance on my own;
without this last condition, literary activity has no meaning for me. I need literary activity
with clear, complete solutions to questions so that others can express themselves, whose
solutions to the same issues are similar in their main features. Literature is not for
persuasion, not for carrying out (although I deny at all popularization) any views, but for
agreement of already established views. And then? Then systematic literary activity,
literature. Pavel Pavlovich] has not yet written (in the first letter) whether he received
money from you, but he went to Belebei at his own expense, therefore, he received it,
because for almost the whole year he did not have a penny. He was released on January
3. Al [okay] Alekseevich] in St. Petersburg, the money you sent you did not find. Here we
are under tacit surveillance. But our "papers" are not given to us yet. Will it be possible to
send, like me, to Kostya and Al [eksey] Alekseevich], underwear, dress, money, books,
most importantly books, books, goodies to our other partners. If you didn’t send me
underclothes and so on in the Fauval, etc., I would have to be dressed in a prisoner suit,
and this is completely skorpo. In the Copco of our stay and “Crosses”, a rule on “reading
books” was approved, according to which it is forbidden to write out books that are not
allowed for prisons [s] libraries] by the head office of the administration, including English
books in general (and in French and German, you can only buy Goethe, Schiller and
Shakespeare), books on political economy, chemistry, the peasant question, etc., and,
moreover, the permission of the reading itself by this rule is made dependent on the
unconditional fulfillment of the rules of order and discipline and execution “Job-lesson”
(i.e. from Motreniya Sabo). On the same basis, it is highly desirable for politicians to
reduce the term of imprisonment (with the confiscation of prisoners in Zurich [nd] the debt
of counterparts over more than 4 years); the size of the reduction increases proportionally
with the term of imprisonment Did you read the 35, 36, 37 №№ "Week" 1 for 1891? I very
much liked Ouspensky's etudes about village journalism and Zlatovratsky “How was the
liberation of the peasants” (especially pictures of meetings of the provincial committee). Of
great interest is the careless fleet of the Drutsk-Sokolshgekhey plowing manufacturing
industry. It should be noted that this is the prince of ultrareactor n prominent reformist [18]
61. of the year

 Without which there is no. - Ed.

 The Moskovskie Vedomosti is a reactionary, since 1905, a Black-Hundred newspaper
(1756-1917). - Ed.

Greetings to you from Sof [yy] Grieg [orvpy]. Pavel 11av [ovich] writes that he wrote to
Kazan A.P., but he received an answer. .

 "Weeks" is a weekly right-populist newspaper. " (1866-190!), Known for preaching "small
things." - RSD.
 This paragraph is written along the text of the eighth page of the letter. - Red,

All send you greetings. Shake hands. Hello to Shrews. If you satisfactorily answer one
question in this letter, I will immediately send you an address. Oh, how it would be
necessary !! one
Your N.
Archive IIML, f. 156, op. one,
units xp 1, l. 21-24.
Autograph.

  The last two paragraphs are written along the text of the third page of the letter. - R-ed

13. To E. A. Sanina February 24, 1892 (Vladimir)

... it hurts to tears because of my long silence after leaving prison and after Alexey came
here. Really, dear Katya, this was not the bestial instincts expressed, and not bestial logic
forces me to come back to the explanation of my silence. We and all of us after exit from
prison live a surprisingly strange life; almost from dpya pa day, or even from hour to hour,
the situation is strange to improbability: you feel yourself as a passenger on the ship. Our
life but deserves more of what we pay to him in our personal chatter. In chatter, in non-
systematic work and flies by day. Dear Katya, I understand that even here, in this letter, I
am a Pharisee in front of you, but a tax collector. It is true, humanly (in the sense of the
notion of the phrase “one must judge by humanity”; however, it’s very much gone), it’s
hard to admit (even to yourself) that you acted and act relatively good, dear person,
absolutely badly, to admit it means to fall deeply in the eyes of a dear person, well, and to
“get involved”, but the fact remains: a dear, good, necessary person — you, Katya —
wrote a “bitter reproach”, and under this reproach there is a much more serious "internal"
processing, and who knows, whether this is not for you, the experience of "greedy", which
added more than one drop to the "poison of hidden tears" and again unleashed "unhealed
wounds" - this "noticed deception"!

* Vipizu, across the second and third pages, in another papneapo handwriting: “Well, dear
Katyusha, and I thought that you and
sweat already pa light. What are you not writing MPE, or interesting. When I come, I will
write to you, and here are the places. Your Sopya. ” - Ed.
  N. Fedoseev

No, dear Katya, neither lies, nor deception, nor was there!
Apparently, your “live” situation is very unimportant: the prospect is unpleasant. But it
seems to me, dear Katya, inevitable not only for passing by the unfortunate, io and for the
"free" western man - I say this not in consolation, of course, because, with what it is true,
it is comforting that the sympathetic share is dragged by the "suffering »Existence, leads
the life of a stray dog! No, not for consolation, I compare our inevitable “torment of
martyrdom” with the flour of our brothers. I compare here for what. One gentleman - an
idealist with rather big speculative abilities - warned the intelligentsia about the realm of
the bourgeoisie that the bourgeois would be put to sleep by the capitalist and awakened
by the proletarian. Although I think that the intelligentsia can be said somewhat differently,
even the exact opposite of what Mr. Metaphysic said, like, for example, the following]:
“Oh, rush into my arms as soon as possible, only they will give peace of mind, and let the
Pharisees call you cowardly in themselves”. I will not name the intelligentsia rushing into
the arms of a bourgeois, but I am quite sure that only the arms of the bourgeois will really
calm the intellectuals. But the “intelligentsia” for me is nothing more than intelligent hired
bourgeois workers (интеллигентные наемные работники буржуа). They move and
through them the mechanism of bourgeois society works, they "carry out" the interests of
their masters. That is, I want to express Spencer’s thought about the role of the
intelligentsia in progress, in the evolution of society. Spencer argues that the group of
senior workers who serve the society of the intelligentsia belongs to the ruling class,
expresses his interests, therefore ... But if we during the excursion to the West search for
the huge ranks of the "intelligentsia", some "nice" for us personalities (it’s not limited
number), we will not notice a big difference (and in any case, only a quantitative
difference) in the "torment of martyr" of these western handsome gentlemen and our
brother. I just want to note that the bourgeois, and even more so our “bourgeois” (even
the “free” our bourgeois) will be completely tolerated and will not endure the nice
employees in their service, they are only supportive of those who are dear to their
capitalist heart.

 Once we are convinced of the reality of this fact, we will not be mistaken, we will not be
carried away by the illusion that, well, they say, now I whisper whispers, and then, as God
wills, I will stand up and shout in a loud voice in their voice: “He (bourgeois) will not reach.
" That is, we will arrange our own life, bearing in mind this “inevitable fact”, and our hands
will not fall when it comes, and our plans will not be upset by this fact.

I was saddened very much, Katya, the prospect possible for you not to finish the course at
school and not to get a diploma. In my deepest conviction and rather bitter experience,
the opportunity for several years (during the exercise) to use favorable conditions for the
development of one's own convictions, to work out precise practical views is a matter of
the highest degree necessary. For him, one could donate something not particularly
important. I will not argue with you, Katr, that this soil is extremely slippery; those for
whom it is slippery, go on it, “nothing sums up”, n climb into the mud of vulgarity and petty
passions, but someone else, who is completely safe from the “fall” on this slippery road,
should not have avoided it.

As for the diploma, that is, the place, it also seems to me that this matter is not at all
superfluous, because for the stomach upset by student life, this is very beneficial, at least
temporarily. However, Katra, all this is nonsense - you yourself decided better than me,
probably this question.

Kostya learned something about Voronin. He “wished” from prison (that is, he had no
money) to go home on the stage. Katrja, I will allow myself to acquaint you with one or two
illustrations of the mental state of the miserable, 4 * helpless creatures in prison, which we
all three were so recently, “I am suddenly arrested, sent to T., from where they send me to
St. Petersburg. It seemed to me that this did not seem particularly startling, in fact I was in
some kind of wooden state, and only upon arriving at this deserted place, there was no
idea ... it, that is, the wooden state, was resolved with terrible despair. , so that now I can
not understand how this could happen to me; I was on the border of insanity and even
more: I had hallucinations. Less than 3 weeks have passed since my arrival here, as I
already wrote the "sorry" petition and was deeply convinced that I would soon see the
will ...

And funny, and stupid, and naive, and God knows what! In April, I get an answer, and
they just put me in for 2 months [of the jail] of pre-trial detention, and this plunges me into
a new, even stronger despair, and I literally tore my hair, cursed the hour of my
appearance in the light of day and scolded the dog and all. I remember last year's Easter:
I was in some sort of chad. It is necessary to add to this that Vespa has just come, and
this circumstance even now 1
acts on me: the soul pulls at will, asks out of this smelly chamber ... I fell lower and lower;
if the BIG grinding was released at that time, I would, perhaps, be the most stingy
creature in the world, I, by God, feel ashamed when I remember what I was reaching. A
tribute to humanity paid and a decent tribute. Now I am summing up the results for all, and
deriving morals from all that I have experienced. Yes, brother, some of the elements that I
have gained empirically on my own skin are the result of this spiritual chaos or, better,
hell. Finally, on June 15th I get typhoid fever. This illness serves as a demarcation line of
two almost diametrically opposite moods. For some time, weeks P / C, I was completely
unconscious, I was at the tomb, but my body and youth had won over 1 day, and I, to the
surprise of the doctors, behaved well in terms of recovery.

During the illness, I did not feel anything, nothing existed for me, I just didn’t want to die,
and this passionate struggle for life was the cause of my successful recovery. ”

“Until very recently,” wrote another pitiful, helpless creature, “almost no sound from the
outside world reached me, except for the melancholy nagging from the house; I
considered myself forgotten and I tried to remember as little as possible. It was a time of
unpublishment, a time of spiritual and physical exhaustion — although I did not see it, but
I felt as if everyone was pinched in the crack where I was sitting, and escaping from there,
in a hurry to shake off the dust from their paws, turn tail and set traction without thinking ...
Since the fall of the book began to appear; the head began to clear up; physically and
morally I began to recover; Finally, dates, letters began to appear, and now I see myself
having everything that I dared to think about! Now I see that ne has been forgotten by
those whose memory is especially dear to me, and right, as if my camera is getting lighter,
and my heart is so light and full ... "1

13. To E. A. Sanina, March 15, 1892 [Vladimir]

Ekaterina Alekseevna Orogan, is it really possible to do this to people close to you, like
you did !? To me, dear Ekaterina Alekseevpa, it is terribly unpleasant to write you a
reproach for an act, in essence, not at all bad. but, by God, it is terribly painful that you
have not realized that you insult your pass with this good act of yours ... you treat us as if
you were a completely stranger to us. And unauthorized people are not allowed. You send
money to us, pledge for this the fur coat you need for you, which is almost equivalent to a
donation for your child - because of the illness that was just with you, from which you just
started to recover, so you barely go ...

We are not at all alive especially bad, that is, worse in any case than the mass of our
brother, the proletarian. And we do not have to starve at all, it’s not necessary and not
necessary. After Easter we will probably get some good (well-paid) lessons. And now we
live though oche pyevazhno, but in any case, and ne very bad. Firstly, 'I receive
occasionally from one attorney on several sheets of correspondence. Secondly, the ICO
was given a “chair” in the District Court; This is what it is. -I sit at the table "next to the
assistant secretary," I sit and wait, wait for the petitioners and the stinkers; in the case of a
request, I write off the postatovlepia and the protocol, make inquiries and get money for it.
True, this is pasture, note that there is a hollow "club" of drunkards who were drunk and
expelled from the service at this pasture. This "club" sits in the Swiss, and I sit "next" with
the assistant secretary, I am, therefore, in a privileged position. This time. L-2, I go when I
want. Aleksey pedoli dpe pazad also entered the OkrGuzhpoy] court for “free hiring”,
without a salary for an indefinite period. He was forced to walk daily at 10 o'clock [ases)
and work up to 3 hours [ases] and even ordered to appear once more in the evening.
Exploiters! Alexa, of course, after 2 days of “service,” resigned, or rather simply ceased to
appear. Indeed, it is quite reasonable, because his health has been so stagnant to get rid
of such deadly work for the body as pious work, and most importantly, work that is terribly
tormenting and time consuming, and it takes time to read. And finally, we have. things can
go worse without this hard work. And in front, you can be confident, give us a few lessons.
You pass everyone imagining for some reason sick. This is not true. Aleksei Alekseevich],
however, it looks quite good, that is, I haven’t completely recovered, but Kostya, I,
especially, have completely recovered my powers, although not completely, this is the
result of pyemia and psrp disorder. That summer will come, dear Katya, - ■ sweat. not
even summer, but spring, and we will recover completely. Spring will come, Vladimir will
turn into one solid cherry orchard! Klyazma - at hand. Consequently, the boat will ride. All
the Vladimirs of all temperaments unanimously declare that Vladimir is a provincial city,
the wilderness: “Why, my dear, prepogany our town, God forbid, I will wait for spring,
uderu from here without looking back,” and spring will come, and you see only this skeptic
remains in the “npoghonish town”, and, you see, other no less skeptical ordinary citizens-
Vladimir people from different Russian centers, where life is in full swing ...

No, Katya, if there were even a little better economic conditions, I would have lived here a
whole year with great pleasure. Vladimir is a beautiful city in all other respects: politically,
although this term excites a malicious smile on the speaker’s face, but malice at the old
woman’s story who made political conditions for us and the police (rule and calm and
decency), and then topographic and geographical, and most importantly, there is a very
good library. And this, due to the fact that you have called wilderness, makes for us, at
least at the moment, a very valuable condition. I do not doubt that it is very bad to live in
the so-called centers, that is, it is possible to live well, but in a “gloomy solitude from
public life”. Otherwise, colorless life will forcibly enthrall into its comic whirlpool, from the
breath of a light ether. It would take a whole lot of time to have a heartless chatter, and yet
we are mortal, and death awaits us for 3-4 decades, so the noisy feuds of Olympians to
us but to face now. Work to live. To live, to work, and not to be worn but a field as clean
as a feather grass by the will of the wind. And for this and the wilderness for the time
being has invaluable qualities. Spring will come, and they will come to us on the road from
St. Petersburg and Moscow, they will come from Nizhny, maybe we can see you here.
Will you come? After all, yes, dear Catherine Alekseevna, if there is only any opportunity?
Well, here and "wilderness" will be replaced for us by life in a noisy circle with nice people.

Katya, I’m surprised why you look so gloomily at the future, exclaiming that you don’t
know where we are going and where iridam is, because you see and feel that
colorlessness reigns in literature and in life ... After all this colorlessness is created by the
life of people, at their will, OR not — that is another matter; consequently, these people
either cannot or do not want to live another life that seems to you to be full, seething. Well,
do not care a la them. But you will give any color of this life without any piquant drugs, do
not give it taste, i.e., you can give taste, but the same emptiness will remain, only
seasoned with spices like literature (even, if you like, literature is not “Weeks” and fiction
magazines, and the most definite broad public literature), but this will be only a spice
stronger, and the spice will expire - and the tasteless, colorless, trashy slime will remain.
What is it, just remember that such spicy spices are exhausted! Or there is no
colorlessness, i.e., there are energetic, living people who want to live in this way and not
in the world, or such (but which ones, because it depends on the societies of the
observer’s ideal) of living, ergichy people and I can add, it cannot be, if the very
foundation of life that educates people does not change; I will say more specifically, until
the conditions of our material life change, until it approaches the type of Western
European life (and this, I hope, does not depend on how young people live their lives);
these material conditions of life will outgrow the framework of the modern public, modern
public and regulatory regimes will outgrow, and life will boil over, the literature will be all of
odorous colors. But what kind of life and what kind of flowers, would not the breath of that
life and the fragrance of those flowers be the same poison for us as the modern fetid
stench of a decaying corpse? I have a definite answer to this - that life will be as hard and
impossible for us as the real one; but we can and must make sure that the flower, the
fragrance of which is life and joy for us, the flower that grows under real harsh conditions
together, evenly with poisonous flowers (this is because spring is coming; winter is a
terrible, terrible winter Glory to the omnipotent creator, Russia is not condemned, as some
wish, to remain in the state of “thaw”; pet, spring will come for it); we must and can do this,
taught by the experience of the West (and not by Slavophil or original science in general),
now, under these adverse conditions, make sure that poisonous flowers do not drown out
our life; it is certain that they will flourish at the pass as magnificently as everywhere else,
but they will not drown out our flowers, as it was in the West. It will be better to work, they
answer me when “poisonous flowers” bloom: then the air will be free. Well, I probably
agree with them. But what of it? It is necessary, continue, to strike a finger against a finger
- and the winter will pass. But, gentlemen, where did you borrow such a miraculous
talisman, indicate where and when you experienced it?

They are recovering: they say that spring is already here, we will only take out the snow,
and the air will be free, but allow me, gentlemen, is this your business, after all this is the
business of the gentlemen, or at least the janitor, but not your business. This is true, they
answer me, but it would be better for us if it smells like free, clean air as soon as possible,
and our gentlemen are ignorant, stupid, immobile, completely inert, even colorless. Oh,
gentlemen, gentlemen! It is inconvenient to continue further the allegory here, but let me
ask you if they will allow you to “take out” the snow, while the cellars or pockets are not
full, why do you think that the gentlemen are inert because they are inert, and not
because spring has not come yet? Do you really think that they need you (and who are
you?) To get “free air”? Without you, they can not, because they are inert? This is a long
digression and, moreover, in an allegorical form, you will probably be very, very
incomprehensible. I just wanted to express my negative attitude to the pessimistic view of
the future expressed by people who are nice to me. And you are not the only one who
expressed such a phrase: “I don’t know where we are going and where we will come ... I
see colorlessness both in letters and in life [ature]”.
I recently wrote from ... Peter. Also passionately indignant at the colorlessness of life,
according to what kind of shell. Rtrresiopdopt does not know which of the bitter
impressions to share first, what sad phenomenon to tell first. And on the nerve plane in
the series of "sad events" with a bright sign of "obscurity", he puts the passion for "making
canteens for the hungry." The students are keen on this; she seeks inside Russia for the
starving, to help them. If it does the wife of Vyhpegradsky or Ms. Gaigardt, poo. then we
say nothing or say "good."

But these ladies and before engaged in charitable affairs. L youth (ideological, as we
imagine it), was it really blind that this disaster, all the horrors of a half-starved state,
which happens every day in our country. did you even notice? If you noticed, why did not
arrange canteens? She arranged for both consumer societies and savings associations
[s]. Ott did the opte more: because opa is convinced that the darkness of ignorance is no
less terrifying than hunger, she arranged for those in literacy classes. And how many
good teachers were there. teachers, paramedics and medical attendants, midwives! Read
at least one issue of the Week, and you will be moved by the deeply mournful scenes of
the funeral of these “activists” by the grateful “people”! A. so opp ... "cultural". But after all,
we know that, following TTTelgupov, young people negatively treated this kind of “activity”
or at least did not set it as their ideal. Why is now the best youth? ideological youth,
carried away by "canteens"? Is it because the wind blew in this direction? Could it be that,
under the influence of this terrible disaster, opa lost her head and forgot that you can help
with dining rooms and that hunger is not from drought? .. If not, if young people still do not
know why this happens in the midst of terrible disasters! - Opa will understand what more
needs to be done (no, I am sure that she will not understand this, but will only understand
that it is necessary to do “mess-rooms” because the soul is terribly exhausted, looking at
national disasters) ... for what for the youth who need to be put in shelters of terrible
poverty and put to the eye of the eye with a public disaster. to make from public] public
figures. You see, colorlessness, too, in a piquant form. How much altruism among young
people, what a sensitive soul, to help the starving people (or “younger brother” - this is a
matter of taste) - with empty hands and pockets! ..

Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna, I asked you for permission to write to you about "many
interesting things" only in view of the troubled time. The promised came soon. I would like
to send you memories of N. G. Ch. And Blum, mainly criticizing Karl Marx, the Gothic
program, the utopian union of social [ial] -democrats] with lassanalists. By the way. I
asked Gangard to send me the 1st volume of Capital taken from me. Galgardt sent his
MPa right away. Address: St. Petersburg, Nadezhdinsky Courses, Maria Germanovna
Golfeigauz. Nikolai Lvovich Sergievsky will come to Kazan at the end of April to hold the
maturity exam, so you will be introduced to high school students if you have
acquaintances. Yesterday we shot at full length on a common photographic card. The first
card will be ready on Thursday this week. You will send it on Friday. You will see for
yourself how we look relatively good. It’s just that our dreams of spring and recuperation
seem to scatter into dust if we have to accomplish something like a new “crusade” again,
and this can be expected, that is, in extreme cases, the MPA and K ’. K. g, but not Alex
[her] Alekseevich]. The fact is that two weeks ago I was called to the gendarme office] and
asked such a strange question in the most serious way, did I not leave in the course of the
2 '/ g lot of prison sitting from prison (V!). I say that sweat, but how did you live in Vladimir
in the summer of '90? I was in jail ... That's what we know, but how were you here? I?!
Yes, ii. E. Fedoseev. I was in prison ... I have lost or stolen an indefinite document to
reside in all cities ... Well, this, however, is incredible; In the extreme case, I will call
Lehman to the witnesses that I stated at the time of the arrest that I could not find the
species, but this was for some reason recorded in the protocol. Although he is a terrible
bastard], but here, I think, he doesn’t have that. This is one of the episodes of one of the
new, disgraceful, disgusting of their “political” processes with a lot of people involved in
nothing, nothing about that, “united” in notebooks of dissolute gentlemen with a claim to
be “leaders” ... This is also disgusting! But, really, I'm not afraid for the future, even if such
facts were ordinary. For me, they are nasty - but more. I also are not afraid of these vile
facts, as well as disappointment in people and friendship, we experienced this after our
process. After all, we did not know each other, we were not exactly connected with each
other, we had not only a common cause, but there was not even common views. After all,
we were just starting to deal with their views. And at this point they were imprisoned for
almost three years ... Is it therefore wise that our former friends have nothing to do with
us?

This is bad, but nothing terrible about it. Spit on them! If they cannot indifferently
remember “by whom and what” we “were” when we made up a circle, if they thought it
was naive, childish our then views, then they are hypocrites and at least people are
independent, dancing on someone else's pipe, because man cannot make his convictions
in one year; if he is convinced that he has nothing in common with his previous views, he
has nothing left with his previous work, he did not have independent work of thought. Can
an adult with indignation, with anger, scold himself for stupidity, for thoughtlessness in
childish years? Music Consequently, they are still unbalanced people, without a certain
point of support, adolescents; tell the teenager that he did this little thing that is peculiar to
the little one, and he will cry or be indignant at you. Then doubly hate them, there is
nothing terrible here and there is nothing to be disappointed in anything.

Atehiv IML, t. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time.

Autograph. one

14. To E. A. Sanina (no date)

... In 13 other articles, he grieves or is indignant that practicality and efficiency have
become the slogan of the day, so even journalism began to repeat that “our time is not a
time of broad tasks”, and homegrown sociologists proudly pointed out how the late his
book "Politics as a Science", on the extraordinary flourishing of our economic life.
Celebrating the economic progress, indignant, exclaims Protopopov] 1: "THE CHILDREN
CALLED, but not at all the saints ...". And he calls to the crosses [th] campaign against
Varvara Pavlovna (the heroine in the rum [ape] Khvoshchinsky "Duties") - a predatory,
selfish, antisocial beginning. Where Varvara Pavlovna is ruling, he says, people are
suffering there, and where people are suffering, it’s a shame to ask: what to do? The
music is neither female nor male question, he preaches in such an amusing form to the
same Barbara] Pavlovich] (compare with the previous quote), but there is a question
about Barbara Pavlovna (!!!), “who themselves live and cannot live for others. .. " This, to
be right, is very similar to the earliest hearing of Count Tolstoy, reprinted on the pages of
Moscow Gazette, with the only difference being that L. Tolstoy speaks real, albeit
superficial truth, and Protopopov] writes and says nonsense. The conclusions are also a
rather big difference: the detectives of the “Moscow] Gazette” deduce from the letter of
Tolstoy that he preaches robbery and robbery, and Protopopov to Barbara] Pavlovi [s]
advises to see what it is necessary to do so that they themselves live and give life to
others.

 There is, apparently, referring to the rather well-known at the time “liberal” critic M. A.
Protopopov - an employee of the “Domestic Notes” and “Russian Thought”. - Ed.
 Khvoshchinskaya-Zaiopchkovskaya N. D. (1825–1889) is a well-known Russian writer,
wrote under the pseudonym V. Krestovsky. - Red

In essence, all these arbitrary fantasies should be indifferent, in the words of Saltykov, for
all equally mean nothing (but express something); and if there is still something bitter and
terrible in this ideological disorder, then it is precisely that a new, barely making life is still
too weak to give any reliable support and to make possible an indifferent look at this
prevailing ideological disorder. .. Terribly difficult, boring work: to sit for whole days and
with the most intent gaze to follow the successes of our capitalist production, to scrutinize
in the most careful way every obstacle that our cliques find or provide. As if the bourgeois,
and even more so the robber bourgeois is indeed an ideal or at least very nice to my
heart! Straschio, scary boring work. And try, draw conclusions from this development of
arable land of the current reality - to young people, invite them to work on the same
questions - and you will not find one out of a hundred who would listen to you, be
convinced of the need for such work and suddenly I would be stunned by the question:
“But why capitalism, and if we don’t want it?”, but a more sensible person would
immediately hide behind a shield from the Voroitsov book, and then all your arguments
are like peas against a wall. But does this mean “idealism”, about the “ideological” nature
of our young people? Far from it, of course. L says, perhaps, for the fact that her
"analysis" and "induction" coincide ... Good-bye, dear Katya, I firmly shake my hand. Hope
to see you later. Hello to Shrews. Why don't you write a single word about him? Do not
know where Petrov, I need his address. Write the news that this happened, do not you
know, with Chir. 1 and others, where is my gymnasium] comrade Volkov Gabriel.

NML archive, f. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time

units xp 1, l. thirty.
Autograph.
E.N. Chirikov. - Ed.

* * *

On the letters of N. K. Mikhailovsky to the museum

For a long time — for almost 40 years — letters to N. E. Fedoseyev to N. K. Mikhailovsky
were considered lost.

And only in 1932, these letters were found in the Mikhailovsky archive, which was kept in
the Pushkip house in Lepipgrado. Then they were fully published in the number 1 of the
journal "Proletarian Revolution" for 1933.

It should be noted that the disappearance of the main literary heritage of Fedoseyev - his
nearly ten-year work about the economic reasons for the fall of serfdom , these letters are
perhaps the best, perhaps the most complete expression of his revolutionary, Marxist
views. Despite the fact that they were completely isolated from the “Labor Emancipation”
group of G. V. Plekhanov and V. I, Lenin, Fedoseyev managed in the first half of the
1890s to formulate genuine Marxist program positions: on the hegemony of the
proletariat, on the leading role the proletariat in relation to the peasantry, the dictatorship
of the proletariat as a “midwife” in the appearance of: the light of a new society, the
abolition of classes, the creation of a classless society based on the development of
large-scale socialist production, the collective com economy, about the international
character of the labor movement. All this, in the words of I. Ye. Fedoseev, is the most
important of the laws established by scientific socialism.

At the same time, the reader should not forget that almost all the Marxist development of
N. Ye. Fedoseyev was held in prisons and exile, in which he remained incessantly for ten
years. And one wonders not that in some individual cases he allowed inaccurate
expressions and terminology, but how brilliantly and from Marxist positions he analyzed
the current economic and political position of Russia, the attitude of the classes and the
prospects for their struggle in these conditions.
In these letters attracts their good literary style and a very wide cultural outlook.

For the history of Marxist thought in Russia, these letters have invaluable theoretical and
historical significance.

V. Volin

1. To N. K. Mikhailovsky, Vladimir Gub [Yernsky], November 8 [1893]

Well sovereign, Nikolai Konstantinovich! I decided to write you the following lines under
live! impressions of your essay that I just read in the October book of “Russian] wealth.”

I would like to express to you my deep surprise regarding the blackout and distortion of
one circumstance by you ...
Actually, writing this private letter to you - I must say it frankly - I find it unpleasant, after
you (in the review on “The Fate of Capitalism”, in the “Domestic] App [lawsuits]” for 1883)
expressed their opinions about “Russians Marxists ”in such“ non-literary ”expressions *.

Since then much water has flowed under the bridge, you, if I am not mistaken, last year
again returned to the “Marxists”; but you speak to them already in decent expressions - I
think that there were external motivating circumstances (which is not the place to say), but
I absolutely recognized that you should change your opinion about the “Russian Marxists”
them more conscientious ...

But much of what you expressed in the last essay forced me to overcome my feeling that
arises from a personal, private approach to you.

So, you see, I am a “Russian Marxist" and, moreover, offended by you! 2

  N. Ye, Fedoseyev, referring to the review by Mikhailovsky, published in book 7 of

Fatherland Notes for 1883 — Ed.
8 It is underlined in pencil here and hereinafter, with the exception of the places specially
stipulated, apparently, by Mikhailovsky Yarar reading the letter. - Paradise,

In the last etude, you say that "in general, you completely agree with Mr. V. V. on the
Russian Marxists." This is the only subject where you converge with Mr. V.V.

You affirm in front of your readers that the Russian "Marxists directly insist on the need to
destroy our economic organization, which provides the working people with an
independent position in production" *.

From what Russian Marxists did you hear, or where in their works did they read that they
directly or even indirectly insist on depriving the worker (peasant and handicraftsman) of
economic independence ?! Somewhat lower, you yourself are trying to sensate Mr. V. V.
that "the process he is waiting for in a more or less distant future, depending on some
progressive feats of the intelligentsia, is happening now, before his eyes ...". This process
consists in the fact that the mass of the peasantry is “peasants”; “ The peasant economy
has already been falling for many years, the village is split into two layers, highlighting the
rich kulaks who keep the rest of the village’s population under their heel; this latter is
losing its “independent position in production”.

Consequently, what is the reason for this, in this process, the “direct insistence” of
Marxists on depriving the peasant and handicraftsman of economic independence in
production?

If the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are already in Russia, this fact inevitably should
have brought Marxists to life. Consequently, the Russian proletariat and the Russian
Marxists are equally real phenomena, and the appearance of the former caused the
appearance of the latter, and not at all the other way around.
Under the existing historical conditions, the antagonistic attitude of the proletariat towards
the bourgeoisie does not express itself in the direct form of class struggle, encountering
an obstacle in this way in some existing social forms ... But the essence of the matter
does not change at all: for Marxists, the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie
is not may have (at the present moment) the character of, so to speak, the immediate
political struggle — this becomes clearer every year to the proletarians. Consequently, the
attitude of the proletariat towards the bourgeoisie in Russia is more complicated;
therefore, the tasks that he must set himself for the nearest resolution are more
complicated. This is a significant difference in the activities of the “Russian Marxists” from
the activities of Western European and American social democrats.

Russian Marxists seek to become Social Democrats; they will not achieve this without
making a significant change in the political sense ...

And in this case, you could find a greater commonality of purpose in yourselves with the
Marxists, rather than with Mr. Pypin.

Perhaps they think that the Marxists are Russians “they think they are titans”, they are
supposed to win their laurels among the thicker ranks of the proletarians than they do
now, and it is in these forms that they “directly insist” on the expropriation of peasants and
handicraftsmen. Such a belief is “sad and even unfounded” if it is expressed by people
like you. Not only Marxists are well aware of the fact that about 5 million adult workers in
Russia do not have and cannot find work, that is, they constitute a huge army of the
"unoccupied proletariat"; these peasants, who are peasants, fill the cities “in search of
work” and often find hungry typhus, cholera and prison instead of work.

At the moment, the initial capitalist accumulation, when industrial capitalism is just being
organized, and capital is operating mainly in the field of exchange, the rural population
expropriated in huge masses will have to be “boiled out” in a factory boiler, and will die of
starvation and disease. This is well known to Russian Marxists.

And you assume that we, Russian, Marxists, calmly and even joyfully look at these
horrors, that we even "directly insist" on the further ruin of the village ...

1 Pypip A. Ya. (1833-1904) is a historian of literature, in his works reflected the views of
the liberal bourgeoisie. - Rvd.
2 Underlined H, V. Fedoseev. - re!).

Have mercy! .. It just seems to you (sorry!) As a result of insufficient acquaintance with
scientific socialism in general and Russian Social-Democratic (atic) (Marxist) literature in
particular, that we, Russian Marxists, must inevitably, if we want to stay true to our
Western theories, think and strive for it ...

I can assure you for myself and - without authority - for the majority of my comrades who
consider themselves adherents of Marxism, that we are deeply outraged by this ...
accusation based on your misunderstanding of our idea. We, the ideologists of the
working class, and especially as Marxists, with all our own forces and the forces of the
faction we are trying to express and protect, will make it possible to reduce the ranks of
the unemployed proletariat as much as it will be possible, in independent masters, and we
will speak up for the inevitable (under modern historical conditions) process of ruining the
village to be at least weakened.

Marxists assume that the process of the disappearance of the peasant economy will
nevertheless take place while its basis is individual labor; that capitalism and in Russia
have to fulfill the same historical mission that it performs in the West.

And in this between the Marxists and you - all disagreement, but only of a theoretical
nature.

Perhaps the Marxists are wrong; perhaps the practical measures that will be taken to
improve the peasant economy will completely stop or even slow down the further
development of capitalism; in such a case, I repeat, the Marxists were wrong. But this will
only show the further evolution of social relations. In the meantime, nothing makes the
Marxists think that they are wrong. The basis for the activity of Marxists is the developing
material conditions of production; therefore, there can be no disagreement between
Marxists and you in real, immediate practical tasks.

Where is the source of your confidence that the Marxists rejoice in the destruction of the
tree, and the conviction that they must directly insist on this ruin?

I am sure that you could say this based on the phrase of N. I. Sieber: “No sense will come
out of the Russian peasant until he is digested in a factory boiler.”

This phrase, obviously, is a theoretical predisposition, based on the creative conviction

that with certain public relations, social forces that existed in Russia, as a result of which
the reform was made on February 19 [ala] with all its economic and other consequences.
that in these relations and forces Russia will surely pass through the stage of capitalism {t.
E. privately owned] capitalist] forms), therefore, "the Russian peasant will digest in the
factory boiler" and then only a certain sense will emerge from him, in the sense that he
gave to this word I. I. Amber.

In many ways, I. I. Sieber was right ... The newest Russian Social-Democratic (Marxist)
(Marxist) literature gives a less reason for your statement ... But there is no smoke without
fire. I myself know the following fact. ((Orenburg "Marxists, as I heard, broke out in anger
against young people who went to the village to" feed the peasants "; Orenburg Marxists
urged that feeding cr [sstya] n means" to hinder the process of building capitalism. "I am
inclined to think that the absurdity gave you a reason to identify the “Russian Marxists”
with the “knights of accumulation” ...

But I cannot allow the assumption that such a developed and intelligent person as you,
the folly of Orenburg [their] students and whatever other people who call themselves
“Marxists”, would apply to Russian Marxism in general, as if inevitably his followers to
such criminal thoughts ...

In conclusion, I would like, in the further presentation of your opinion about Marxists, to
indicate that the view of Russian reality expressed by Marx and Engels in 1883 would be
much more important to Engels when he came to know Russia (his article in N0110 2EI
»1892) *. I remain with the utmost respect for you.

Sieber II. Ii. (1844–1888) - Professor of Kiev University, one of the first Russian
propagandists and popularizers of the active studies of K. Marx; however, the
revolutionary critical stance of Marx’s teaching was incomprehensible and alien to him.
However, more or less his ideas played a big role in the dissemination of Marxist ideas in
Russia. - Ed.

N. F [edoseev.]
My address: Vladimir lips [ernsky]. Maria Germanovna Ms. Gonfengauz. Demand.

2. To N. K. Mikhailovsky, Solvychegodsk, March 10, 1894

Dear Nikolai Konstantinovich!

I have to apologize to you. In my letter, signed by the initials NF, I said that it was
unpleasant for me to contact you with my “personal private letter”, because I considered
myself to be “Russian Marxists” so hated by you, I felt offended by your “non-literary
expressions” about the Russian Marxists. With an opponent who curses, interpret, of
course, unpleasant, especially in a private way. But a most annoying misunderstanding
happened here; I had no reason to treat you that way. I had full confidence that the words
(“one, dtsts dull-witted epigone Marx - the knights of accumulation, with whom there is
nothing to interpret a lot”), which made personal personal address to you unpleasant for
me, was said by you. I wrote letter 1 to you hastily, on the eve of my first trip to the region
of the “Totma cloudberry”. I found my mistake only in the prison wagon, when I could not
correct it.

It is extremely painful and hard for me that I absolutely offended you without any guilt.

But “top makes music,” as you say; and only this I can justify my, in any case, rude
treatment of you. The tone of your literary attacks on the Marxists did indeed make my
mistake ...

Now let me tell you a few words in response to your philippic in the January book “Rus-
Isk [th] wealth”. You believe that the birth of n I breeding of Russian Marxists lately is very
simple, because “the level of knowledge, critical thought, energy, and susceptibility has
decreased in Russia; that ideals dimmed, disappointments were made. ” | I have
confidence that you are mistaken in this explanation of the reasons. But I have met such a
passionate thirst for prosperity, such an energy of critical thought, and such a response. to
the evil of the day that prevail in Marxist I circles. The ideals of these circles burn brightly;
desire for | practical activity is very large. The only pity is that I haven’t yet performed a
huge toto | Retich work, it is the study from the point of view of our principle of Russian
history, and the extreme sea of its most important and closest phases. Only when this
work is accomplished will Russian Marxism stand on firm ground; only then will the
possibility of developing a scientifically-defined unified program of practical activity. For
the time being, individual, although numerous attempts at activity are distinguished by
unsystematic nature, they are episodic due to the political conditions that are felt over (the
Russian working class and ideologists in particular, and in general over the Russian
working population. These attempts what they could have with a systematic, unanimous
organized activity, it is shown, it seems to me, that among Russian Marxists the theory
does not differ from practice , that the desire for a living cause animates them. favorable
state of affairs must change dramatically for the better with the emergence of a unified
activity A clarification of the theoretical beginning of our world and to develop a program of
practical activities -. the urgent matter of minutes.

What is our activity and what are its nearest goals?

Here are the questions to which I will try to give an answer, wishing as much as possible
to acquaint you with the subject under discussion. I don’t find it necessary to hide from
anyone the pi of those of my views that I expounded to the prosecutors at the gendarme
interrogations. (But I'm sorry if my frankness seems unpleasant and inappropriate to you,
especially since you have never been asked such questions in this sense.) on the basis of
the experience of our Western comrades, they are given such practical activity, which
leads to a business with a great economy of strength, in a more faithful way, with greater
hope and in early success Whether or not we succeed in fulfilling our cherished desire,
the self-consciousness of the Russian proletariat manifests itself in the highest form of
political activity, so that the proletariat quickly, directly reach the political freedom that
ensures its rights, all the same: “War or death; bloody struggle or destruction. Such is the
compelling question. " If our activity turns out to be fruitless, the proletarians of the
Russian proletarians will be ruined - we will die and the Russian proletariat will go through
the same long, painful phases of struggle as in the West, But nothing can keep us and,
probably, our successors from persistent, energetic attempts with short this way of
struggle.

 Speaking with greater economy of forces, etc., I mean the fact that everywhere the
workers stuck to the struggle of the gigolppochka. separate, scattered groups; smashed
cars, set fire to factories etc.; that their first mass movements "were the bourgeois leaders
for their own purposes." - [I. F]

So, our immediate goal is to achieve political freedom, ensuring the socio-political rights
of the proletarians (universal electoral law, freedom of the socialist press, etc.). But the
achievement of this goal constitutes an urgent need not for the factory proletariat alone,
but for the entire labor class. This goal is nationwide. It is the most important question of
the day. We have this in mind, and therefore we will by all means strive to attract the
peasantry to the political movement of the Russian proletariat ; we shall clarify to this latter
class interests, the opposite of them with the interests of the ruling classes, protected by
the existing state power; we will acquaint the peasantry with its own economic and
political history.

So, the most important immediate task — the achievement of political freedom (“through
the people”) —we consider it common for the proletariat and the peasantry. - The future
will show how much the peasantry will respond to this common cause. But in any case,
the proletariat will form the vanguard of the revolutionary army , firstly, because it is
concentrated in | mass in the most important political centers, and, secondly, because the
factory workers themselves are more prepared to accept the idea of the need for political
struggle than the mass of the peasantry themselves.

This political task alone constitutes the common cause of the proletariat and the
peasantry. The Russian proletariat and the peasantry will long have a lot of common
social interests. The transformation of the possibly greater number of expropriated
peasants and handicraftsmen, who now make up the shots of the tramps, into
independent masters is closely connected with the interests of the occupied proletariat. It
is precisely because the unemployed who, by knocking down their wages with their
competition, lower the material well-being of the employed workers and terribly drop the
chances of any kind of successful struggle with the capitalists . The change of the tax
system in the sense of shifting the tax burden from the poor majority to the possessing
classes is an equally essential requirement both for the length of the workers and for the
peasants. Peasants and proletarians are in close, organic connection with each other.

The demand for a radical improvement in the position of the small rural economy and the
reduction of the ranks of the unemployed proletariat on the part of Marxist ideologues who
are striving to become the spokespersons of the working class will not be “just a good
deed”, as you think, not just simple compassion for the unspeakable torment of the
peasantry, but economic and political necessity . If Marxist ideologues had refused to
insert the protection of the interests of the peasantry into their program, then the
proletarians would have forced them to do so or would not recognize them as the
spokespersons for their own interests. That is the inevitable question.

That these our wishes will not remain in words only, in the realm of fantasy, this graping is
the tight connection between the interests of the proletarians and the peasants; this
connection will, in every step, sharply remind of the urgency of activity in the sense of
raising the economic well-being of the peasants.

Our role, the role of ideologues, will also be to resist all such measures to “raise the well-
being of the village”, which entails an embarrassment of the individual, namely all the
moors of “forced communism”, like the prohibition of family divisions, public plowing,
circular bails, etc., as well as the forcible consolidation of peasantry in the villages (which,
for example, [the measures] require the Finnish workers).

At the moment, the government is frankly naked from the usual assurances "to embrace
the love and care of all loyal subjects of every rank and condition," she said, singing an
economic and political program. The economic program of the future, set forth, by the
way, in the Minister of Finance’s 1894 report, has the direct goal of destroying small
farms, creating large capitalist industries, developing and strengthening indirect taxation.

The political program of the program no-notoyotemu excludes any right to declare one's
own interests on the part of the subordinate classes. Capitalists and their ideologues gain
significant participation in senior government administration as advisory members, at least
in the most important issues for them. Financial and economic policy in general meets
with visible public opposition only from the landowning class and its explicit or secret
supporters. The very course of things made the government deviate somewhat from the
interests of the class, "nobly wielding the sword," and to provide protection to industrial
capitalism. The fact that the interests of industrial capitalists are at the forefront, and
landowners are promised a crane in the sky in the form of the development of the
domestic bread market, may sooner or later cause a social conflict between the old and
the new ruling class, which will inevitably be resolved in limiting absolutism. (But, I repeat,
we should not and cannot remain passive spectators of the long, gradual process of
destroying the old feudal system, even if we could take advantage of any octroted
constitution in comparison with the existing regime.)

Here, in my opinion, the most important side of our current reality. At this moment, when
the government so frankly declares its hostility towards the entire working population, we
must declare on behalf of the working classes a radical change in the tax system and the
organization of labor on the basis of large collective machine production. We will always
keep in mind this goal, it is the main point of our program. The time for its implementation
depends on how soon the peasantry realizes that its salvation is in collectivism. But the
proletariat is a distinguished class, as more progressive, and here it will be the vanguard.

Of course, any serious political campaign in favor of this radical economic reform will be
possible only from the moment of political freedom. The peasantry will no doubt passively
relate to our economic program; it will probably join the party of large landowners, and
perhaps it will make up its own petty-bourgeois party, like the party of American farmers;
but life circumstances will sooner or later force our peasant to join the Social Democratic
Labor Party, as they are forced to Poland, Romanian, Germanic, Italian and partly
Austrian peasants.

Until then, that is, until the peasantry consciously accepts the Social-Democratic program,
the workers' party will of necessity be limited only to the requirements of alleviating the
existing situation of small farmers and handicraftsmen, that is, the requirements promising
undoubted success.

The plan outlined is the ideal. “A person can make mistakes or not make mistakes in the
reachability or unattainability of an ideal; an ideal can be considered unattainable as
possible and, conversely, to smithereens to break your life for the sake of an absolutely
fantastic dream; the work of historical thought and everyday experience can influence it in
this or that direction. But regardless of the fate of the ideal in this sense, the conviction of
its attainability. or unattainability, obviously, should strongly influence its value as a
morally guiding principle. ” With the above considerations, I had the purpose of explaining
to you that our ideal has as its basis the material conditions of a real historical moment;
This circumstance gives special confidence to our “subjective” belief in the attainability of
an ideal. But “not only a coyen, but generally any significant ideal is usually passed on to
the current generation to the offspring. This is perhaps the most touching and benevolent
feature of the history of mankind ... This is capable of expanding one’s personal existence
far beyond its actual limits and enjoying and to suffer the distant future without the hope of
being its participant is one of the testimonies of the nobility of human nature and one of
the most precious promises of a better future. This trait is all the more touching because it
is not always possible to grasp specific details of the implementation of the ideal ... The
social ideal has been passed on to offspring, we, without the risk of falling into more or
less gross errors, cannot imagine what new moves will open for posterity and what new
the springs will be used by them ... ”*.

  From the article of Mikhailovsky "Ideals and idols." - Red,

So, you will not demand from us not only the definition of the “concrete details” of the
realization of our social ideal, but also the determination in all details of our practical
activity for the realization of this ideal. If you nevertheless pastavayv on this, then this
perseverance must be explained, probably, by the polemical enthusiasm on your part.
Yes, you say, “from an ethical, and partly from a purely practical point of view, it would be
impossible to argue against such an attitude (to the historical process) if it were not for the
supposedly scientific theoretical lining of economic materialism, which inspires completely
new self-confidence, and not that slippery path, which can easily reduce passive Marxism
to an act * (“direct insistence on the ruin of the peasants”). I leave aside for now the
unbearable economic materialism. You want to deprive us of the food guarantee for the
success of our activity, deprive us of a “morally guiding principle” in our activity,
confidence in scientific truth, and the feasibility of our ideals!

God forbid! I will not be angry that you have confidence, based on a subjective
understanding of history, in the attainability of your ideals, that you consider your science
to be real science, and all others (including our own) - “supposedly sciences!”! .. What as
concerns the “slipperyness of the path”, in which you stand (in your opinion (and m
[inis'pra] internal] affairs of the city of Durnovo)), Marxists, then this subject should be
raised again. "Marx operated," you say, "over the ready-made proletariat and ready-made
capitalism, but we still have to create them." “The peasant pash,” you wrote back in 1877,
“is far from being as“ free ”from the land and implements of production as is necessary for
the lush development of capitalism. On the contrary, despite his sad position as a farmer
and landowner, many circumstances even in addition to his own instincts, keep him off the
ground. ” You wrote this 17 years ago *. Since then, much water has flowed under the
bridge, a lot of changes have happened, but you have not learned anything, for you are
repeating old words with a lively enthusiasm and quoting those words from Karl Marx’s
“letter” that he expressed quite correctly that Russia will not become a capitalist nation not
transforming the good share of their peasants into proletarians (and recently she has
done a lot in this regard, added Marx)
 This refers to the article by Mikhailovsky “K. Marx before the court of Mr. 10. Zhukovsky
"(" Notes of the Fatherland ", Vol. 5, 1877). - Ed.
 This refers to the letter of K. Marx to the editor of the “Notes of the Fatherland” in 1877 in
connection with the article by Mikhailovskii “K. Marx before the court of Mr. Y. Zhukovsky
"(" Bulletin of the People's Will "No. 5, 1886:" Legal Bulletin "No. 10, 1888). - Ed.

You find, therefore, that our peasant is far from so far free from the land as it is necessary
for the development of capitalism. We, on the contrary, see that there are too many
expropriated, that the vast majority of them cannot absorb the developing form of
capitalist production, that the mass of the expropriated is doomed to extinction from
hunger and disease ...

“A Russian Marxist,” you say, “is condemned, at best, to passive contemplation of the
ongoing two-edged process” ... I dare to assure you once again that you are mistaken in
this regard. It is not at all necessary for us, as you are trying to impose on us, the
luxurious development of capitalism, in order to begin our active work on the basis of the
economic contradictions that have already been created. From the very moment of the
emergence of large-scale capitalist production, antagonism has been found between
workers and masters; this antagonism leads to the struggle between them and to the
struggle of the subordinate class with the state power that protects the interests of the
dominant. We, the ideologists of the working class, strive to find out to the workers their
own class consciousness, inform them of a scientific nature and start a political struggle
with them and "defend the common interests of the entire proletariat, independent of
nationality." We are to accomplish this task in the midst of the three millionth proletariat
already organized by capital at the present moment. This is a tremendous task; its
difficulty is increased by the fact that at first it must be carried out under the pernicious fire
of the bourgeois-feudal monarchy.

To a serious solution to the Bosniak issue, which is important for us not only because it is
a question of eliminating the extinction of millions of people from starvation (in Russia
there are already many localities where the death rate exceeds the birth rate), but also
because it is closely linked to interests the proletariat, - so we can proceed to the solution
of this question with the hope of serious success no sooner than we achieve political
freedom.

Meanwhile, Messrs. Mendeleev and Skvortsov, on the one hand, and he. Chuprov and
Stebut, on the other hand, interspersed, each for their own patrons, bustle about
developing "new types of commercial farms", about measures indirectly entailing the ruin
of small owners and tenants, and about the direct expropriation of 20-25 million peasants
(Starlings). ..

1 I speak of school workers only by factory workers, by construction workers, the

construction industry, the transportation industry, the processing of agricultural products,
etc .; This figure is far from my real, but I do not include agricultural workers here, I
determined with approximate accuracy that I was engaged in farming; from this it is
necessary to exclude about% of the total [cadiist] va, who either lead an independent farm
or lead it in the lease of a privately owned land. The situation of the latter and n is highly
unstable, and the villages of the villages take to their attention vigorous agitation of the
years. Chuprova, Stabuta, etc., on the establishment of a “new type of commercial]
economy”. - Sh. F.1

Believe me, if you are persuaded by the evidence of my and my comrades that there is
“no such contradiction that torments our soul at every step” ...

During the night you released some of the most important lines from my letter to you,
explaining this, namely: that I and my comrades must be tormented by the lack of a
connection between theory and practice. This is one of the very annoying omissions,
especially since we are doomed to argue with you in private; and since you decided to
bring our polemic to the reading public, it was necessary to make possible the exact
transmission of our objections (or rather, statements). Your phrase should also be
included here: “The few words I said about the opposition [between populism and
Marxism] were enough to excite the gentlemen of Marxists.” I, Iapr [imer], did not “worry”
at all from your words; I wrote to you that the outstanding interest of your article, which
touched the most pressing question, made me take up the pen ...

  I should note that the epithet “knights of accumulation” of brooches addressed to
Marxists by the famous renegade Lev Tikhomirov, later the author of “Do we need a
factory?” (In “Ruesk [om] review”) [II. F.]
  DI Mendeleev (1834-1907) - the great Russian scientist, chemist. He was a Ural breeder
and, as such, a defender of industrial capitalism in Russia and his post
pultiva development. Skvortsov A.P. (1848-1914) —economist,
Professor Yovo-Alexandria Institute of Agriculture.
B- I. Lenin criticized Skvortsov many times: “... this is a vulgar bourgeoisie and nothing
more” (V. I. Denin, Soch., Vol. 1, p. 181). Chuprov A, I. (1842-1908) - Professor,
Economist, Publicist
iarodpik Sgebug I. А. (1833-1923) - a prominent Russian professor agronomist. In the
field of salt economy and agricultural education typical bourgeois-capitalist pro
Gressist. - Ed.
Mr. Speaking of professors Chuprov and Stsbut, I have
  “Poison their curious speeches, propanenes by them as a“ zrotsol of science ”butred by
landowners of the“ Moscow society] soy [th] economy ”on October 23 and November 27,
1892.— [I. F]

Here's another question. If I affirm that, in principle, Russian Marxists do not admit the
vice that you discovered, that this principle is split into internal, devouring each other,
contradictions, how can you explain that in reality there are, as you report, “quite a lot” of
Marxists , “Directly insisting on ruining a village”?

Such absurdities are as important to us as they are to you ...

O. if only evil! .. But to be torn with all my soul To disperse the second evil, to labor for
people
Covered in a mask, corrupt Pharisee ...

OR stupid, need to add. But, but you can throw arrows at us for the fact that we “cannot
even talk in our corner”, we cannot withdraw (and is it possible?) “Corrupt Pharisees” and
fools ... However, I believe that yours “ moral personality "and your" great mental abilities
"will not allow you to" identify Russian Marxists with knights of accumulation "*. But how
would you order to combine your assurance that you “did not identify Russian Marxists
with knights of accumulation” with your statement that Marxists “not only should not (by
the very principle of their theory) protest against the mutilation of the human body in the
vicissitudes of the capitalist process, but even to rejoice in them as necessary, though
steep steps leading to the temple of luck, I ”? I think that you will not deny the principle
that "everyone who looked at a woman with lust, has already committed adultery with her
in his heart." Marxist, on the principle of jubilant success of capitalism, a moral accomplice
of the "maiming of mankind".

While you clarify this to us, I will allow myself to express my assumption about the real
causes of your bitter attack.

“Any activity that meets the moral requirements of a Marxist (that is, the connection of the
worker with the conditions of production) is impossible for him, since he will only delay,
delay the process.” So you say, completely forgetting later that your statement is logical
only in relation to the Marxist created by your thought. For you, apparently, it was a big
surprise to meet in my first letter a casual idea about the necessity for us, Russian
Marxists, of a political struggle to transform the tramps into independent masters and for
raising the economic and legal life of the village . I said that this is necessary for us as
Marxists, especially not because raising the economic level of small-scale farming and
transforming the tramps into independent small masters (everything I can dream of
without entering a transcendental height) contained something " specially Marxist, ”there
really isn’t anything Marxist here, but because the interests of the proletariat are closely
related to this issue. Moreover, I think that none of the political parties, until a special
petty-bourgeois party is organized, can so sincerely and energetically insist on the
urgency of carrying out this plan. I am sure that none of the “real Marxists” will react with
hostility to the plan expressed by me and none of them will say: “If you want to be
engaged in such trifles, engage, but we are not on the road.” Rest assured that this will be
as I say; disagreements may be. Your personal opinion that this silt is just a good deed is
true only in relation to your hypothetical Marxist. I would willingly subscribe to the letter
received by you signed by the "Marxists" ', despite the compactness of the thought
expressed in it. You did not understand from this letter, "how can we talk about any kind
of" practical program "where it is impossible to consciously influence and where
everything goes by an instinctive way and can not go otherwise." You missed a small, but
very important word for understanding the meaning of the letter: "The conscious activity of
the intelligentsia but can change the nature of economic evolution." Here is the word that
you could find the clue. In fact, setting ourselves the immediate goal of raising the
economic and political life of peasant Russia, we do not deceive ourselves with the hope
that the implementation of this goal "will delay, delay the process of development of
capitalist industry." If you think otherwise, it is your business; We will not share your
opinion. Neither the community, nor the soft loan, nor the resettlement, nor the reduction
of payments, but will save small owners from separation from the conditions of
production, since monetary production exists and large-scale capitalist farming and
industrial economy. I think that the motu, by delaying the already very long letter, leave
this position without a border. If you are convinced of the possibility of] directly jumping
from small-scale to large collective farming, again, it’s your business; but we do not
believe at all that you can make such an agreement. Nevertheless, in all practical
measures, we will look for friends who are sincere and: energetically strive for the same,
in order to really improve the situation of small farms and prepare the conditions for the
transformation of small and private capitalists into collective ones.

1 ii. K. Mikhailovsky at that time received among many other letters of the bottom of the
letter signed by “Marxists” from Kharkov - they were then distributed as a separate illegal
brochure. - RSD.

So, the root of our disagreements, I think, if not the only, then the most important, is that
you are or are convinced that any radical measures to raise the economic level of small
farms can fundamentally destroy the development of the capitalist form of production,
antagonistic to small-scale independent farm; or you believe that you will be able to
directly create a collective form of production "on the basis of" "common" labor. In the first
case, I would call you a "petty-bourgeois philosopher", in the second - "utopian" in the
sense given to these words in the "Manifesto" ... But I wish good cause success from the
soul.

Further, my comrades wrote to you that “the nature of our economic evolution, as before,
did not depend, so it may depend, more or less close future, on this or that activity of the
intelligentsia. Since the beginning of the 70s, you have been proving the existence in
Russia of special conditions due to which it can bypass the capitalist stage of
development. We deny the existence of such conditions . We find that the course of
economic evolution as before has consisted in the destruction of economic organization,
[so] will continue to differ by the same character ... Economic evolution under present
conditions can be accomplished only by instinctive means, as it has been done so far
West "...

I agree with all this again, except for some expressions. Indeed, we had all sorts of
ideological currents, open "penitent nobility"; and the process of economic evolution
accelerates everything, without changing the character that it received in the last epoch of
the monetary-commodity land economy. Of course, I will not argue that failure, the
cessation of any activity in the past, alone prove the still birth of the ideas that caused this
activity. I would have to take a long excursion to the area of the recent past; but this is not
part of my task, which is to answer your objections and the questions raised by you. But I
can not help but notice that similar mental movements took place in the West, and there
they were caused by the same reasons that we had, and stopped, also without affecting
the changing nature of economic evolution. That our economic process is accomplished
instinctively is true in the sense that the attempts of the ideologues of the working class
are still not able to stop it or change it and, most importantly, the mass of working people
passively retract into it; if the working classes suddenly saw the eyes and understood that
the developing economic system brings with it the mutilation and death of millions of
personalities from their midst, and if at the same time (and most importantly) they
understood that it was their salvation in collectivism the process preceded by cholera,
starving typhus, starvation, crime and prostitution, there would be no trace! He would
have disappeared like smoke. GTO mass ruined, stupefied. the hungry "Raspasits with
enthusiasm are greeted, as a redeemer, by the cupriminal king, Ivan Kuzmich." Pih has so
far one passionate desire - “land”; it is an all-Russian peasant cry, having that tragic
character, that it is the cry of a man dying of hunger. You can think, dare to think and
believe that this cry will finally merge with the battle click! But while the peasant - “the man
eating a swan”, humiliated, beaten, hungry - is fleeing from the community, from his
allotment. “But many circumstances,” you testify, “even apart from his own personal
instincts, are kept off the ground.” Such is the one side of the modern virtual community
and the role of the capitalist! industries: VeppHG Carries, \ WOWPA1 P1ads
dowogyep! ... In 1883 you wrote: “It’s true that our uncooked and factory boiler is a
peasant, to another major, of course, he is also sick, corrupted, and degenerates; but
from this also willowed, that only the goods that are in the window ”(capitalism). Fine, but
so far you still have to rejoice if the peasant breaks out of the real community, from the
real lot that he’s at least a little shaken off the unbearable “milking the state” and turns into
a factory worker, he will get some better conditions. But a large part of the peasants,
driven out of need by the villages, still finds access to this “window”.

 “Reason is nonsense, beneficence is torture (scourge)

becomes ", - [And, F.)
 From the “Letter of the Editors” by Mikhailovsky, a document signed by “The Outside” and the
July book “Domestic
notes ”for 1883 - Ed.

Further, my comrades suggested that economic evolution "will continue to be different in

the same character." This, I think, expresses the idea that Russia, once speaking on the
capitalist path, will develop in this direction, not encountering obstacles in the form of
competition between more developed capitalist nations, lack of national unity, with a
common economic center, etc .; for in the presence of such obstacles, real economic
evolution would have to or should be cut off, and we would have to enter the bridge with
Mr. N. —on 1 to expect the most gracious manifesto calling upon God's blessing on
socialized labor with loud applause. capitalists and landowners, convinced of the
impossibility of the existence of anti-people form of production. You hardly touch on this
question, except for the following phrase: “One Marxist wrote to me that I see disaster in
poverty, whereas it is instead an instrument of movement ... If the reader turns to Marx
himself, he will make sure that the words these can in no way be attached to our dam,
and that our poverty is a disaster alone. ” I agree with you that poverty itself is a disaster,
and I will add that the social movement caused by poverty does not in itself lead to
progress, it (the movement) is only an indicator of social antagonism. The proletarian of
Rome could only become a column. The poverty of Ireland is exclusively poverty,
because Ireland is capitalized by England. The progressive nature of the movement of the
proletariat is determined by the material conditions of the modern form of production,
thanks to these conditions the proletariat is the “stone of the church of the present.”
1 I. - O ”(Nikolai — Opp) is the pseudonym of N. F. Danielson (1844–1918), economist, one of
the most prominent representatives of populism in the 80–90s. The views of the 11th and opa
were repeatedly criticized by V.I. Lenin. - Ed.
2 17. L. Lavrov (Mirtov) (1823–1900) - the most prominent representative of revolutionary
parevvichestva, a member of the society “Zomln and Kohl”, later - the party “Narodnaya Polya”, a
member of the 1st International, the Author of “Historical Letters”. Ii. E. Fedoseev refers to the
theory.
 More correctly - Druschgay-Sokolishnshy, landowner-krspostinin Smolensk province. - Ed.

Further, you say that "if we are destined to the very historical necessity to go through the
capitalist phase of development, then do not worry, it will find more suitable spokesmen
than the Marxists." This arrow, Mr. Punishing Olympian, I return to you with an intact
point. I will be the first to be glad about the appearance of more suitable carriers of the
ideas of the working class, that is, more talented "fully armed with science." This is my
craving. But can one soon expect the appearance of these talented, brilliant fighters,
when Pasch absolutism cripples children and immature organisms? In the meantime, we
will act; according to the theory of the esteemed P. L. Lavrov, this is our moral duty , we
should not] refuse to give up activities only because we consider ourselves insufficiently
talented and scientists. Zs advice "at least somehow be called", and not Marxists, thank
you, but I can not accept it. I think, and my comrades, no jesters of peas and Pharisees
will force them to give up a name that suits their cause. This is not a magazine label, but it
may also be difficult to refuse from this.]
Nota al pie

Of the moral duty of a civilized meiyshtvat but respect! to the suffering majority, developed by
Lavrov in VTP letters. - Pev.

Further. In explaining the "behavior" of those whom you called passive Marxists , you
write: they are not of interest.! gotsya "people sitting on the ground and generally owning]
the means of production." For us it is absolutely possible, but to ignore this class of
people. Impossible because the history of the proletariat is the history of the destruction of
the peasant. We need to know the history of the peasantry and be interested in its current
life only because our activity is connected with the interests of the peasants, but because
the proletarians make demands on us, to acquaint them with the history of the Russian
peasantry. Write the history of the peasantry is more necessary at the moment that he.
ex-housekeepers and their publicists] begin to speculate on the "peasant good" in the
species; the struggle against them by the bourgeoisie. “Both forms of pasta are one of the
urban population, plutocracy and the proletariat,” writes, for example [prmer], book.
Drutskaya-Sokolgyganskiy ’, Yavls-1 is absolutely new in Russia. Undoubtedly, in the
cities of former Russia there were both rich and poor inhabitants, but only we see the
widespread prevailing development] of the above two types, and this is undoubtedly the
result] of the situation acquired by the domestic criminal -] recently ... We must give full
However, as in the case of the proletariat, Moscow was ahead of Europe in a short time]. ”
The prince, dawning on the interests of the] peasantry, and not only he, but many different
instruments | gih titled and untitled landowners, | also crying out about the ruin of the
people by the bourgeoisie, they are completely silent about the role they or their clans
played, about children, in creating the modern proletariat ... No, we must sell to the
proletarians and peasants all the “nice” patrons of the peasantry, the Rostovtsevs ,
Milyutins, Cherkasskys, Samarins Paryad with Panin and Gagarins and those that were
then at the top

You say that "Marxists" "in the name of science, flout their father's ideals," utopias, "as
they arrogantly say, quite sure that in their providence of the future there is nothing
utopian, but everything is weighed and measured by strict science." Sorry, allow me to
clarify that the word "utopians", which, indeed, we call you, but has a completely offensive
and haughty sense; it only serves to separate our faction from yours. Since at least I use
this word in the meaning given to him in the Manifesto, I will quote the relevant definition:

“The creators of these systems (of critical utopian socialism and communism) have
already seen the antagonism of classes, as well as the influence of destructive
elements inside most dominant society. But they did not see in the proletariat any
historical initiative, any peculiar political movement. Since the development of class
antagonism goes hand in hand with the development of industry, at one time they
could not yet find the material conditions for the liberation of the proletariat. They
hoped to fill this gap with the discovery of social laws, the publication of a new social
science. The place of social solidarity was to be set in motion by their own creative
activity, the place of the historical conditions of liberation was supposed to keep up
the conditions fantastic, the place of the class organization of the proletariat
gradually moving forward - the public organization of its own image. The world’s
whole history was for them to promote the practical implementation of their reform
plans. They understood this, however, that with their plans they express the
interests of the working class mainly, as they suffer more than others. But only "of
this quality - more than the other suffering class -" the proletariat existed for them. A
critical element in their works is precious material for the premonition of the workers.
The value of traditional-utopian [ichic] socialism] and communism is inversely
related to the course of historical development. In the same degree in which the
class struggle develops and takes on a certain character, loses all practical sense
and every theoretical justification this fantastical desire to rise above it, this fantasy-
negative attitude to it ”*.

I would like to emphasize here that we give the name of the "utopians" not so much in
relation to well-known figures to the future, but rather in relation to the present state of
things, to the real class struggle.

  The persons listed by N. E. Fedoseyev are prominent figures of the so-called peasant reform of
1861. N. E. Fedoseyev ironically calls them “sympathetic” guardians of the peasantry. NG
Chernyshevsky branded them as feudal landowners. - Ed

. Then you say that we are "trampling on fatherly ideals." This note and ns can be! For our
part, you need to be nerds and moral quasimodo, that {"flout" the ideals of Belinsky,
Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, Saltykov, IK Mikhailovsky! We ourselves studied but the
literary works of these writers, we recommend and give them to read to all those who ask
for guidance regarding reading in a certain sense, We value these names as the best,
most precious asset of Russian thought! What are we supposed to do when the “fathers”
have either stepped back or want to know anything new, but they want to understand the
new life and its mu-! demanding inquiries, but only hurling thunder and lightning against
those who should have taken a step forward, forced to by the changed conditions of life
itself?

East, the pass, too, is terribly oppressive, that "complete oblivion and ignorance, slander
and misunderstanding in relation to that: the literary direction to which you belong" grows
and grows to incredible sizes. We see and know those people who are very confessing
that “ Slonim I, in their conviction, is more scientific, and you are prettier. ”

  Ii. E. Fedoseev somewhat arbitrarily quotes K. Manx and F. Engels's “Manifesto of the
Communist Party”. (Compare 0 | above. Gosiolitizdat, 1950, pp. 66.) - Ed.

  The case that I’m talking about, let’s suppose, the author himself explained with a period
of “child-production”, in fact, many people come to the same thing, which is already a
consequence of obedience to the economic conditions of real life. And such a strange
"sympathy" disappears quickly, like smoke.

Although we call you and those like you "utopians", but this does not prevent us from
considering your direction as the closest to us. And this is only because of the importance
for the “critical element” of your works, but also because those “utopians” who, together
with Saltykov, are convinced that “the forms of government are not at all indifferent” and
that the opposite opinion is that “they are all lead to the weaning of the already obese
bourgeois ”- the confidence is sad and unfounded, - are close to us in the community of
the closest aspirations. And the so-called massacre should be brought to the fore when
assessing the role of our utopians; it puts them immeasurably above the "German or true
socialists" and the French and English epigones of the "great utopians." These our
utopians are closer for us and in this last respect than the doctrinaires of liberalism, of
which one, namely, Mr. Slonimsky, was recently nailed by Mr. N. —on with his rabbit legs
for taking the proof that only collectivism can save the working population from all the ills
of capitalism. But there is reason to think that the time will soon come when this closeness
will be broken ...

1 L. Slonimsky 3. (1850–1918) - a publicist, collaborator of the liberal “European Herald”,

took part in the controversy of Marxists from a liberal-bourgeois position. - Red

How do we relate to the social activities of our fathers and predecessors? I will not
discuss this issue, although I realize that it is very important for clarifying our differences.
With particular Pleasure, I emphasize your words: “In his controversy with Dühring,
Engels, among other things, spent a lot of effort in putting political power on an economic
pedestal and, no doubt, expressed a lot of truth.” Despite your further reservation: “H0, we
cannot consider the question as settled, of course,” I attach great importance to these
words to your words; 10–11 years ago, the opposite was said in the most categorical way,
without any reservations. As for our attitude to our previous activities, I could repeat
everything that I said above about our attitude to the “ideals of the fathers”.
With this, I will finish my objections and remarks on one part of your article and, for
convenience, I formulate] the main points made above.

Russian Marxists in cash material conditions. economic system have the groundwork for
active revolutionary activity.

Russian Marxists are the immediate goal of their activities! Post put achievement of
political freedom in the sense of guaranteeing the social rights of the working population.

The struggle for political freedom in this sense constitutes the common duty of the
proletariat and the peasantry.

From the moment the revolutionary party was organized, Russian Marxists became
political leaders of the Social Democratic Party.

The program of this party cannot be a copy of any of the existing or existing programs of
the West European Social Democratic parties.

It must be worked out in accordance with the existing socio-economic and political
conditions of Russian life.

(The most important immediate political task of this program must be the destruction of all
remnants of the old feudal (феодального) (serfdom) (крепостнического) regime
(режима) in both state (государственных) and public (общественных) relations

The cardinal point of the program and the ideal figure! Posti serves the organization of
national production on the basis of collective large-scale machine production and its
(organization) logical consequence - the destruction of classes and state power.

But on the way to achieving this ideal, the Russian proletariat, like every other in all capital
of the Listing countries, will have to fight for its immediate economic interests (shortening
the working day, increasing wages (this is very important here), reducing taxes, protest
against militarism, protectionism, etc.).

The economic interests of the Russian proletariat are closely connected with the interests
of the class of small owners. Therefore, the struggle of the Social Democratic Party for
the immediate economic interests of the Russian working class will be expressed, among
other things, in the struggle for a possible improvement in the position of the small farmer
and handicraftsman (weakening, softening the process of initial capitalist accumulation).
The role of political representatives of the Social Democratic Party will also consist in the
elimination of all attempts leading to the oppression of the personality of the peasant and
handicraftsman, which are taking place now and may be in the future, in the name of
raising economic well-being.

Everything, even the most radical measures aimed at raising small farms, cannot stop the
process of capitalization of production (i.e., weaning the producer from the conditions of
production, concentrating the latter in the hands of big capitalists and companies, turning
the product of direct consumption into a commodity).

The only result of these measures will be a significant weakening of the consequences of
the initial capitalist accumulation, which are expressed in agonizing disasters and the
extinction of millions of ruined and ruined people.

This, of course, does not prejudge the question, perhaps there is no emergence of an
independent political petty-bourgeois democratic party, in whose program these
measures will be set as the main and final goal, and also what will be the attitude of social
democracy to this party.

Questions: is it possible in Russia to further develop capitalist production and whether the
transition to collectivism before the socialization of labor is possible, on the basis of
privately owned capitalism, at least a significant part of the national labor - belong to a
completely different category; are solved with the help of a comparative historical study of
the emergence and development of capitalism as among the nations previously involved
in the process | capitalization, as well as those who are just being drawn into him; These
questions are of no decisive importance to the formulation of the above provisions. Ube- |
Are Russian Marxists glad that labor will be socialized in Russia, at least in those sizes as
in modern Germany and France or even Austria, on the basis of machine capital
production, or not convinced he equally has real footwork for active revolutionary activity
in the present. Contradictions kanitalisticheskogo-1 st system at it is obvious. Some
branches of national labor (the processing of fibrous substances for clothing, the trans-
shipment business, the mining industry and — I which] are others) are capitalized, and
within their labor] are socialized. Consequently, the workers (in the sea of the named
industries) must and can learn the principles of scientific socialism as the motto of the
revolutionary activity; can and should be no less than any other workers in the developed
capitalist countries.

Consequently, both in the political struggle (with absolutism) and in the socioeconomic
struggle, the existing proletariat must and can be the vanguard of the revolutionary army.
This is a positive element in the struggle. And, you need to give full justice, I don’t deny
this, saying that our plan is “partly from the purely practical point of view,” but causes no I
objections.

The general conclusion from the whole of the previous one is that you didn’t have any
actual reasons for the section-Marxists went into three categories. But in addition to this,
your classification is against the sound logic. Only in 1877 you created a hypothetical
Marxist, I “tormented at every step by the fundamental contradictions of your theory; with
passionless Pimen, who entered into the I chronicle the facts of two-edged progress; any
activity, I bone for whom is impossible, because only delay the process; I rejoice in this
process. ” "In [18] 77, - you yourself yes- | moreover you write, - I suggested the logical
possibility of the Russian Marxists, preaching on the 1st, spreading the proletariat ”.
In 1894 you establish three categories of Marxists who are between themselves and your
hypothetical Marxist in the same inner connection as St. Trinity. “Spectators” is the Holy
Father [of the Fifth], and not Yourself 1 of your Marxist [18] 77 (you guessed it then);
sitting in a comfortable bed, they watch impassively how a villain kills theatrical innocence
or how a “noble father” suffers shame and humiliation. “But theater tickets are given for
nothing, but they give”, and you need to buy a ticket for a comfortable box at a high price;
that is, dispassionate observation of life is possible when the “spectator pays”, when he
has capital and tools for them, or when he sits down at a public or private hearty pie.

The Holy Father [Father] gives birth to the Holy Son [nd] Son, a passive Marxist. The
passive Marxist does not wish to remain either an impassive spectator in a comfortable
bed, or to take an active part in the formation of capitalism and the proletariat; he focuses
his attention on the proletarians already organized; but he stands on a slippery slope, for
he must rejoice at the luxurious flourishing of capitalism, and therefore the Holy Spirit
comes out of Holy Son - an active Marxist, protesting against the help of the starving
peasants, since this would delay, in their opinion, the desired and joyful process for them
development of capitalism.

The Spirit of the Shot comes from the Father, who pays for a comfortable bed, one way or
another participating in life (this is an extreme type of Marxist). And your Holy [fifth] Trinity
turned out to be coessential and inseparable, “without faces in the three faces of the
Divine!”. If we add to all this the orthodoxy of all these figures (“condescendingly or
contemptuously looking at the profane from their height, taking out a carefully rewritten
Marx scheme from their pockets with a gracious or unkind smile,” then this Holy Trinity of
Holy Russia will turn out. But in these divisions into categories you have already made a
mistake in the fact that, as an Orthodox priest, you try to distinguish between three
persons, merging them at the same time into one. Now Russian Marxists have to wait,
that they will translate their name (“Marxists”) into Volshok language, write tsifiryu add, if
necessary - subtract and open “the number of beasts but”! And then they will call an
Orthodox parody with scythes and pitchforks on the antichrist servants; finish it on ne you
Vorontsovs and Yuzovs *.

  Literally "another me." - Ed.

Yes, dear Nikolai Konstantinovich, I am at a great distemper in our fatherland at the

moment, and you are not! A small amount of effort is being made to increase this unrest,
retarding the metaphysical and. Mystical: Thumas pom undoubtedly almost a progressive
direction! thoughts n vigorous activity.

Actually, I attach the most serious importance to singling out-1 came from the ranks of the
Marxists of those fools or corrupt F-1 Riooi, who, mixing capitalism with the original
capitalist accumulation, are protesting against all! What help the village. This, I repeat,
has a huge Via-1 chepis for me and my comrades. But the thing is that I really often
happens in such a way that people {people of different directions are talking about a
“wickedness of I day”; some ardently express faith in the community, and the I is folk,
exaggerate the practical and moral! the importance of feeding the hungry and at that time
suddenly a young man or girl barked at the heat of the moment: that your first community
is the shackles of the personality or that your moral meaning of feeding, the people who
didn’t lose 2 of themselves, I the yoke and enslavers besides you, “dried Vobly, looking for
incentives to act in the contemplation of the torment of the first-submitting people. I myself
do not know such Marxists, and I have not met, and pi from whom I heard from my
comrades about ns, but I heard (by the way, the example that I | told you in the last letter)
from people of a different direction. And for many reasons, I think that there is no serious
stone against these pea jesters (I don’t admit the possibility even to say such things in a
hurry, I roll them, they say). But this is our business to understand.

1 MSh, one populist, student of Mr. I. Zlatovratsky, seriously said: “So what are you doing
now? Going to the garden and shouting in squares:“ Yen pots, break earrings, spinning
wheels, harrows and plows, cut, sell cattle! Capitalists and Marxists are coming! ”” - [//. 0,]
Yuzov is a pseudonym of I.I Kablnpd, a reactionary populist. - Red

2 So in the text. - Ed.

But there is another side of the dale. When I say that “Russian Marxists in the present
material conditions of the economic system have the basis for vigorous revolutionary
activity,” these words represent only a theoretical meaning. The question arises: if, as I
say, there are material conditions for our activity, are there such phenomena generated by
these material living conditions that require our intervention? In other words, are the
economic contradictions of the existing industrial capitalist form of production expressed
in the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie? Sure there are. Russian
capitalism is as hostile to the Russian working class as any capitalism is to any working
class. Russian worker expresses his hostility in the fight. The struggle is unsystematic,
outbreaks and is accompanied by heavy casualties on the part of the struggling workers
only because of the poorness of the beggar’s struggle with the rich, and because of
absolutism. Did the workers struggle in any positive results? The first factory legislation,
received life in the era of the “dictatorship of the heart”, was caused not only by the
interests of the workers themselves, the owners, but also by the great unrest of the
workers of St. Petersburg, Moscow and other major centers. The abolition of the
assignment of fines for the private benefit of the owners and some regulation of their
collection are caused by the great strike of the workers of the Nikolskaya manufactory].
Yuzovsky pogrom resulted in the issuance of legislation on mining and industrial workers.
The recent strike of the Khludov workers, which was acute in nature, served to spread the
factory legislation and the institute of factory inspectors in the provinces (who had had
them before this strike). Nikolsky workers forced their masters to reduce the working day
from 14 to 12 hours [ases] by means of a strike. The strike of the Shuisko-Ivanovo
workers was accompanied by a reduction in the working day from 10 to 12-13 '/ 2 hours
[aces]. The results achieved, of course, whether the pass, nor the workers are satisfied;
characterizing the causes of these miniature reforms, I can use the words of Bismarck:
the workers' nosorgapizirovannaya party I "served as a scourge", under whose blows I
were forced to make insignificant concessions.
 The famous strike of the Ozhevo-Zuev workers in 1885 at the Morozov factory in the village of
Nikolsky, as a result of which the tsarist government issued a law on fines. For this and other
strikes, see pages 188–190. - Ed.
 Speech by miners in May 1887 at mines near Yuzovka, Vakhmutsk district, Ekateriniposlav
province. - Ed.
 It began on May 25th and lasted until 8th shop in 1893 at the Spinnery of the Khludov Brothers in
Yegoryevsk, Ryazka Province. - Ed.

The Polish proletariat, significantly organized by the First Proletariat Party, set the
requirement for an 8-hour working day. Many large manufacturers of Lodz, on-i pr [psr]
Scheubler, most affected by the defeat, I had to enter the 10-hour working day in their I
factories and now apply for the legislative I equation for the duration of day-to-day labor ]
zo all Russian factory production.

Further. Many workers, in one way or another, are assimilated by socialist ideas, often
indifferently * to the strikes of their comrades and thus are eliminated from the influence of
I in the sense of the direction of the struggle and explaining its whole. I In the midst of
factory workers, they strive to agitate buoys and liberals. Finally, among the very many
workers I (I speak of one large industrial area I know of), there is a great desire for
knowledge. They themselves turn to us with urgent requests to indicate the sources for
decisions of these or other questions of interest to them, ”require answers to emerging
questions I have. Often, in factories, God knows how, I organize circles (without the
leadership of the pillars), get books, write out newspapers, take place I debate,
campaigning, and arrange relations with other factory districts and villages . But the tactics
I at the same time almost always differs in the extreme impractical, I stun and
inexperience with all the state poslestpiyami. I know, for example [imer], the facts that
workers locked up a tavern filled with a two-hundred crowd, and read revolutionary
proclamations or organized crowded gatherings to tackle the most important issues, but
controlling those present, among whom was a contractor, etc.

 This is about the workers of textile factories in Lodz n Lodzipa County 20-29 April 1892 - Ed.
 Ii. E. Fedoseyev has a view of Orekhopo-Zuyevo, with the workers of whom he had a direct
connection at one time. - Ed.

So pasha's friends fight and die; our duty is to intervene in this struggle, to bring light and
knowledge into it, to organize and get started from the first stage against the closest
enemy — absolutism, in the name of political freedom guaranteeing the rights of the
working population. And in this sense they impose "demand" on us. I will dwell on the
demands of life for intervening in the struggle of the peasantry in order to unite it with the
struggle of the proletariat and the direction to the solution of a single, common task. I note
only that on this side of the Ket is such a mass of hot requests, pet currents independently
fashioned in the sense of which I speak.

It should be added that among the thinking workers (big centers) there are various
directions: here you can also meet nigsstop naturalists (reading workers have a great
desire to get acquainted with chemistry, physics, etc.) among Nigiah workers in most of
the markets personal and family ethics but socialist social convictions. There are among
the workers and Tolstoyans; but in general, Tolstoyan doctrine and molkopstvo meet with
vigorous resistance from the majority of thinking workers. Tolstoyans are an amazing
coptrast with their personality with the general conditions of their life; Imagine in the hell of
barrack life of people as pure and as immaculate as a crystal; they, along with a
passionate desire for knowledge (and also real), are dominated by aversion to violence, in
whatever way it manifests itself. Therefore, they have a somewhat negative attitude
towards the socialist comrades, sympathizing, however, with their ideas and desire to
organize themselves. - For you, I think, it will be interesting to get acquainted with the
views of the “Tolstoyan-worker”; I will quote an excerpt, 1x exeto, c3 of a single letter of a
working fellow, “I consider it most necessary to destroy all faults and improve morally and
have the conviction that people will not live happily until the time they improve. The time
spent before in drunkenness, etc., they could use to discuss their position and their
actions.

  I will mention the following fact, which shows that the same happens in other sources. In
the prison car I accidentally got along with a transfer socialist - a worker from the Baltic
Shipyard. He told me that in addition to the political eco-technology and the socialist
sciences, he and many of his comrades are also engaged in natural sciences. - [I. F]

For the welfare of nations, I consider it necessary to unite all nations into one family.
Books should resolve!, Our aspirations, to save us from stilts, and put on a firm faith and
conviction and teach us to a more correct and reasonable life; to open a sound, practical
view of human life; so that they can receive advice and guidance in the struggle against
evil, so that during this struggle they will be less deprived of material and spiritual
hardships; overthrow the yoke of evil by peaceful means. How to attract people to the side
of reason and truth? Sholago to get acquainted with the natural history of the Bible; with
the moral and spiritual development of all mankind since the beginning of the world; I want
to know the theory of Humboldt and Darwin. I want to know the history of Christian
churches and sects; I want to know about L. Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Spinoza, K. Marx. I am
interested in spiritual development in all countries, especially in Russia; modern political
movement in the world. I want to know the reviews and critics about L. Tolstoy; about the
aspirations of people to universal happiness; information about reformers of new and
middle ages. I strive for ideocraticism, that is, for rational concepts. I would like to know
what happiness is material and spiritual. I want to know where the spiritual and material
false life comes from. And where does the delay in moral, true life come from? Is there
any evidence of deception? Are there no means, without raising a hand, to destroy evil? ”

In memory. - Ed.

To the credit of L. Tolstoy’s [afa], I should note the following fact: several workers came to him
with the painful question of what they should do in their difficult situation; Lev Nikolaevich asked
them in detail about the factory life, which the workers described as “the inability to preserve the
image of a man”; after the hot sympathetic words of Lev Nikolayevich said to them: “I sing that my
teaching will not help you in your life; I would advise you to read The Idea of the Working Class
(printed in Sovremennik), etc .; This is more suited to your life than my teaching. ” - [//. F. \
And in such cases, we diligently recommend the attention of those asking for your literary
works in general and articles about Count L. Tolstoy and Tolstoyans in particular. I,
unfortunately, do not have in the hands of the frost the workers of another direction, much
more interesting than the one quoted. If I add that the overwhelming majority of workers
are ignorant, do not even know of the existence of any kind of wide interests and
conscious of their plight at critical moments and here the comrades-leaders who obey the
voice, then the conditions of our activity in this environment will become clear more or less
fully. .

My objections to the second part of your polemical article on the theory of economic
materialism, I decided to postpone until the next post, in order to have time to get
acquainted with your article in the February book, which I have just received from the
editorial board.

**

I now turn to the last question to which you assigned the most place in your controversy,
to the question of the theory of economic materialism, this “strange” theory, by your
opinion, by none of the scientists but proven, by any of the scientists not tested, but
adopted on faith by a mass of German workers who are not at all competent in the
business of philosophical and general scientific thinking. But with all my desire to find in
your article substantial objections to this "strange" theory, at least against the part that,
according to your admission, is justified, I meet with astonishingly few such objections;
Obviously, this “strange” theory, even in its grounded part, did not wait for any more
substantive criticism. Of course, here too my task will be to clarify the theory of economic
materialism and its significance, but only to defend against your objections.

I will try to group your views in the theory of economic materialism and the objections that
you have made against it. Marx in his "Capital" but outlined a materialistic understanding
of history; at the most, he gave it a few brilliant pages in this regard ; here we are talking
only about the historical period, and within these limits the subject is, of course, but
exhausted; the author simply concerns the economic side of a certain group of historical
phenomena. In the Manifesto and in various places of his other writings, K. Marx
expressed the theory of economic materialism, but nowhere did he substantiate it with "a
detailed analysis of other philosophical and historical theories or any significant factual
material."

This is all that Marx did for the theory of economic materialism.

For the theory of economic materialism as a historical theory, Friedrich Engels did the
most. Separate thoughts in this direction are found in his different writings. But the most
important work is the Origin of the Family, Property, and the State in Connection with the
Views of Morgan. This— “in connection” is extremely wonderful. The book of Morgan
appeared many years after the foundations of economic materialism were proclaimed by
Marx and Engels and completely independent of him. But Marx and Engels “joined”
Morgan’s research, seeing in them an addition, or rather the spread of their theory, in
prehistoric times. But Morgan’s research begins with such a historical or, more likely,
prehistoric period, when society was not divided into classes and, therefore, there is no
class struggle, and when the production of material values is in an embryonic state, which
is out of the question of the all-selling meaning. Therefore, the following amendment or
addition to the formula of the materialist understanding of history has appeared.
According to the materialistic viewpoint, the defining moment in history is in the last
instance the production and reproduction of life, but it is twofold. On the one hand, the
production of means of living, on the other - the production of the person himself, the
continuation of the species. Morgan’s great achievement is that he has found the key to
the most important, hitherto insoluble riddles of ancient Greek, Roman and German
history. So, in the late 40s, a completely new, materialistic and truly scientific
understanding of history was opened, which did the same thing for historical science that
Darwin's theory did for modern natural science. But Darwin's theory was fully armed with
the overwhelming mass of factual material, while the creators of economic materialism at
the time of the proclamation of their theory were, in their own mind, not sufficiently
knowledgeable in economic history. Consequently, this theory is least likely to claim to
scientific origin. Despite the war of its creators with metaphysics, it was born outside of
science, precisely in the depths of Hegelian philosophy. In his controversy with Dühring,
Engels spent a lot of effort to put political power on an economic pedestal and, no doubt,
expressed a lot of truth, although this question cannot be considered settled; in another
place you express a somewhat different view on this work: here you can find only witty
attempts to speak in passing, but it could not be otherwise in the polemical writing. In the
polemical writing, Engels once again confesses that “political economy as a science
about the conditions and forms in which production, exchange and distribution of values
take place, is still to be created. Everything that we have received from dogs so far is
limited almost exclusively to the origin and development of capitalist production: it begins
with criticism of the remnants of feudal forms of production and exchange, indicates the
need to replace them with capitalist forms, then develops the laws of capitalist production
and ends with their criticism. ”

Nota al pie
  Morgan, Lewis Henry. (1818-1881) - American ethnographer, sociologist and politician. This
refers to his book "The society society", published in 1877 1 \ - Re.
 This refers to the book G1. Veizoigryuna “Laws of Human Development” and P. F. Nikolayev
“Active Process and Economic Materialism.” Rey.

With these words it is very narrowed to zero the action of economic materialism as a
historical theory, and maybe there are still a lot of mysteries not solved by it except for the
ancient history of Greece, Rome and Germany.

It is not surprising that for a theory claiming to highlight I world history, 40 years after its
proclamation — I day ancient Greek, Roman and German history remained insoluble
riddles and the key to these riddles was give, firstly, a man completely outside the theory
of economic materialism, and, in- | second, with the help of a noneconomic factor. The
term “production of man himself” makes a funny impression, which Engels grabs to keep
at least a verbal connection with the basic formula of economic materialism. He is forced,
however, to recognize that the life of mankind for many centuries did not take shape but
this formula, and holds in the future the cessation of the class struggle and the all-
important significance of the forms of production. That is all Engels I did for the theory of
economic materialism. Then follow or less self-directed, Kautsky's line, and, finally, there
must be already fake Marxists, of which, however, there are a lot of people both inside
and outside Germany.

So, the theory of economic materialism is not proven by anyone, not verified by anyone.
This is indicated by very favorable to him. Weisengruen and Nikolaev G Then you give up
two or three examples of the shortcomings of the theory of economic materialism.
Economic] materialists have reduced their scores only with history, but also with
psychology. For example [imer], these theorists indicated that the institution of inheritance
is unthinkable without the products of production transferred to the inheritance, but did not
indicate that it is unthinkable without detonation products that receive the inheritance -
without them and without that complex and tense psyche adjoins. Further. Generic ties,
although pale in the history of civilized nations, still sometimes awaken the terrible demon
of national enmity, not to mention earlier historical periods, and how its awakening
sometimes contradicts every class struggle, as evidenced by the recent European events.
The International Workers Society, founded by Marx and organized for the class struggle,
did not prevent the French and German workers at the time of national excitement to cut
and destroy each other.

You argue that in history there are generally many cases in which this or that process of
the internal work of society broke off and took a completely different direction due to
occasional complications of an international character. Then you say that the idea of
historical necessity existed before Marx and his theory, which is what his admirers do not
want to know.

Regarding the past, it is relatively easy to withstand this theory of historical necessity (all
the same, even in the dress of economic materialism): there is a complete chain of
causes and effects. However, even here the historian working on historical material in
which blood once flowed, the moans of the vanquished and the triumph of the triumphant
triumph were heard, high and vile thoughts and feelings appeared and bore fruit — and
here the historian will not do with just one historical necessity. And in the present, in
practical matters, this historical immutability alone cannot be invoked.

In the fantasy kingdom, where the metaphysical shadows of the phenomena shield us
from the very phenomena with their color and smell, beauty and ugliness, meanness and
greatness, there are no heroes and crowds, but only equally necessary people. But in
reality, Marx and Marxists are a hero and a mob. Analyzing the conditions under which
such a crowd is formed in the history and such heroes appear, we very often find
economic factors among them. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is a key to which one can
look for with the help of political economy, but not in itself and in that department of
psychology, which is engaged in the motives for the production of material values.

In a word, economic materialism in science simply did not justify itself, and this explains
sufficiently the failure, especially conspicuous next to the brilliant success of Capital. True,
this theory has a huge mass of supporters among the working class; According to
success, the theory in a critically verified form does not lie in science, but in everyday
practice, established by the prospects for the future. These prospects do not require the
German workers who assimilate them, and have adopted neither knowledge nor the work
of the critical thought.

The growth and political discipline of the German workers give in turn a reflected brilliance
to the theory of economic materialism.

Here are your objections to the theory of economic materialism! In addition to several
major contradictions of your words with the stated facts, I noticed in them some desire to
make too great demands on this science and distort meaning in modern life, where it is
the leader of the movement in its “physical form”.

Let us see the matter closer, moreover, not hostile.

The “Manifesto” is the first remarkable formulation of the fact that the beginning “to be
performed in the eyes of the people of that time”; The principles underlying this great book
(little spool, yes dear!) represented only a general expression of social relations, the
corresponding power of the class struggle. The core of the theory of economic
materialism "Manifesto" is made up of the ideas of scientific socialism, the formulation of a
fairly clearly revealed then truth that current social life is the vicissitudes of the class
struggle. Consequently, the theory of economic materialism is brought about by the class
struggle of the proletariat. This side was paid the most attention by the authors of the
Manifesto. In this form, economic materialism as a philosophical system has not yet been
shaken; and, obviously, this paragraph of this theory is resolutely but admits the possibility
of the adoption of this philosophical system by liberal and radical bourgeois statesmen
and people of science. From the very beginning, the authors of the Manifesto expressed a
definite idea that the class struggle is not a specific phenomenon of the current historical
process. They could then say: "The history of all the societies that existed until now is the
history of class struggle." In relation to all existing societies, this assertion, of course, was
more or less a probable hypothesis. But the authors further indicate which societies were
studied by them: “The free and the slave, the patrician and the plebeian, the medieval
baron and the serf, the guild master and apprentice, the oppressor and the oppressed —
were in everlasting enmity with each other; a tendency to struggle. ”I do not think that K.
Marx and Engels should have evidence before his eyes to substantiate the part in which
she speaks in the quoted words.

The theory of economic materialism, in order to become a universal philosophical and

historical theory, had to be tested on all known historical facts that are of paramount
importance in the progressive development of society. But, by his own admission, Fr.
Engels, then they did not have enough information on world economic history. Fr Engels
himself noted this defect. Such is the genesis of the theory of economic materialism. The
further development of this theory, from the very beginning grounded on the facts of
modern reality and the known facts of the nearest and remotest past of the European
West, was subject to the most urgent demands of living life. The main incentive for both
its emergence and its further development was the desire to more accurately formulate
the principles of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat that had begun . Marx gave
"several brilliant pages" in Capital, which is a deep analysis of the early ( ближайших)
historical phases (исторических фазисов) (of England and Germany) from the point of
view of the theory of economic materialism. It is more detailed than the “Manifesto”, trace
here the decomposition of the old, feudal society and the birth of the new bourgeois and
the initial development of the latter, but only in the field of economic facts (но
исключительно в области экономических фактов).

In earlier and later writings the same was done by him regarding the role of the
bourgeoisie in political and spiritual development. So, the theory of economic materialism
from the very beginning had the right to be called a theory in relation to the present and
the immediate past of history.

But as a universal philosophical-historical theory, true in relation to world history, it

needed to be confirmed by world-historical facts; until then, it was brilliant in its depth of
thought, a harmonious hypothesis already in relation to the whole prehistoric life of
mankind and the historical life of the Eastern peoples, the Aryans led by Slavs in
particular. This was perfectly understood by K. Marx and Engels themselves. Marx
himself stated to you that he considers his theory of the origin and development of
capitalist production to be true only as applied to Western history.

The theory of economic materialism will receive a higher logical development only when it
is tested on historical facts of the Slavic East.

Nota al pie
'See the translation of this place from the "Manifesto" to ed. Gospolit-izdata, 1956, p. 32. - Ed.

But this was also impossible with respect to the prehistoric life of mankind and with
respect to the history of the Slavic peoples and the central East in the era of the
“Manifesto” and “Capital”; The facts of ancient history still needed to be solved. The key to
this clue was given by comparative ethnography. But this science, until very recently, did
not exist, despite the abundance of information about existing and ancient wild tribes and
the data relating to the prehistoric life of civilized peoples, which are in mythical poems,
legends, etc.

Morgan's own study of the life of the Redskins of North American America has done a
great service in solving many of the mysteries of the prehistoric life of civilized peoples
and explaining the revelations and contradictions in the available ethnographic data.

“To Morgan, as well as to Frazer,” says M. Kovalevsky, “we owe the most amazing
discovery made in the field of sociology in pasha time” (“Ta'-1eap without an e!” 81o1y1t,
1890) 1. So it’s <Fri.App. Engels is extremely interesting, but ns in the sense that you
have deigned to give it. savages. Attempts are wonderful, but unsuccessful in many ways.
I will allow myself to remind it you your own work on the subject, based on the data
extracted by Bachofen and McLennan (I think).
Morgan, in addition, pointed out the economic reasons for the transition from the maternal
to the patriarchal clan (M. Kovalevsky, “Primitive Law”). The fact that Engels introduced
an amendment to the originally formulated theory of economic] materialism while meeting
prehistoric time, I do not see anything surprising. Actually, I do not understand why you
think that Engels grabbed onto the “production of the man himself” in order to keep the
“verbal connection” with the previously formulated theory? I do not understand why
Engels had to eliminate the theory of economic materialism in relation to the very primary
epoch of the public, when Morgan, unfamiliar with this theory, was solely due to the fact
that all social relations at the first steps of the public too clearly reveal their dependence
on economic conditions of life, put this theory? However, my bewilderment may be due to
unfamiliarity with the works of Morgan.

Nota al pie
 Essay on the Origin and Development of Family and Property, Stockholm 1890. - Ed.
 There is a work by F. Engels in the padu "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the
State". - Ed.
 Bachofen, Johann Jacob (1815–1887) - Swiss lawyer and historian, researcher in the field of
primitive Iraqi, author of the BOOK “Mother Law”. - Ed.
 Mac-Len Popes, John Ferguson (1827-1881) - Scottish scholar, one of the first historians of
family and marriage, the author of the book "Iyauchepio of ancient history" - Ed.

Further. It is not entirely correct to say that in the initial formulation of the theory of
economic materialism, when it was discredited by the facts of the immediate historical life,
Marx and Engels saw in history only the class struggle (борьбу классов); they then
included the struggle of estates (сословий). Soon they were formulated as “the struggle
of positions (состояний), estates, classes”. A more detailed study of current life, and the
one that preceded it, is continuously being carried out in the present. In this sense,
Kautsky, Engels himself and many others made very valuable contributions   (in a
prominent place should be put and not the "economic materialist" M. Kovalevsky; his
recent works on English and French history are of great interest to us in many respects)
to the theory of economic materialism in relation to past historical times , and especially
the remotest does not meet such an almost universal denial on the part of the “people of
science” as the theory of scientific socialism (that is, the theory of economic materialism
relating to modern, current life). To accept this theory with all its logical consequences for
bourgeois scholars and statesmen would be to turn into social democrats or ... into
“Buddhist dwellers”, while scholars and statesmen disagree "en masse" with this.

Nota al pie
  In bulk. - Red

But is the theory of economic materialism justified by the exclusion of other philosophical
and historical theories? This, again, is done, like everything else in this science, insofar as
the matter concerned modern times, that is, again, economic materialists resorted to
science not for science (not for gathering facts and self-sufficient operations with them),
but under under the painful demands of time. If you are still not satisfied with what has
been done by the economic materialists in this regard, from “any sufficient analysis of
other philosophical and historical systems”, then this is because you declare your own
decision *; but it will be necessary for economic materialists to accept it only if you prove
that they were mistaken, proving that modern ideas and ideas of the nearest historical
moments are only an expression of the material conditions of production. Now, if you
prove this by analyzing modern social phenomena, then economic materialists will
probably willingly take a detailed analysis of all existing and existing philosophical and
historical theories and write something like the history of Karabaevo philosophy. In the
meantime, it is completely unnecessary thing. Analyzing the closest and modern
economic, political and ideological phenomena and justifying the theory of economic
materialism, K. Marx in the Manifesto, Capital, in the Poverty of Philosophy and in other
works “excluded” the philosophical systems of utopians and philosophical systems of the
ruling classes. In his controversy with Dühring, Engels brilliantly rejected the theory of
"pure politics" and pointed out the economic underpinning of political power. The latest
work of the economist materialists continues this work.

So this is how I see the actual course of development of the theory of economic
materialism and science itself. The complete definition of economic materialism and the
exact formulation of the theory itself will not come before the historical forms of the ethnic
groups that have eluded learning have been studied, and not before the history of each
country is studied from the point of view of economic materialism from the beginning to
the modern times. As examples of such works, I can refer to the books of Gibbpps and
Ashpl (unfortunately, I am not familiar with the works of Rogers); the first gives a concise,
in a very half and bright [essay] of the whole history of England; the second is a detailed
study of medieval forms of English production.

Nota al pie
Bukpalpo - painting the beginning, in this case - a logical mistake, consisting in the fact that the
conclusion is made from such a situation, which itself requires proof. - Ed.
Ashley, William James (1860–1927) —English historian, economist, author of The Economic
History of England in Connection with Economic Theory. - Ed.
Rogers, James Edwin Thorold (1823–1890) —English economist, auto]) of a number of works:
“Economic History of History”, “History of Agriculture and Prices in England”, etc. - Ed.

To blame the theory of economic materialism, that it did not come out ready to be sung by
God, but developed for a long time and will still develop, of course, is impossible. Auguste
Comte is blamed for the fact that he “created a magnificent building of science on data
that were insufficient for this, not having the character of community, which the creator of
positivism supposed in them, because only one Roman Catholic world was accessible to
his research” * did not make a reservation regarding this very clear gap. But this does not
prevent the followers of A. Comte to call him “the creator of the magnificent building of
science”. We cannot even blame the creators of the theory of economic materialism
because they themselves pointed out gaps in their theory and filled them up at the earliest
opportunity. I absolutely do not understand your desire to see the theory of economic
materialism grounded by the same “overwhelming mass of historical facts” as Darwin's
theory. Such a petty enumeration of facts concerning the most important historical
moments is hardly required; and after all, Darwin also found many points and conclusions
based on an insufficient number of facts, fully justified only by his successors. And this
theory of economic materialism has become widespread among the working class of the
entire civilized world. Is it true your affirmation that the workers who accepted it do not
understand anything in the matter of knowledge and critical thought? This opinion is not
new, it is repeated in different ways by Eugene Richter, Bakhelzy, Gerfurty, Dupuis and
many of our domestic "scientists." I will not argue that all or the majority of workers of the
Social Democrats are particularly interested in the knowledge of the ancient life of
mankind, that they are competent in this sphere and possess scientific critical thinking in
this regard. But I can assure you that once the workers begin to think and analyze modern
social life with critical thoughts, then no charm of Fr Engels, Liebkpecht and Bebel will
force them to admit the lie as the truth, especially since the enemies of scientific socialism
in the mass of brochures, lectures, pamphlets and even in parliamentary speeches they
try to prove their falsehood.

No! The tremendous success of scientific socialism is explained by the fact that it clearly,
truthfully analyzed current life and formulated the principles of a movement based on
economic evolution taking place in society. As soon as the worker begins to think, he
starts to critically relate to the reality around him - he accepts the principles of scientific
socialism. And none of the parties existing in Germany, even according to the testimony
of Prince Korolat Scheinach, has such a mass of idealists as in Social Democracy; this
party has in its ranks "countless idealists." Yes tag; and it has always been that people
who in the old man were considered "great", gifted with divine reason and insight,
formulated the most vital interests of either the ruling classes and classes, or
economically subordinate. No exacting science, if it does not falsify historical facts, will
prove that some “rebel,” the leader of the popular masses, inaccurately and falsely
formulated the most important interests of the masses who followed him or distorted the
meaning of his modern life or that the great man of the ruling class "unscientific"
formulated and implemented his interests. But scientific socialism has not only the
character of an accurate, clear expression of the interests of the subordinate class, but
represents the “last word” of social science (economic, historical, philosophical) and
ethics. This last feature constitutes the specific identity of scientific socialism as the
ideology of the modern subordinate class. It is determined by the nature of the material
conditions of modern production, in which the proletariat has a revolutionary, progressive
role. From the point of view of the philosophical and historical theory of economic
materialism, it was possible to outline the main features of the modern two-edged
process. And much of what was outlined by the “Manifesto” and “Capital” was brilliantly
confirmed by further events. Economic materialists with the same scientific right, like all
other positivist sociologists, had the right to formulate the starting points of modern social
evolution, since it discovered its character and tendencies. The most important of these
laws, established by scientific socialism, are the following: the mastering of the tools and
means of socialized production by the working class; the destruction of social classes; the
abolition of state power (which, nevertheless, in one form or another, as the “dictatorship
of the proletariat”, will play the role of “midwife” when the new social order is born);
unification of the proletariat of the whole world. The economic materialists, of course, do
not claim that on earth, with the victory of the proletariat, there will come “peace and good
will among men,” that is, absolute happiness; but they scientifically indicated that the
future of society would rid itself of the fatal subordination of the objective conditions of
economic life, and of the destruction of those aspects of the modern system that cause a
great amount of suffering. You say: “Whether the prophecy of the outcome of the capitalist
system or pet is justified, will show the future, since the history of humanity hasn’t seen
anything like this before, then in any case I do not rely on this prophecy on the data of
historical experience and historical science”. This is an extremely interesting phrase! Even
Mr. Eugene Richter 2, fiercely attacking 1 Social Democrats, but forgets in the heat of the
controversy that for the success of the struggle, you must always keep in mind the point I
of the enemy. Scientific socialists and the foundations of the analysis of the elucidated
character of modern economic and political evolution outline the initial points of the
capitalist process. The study of past historical epochs, from the point of view of economic
materialism, firstly indicated that the class struggle served as an instrument of the
historical process; secondly, it made it possible to find out the causes and consequences
of the victories and defeats of the struggling social groups. Historical experience in this
sense gives confidence about the present and the future. Of course, any cataclysm can
destroy everything. But we deny the possibility of cataclysms in history. Of course, it is
possible that “the moon will sit on our nose” and crush us; but we don’t worry about it ...
But maybe a “villain” prepared “a villain ready for all crimes”,

And the villain will pay for the service

The death of many and many people
O kingdom destroy, destroy the people,
And he himself will fall on debris ingloriously.

It is very possible, this can be expected, and we fully share the fears of our Western
comrades about the possibility that such a "tyrant on the throne" will slow the social
progress of the West for a long time.

Nota al pie
More precisely, this place of Mikhailovsky’s article reads: 1 “Regarding the future, it is incomplete
(to Marx. - Ed.) (Maybe I, instead of with Engels) belongs to the foresight or the divination of the
outcome of the capitalist system. Whether it is justified or not, “the future will show, but since the
person I haven’t seen anything like this so far, then in any case, according to the data of historical
experience and historical science, this can be prophesied, and one hundred leans” (“Russian
Wealth”, January , 1894). - Ed.
! Richter, Eygep (1838-1000) —the leader of the German liberals of the First Bourgeoisie, who
were extremely hostile to revolutionary German Social Democracy. - Ed.

Summarizing your objections to economic materialism, I missed the following: “It should
be noted that the foundations of economic materialism do not constitute any news in our
literature. They reached us in the 30s, 40s from France, from Fourier, then Louis Blanc,
and in the 60s they were also presented in our literature; not in the form, however, of the
current German economic materialism, but in the form of a more general idea about the
dependence of political and general spiritual life on economic conditions. We also knew
about the class struggle of the bourgeoisie with the feudal system and the proletariat with
the bourgeoisie. ” Quite rightly, attempts to put economic conditions at the head or to the
fore when studying all or some of the historical phenomena appeared in Russia, as in the
West, before economic materialism; but not from Fourier and Louis Blanc, they passed to
the iams, but from "economists, fatalists." In No. 13 of “Telescope” for 1833, in flocks of *
V. P. Androsov, I read the following lines: “I3. the history of civil societies, we notice those
“figurative changes that over time coincide in their material life, political organization and
mental state. The people at any given time consist of units; according to the idea, idea,
The masses, giving him movement, life, continue to live. Generations, following one after
each] # becoming participants in public life, circumstances that incomprehensibly formed,
which gradually produce concepts and thoughts that did not exist for the generations to
come. su p Having acquired mature clarity and dogmatic important development to the
distant limits of the national meaning "become in turn factors of subsequent events, the
power that gives rise to the internal relationship of the elements of society. This is an
uninterrupted changeable; by the development of civicity (the author’s italics). The trait
and the degree that until civilization reached various civilian societies in our time, carefully
considered, opened a compilation of such political (public) subjects that, prior to the
education era of this degree, or only that those who were conceived could not be seen or,
and most of them, were not at all known. The political events arising from the movements
of this development, pointed out in our time, by the way, and how important the
participation in the fate of the people is to measure the environment among which they
are in a position to meet for various private and public needs, and decisive influence it has
on the welfare and disasters of the people. By the property of cn * (political) events, it was
not difficult to notice that the measure and the amount of these funds constitute the direct
and relative strength of states, and therefore it naturally had to direct the mind to research
the sources of these funds; on the reasons that accelerate or delay the formation of these;
to those laws by which funds are distributed among members of society ”(this, but the
author, causes the emergence of a new science of“ political economy ”and its subject
matter) (pp. 3-5). Describing the "state of the economy political" in Germany, the author
states that it "is surrounded here mostly by darkness and fog." “The life of Germany,
concluded relatively still in rusty gothic forms, does not represent objects with which it
would be possible to replenish, believe or explain the contents of the spiders, moreover, it
also allows for otkryvoposti” (No. 14, p. 129). The setting of economic phenomena to the
fore in the study of social phenomena was made by Zablotsky-Dosyatovsky in the
application, from the point of view of the serf-dominant class, to the system of social
relations that constituted serfdom. In the “note” ... 1841 (“Gr. Kiselev and his time”, in IV t.,
Pp. 271-272), the named author says: “The question of serfdom is easy to solve, going
back to the concept of a man and his dignity.

Nota al pie
  "Telescope" - a literary and social journal, lyada and "lsi | in Moscow in 1831–1836 I.I.
Nadezhdin. It was closed in 1836 for the premises of the “Philosophical Letter” by P. Ya.
Chaadaev. A. S. Pushkin, A. V. Koltsov, V. G. Belinsky, S. P. Shsvyrev and others took part in
the journal. - Ed.

But this view, for all its justice, may seem high for many: or, as they usually say,
speculative ... But if it were possible to prove that such an attitude was unprofitable, then
this argument would have acted when others seemed be unsuccessful. ” Therefore, he
turns to the analysis of the changed material conditions of serfs in the commodity
economy and argues that serfdom cannot exist, because it is suitable "for all karmap"
(and not "that is unbearable for the personality of many") ( , “Domestic Notes,” 1847, Vol.
1L1, KP. 1, pp. 2-3). The author points to “many circumstances that were
incomprehensibly formed, in the words of V. I. Apdrosov, and little by little produced new
concepts and thoughts” in the ruling class about the harm of serfdom and the need to
destroy it in a known way. Then, indeed, the economic theories of the “great utopians”
penetrated into Russia, but in the sense of opposing political economic relations and
preferences of the first to the second. but highly awesome articles. But as Chernyshevsky
understood the struggle of the proletariat, it can be seen from what he calls his “an ulcer
that eats away from the western center. civilization ”, and in“ land ownership ”it says that“
the movement of the proletariat that has begun is intended to apply the principles of the
partnership to work ”. V. Belinsky expressed a hostiler attitude towards the proletarians.
“The French people,” wrote the opera, “believe the talkers and manufacturers of laws and
shed their blood for words, whose meaning is dark to him, and for people who love him
only when they need to heat the heat with other people's hands, to to take advantage of
untapped warmth ... And now the French people have true friends: these are people who
have merged their vows and hopes with their fate and who have voluntarily denied any
participation in the market of power and money ... Their conscientious energetic voice
terrible sellers, buyers and a to the administration’s cioners — and this voice, towering for
the poor deceived people, is heard in the ears of administrative entrepreneurs, like the
sound of a trumpet ... ”So economic materialism as a theory of scientific socialism is a
new phenomenon in Russia. As a guiding principle of revolutionary activity, he could have
appeared only a few years ago.

Nota al pie
1 The article by I. G. Chernyshevsky “Capital and Labor”, and not “Labor and Capital”, as opa
was named by N. E. Fedoseyev, was written in 1860, - Rvd,

So, your statement that economic materialism is “not settling accounts with history” is not
true in the sense that lies in your words. The theory of economic materialism from the
very beginning was grounded by historical facts; developed gradually, like any other
scientific theory; the thinkers who formulated it for the first time understood well what it
lacked in order to become a philosophical-historical theory; at the earliest opportunity,
they added important shortcomings both in the theory of economic materialism and in a
more precise formulation; but it continues to develop and will receive a final formulation
only after studying, from the point of view of economic materialism, the history of the
eastern peoples, including the Slavs, and a detailed study of the history of each country.

Your statements: “maybe” there are still quite a few mysteries; the economic side of the
process of transforming feudal society into a bourgeois one — the subject, “of course, not
exhausted” in Capital; the question of the dependence of political power on economic
relations “cannot be considered exhausted” in Engels’s controversy with Dühring — all
these statements, of course, are not amenable to objections.

I now turn to the shortcomings that you point to quite definitely.

The theory of economic materialism has not settled accounts with psychology. This is not
a clear requirement for me. I think that psychology, just like physiology and these
sciences, do not have a class character. The question of "heroes and the crowd" - from
the field of psychology. But the “mountain” of Dupuis acts according to the same laws on
the bourgeois chamber, just like the “hero” Bebel - on the “crowd” of social democrats.
They say more about the "psychological factors", "psychological impact"; “For example,
the Crimean catastrophe had a psychological effect on Russian society, brighter
presented to all thinking people the fact that serfdom is a brake, the chains of all life”; but
this conclusion was prepared by a mass of facts brought about by the changed material
conditions of the serf commodity (крепостного товарного хозяйства) economy; the
catastrophe was only a new bright fact.

You further say that economic materialists, while investigating the institution of
inheritance, indicated that it presupposes the existence of food production, but did not
“indicate” that “it is unthinkable without the products of child-production”. I agree that this
is an unforgivable pass! But then you write that at the same time they missed, and that
complex and highly tense psyche, which is adjacent to the products of childbearing. This
remark is hardly entirely substantive. If I'm not mistaken, you are talking about family and
sex relations. If so, then from all the treatises about the evolution of the family, it is known
that both the attitude of the man towards the woman and the children developed
continuously. The family-sex psyche had sharply specific forms corresponding to different
forms of family-sex unions. So it was the responsibility of the economic materialists to
prove that family-sex unions evolved on the basis of the material conditions of the
economy. But I can point to the article by Mr. Paul Lafargue (in “KoshchoPo Night 1886,
March 15,“ Her Maternals ”) the author deals with the inner, mental side of family and sex
life at various levels of development; This article, however, is not brilliant. But in the works
of “non-economic materialists,” I create a vivid picture of the internal, mental relations of a
“big family” and some other family-sex forms. For example, in the work of M. Kovalevsky
"Modern custom and ancient law"; for example, I can point to the curious essay of the
Family Community in the Urals by Ponomarev (in Sev [ernom] Vestp [ike]), where he
substantiates, for economic reasons, the decomposition of the former psychological
connections in the “big family” and its decomposition. Then, you point to a fierce
massacre at the time of national excitement between the French and German workers,
despite the existence of the “International Society of Workers”, as a fact contrary to the
theory of economic materialism. Without going into a detailed discussion of the case you
indicated in connection with the “International] Society of Workers]” of that time, I will point
out the remarkable historical fact that 70,000 German workers told the French workers
that neither the thunder of cannons, nor victory, nor defeat but will force them to abandon
their friendship with the French workers, from the consciousness of common interests,
from the conviction that the French and German bourgeoisie are the same, common
enemies for them. The “hero” of this 70,000-strong “mob” Bebel paid a 3–5-year
imprisonment in Spandau. . If the massacre did occur, then this fact has the same reason
as the impossibility for the proletariat, under a real class organization, to destroy the
modern state.

Nota al pie
 The MoioCe Singing (New Review) is a political, literary and artistic two-week magazine
published in Paris since 1879. The article by Paul Lafargue “The Matriarchy” was published in it. -
Ed.
 The Northern Herald is a literary, scientific, and political journal of the liberal trend, published in
Petersburg (1885-1898). - Ed.
  Bebel in June and November 1870, when discussing military credits in the Reichstag, first
abstained from voting, and in the second case voted against them and spoke for peace, against
the seizure of French territory. The bourgeoisie accused him of “selling out to France”, which led
to his arrest and imprisonment. - Ed.

Finally, your phrase remains: “In a fantastic realm, where the metaphysical shadows of
phenomena obscure the phenomena themselves, with their color and smell, beauty and
ugliness, meanness and greatness, there are no heroes and crowds, but only people. In
reality, Marx and Marxists are “hero and crowd”. And you wrote a few above: “Historical
necessity, at least in the form of economic materialism, is not suitable for exploring the
past, where hot blood has flowed, etc .; but in practical matters one cannot be completely
referenced. ”

We do not think that Marx or the Marxists have debunked the “heroes” - this was done by
bourgeois scholars. The most brilliant opponent of the "cult of heroes" seems to me
Herbert Spencer; he also has the merit of clarifying the genesis of the “heroic cult”.

Social democracy, in fact, does not recognize the "heroes" and "leaders"; she debunked
Bismarck; and at a time when most Germans, fans of the Iron Chancellor, prophesied the
collapse of German "greatness" with the resignation of Bismarck, the Social Democrats
argued that the situation would not change at all. And they were and were right.

When the enemies of the real leaders of social democracy say that they are the leaders of
the “red Dalai Lama” (Karl Marx) and the “little Dalai Lama” (Engels) and the Dalai Lama
themselves for the “crowd” of senseless, bream of loyal workers, Bebel and Liebknecht
say that their grandfather would have gone the same way, if they had been in the world,
they would have destroyed them all. What do you want to say with the words- “In the
current affairs one historical need®: it is impossible to refer”, I don’t understand. When
social democrats say that they are not “heroes” and refer to historical necessity, then,
firstly, they do not speak scientifically absurd, and, secondly, it gives an inexpressible
confidence to all their actions. . Howl of the last you especially and but like it ... “Ideally,
indeed, expelled from the last refuge; The history of ionia has become materialistic. ” But
“criticism,” in the words of Karl Marx, “tore off imaginary flowers from the fetters, not so
that mankind would continue to carry these fetters in their form, devoid of any imagination
and joy, but in order that it should throw off the chains and extended a hand for a living
flower ... "*,

We never thought that economic materialism as a philosophical and historical theory is

the first attempt to establish a scientific formula for historical progress.

Here, for example, the latest definition of progress, developed by non-economic

materialists: “Progress as we understand it at the present time can be defined as follows:
it is the continuous and sams arbitrary growth of a fertile zerp planted many centuries ago
by our ancestors. The idea of making something of gas in Gaza2 and the idea of creating
a new state, a new religion or a new morality, is alien to us. But if the modern idea of
evolution denies the possibility of a cataclysm, then it is equally opposed to any
stagnation of activity. The present, about her point of view, is only a condition of the
future, which should prevail in all respects. Facilitate the transition to a better state - this is
the lofty task posed by the evolutionary philosophy of practical life. To study the past and
the present in order to study (foresee) the future on the basis of them - this is its greatest
merit in the field of theory. ” If you wish, we can be proud that the evolutionary theory of
economic materialism is the earliest, radical (in practical life) and brilliant in depth thought
the positive formula for progress.

Nota al pie
N. E. Fedoseev quotes the work of K. Marx; “To the criticism of the gogo-, left-wing philosophy of
law. The confluence. In the Gospolitiedato edition (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., Vol. 1, 1955, p.
415), this place translates as follows: “Criticism threw off fake flowers that adorn them with dopa
— not so that humanity would continue to wear these chains in their form, devoid of all joy and all
ate, "waiting, and in order for it to throw off the chains and extend a hand for a living flower." - Ed.
 Clean board. —Ed

So, we, Russian Marxists, have mastered the ideas of scientific socialism as guiding
principles of activism in view of the changed material conditions of social and economic
life and under the pressure of the most urgent demands of this life; we accepted the
theory of economic materialism because it meets all scientific and critical requirements.
With that unpleasant fact for you that we have chosen the “hero” of the German K. Marx,
you will have to reconcile. To mitigate your patriotic indignation, I could point out that we
are not alone, but “ruthless theorists” and workers of the entire civilized world are
assimilating the ideas of economic materialism.

Nota al pie
  In Russian Thought for 1892, Shop, p. 189, you yourself say that your controversy with K. Marx
"adjoins a long circle of debates that used to fill Russian literature with another form (disputes of
Slavophiles and Westerners) ". - [I. F.]

My objections were already over (by the way, I slowed them down because I could not
soon get yapvar [skuto] kp [izhku] “Russian] god [atstva]”, which is written out here in one
copy, and he is immediately sent from the city to county for 200 in [irst]; when I received
the second book with your article on Marxists, and it was from the critics of the
philosophical part of their theory, I postponed sending these sheets, expecting to meet in
your second article weighty objections and remarks. drag us into the misty region of
metaphysics. Let’s go there! First, because we are disgusted with metaphysics, and,
second, because if metaphysics was the mother of economic materialism (like any
philosophy), then Marx’s accounts and Engels; we are satisfied with these accounts.

Solvychegodsk, March 19, 1894.

First published in the journal
((Proletarian Revolution * No. 1,
1933, pp. 132-213,
3. To N. K. Mikhailovsky, Solvychegodsk, February 27, 1895

Dear sir Mikhailovskiy.

We ask you, if possible, to clarify the following “circumstance”. In the “Russian Thought”
for 1892 (VI Ki., Sir. 192-193) you wrote: “I personally signed up with Sieber, I remember,
at the beginning of 1878 ... An excellent specialist in his part, Sieber produced pas I am
impressed by the true neophyte in the philosophy in which Hegel was involved through
the medium of Marx and Engels. I remember ... the appetite with which he developed the
well-known illustrations of the three-membered Hegelian formula, the charms of which I
experienced in my gopa's years ”. Comparison of the expressions "excellent specialist" in
political economy and "real neophyte in philosophy" seems to give the right to conclude
that, in your opinion, Sieber (in early 1878) was a layman in the field of philosophy into
which Hegel was involved through Marx and Epgels. Further, you tell us that while
conversing with Vamp, Sieber, under the slightest danger, hid under a septa, a
pereplozhny 11 pereprekaemy three-membered dialectical development (196 p.), And you
tried to understand the phenomena that you were talking about with others that were so
general and abstract in different ways. In the end, however, it was not the case in the
history of wheat grain or in world processes (p. 193). Sieber is exposed in these
memories by an extremely pitiful and ridiculous person. Not knowing the philosophy, he
was hiding behind the triad of Hegel at the slightest danger.

Then, in the February book of Russian Wealth, you launched an attack against the “main
stronghold” of the Marxists, the Hegelian triad; in conclusion, you expressed the following
significant words: “We have not yet seen the well-being that should come from the
capitalist system and must in this regard believe in the word Hegel, or rather, the well-
known application of its dialectic” (“R [uskom] b [Ogatstvo] , 1894, Ki. And, p. 167). It is
necessary to tell the truth, your article has led us (writing these lines) to a great doubt
about your ability to conduct serious polemics; we knew about Hegel and the influence of
his philosophy on the scientific system of K. Marx and Engels only through these latter
and in “difficult cases” even in our thoughts did not hide under the shadow of the triad.
Your article was intended to compromise Marxist science in the same way that you
compromised Zieber. But such tricks can only mock some readers. We said that the
purpose of your article mentioned was to put Marxism and Marxists in a pitiful form - this
is documented in the 3rd book of the “Russian] God [of the Act]” by Mr. Yuzhakov *, your
partner, with the following words: “Readers already know from the above article Mr.
Mikhailovsky, the fruit of what kind of theoretical thought is this doctrine and how strong is
the argument of the foresight expressed by it ”(p. 109). The Marxists themselves could
“stand up” to some extent, but Sieber had a reputation as a frivolous person. But we still
thought that, in conversations with you, the late Sieber, in all likelihood, “did not
understand the phenomena” by Hegel’s triad, but by the facts of the actual course of life,
analysis of these facts, only.

You in the polemical hobby did not pay to his argument. moptasho sufficient attention; but
at least we, the most perfect laymen in Hegel's philosophy, did not feel and now do not
realize the need to involve Hegel with the triad in our dispute with you; how, we thought,
such a remarkably well-educated person like Sieber, I but knew Russian reality ... G. Volta
in a note] on pages 77-78 writes: “We had more than once to talk with the deceased
(Sieber), and but we have heard from him references to dialectical development. ” (These!
Words as evidence are very interesting, but one-sided, because they belong to a Marxist,
and Sieber could speak differently to Marxists than to you.) But the phrase below * is
extremely important. If we compare this phrase with your comment about Sieber as a man
of little knowledge in philosophy, then there seems to be no difference. Only one thing
remains that Sieber, when talking about you, was in such a helpless position, that he was
hiding behind a philosophy that he had about his scientific ideas. But Mr. Beltov was very
skeptical of your statement that Sieber was hiding under a canopy | triad: "Pa of the dead
can be blamed for everything, and therefore the testimony of Mr. Mikhailovsky is
incontrovertible." One might have expected that you ate this recall some other
“explanations” of Zibor during your disputes and show how these explanations, in your
opinion, I were untenable and what importance in proving- | In the Znberahs, it was
Hegel's triad that was. Surprisingly, you did this but did, and took Sieber’s knowledge of
"the values of Hegel in the development of modern economy".

  Yuzhakov S. I. (1849–1910) - a publicist in the populist direction, one of the editors of

Russian Wealth. - Ed.

“Is it possible, you say, that such a hardworking and thoughtful scientist like Sieber, until
the end of his days did not guess the connection of the newest one, we save with Gogol,
so that even those who are pushing on this plot may not be interested in answering them?
: “I am completely unaware of the importance of Gogol in the new economy”. ” You say
that this can only be a negative answer: “Sieber knew the significance of Hegel in the
development of modern economy; Sieber was very interested in "the method of dialectical
contradictions." This is documented by Zibor’s article “Dialectics applied to science” *.
"This article," according to your testimony, "constitutes a retelling, even an almost
complete unevenness of Engels's book" The Coupling of Dühring. " Well, while translating
this book, it remains quite surprising to remain in the utterly uncertainty of Hegel's value in
the development of modern economy ”(p. 141). Thus, Sieber, firstly, was ignorant in the
field of philosophy in which Hegel was involved through K. Marx and Engels, but
nevertheless, in conversations with you at the slightest danger, he was hiding behind
Hegel's philosophical formula; secondly, Sieber knew Hegel's philosophy and dialectics
only in the form that they received in the philosophy and dialectics of K. Marx and Engels,
but nevertheless he was hiding under any logical difficulties for the Hegelian triad, this
"general abstract formula". We still remain at a loss. If Sieber knew Hegel's philosophy,
we think, he probably would have talked about it with you (or rather you would have
objected to your attacks on her), just as Mr. Beltov does, apparently familiar with the
philosophy of Hegel. If Sieber knew the philosophy of Hegel, "put on his feet" by K. Marx
and Engels, then for him there seemed absolutely no need to take refuge in the
inaccessible "emptiness of the triad." He could not remain in disputes with you on the
basis of idealistic dialectics ...

  Sieber "once said himself that he did not know the meaning of Hegel in the development
of modern economy". - [ii. F.]
 Printed in the Slovo magazine for 1879. The Slovo is a liberal journal, published in St.
Petersburg (1878–81). - Glad.
 This refers to the "Anti-Dühring." - Ed.
Sometime earlier, at the beginning of a controversy, you are very skillful, but it cannot be
said impartially that Engels used two confessions: that (1) in drawing up the “Manifesto”,
he and Marx had insufficient knowledge of economic history and that (2) Morgan’s works
They gave "the key to the most important, hitherto insoluble riddles of ancient history."
You used these confessions to expose the arrogance and ridiculousness of the claims of
the founders of the doctrine of scientific socialism, looking at the fact that the Manifesto
provides undoubted proof of the knowledge of economic history by the authors, and
Engels recognizes the enormous significance of the works of Mor. ghana is an impartial
statement of fact. But then you played on the words “insufficient knowledge”, an
unsolvable riddle in the “known state of the spiders” - the most complete ignorance and
astonishing logomys-1. And now, in the case of Zibersr, I use the same technique to
prove the opposite: Sieber, translating Engels’s brochure I against Dühring (we’ll add:
even earlier, when translating “Capital” - in “Knowledge”), perhaps he knew the
philosophy of Hegel and the significance of his dialectic. Based on the above
considerations, we can agree with such logical conclusions. Or Sieber ns knew the
philosophy of Hegel, and therefore, he could not refer to the dog; or he knew her only
according to Marx and Engels, and therefore he could hide behind the "immutable triad" of
Hegel, could not remain on the basis of his dialectic ...

Taking this opportunity, we decide to make a few remarks on the “Russian Wealth” battle
campaign against the Marxists. “Russian Marxists,” says Savive Yushchuk Yuzhakov,
“they discovered the same development), the logical methods, the controversial
enthusiasm, the discovery of a long-open America, and the conscious part, the naive part
of fist law. Twenty lots ago I had to fight the efomoric success of the illegal sons of
Darwinism. Let us fight now with the illegal sons of Marxism ... with a sly backward
thought ”(10 кп, p. 152) - Your click, for the most part, is limited to what gives off such
voipstvomipyyo cries, give you, as a“ hero ”, to lead“ the real struggle ", which applauds in
certain cases. With great interest we read in January of the “Russian Wealth” for [18] 95
about your fear that “together with German influences, traditional German rudeness did
not penetrate us, our own savagery was still exposed and the controversy did not turn "In
areal swearing.

Oh, what an offended innocence! You were the first to speak out against the Russian
Marxists armed with Brabi, insulting comparisons, distortions of the words of your
opponents, in a word, fully armed with the "raked fighter". And now, you have eaten the
books of Mr. Voltov (who replied to you with the measure you measured, but an alien fight
for her own sake), you started talking about polemical decency, like a Pharisee who
remembered the sins of the tax collector and swore with the words “princesses”
beforehand.

Where have you gone, the former clever, sympathetic, so dear to us publicist “Otsch
[ostvoshshh] notes”, a close employee of Shchedrin ?! Did you go down into this pit
yourself, did your comrades and readers “friends” drag you there ... or “bitter bitterness
drove”? .. Do not think that we have a feeling of anger in us. No, discontent and
indignation, as well as sincere desire and hope to resolve the "misunderstandings" with us
(writing these lines) have disappeared. This question arises with us already, but about
your polemical and critical articles concerning Russian Marxists, but about the political
physiognomy of your journal. Here, Mr. Belevsky teaches your readers: “If economic
policy did not affect the interests of various social groups, it would be possible to count on
the triumph of the principles in it, having in mind national interests or, what is the same,
popular ones” ’. In view of such circumstances, the author retains in his economic tasks
“private enterprise, industry and private ownership”. "Expanded national consumption will
affect the increase in peasant demand and food ...

  Velorussov A. S. (Belevsky) (1859–1629) - bourgeois

publicist and politician. In the 90s - right-wing populist. K. E. Fedoseep cites his article
“The Tasks of Economic Policy in the Field of Agricultural Production” (“Russian Wealth”,
Book 7, 1894 tons). - Ed.

next to the farm, certain types of private farms can exist and find their way under the feet,
for example [imer] dedicated to (1) breeding animals, associated with technical
production, culture, soyas e1c. ”(pp. 19-20). Mr. Krivenko, speaking of "the need for the
socialization of production and exchange - according to the socialization that promises (as
it is sometimes strange, they take advantage of the" socialization of production "!) Than
the capitalist economy gives, but more correct and real" measures to this proposed by
various researchers; but “these measures, without being I brought together, and being
applied I separately, without a general plan, will not give significant results and will in
some cases paralyze and destroy each other, but nevertheless (!) they remain elements
socialization, elements, directly I arising from life, which, so to speak, rush I in the air (!)
"..." For the socialization of production, I I have only three public unions, of which every
ochep yours and without which it is impossible to do; this is the general, the zemstvo and
the state ”(v. 10, p. 123). “We look around,” Mr. Yuzhakov suggests, “in order to stop the
attention of the father at least just the immediate, most urgent, most urgent needs and
tasks of our inner life. The Gotg is countries in Europe, where the question of universal
popular education is not already resolved; only we are still a country (!) of an irresponsible
and ignorant mass of the people! The issue of universal education has already been
raised, but I need time to solve it. And our economic situation, deeply shocked by the
general agricultural crisis and the protective-capitalist development? What about the
Great Yenbir Road? And the road to the Arctic Ocean, to Central Asia, through the
Caucasus? And the question of regulating relations between the suburbs and the center,
also already posed on the history line (1) and also requiring a lot of free attention and
study? And much more ... We are only on the threshold of governmental and legislative
issues that are urgently put forward by life, and are there social, cultural, literary
questions? ”(Cl. 12, p. 149).

! S. Krivenko (1847-1907) - a publicist in the populist direction, an employee of a number of

journals, including “Russian Wealth”. This refers to the article "To the question of the needs of pa-
| Roddy industry "in 7, 9, 10 books of" Russian wealth "for 1894 - Ned,
  Hereinafter emphasized by N. E. Fedoseyev. - Red

Finally, Mr. N. - He, who has found shelter with you, recently stated that “the whole
society, all its layers, from upper to lower, began to be imbued with one idea: the failure of
the previous economic policy became obvious to the majority. Only from the majority is
not included (?) In a detailed consideration of the questions, what, how and why? It only
sees that not everything is in order, that public efforts must be something completely
different, and not the fact that they have been directed so far to the maintenance and
development ”([18], 95, Vol. 1, p. 156).

Spend, your gracious sovereigns, your blooms of the idyllic existence of large landowning
farms dedicated to raising breeding animals of the USA, and large capitalist industry,
spend these "ideals" hand in hand with the state, zemstvos and the general public, these
"unique elements of socialization production and obmopa "; We see that your soul is full of
bright hopes, excited by the emergence of a “new pdop” among the majority, from the
higher layers, etc. You are half the hope that “the upper layers, etc.” most will respond to
your explanations with delight: "What, how and why" ... good riddance for you! And we are
with you, gentlemen of the bourgeoisie, but along the way! .. We are against the bogus
and real bourgeois! Young Karl Marx long ago characterized two Prussian kings, one old,
the other young, with the following remarkable words that we give without comment: “The
old king did not want anything extravagant, he was a philistine and did not pretend to mind
at all. He knew that the possession of state servants needed only for a calm, prozani ical
existence. The young king was more alive than the boy.] He was of a higher opinion about
the omnipotence of the monarch, limited only by his heart and his mind. " "He wanted to
breathe life into the old states® and make him completely imbued with his desires,
feelings and thoughts ... Hence his liberal words and heartfelt outpourings ... People who
had a shameless desire to make a person without a brain started talking ... And now Opal
was imposed on all desires] and on all people's thoughts about human rights and obliged]
stai ... A slave cannot say that he wants to be a human being, he cannot say that he does
not need people! in his domain ... Here is the story of an unsuccessful attempt to utter a
philistine state, remaining on its own ground: this attempt ended in the fact that] clearly
showed the whole world the need for bestiality for despo-tism. Cattle relations can be
maintained only through bestiality ... But I still do not despair in the present ... The system
of industry and tor-1 govlov, the system of ownership and exploitation of man ... leads to a
break in the present society and a break that The old system is unable to heal ... The
existence of a suffering humanity that thinks, and a thinking humanity that is oppressed,
should be able to passively passive, senselessly, enjoying the wildlife of the branch office
across the throat ... "Tepor several lay in the critical articles "Russian] wealth." We
understand how it happened that Fr. Nietzsche was a vivid example of how little
"socialization" moved in the West. Mm would have somewhat understood the pessimistic
mood of the modern French bourgeois intelligentsia, according to Nietzsche, the German
German seems to be still full of "animal power", although it is satisfied. Where are the
gentlemen, the real, having the right to be considered as such? Nietzsche refuses to
recognize the right of the modern European nobility ... The bourgeois capital of the ists
can be considered the masters in Europe.

  “I’m not a sign of time, and the fact that gentlemen, writers and publicists have been
conferred the title of state popsioper ... Whether everyone will put them, or you will be
threatened with“ Kpssop ”, something you don’t rejoice about“ zapameplatsy facts ” ,
bedpepyad ... "- [I, F, u
  This refers to Marx’s letter to Ruge, May K. Marx and F. Engels, Op., Vol. 1, 1938, pp. 342-344),
1843

But that they are not true gentlemen, in the sense of Nietzsche, according to the natural
lords, this already concludes from the fact that they "do not know how and cannot inspire
the workers to" the pathos of distance. " If we correctly understood Nietzsche, according
to your presentation of his ideas, he would be satisfied to a certain degree as a person
striving to become a master, Stum ... However, we didn’t have a clear idea of Nietzsche
from your articles; but still extremely surprised that he is exposed as a bomb, exploding
our understanding of the development of modern society. Anarchists, however, you could
oppose the social democracy; but you forgot the historical perspective: in the past
historical epochs, the anarchists were, and probably in a greater number than now; some
of them simply cut and burned everything that prevented them from living, some
destroyed themselves (as we did with our own self-assembly). Now anarchism has
appeared in a dress of the XIX century (with science, with a more or less clear idea of
social contradictions), but its social lining is of the same nature as before. But do you
really think that your sermon to the landowners about the need to devote farms to the
development of tribal animals, worries about universal literacy, about the Great Siberian
Road will eliminate anarchism? Very interesting is the analysis of the “Beginnings of
Political Economy” by Mr. Isayev in the article “A New Course in Political Economy”.

  A. A. Isaev (1851–1924) —economist and statistician of the populist direction, professor. - Ed.

But we will not dwell on this short article and a wonderful appendage to it in the form of a
brief review of the second edition of the book of Mr. Isaev; we only note the curious chase
of your journal for the “socialization” of people with different views, in this case really
bourgeois, and the consequent dissatisfaction: “In order to achieve this goal, corrections
(oh, my God!) are written, critics, reviews and reviews, and Isaev considered his course
impeccable, perhaps because of its quick sale ... ". G. Krivenko, focusing on the loud
Sollogubov case, which he rightly called “reflected in our cultural and semi-cultural life,
almost everyone if not close, then familiar ...”, characterized this social direction with the
name: “without a rudder”. Here, there is clear evidence that money, profit has become
"driving and sails" | well-known classes of our society, but the case of Mr. Krivenko is
simpler and in a more gentle light, like “sailing along the life course without a rudder,
'under the sails of personal desires, sailing without a higher (!) goal, without an ideal,
without everything (!) leading in life. " So, it is necessary to build a proper “steering wheel”
and give “ideals and something guiding in life” - and the trick is in the hat! The same
character distinguishes your own articles about French and partly Russian literature.

The reviewer of the Russian translation of the book “The Origin of the Family ...” by
Engels recommended this book as “very clever and worthy of all attention in general”, but
complained about the “excessiveness of the categorical top” of Engels. To prove this and
to convince the "hesitant" Marxists of the need for "checking the positions and denials of
Engels by some other writings," the reviewer gave one example of Engels’s overly
categorical judgment and compared Mr. Kovalevsky with the same subject. And, lo and
behold! came to this conclusion (categorical): “In this case we are inclined to the myopia
of Bakhofep and Engels” ... and nothing more! And then - only a highly thorough remark
about the unsatisfactory nature of the Russian translation and one curious error. But Mr.
Zak came ... right, I think that you, Mr. Mikhailovsky, feel ashamed of yourself (if you have
not read before Mr. Zack's article) 5, that this is impudent (sorry for the expression, but it
is impartial ) article got into your journal. Yy Zaki will bury you in the myopia of all your
"wavering" readers. We do not belong to those Marxists created by your imagination, who
deny the need to read books (and learn from them), but belonging to the pen of Marx and
Engels and their followers. We will willingly listen to all comments and teachings "from
other apostles", if only these teachings are based on knowledge of the matter, and not on
fictions and distortions, like those of Zach. As for Mr. Zach Engels’s advice of becoming a
compiler and giving up dreams about the future (in favor of completeness of compilation),
it is, of course, ridiculous. This is a matter of Mr. Zack. But Mr. Karyshov “alone (in the
capitalist industry) rejoices: that in Russia the growth in the number of workers is still, in
spite of all that, that is, by the way, neither to the terrible calamities of the ruined
peasantry seeking employment, pas extinction of the unemployed (extinction that has
spread to many provinces), does not keep up with population growth. " Here the dreams
of the “future” undoubtedly dominate, and the fate of the millions of pro-poor proletariat,
employed and unoccupied, is subordinate to them. Here you invite yy. landowners to
become producers of Chukhon oil for the peasants, instead of with the state and the
Zemstvo, insert the real "steering wheel", enter the "actual socialization of production" ...
And this is not a dream, it is "worn in the air." Whereas, let's say, the freedom of the
Russian workers of the organization is a dream: “As the sun rises, dew eyes out”
(however, this is said about the reasoning of Mr. Yapzhul about the need for “workers'
unions”) (“Russian Wealth”, 1895, t 1, pp. 108-109).

‘L. Zak, Historical Materialism (Russian Wealth, Vol. 1, 1895). - Ed.

  This refers to the book of Beltov (G. V. Plekhanov) “On the issue of the development of the
monistic view on history”. - Ed
 Karyshev II. A. (1855-1905) - a professor of political economics and statistics, an employee of
the Gussky Wealth, in his articles and other works he developed Narodnik views.
I.E. Fedoseev quotes his article "Economic sketches" printed in Ki. 2 "Russian wealth" for 1894
— Red.
 Nnzhul I. I. (1845-1914) - economist and statistician, author of several works on the issues of
factory legislation. - Ed.

You personally continue to still very originally exploit the "philosophical groundlessness
and factual non-imperativeness of the theory of economic materialism"; Mr. Struve has
satisfied you somewhat in this respect; but the book of Mr. Voltov prompted you to beat
the Pabat again on this occasion. Is it not in vain? Vod Voltov on pp. 212-216 literally
says: “Even in relation to one (nearest) historical period, the subject is not exhausted even
approximately” *. In this he agrees with you. All you have to do is show us and all the rest
’your“ great ”! a book. " We know your articles, and you yourself talk about them; that they
are partly unsatisfactory, for the most part not completed and constitute extremely
unsystematized labor; we cannot reproach you about this, because we understand the
conditions under which you worked. You keep saying in every way about the “Russian
Marxist”:

That he knows shrines

What does he remember by virtue of
That op loves nothing,
That blood is ready to pour like water ...

These are the old songs of the “old authorities”. Here are some of the features that
defined their attitude to the “old] authorities” of Dobrolyubov: “We would never dare to put
our personal convictions above the opinions of religious individuals who have long
enjoyed prestige! we considered our beliefs only our own, personal! our affiliation .., and
we would be so fed up with so much good reason not to preach in the wilderness, not to
be broken before the public in the hope of attracting its appreciation by its eccentricity ...
No, we say, ignoring the old authorities, because - I stvonno, that we consider our
opinions as an echo of that zhy-I vogo word, which is clearly and firmly pronounced
young! the life of our society. Perhaps we are mistaken, I considering myself capable of
correctly interpreting the living, fresh aspirations of Russian life; time deciding it. But in
any case, we will not be mistaken, if we say that the aspirations of young and living
people of the Russian community are much higher than what our literature has recently
deceived ... ”.

“The former smart people for the most part in lg. did not exist at the time when new vital
needs came into force; Yes, and those who remained, all were busy with the troubles
about the construction of their beginnings, because of which they worked and fought from
a young age; they cared little about new issues and didn’t have enough strength to
resolve them. Therefore, the former smart people, in view of the new demands of a new
life, made every effort to maintain the old beginnings, looked at the new questions even
somewhat contemptuously (and the people who raised these questions were stuck in an
intention to “shed blood like water”) ... But Of course, events took their toll: new facts
formed new social relations and led people to revise the old systems, old facts and
relationships. Everything young, without difficulty, having learned from a young age the
system of dominant views, felt, of course, desire and fresh strength for further work; the
newly accumulated facts provided abundant material, and the younger generation
accepted to work on new data, first groping first ... "" This is the general history of the
questions of science and art in passing from one "generation" to another "; such is
precisely the history of the gap, as we understand it, between the old Utotshtsy-
sotsnalpstamp, now turned into a naive bourgeois, and Marxists. We could extract a lot of
instructive from the disputes of Dobrolyubov with the old authorities, but the place does
not allow this, and we already abused the statements too much.
“Excellent possessing the abstract logic,” we say in the words of Dobrolyubov, “You didn’t
know the logic of life, and therefore you considered everything that was easily derived
through syllogisms to be terribly easy” ...

Please excuse us for our inflection; it is, of course, fed up with you, and, moreover,
reading the “flow” of such letters, with randomly scattered thoughts, probably takes you a
lot of time, without bringing the slightest benefit. We ourselves were convinced of the
futility of this system of disputes; and this is the last time that we decided to resort to it.
But, if possible, do not leave without an answer our inquiry regarding Sieber!
Ive Kozin I. Fedoseev

First published in the journal Printed in original,

"Proletarian Revolution" № 7, stored in the archives of the NML,
1933 gb. 221-233. f. 156, he. 7, unit, xp. 33910

-----

1. To P. V. [Balashov] December 31, 1893, Solyshchegodsk

Thank you very much, P.V., for your letter. I received it already in So lions of that deck
and therefore slowed down the answer. I am obliged by my short-term “leave” to the
prison doctor, who stated a strong disorder of my health and expressed the opinion that it
is necessary to free me for dislocation. The doctor wrote that I needed to groan for
kumiss, and spiritual doctors, you see, found Solvychsgodskaya [link] with its 40-degree
cold, impassable swampy walkways and bear den. In Russian, this is called sending
“eating totem cloudberries”. There is, of course, the difference between Solvtchegodsky
and the prison, but so far there have not been any real ideas about the significant
difference; the difference is still in the imagination. Now, Solt.hich- godsko myo seems so
far a narrow prison wall, along which you are walking on a leash, take a step on the outer
side - and you will immediately be dragged to prison or put on a shorter lasso.
Nevertheless, I firmly hope that my present pessimistic mood will change as soon as I
become familiar with the life around me that is alien to me, very, very far from the world in
which I and in reality have lived in dreams lately. While very hard! Material deprivations,
kopeckio, are nonsense, to sh-sh is no stranger to becoming. But I can also do the
theoretical work I would like. There are two obstacles here. One usual book, no materials.
Another exceptionally - incapacity for the life around, which attracts, because I am but
separated from it by a prison foot, and pushes away along all lines, because it is alien,
depressing, gloomy. In a word, "in the sea of people, as in a remote desert." If there was
at least one politician, it would be easier to navigate, but, unfortunately, I am the only
representative of this pitiful human species. There is a political, a priest-Jesuit; but he
ardently convinces everyone that he is not a politician and cannot be heard about
politicians, especially political women in politics, without a sarcastic smile. Indeed, he
came here because of the denunciation by the police officer, that he allegedly condemned
the dominant religion and other foundations of our well-being. I did not meet this
gentleman, and I intend to meet him. Then there are a few more people of the unrevealed
fraudsters of the newest civilized type of Mon.

Two Germans are interesting in all respects: one from Odessa is a blackmailer and
libertine, the other from Riga is an elegant, cultural pet, a contractor caught in a fraudulent
sale abroad of copper filings instead of golden sand. The last German was exiled with the
whole company, in the midst of which there are rich people who own a hundred-
thousandth] denozhp [th] capital. Curiously, this gang cheated in the continuation of many
lots. The head of it was a Russian court general, who was reprimanded and pardoned
several lots ago. The gang continued operations, paying off from the police chief of Evers
secret police with a cash dues. But now things have gone brilliantly, and the police master
demanded 5,000 rubles, otherwise he threatened with administrative expulsion; balked
"out of stupidity" and yielded only 1,200. The denunciation was made, and all the
scammers were administratively exiled. Although Koptrdios was accepted by Evers, he
was left by the court without consequences for the lack of witnesses. The link of these
gentlemen was in triumph. They were sent from Riga without common prisoners], albeit in
an Aerossht] car. All I was sewn up in a dress of at least 500 rubles. Convoys of war and
prisons of n [oo] bosses were treated very well. The local German has preserved, it
seems, an oddly unpleasant memory of “bug-tails” that “eat painfully” and locks that they
unpleasantly creak and call. In Ust-Sysolsk there lives the famous Puchert. These
gentlemen are in the best-looking attitudes towards society, they also have old people and
even young boys and girls, and they are in official and innocent homes. 1 "The
investigator himself, the assistant police officer himself, was hardly carried by me at the
hands of successful jester's speeches in | the time of the masquerade, ”says a German
from Odessa, su- pering the first place to settle here very well in terms of material and
entertainment. Su supposed to even get into the soul of a Solvyogod merchant and force
him to give 1000 rubles to a photo device in which he will work. Even the abbots are very
disposed towards these practical people. We have an ordinary phenomenon in Rus —
indignation against the ignorance of the people, manifested in cholera and similar
disorders, and | reverence before the ignorant ideas of ... the people about the various
"foundations", a new support for which they made John of Kronstadt (this is the legendary
hero of the local bridge), to firmly support the latter; It is logical to act by taking measures
that support all ignorance, by the way, and that which causes cholera disorders. The
comparative position in society, caused by the letter, the spirit of the law, as the police
officers understand it, of political] exiles and administrative] fraudsters is a pretty miniature
picture of the general fact, "who disfiguredly fills his whole life."

  The end of the century, here in the sense of the "most newest". - Ed.
  Further, the word is illegible. - Ed.

Young people drink wine, devour themselves with gifted foods, listen to shameful
speeches, meet expressions of the refined, wicked Gaarons of the bourgeois society of
large cities, and it does not occur to anyone from the administrative guardians, nor from
mothers and fathers, that the children they care for there are them, and even they
themselves lead them into the dens of the most terrible depravity. But to visit or invite
political to oneself is ... a harmful evil or scary. Shortly before me, a political exile Vera
Davydovna Gurari lived here. She was captured while returning from Paris, where she
studied, and sent here. From the first step, she angered the police officer to complain to
the governor about the arbitrary detention of [her] police officer [of her] foreign books. The
police officer pursued it in every possible way. For example, he returned from a boat ride
from a serodipy of a river flowing 10 sazh [ен] from the city, for absent from the city for 24
versts pulled it to the world, thanks to which the thief of Thief Dove [of the Dovdov]
escaped with a 4-p [kill] penalty. Once the club chlops invited Varu Dove [ydovpu] to
dance. Among the dances, the police officer ordered In [er] D [a detachment] to retire, or
he would deduce her by force. The justice of the peace, a former club foreman, stood up
for the guest and argued that his demands were illegal and pepravpchpost. The
policeman was angry with Gur [ari] more than ever. It cost him nothing, of course, to put
her on a short lasso, for this it was worth only writing a denunciation of the “harmful” effect
on the Solychegodsk society. So he did. Vera Gurari was immediately sent to Ust-Sysolsk
in a stage lasting 20 days. Gurari had acquaintances, indeed. She had been with them,
and they had them. Fathers and mothers either trembled for their children or resented Gur
[ari]. And not in vain. The midwife, feldsheritsa, who were at the Gur [ari], were dismissed
from the post for meeting her, one student from the school [of the school] was expelled for
the same. And now this most excluded student, a boy, dines and sleeps with the Germans
and drinks vodka in glasses in the presence of their fathers.

One of these days, a policeman] warder], incidentally, who comes and eats from the
Germans, told one of them that their acquaintance with me was “not dangerous” for them
and that I can even get acquainted with persons who are with them, “just not with young
people ". And this, without blushing, the mie transmits the moshechnik and the
adulterer! .. But, on the other hand, I receive the invitation to "be"; it is pronounced
embarrassed, some more outspoken to ask, “do you know, when it gets dark”. What kind
of volik cultural strength was the former exile politi I hear the most enthusiastic memories
of the NP truth, these memories are washed down with big ruches of wine and interrupted
by cards, but still a spark of respect for those people comes through very yad This feeling
is expressed in sympathy and respect and to "me. They even, not knowing me, tend to
see in May; perfection gifted with all kinds of knowledge and abilities. For example, the
concert performers were embarrassed by the possibility of leaving “from music” during the
first intermission and I’ve been told about the reason for this, but about this side; life
somehow "after." If you can, do sa: conclusions from these contradictions. To illustrate the
Wall of a year reference I will inform you of a few more facts. The Yarensk police officer,
who was angry with one politician, exiled him to Zyryapsk [th] village for 200 in [irst] from
the city, where he, without receiving any allowance, was in dire poverty, he received
pruchbotka, from which he died soon after he returned to the city by order of] the governor
of the torus. The Solvychegodsk police officer brought to trial, ticks for skating on the river
10 sazh [en from the city. The Vel police (this fact refers to the era of the prosperity of the
exile) were reported by the gendarmerie to the unreliability of the entire Velsk iitel [of the
linguistic] society, which hosted politicians. Zhaidar ria conducted a general search, not
sparing the retired general. Politicians were sent into the wilderness, and some officials
were transferred to more [or more] sowing of the city.

From the first time I use your offer to contact you with requests that you can satisfy. My
request of the following kind. Obstetrician! graduated in Vyatsk [om] akush [Erskom] Ipst
[Friuto], De'vitsa is 22 years old, having served only 4 months [zats] for zemstvos, was
dismissed for purely personal reasons from the police officer and the chairman of the
council, the reason for dismissal was familiarity with the GurVD is exposed. The situation
of this girl is very disastrous. She is a very good person, passionately eager to work in his
specialty. There is no hope of getting a job here in the near future. The situation in the
family is unpleasant.

Fathers are almost inclined to marry her to a German from Odessa. To get rid of the recall
of the local police officer, you must live in the other lip [of the country] for 6 months. But
there is no money for a trip and accommodation in another city [e]. I ask you, P.V., first, to
find out if there are any free obstetric [their] places, and secondly, to send her money for
the trip (40 rubles), thirdly, if there is no place, then will there be any work somewhere
(any lessons) for 6 months [eggs] that must be lived on side...

2. To P. P. Maslov 19 Jan 1894, Solvychegodsk

Notas al pie
This letter breaks off. - Ed.
  Maslov P.P. (1867-1946) - economist, since 1929, full member of the Academy of the Science of
the USSR. In 1889 he was arrested in the case of the Marxist circle and imprisoned for three
years. At that time, a close friend of I. Ye. Fedoseyev. In 1896 he worked in the newspaper
"Samara Messenger", after the II Congress of the RSDLP, he joined the Mensheviks and
remained in their ranks until 1917. The criticism of Maslov’s views is given in the writings of V.I.
Lenin. - Ed.
* Available in iida prison "Crosses". - Red,

Dear my friend, I am very worried about the too long break in our correspondence. Write,
Petrusik, at least once a month carefully. I was struck by your last letter: you, apparently,
still have painful suspicion still imparted by the cross. My ardent sense of respect for you,
dear Petrus, has not changed at all. But thanks to various troubles in my personal life and
a long break in our correspondence, my feeling for you was somewhat obscured: I cannot,
for example! write to you when it is very hard on the soul, there is no axis of * grasping, so
to speak, a feeling of mutual closeness. I received your letter at the very end of my
release. Month passed in a weary movement to the place! new business trip. Here the
mood at first was disgusting. Life here is terribly poor in meaning and alien to me. And in
general, the situation nez * 1 prominent.

But I'll write about it later. If you introduced me to my manuscript sent to you by V. I., then
as soon as possible write your feedback. And this is my work, I realize} it is now itself,
ridiculous thanks to the unsystematic nature of the ambiguity of the main provisions and
the mass of non-freshness * petty arguments. So it will be just as difficult for you to tell
your general opinion about this work, as well as about the first '* But, in any case, I
eagerly await a general assessment from you - if only it would be possible - and not critics
, often small: 'important provisions, as you did with reference: to the first manuscript. If you
do not have a general idea of my view on the subject, then you will [you live your own
view on the questions raised by me, as V. I. did. I asked to send you his comments. By
the way, you will mention your attitude to these reviews.

At the present time, I have begun a more thorough processing of the last work (the most
essential part of which you do not have). I start right from the beginning of the era of the
existence of serf farms. I’m completely concerned with the questions of the origin of a
strong right; I’m agreeing to the notes of sufficient materials. (I do not agree with the origin
of the community) I think - and so do you. On the basis of a few, truth of facts, it seems to
me more plausible to M. Kovalevsky’s hypotheses, that of Chicherin.) I add an essay on
the mental movement in the era of serf economy. At the same time, it probably seems that
I completely ignore that very important circumstance - that all the material changes that
took place in the serf economy had an effect on the psyche of people and created a
number of developing ideas. in his opinion on the participation of the bourgeoisie in the
destruction of] serfdom and let me know with whom you agree more with me or with him.
He did not quite clearly understand my view of economic materialism.

Nota al pie
V. I, Lenin. - Ed.

Bye bye, dear rub. Write how you are doing. I hold you tightly, dear friend, and
passionately wish that we maintain the old friendly relationship.
Pi ...
Archive IML, f. 150, op. 1 unit xp 9.
Avtog2) af.

3. To P. P. Maslov 23 March 1894, Solvychegodsk

My dear friend, you have to go through hard times again - paralyzing the mind and energy
no less than those that you have experienced so recently. And this is the moment when
energetic work of thought and activity is especially needed ...

Day after day

it has been running for a long time in vain, and at each time we smoke for ourselves, we
have a new ring on the chain of our sufferings, exposing the misfortunes of our brothers
and giving our enemies the consciousness of a new power ...

How painful it is to realize that you, my close Friend, are again condemned to inactivity,
despondency, immersed in everyday trifles! My craving for you to be free from them.
Cases have accumulated a lot, the most urgent, because it is all important with the most
burning issues of life. NedadI was opposed by radicals in our person’s only one. 1 pogo
talented literary representative of the MULCHOW OF LOVO. I find that in his controversy
with the executioner, Mr. Katkov, the spine was less contempt for this; enemy than in
philippic against us. Mihayloven expresses undisguised insight to the shares, as if they
were stinging people, metaphysicians and immoral people who are deaf to the
unspeakable torments of their neighbors. His contempt] is expressed in everything: and in
that, with surprising * frivolity, he called the theory of “economic] matter of lnzm” a
“strange” theory, according to which he deserved to pay us so much: be a satisfactory
justification for such repulsion, and without any reason, asking, for example, [imer], my
letter to him, to put us brazenly * fools, about which he, Mih [Aylovsky], was worth ck;
Write two words so that they climb on the wall. I wrote to him that the outstanding interest
of his article caused mepv to take up the pen in order to find out a few of our differences,
but that this is unpleasant for me, because I see in him an opponent who is indecently
cursing. I told you the assumption that he judges Russian Marxism, perhaps according to
such absurdities as the one that the Orenburg (Moscow) Marxists were holding back
young people who were trying to feed the starving peasants], on the ground I said that
feeding would delay capitalism. Getting exactly these words, so that he brazenly shouted:
look ,! what a fool this Marxist says that I insulted him,] and he himself gives a fact proving
that I was right. Hot> I, citing this fact, counted on his honest thought that it would force
him to shift the center and proceed from the point of controversy to the principal side of
the question * ■ Personally, I am very pleased with the results of the decisive nana and
action on Mikhailovsky. What could he say PPP * | Us is all that radicals can say against
us. But the point is that there is still a new enemy on Pi! true, insignificant in comparison
with the main ones; and we ... 4 exist; We do not exist in the sense that they are not
forced to fight; we do not have a military organization. It was I, without Mikhailovsky, who
felt perfectly, felt heavy; and now this feeling has intensified, especially since such
tactlessness on our part is possible, that we will concentrate all our attention, all our
forces against this new, highly merciless enemy and plunge into miserable fruitless words
and thereby condemn ourselves to death, t. E., of course, only ourselves, not our
successors. Mikhailovsky is right when he calls us “hello to the rumors at the temple of
science,” and he will be a thousand times more right when we get bogged down in words.

Personally, I have met many unsympathetic traits in comrades by conviction, mainly in

their relations with representatives of the radical intelligentsia. I can not be harsh on this,
because I know in what disgusting conditions these Marxists grew, disgusting largely by
the grace of themselves (the radicals. But now this end of this abnormal situation in an
intelligent society (интеллигентном обществе) will come to an end. In them lies the
mighty intellectual force (могучая интеллигентская сила). It is necessary to realize this
force in the nearest concrete form ... Petrus, my dear, my hope and on you; I passionately
want you to move more quickly to the center of life; your deep conviction, your hot,
consistent energy elayut desirable pas my opinion, necessary to your active participation
in the life ^ moving so fast rhythms, full of painful queries that promises us such a brilliant
success in the near future.

Goodbye, my dear friend, warmly and tightly hug you! I cordially wish you to escape from
the atmosphere in which you are now. This desire is only for your close friend, this desire
is much greater and higher, purely simple, friendly.

Once again I hug you. Oh, how I would like to be with you, to share the trifles of life with a
tobn to end them with you and break out of their power.

Goodbye my friend!..
NML archive, oh. 156, op. 1 unit xp, 9b Published for the first time. Autograph,
4. To P. P. Maslov 1 May 1894

Dear Petrus, yesterday I received your letter from Sa-mara. The other day I received an
extremely disturbing letter from your cousin I. She wondered why you didn't need to see
me; She sent me your letter to Noah. I, dear Petrus, I received your last letter from the I
cross. You know what ... you are right in reproaching me for the accuracy of a warm,
cordial attitude towards you; but tts I demanded the impossible, the aristocracy of feelings
was not for our first brother, a Russian intellectual. I have no doubt that only in the special
moments of the mood did you satisfy some kind of my letter. I myself knew and felt when I
wrote to you that “the breath of life”, like the breath of a consumptor — I, is reflected in my
letters on attitudes towards you. But I wrote to you that I could only write to you in
minutes; This was explained not only by the fact that for the main thing: I had to prepare
the subject of my letters for a long time so that what was reported had a more coherent
inter for you. After all, the facts are petty, you had to report to be safe! Zia petty! And after
all, of them only consists of our kindred-1 reality. It took a minute of special “inspiration” to
present you with a whole bunch of small things in such a way that it was possible to draw
a solid conclusion from them. And you yourself live in such gusts: petty, tormenting work,
in which only a broad generalizing principle flickers weakly] and then a moment of mental
excitement, minutes! hot passion, and then again the mental work of the B1 most
disgusting cesspool, in our validity ...}

I couldn’t write you such letters as I wrote, but I couldn’t confine cordial, friendly letters to
me, but <the fact that very often the most selfless, passionate sim-1 patia finds itself
under such immense oppression that it can be expressed in the most unexpected lurid *
forms. All my letters to you (except that I took with me) were written> in moments of
particularly intense sympathy for you, and this sympathy was expressed only in the fact
that I would write you one of those letters that you received from me and who ne satisfied
you ... In this you are right, right, right ...

But otherwise, your letter is too cruel. Your bitter rebuke about “promises to write” to
prison with a sarcastic underscore that your indignation is the result of a moment's mood
is the best proof for me that feeling aristocracy is unattainable for you as well for me. You
warn with krapey cruelty: "Perhaps there will be such minutes in the future, so you can be
sure, frivolous, kind, that these are minutes."

For some reason, in the last letter, you hardly envy me and A. A.! 1 When did you
manage to make such a comparison of our life with yours? Why are you sure we live
beautifully? I hurry bitterly admit to you that we live very badly, almost the life of polyps.

I didn’t answer you and probably will not be able to answer your letters for a long time. My
conservative thought is terrible. I cannot positively understand what your theory of "rent"
has historical and philosophical significance. Those applications that you made seem
extremely unsatisfactory, it makes it difficult to ponder the general theoretical foundations
of your theory. I was somewhat embarrassed by your remark in the last letter of the cross,
that you essentially disagree with me. I wrote that when in Russia the domestic market
was overrun, he found himself in the hands of monasteries, landowners; monastic natural
economy has become a commodity; in the monastic local group, first of all, there is a
further evolution of relations between ... classes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Western
Europe...

Archive THEM, f. 156, op. 1, eu. xp 9. Published for the first time.
Autograph

 A. A. Sanin. - Ed.

 Further, the word is illegible. - Ed.
 At this letter ends, - Ed.

5. V.I. Semevsky [Solvychegodsk, 1894 - 1st half of 1895]

Dear Vasily Ivanovich!
If you have a free minute, would you be so kind as to give me clarification on the following
questions. I had to develop in detail the “Extracts from the descriptions of communities [of
their] estates” (over 100 d [osyatin] - “Materials] of the Editorial] Commissions))”, and I
came to the conclusion based on many dapyhs that the system of exploitation of serf
labor ( obrochnaya, corvee, "mixed", barshch [hippo] -obrochp [th], barscht Ginno] - mixed
[anna]) was in direct dependence on the size of the area of comfortable land (without
forest) in estates or parts of them. This raises the question of what was the nature of the
evolution of the serf economy. The only source for clarifying this issue for me is your work
“Cr [is] not in the reign of] Cather [erina] II”; there, on p. 44, you wrote: “Before the
peasant reform, very much the landowners kept in one name the banshch [npnoy] and
cheating [oh] system: some of the peasants performed serfdom, others were let out for
dues; on the contrary, in the second half of the 18th century it was quite rare, usually all,
without exception, the peasants of one patrimony either performed work or carried
monetary conscription ”. It would be very important for me to receive from you an
explanation of how widespread in the obrochnymi patrimonies of the second half of the
XVIII pitch was the system of charging the peasants, except monetary dues, in-kind
works, and paturapical dues with bread, hay, oats, which you are talking about on page
51— 55. This is especially interesting to know in relation to Penzepi., Where such a large
percentage of the serfs nadrachnye pas.

  Semevsky V.P. (1848-1916) - historian, the most prominent representative of the

populist trend in Russian historiography. The published letter is not dated. The date is set
according to Fedoseyev’s time in Solvychegodsk. - Ed.

Then, comparing the percentage of the ratio of captive and serfdom peasants in the
second half of the HUTT1 century and on the eve of the reform, you wrote: “In the 13
named gubernias in the last century there were 46% of the captive peasants, and in the
current — 49%, thanks to the spread of the post, on the eve of the reform, the barters
[ishшu] are wilted [oh] and completely fictitious. Statistical] information about the curb (cr
[s]) x on the eve of the reform, you borrowed from the “Editorial Board]]; I summed up the
returns [s] and the barters [s] cr [isl] n in the estates over 100 d [tenth], which were
included in the “Extract from descriptions”, and found that the Editorial Board] but included
in the account of the hustles [s] ] cr [stan] I of all those estates where the curvatures were
m [spee] * / 3 of the total number (i.e., in the estates of the [barn] [nn] -oprosh [oi] and
barschgieno] - mixed [an] systems) . The difference in the results was very significant *. In
view of this, it is very important for me to know whether the results of the Editorial]
Commissions of the “recruitment of souls” on “all” estates are free from this permit. (It is
precisely these results that you apparently used; I do not have in the hands of this part of
the “Materials of the Editors [Shares] Kom [Issyii]”, and the awn is only the results in
“Vedomosti about the number of [of us] and [of] ] cr [isya] and ... in landowner estates "in
the annex to the III t. Skrebitsky.)

The third explanation, which I would like to receive from you, concerns the next question.
“Before the abolition of serfdom of the family of landowner peasants ... they were
generally much more crowded than in the past century. Perhaps this is due to the
increased influence of landlords on the life of the land, which in turn is connected with the
replacement of a purely system of systems with a mixed system, giving greater scope for
such influence ”(Your words in the cited work, p. 287). Finding out a very important
question about the size of a peasant serf yard and tax on the basis of an analysis of
information "from the description of landlord estates" over 100 dess., I came to the
conclusion that between the size of the court and the tax <I m [between] pr [ocim]) and a
volichypa put on arable land I there was an inverse proportionality, i.e. the less I plowed
[oo] land per soul, the greater the number of audit souls in the yard. Essentially, the Iio
constituted only that community, where agricultural farming I did not exist, or it was
conducted in the most effective sizes. The rule is the same as I used for the curvature and
the corvee kr [estg.ya- I pa] m in most of the counties I have studied.

  I compared my results with the results of the Editorial] Kom [Issy], placed [more] on
pages 827-832, III t. Skrebitsky. - [N. F.]

In addition, in some districts in I counties the size of the yard among the obrochniy
peasants I is somewhat higher, than in arche [pchno] -barshch [hippy], mixed-ians, and so
forth; Papr [imer], in Kostroma near [ride]: in the purely I obrochpy estates the size of the
court is 2.8 souls; in the purely I obrochnye estates of estates with a mixed [anpa] system
- I 2,8 souls; in pure smssh [apnykh] - 2,7; in sample [in-person] -bar- I fur-bearing] - 2.7;
in the barge of [inpo] -smega [apsykh] - 2.6; then! as in a pure barsht [ippy] estates the
size of the court - I 3,2 soul. However, in most of the counties there is a courtyard yard of
the minimum magnitude; the difference between the greats of the yard chips in the purely
castling [py] estates and in the mod [ochpo] - I barsch [piece], mixed [apsykh], etc., is
much less than I between the revolving yard in the cleanliness [puffs] ] estates in the
courtyard in a purely barsh [inn] estates. There is a question of whether “family
communism” in the post era, apart from the influence of the economy of the country, was
also due to the special conditions of the then patho agricultural and commodity
pezemledel- I peasant farm. With a decrease in allotment of I tillage (land) of the land, the
number of males I of the cr [estya] yard increased.

Finally, the fourth question, for the clarification of which I am addressing you, concerns
the amount of plowing [th] I put on the mutilated bunny cr [ea] n. On the eve of the reform
of the first commercial estates, as a general rule, there were not enough land * 1 ptmp (if
only convenient land was taken into account, I deducted the area under the forest) and in
many districts I donated arable land on purely less landmarks, I am socialized and others
have; and in the capital of counties I, the apex of the arable land falls on the corvee and
SMO-1 shps communities. Occasionally it happened that the curb Krostans used a very
large arable plot, but paid apart from a large cash loan of bread, sep, oats ... Regarding
the 2nd half of the XVIII century, you came to the conclusion that you put on arable land
on the curb estates in general great and much more than corvee. To what extent is this
conclusion from the data of the "Economic] notes" considered correct or approximate?
And again, didn’t the peasants of the second half of the 18th century pay, with such a
significant agricultural economy, except money, natural dues with bread, hay, oats, logs,
boards, firewood?
Abandoned by fate in this gloomy wilderness, I have no opportunity to independently
investigate these issues and contact my competent razyaaspoppy, hoping that you, if you
have time, answer me to my questions that are of great interest to me.

Nikolai Fedoseev, deeply respecting you.

Isn't even a part of the “Economic] notes]” that were kept when you were working in the
Inter [eve] archive?
My address: Solvychod, Vologda Province, Nikolai Evgrafovich Fedoseev.

R. 8. On p. 287 “The Cr [is I] is not in the center of [the empire of [artstvshshio] Ek]
[athery] II», in approx. 2, you wrote that the question “about the magnitude of the seme in
the past century” ... you will look at it in detail elsewhere. In which of your labors have you
developed this question?

Reprinted by text
published in a journal
“Proletarian Revolution” № 4 (75),
April 1928, pp. 179-182

* *

From the Editor

Letters to A. A. Andreevsky and II. L. Sort Avsky was published in the collection of Isgpar
DF RNP (b) “Fedoseev Nikolai Evgrafovich”, Gosizdat, “3, pp. 139-183. According to the
text of the collection, these letters are printed in this edition. Letters to previous I
published the following message from the editorial board of the collection, which we
reprint with a few abbreviations:

“This collection was already almost entirely flames when they were found during
Vladimirsky's inquiry! provincial gendarme office for 1895/96! Among the physical
evidence are those handwritten letters from Nikolai Evgrafovich Fedoseyev, for which the
score | was attracted by this gendarme office again! (for the first time in 1892).

In view of the fact that these letters depict us Fedoseyev’s convictions and soulfulness or
are political articles and represent the only literary inheritance of the deceased comrade
that was found in village I-1, we print them in an appendix to this collection. Purely political
popular articles are letters to the work of Andreyevsky, contained in the first package of
material evidence. The first of them explains to the worker, who is looking for a way, the
inconsistency of Tolstoyanism and the need to rally the workers for the struggle, wait only
for political freedom. The second even carries a chapter: “Where did the Russian working
class come from and how?” And is essentially a leaflet intended for distribution among the
workers! No wonder both letters were found at the addressee, excluding | original, and in
copies.
These letters refer to 1895 and were sending! Fedoseev from exile, from Solvychegodsk.

Another package contains letters to Nikolai Llipovl Sergievsky. Of the two, only two -
under No. 6 and Poi No. 10 - have dates: the first is “May 7, 1894” and this | Roy -
"February 1, 1895, Solpychegodsk." The rest are deprived of them. Only regarding the
letter number 39, re! This, as it turned out from the inquiry, Sergiek I on the day
Fedoseyev was sent to exile, I can say I am accurate, that it was written in November
1893. The remaining instructions do not have any. We can only say that letters for №№ 1
and 32 pisaps, nosommesChCH® in prison, and for № № 34 and 24 • in all likelihood.

We warn the reader that the numbering of this sequence of letters does not indicate a
sequence: this is the Iraqi numbering of gendarmes of material evidence, which also
includes those that do not belong to Perosev.

Letter No. 1 - on scientific materialism; letter No. 3 and 4, entitled “Afterword” - criticism of
petty-bourgeois philosophers, liberals and then “Vol'ts” (obviously, the People's
Volunteers), the last appeal has just begun, the letter is cut off; Letter No. 6 - on the role
of the state, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in Russia; No. 10 - some answers and
explanations to the correspondent on the same questions; No. 24 is the answer to 15
questions of some representatives of petty-bourgeois psychology, opponents of scientific
socialism; No. 32 is the answer to a friend, apparently a worker, with whom he had
spoken the day before; and No. 39' — a letter with the transfer of connections and the
characterization of the worker of St. Andrew’s, written in pencil and transmitted by
Fedoseyev to Sergievsky from hand to hand on the day of his exile.

Then, among the material evidences, a number of letters missing in the package is
renumbered — with a brief presentation of their content. These are letters containing
reviews of Struve, N. — she and Beltov’s books, on Krivenko’s and Mikhailovsky’s
articles. Because whether they are absent because, as indicated in the description of one
of them, “they have no relation for the production of the present inquiry” or were simply
lost, it is not known. In any case, these extremely valuable letters, which would give us the
opportunity to more fully illuminate both the worldview of N. E. Fedoseyev and his
qualities as a writer and critic, did not reach us.

Thus, we have to give only the surviving passages of great correspondence and without
due continuity. We put at first all the letters without dates and related, apparently, to the
period of detention in the Vladimir prison, and then two letters with dates, sent, obviously,
to NZ Solvychegodsk. All letters are given by us completely, with the exception of letter
No. 32, which is the answer to some conversation the day before with a prison neighbor,
consists of separate paragraphs, often completely unrelated to each other, but not
completely understandable but illegible in places. We considered such paragraphs and
some separate lines more appropriate. The parts of the letter number 32 given by us
contain valuable data for Biograf! Fedoseev and identify the growth of his personality. "

1. To A. A. Andreyevsky (First letter)

Nota al pie
Andreyevsky A. A. - a worker, one of the active participants in the nut-Zuev circle. Fedoseev
writes about him in a letter I to N. -Lergievsky (see pp. 224-228). - Res).

For a long time I have not experienced such joyful moments, as I did today when reading
your letter. From the very beginning of my acquaintance with you, I valued in me an
eminent, thinking person. Such people under the present working conditions in our
homeland are rare, and this gives their existence a special value. Great is my joy that you
finally understood the contradictions and shortcomings of Tolstoy's moral doctrine . I
understand the way to which you came to the conclusion that "it is time to take up a
shovel and clean the barn from garbage." "Life is hard, the cup of oppression is full."

And not by preaching personal self-help, one can soften the burden of life, mitigate the
suffering of ours and our brothers belonging to the working class. Why so? Therefore,
precisely because we, even clearly aware of the injustice of the existing public order in
relation to the working class, can come out of this social order, we are in its grip. Hiding
behind the preaching of personal improvement to everyone and everybody, we indirectly
support social injustice. To speak to people belonging to the ruling class about the moral
need not to oppress other people, not to drink blood is to cry in the wilderness, to do
useless, empty deeds. To persuade people belonging to subordinate classes, to the
working population, that the path to their salvation is a personal improvement, means to
tie their hands, condemn them to endless suffering, means doing a harmful thing.

About 2 thousand years have passed since the commandment “love your neighbor as
yourself” is proclaimed by Christ. In all Christian and non-Christian societies, during all
this time there has been a struggle between the ruling classes and subordinates and the
replacement of one ruling class by another, with the continuing subordination of the labor
class until now. True, the position of a modern factory worker (only ours) is better than a
serf and a slave; this improvement was achieved by a hard struggle with the ruling class.
But had this struggle not been, there would have been no improvement; the subordinate
mass would forever be mired in poverty and misery, would be stupefied of them,
corrupted as a result of them and would lose the human likeness . No, it would be the
greatest insanity or meanness to say to the worker: "You are unhappy because you are
not moral, be perfect and you will get happiness."

The social system in which we live and which is under heavy pressure on the existence of
the working class has arisen and is maintained in the interests of the ruling classes; it is
possible to change this system only by the struggle of the subordinate class for their
interests, for the right to live, for the sake of their own human existence.

But what right to a better existence does a worker have? Has he not been created by
destiny for the welfare of others, a small group of ruling classes?

Our nobles, landowners, factory owners and breeders are certainly convinced that the
worker was created for them, for their pockets, for their luxury, for their pleasures. The
government fully recognizes the correctness of this view of the workers; it keeps the
workers within the boundaries of the position in which they are placed by the ruling
classes by the force of the law, the prison and the armed rifles. The worker drags a half-
living state, he is hungry, ignorant, does not know the joy of human life - all this is
necessary for ... Russia, say the defenders of the existing order, but in reality it is
necessary for an arrogant and greedy pack of exploiters.

The class, whose hands are creating all the social wealth, is told: “You have no right to
strive to improve your existence.”

"We have rights." This was true yesterday, true even today, but it will not be true
tomorrow - this is the guarantee that the worker did not turn into an animal, did not lose
human aspirations and needs.

Yesterday and today, workers are being told but such and such to become such a volume
of laws: you have no right to strive to get out of the situation in which you are. But the cup
of suffering is full to the brim, poverty and oppression cause an “unlawful” desire among
the workers to at least a little improve their share, to throw off even the most inhuman
oppression. A strike breaks out ... an unequal struggle between poverty and wealth. It is a
military force for the power of wealth . Poverty is subjugated by "convictions" (by
harassment or seduction), and in the case of persistence by bayonets and bullets; The
most prominent persons from among the strikers, for their greater conviction of the
illegality and criminality of their hopes and aspirations to improve their situation and their
comrades, are imprisoned, sent into exile along with real criminals and deprived them and
their families of their livelihood. Here is a strike of Shuya weavers burdened with long-
term daily work, paid for by a scant piece of bread sprinkled with outrageous insults and
harassment of managers (управляющих) and owners (хозяев).

From the provincial barracks, battalions of the grenadiers, armed with rapid-fire rifles, fly
on the train, with the governor and the gendarmerie. There is a formidable order to
“disperse”, to verify the illegality of the demands; “If the working conditions are not
attached to you,” adds Nator, Vladimir, to the lip, “you will receive a calculation, and I will
send you to the village * yum.” Threats and armed soldiers scare workers; they know that
they have nothing to exist in the village, their ruin has driven them out; that only a factory
of one IM can live, but that the owners, taking advantage of their disastrous situation,
turned them into their working livestock; Know it, but submit. Here is another strike. In the
fertile Novorosspi there is hell, where thousands of unhappy people, whether for their own
sins or for the sins of the progenitors, are condemned to work for the welfare of breeders
and the state; dwellings for them are dugouts, drink is rotten water, air is coal dust and
red-hot atmosphere at smelting furnaces. And the works of their labor — coal, cast iron,
and machinery, which are necessary items for the existence of all the southern cities,
railroads, steamboats, factories — are transported daily by rail trains all over the south
and return in the form of money to their owners. And next to their landowners, luxurious
marble palaces of the owners were erected. For a long time despair reigned among the
unfortunate toilers; it was expressed in carrying: “Death is dragged behind our shoulders,
one god of heaven is with us.” Finally, in 1892, the cup of suffering overflowed - a strike
broke out, not even a strike, but a terrible bitter riot; the workers once more demanded
dwellings, water and baths from the owners (only! ..). In response, the army was called.
Finding themselves in a stalemate, the workers destroyed the master's palaces, broke the
cars, flooded the mines with water. The soldiers shot and killed a few dozen people - and
the riot was put down.

This is one side of the two attempts of workers to improve their position. Both were in the
eyes of the owners and the state a crime. Both were accompanied for the workers by
severe material deprivations, and in the latter case, and by massacre.

But, treating strike workers as criminals, the government is well aware that factories and
factories are a necessity for society and the state and that they cannot exist without
workers, so you have to think about improving their working conditions.

The Vladimir governor, blatantly stating that weavers could receive the calculation and go
to their villages, secretly urged the manufacturers to agree to meet the demands of the
workers, and the owners, after meetings among themselves, agreed to meet some of
these demands. The government, which ordered to shoot the workers of Yuzov,
immediately (after the bupta) submitted to the State Council a draft law obliging breeders
and mine owners to build houses for the workers, conduct clean water, start baths, and
the State Council approved this project. The well-known strike of the workers of the
Nikolskaya manufactory (Orekhovo-Zuyevo), which cost the workers great suffering (more
than 100 people from the strikers were in prison, were deprived of work, and outstanding
of them were sent to the Archangel tundra for a long time), resulted in the destruction of
fines as an income item of manufacturers and submission of them as a punitive measure
of supervision; this result was used by workers in all the provinces, where there were
many of them.

What conclusion can be drawn from such contradictions? On the one hand, the workers,
declaring their demands (by the way, the most moderate), are declared criminals, and on
the other hand, the government, which is forced by the very heightened discontent of
workers, fulfills some of these criminal demands. This means that the government,
protecting the interests of the owners, keeps the workers in the position in which they are
put by the owners, but when this becomes impossible, it makes some concessions to the
workers, having first dealt with them in the most cruel way.

And the strike itself, however, is an extremely unprofitable way for the workers to fight for
their interests; but when the government treats it as a political crime, it, firstly, becomes
doubly difficult for the workers, and secondly, it often ends with a complete failure for
them, because the government always takes the side of the owners.

But this was, I repeat, yesterday, this is happening today, but it should not be tomorrow.
The working class must declare a demand for political freedom, that is, recognition of the
lawfulness of its desire to protect its interests , which are so opposed to the interests of the
ruling classes. In relation to the ruling classes, the position of all workers, without
distinction of the form of labor, is the same; therefore, the struggle for working interests
should be the common cause of all workers. Consequently, the political freedom that the
workers demand for themselves must extend to the entire working class and consist in
recognizing the legitimacy of uniting workers in the name of the struggle for their interests.
The recognition of the legality of such an association should be expressed, firstly, and the
full freedom to discuss the interests of the working class, in the press and in public
meetings; secondly, in the complete freedom of all kinds of workers' organizations,
including strikes, to protect their interests; and, thirdly, in the dissemination of the workers'
right to participate through their elected representatives in the highest state
administration. The participation of workers is representative in the state (legislative)
administration is extremely important for the working class, because only in this way can it
become an political party and fight for its interests with the hostile parties when deciding
in law all issues of social order; Finally, the strength of the legislative rule for the workers
freedom to defend their interests is largely dependent on the participation of workers in
government.

Only such political freedom will enable the working class to successfully defend their
interests.

With its stabilization (упрочением), it goes without saying, the present indiscriminate,
mutually violent struggle (насильственная борьба) of the workers with the masters will
disappear (исчезнет) and the workers will proceed directly to ( прямым путем пойдут)
the realization of their goals. It is difficult to predict exactly how the working class can
achieve political freedom for itself. Of course, all that is necessary for this is that a clear
understanding is possible of the need for this political freedom only among the workers;
once this understanding becomes common in the mass of workers, the success of
achieving freedom is completely ensured; and the way to achieve it will largely depend on
the ruling classes and the government: if they are prudent and agree to meet the
demands of the working class, things will get out peacefully.

You testify that at the present moment you rarely meet "a worker who awaits with quiet
sadness his reward for his heavy burden behind the coffin ... recklessness and readiness
to reign everything, for life is too tardy, the cup of oppression is everywhere reigning." This
“recklessness and readiness for all” in no case can lead to anything good; for the struggle
to bring good results for the working class, it is necessary first, so that it takes place in the
name of certain goals! Lei, with a clear understanding of what this struggle should
achieve, and secondly, that it should be carried out strictly according to thought out plan,
with the sure hope of success.

“Readiness for everything” is an indicator that the working people have nothing and are
chained. Only a clear understanding of one's class interests and the need for political
freedom as the first necessary condition for this “readiness” is the key to the success of
the struggle.

In the following lines I will try to find out how many questions: "Where and how did the
Russian working class come from?" “What is its material and political situation?”, “Does
this position correspond to its role in building social wealth?”, “ What can and should the
Russian working class seek? ” I would expect from you, dear comrade, a detailed review
of my letters. I sincerely wish your social activity to be fruitful.
2. To A. A. Andreyevsky (Second letter)

Where and how did the Russian working class came from?

The defenders of slavery, which once existed, used to say: "The existence of masters and
slaves from the Lord God himself is laid and sanctified by him." But the slaves at the same
time asked a formidable question: “Where was the lord the landowner when Adam plowed
and Eve spun?”. Defenders of slavery asserted one thing: it was so, it was custom, it
should be so that slaves and masters will exist forever and ever. The slaveholders of the
Negroes in America explained the very origin of slavery: God, in punishment of black
pagans, condemned them to slavery.

Well, and for what sins our white workers found themselves in such heavy bondage
among the capitalist gentlemen?

For your sins or for the sins of your ancestors? Were not their ancestors robbers, rapists,
bloodsuckers, and were they not condemned to suffer for the hard labor? Or, perhaps, the
ancestors of the present workers, or they themselves squandered all their property, their
land, houses, livestock, and the capitalists, only out of favor to them, singers, give a piece
of bread, “graciously hiring them to work on" their "lands, factories and factories? Every
worker knows the matter very well and will be able to answer such questions himself. The
ancestors of the present worker were peaceful farmers, earning their bread by the sweat
of their faces; they gave the lion's share of the work of their labor to the landowners and
the state, and were content themselves with the remnants.

Serfdom was destroyed mainly because the landowners themselves began to find it
unprofitable for themselves: they willy-nilly had to leave in the hands of their serfs such a
share of the works of their labor, which would enable them to conduct an independent
economy; they also had to leave them a sufficient amount of land, supply them with forest,
give them mowings, feed them from their stocks during the famine, and so on. It seemed
to them to seem unprofitable: they considered arable land, meadows, and forest their own
property. “If we free the peasants from their dependence,” they reasoned, “and leave the
land in our ownership, then we will get a direct and tremendous benefit: the land that we
now give to all the peasants, we will give back only those of them who pay us rent, or
attach it to our land and will be processed by hired workers, free to agree to die of hunger
or work for us for a meager piece of bread; then we will not have to bother about the
whole peasant gang having horses, all the necessary tools, enough food for themselves
and fodder for livestock, it will not be necessary to supply them with forest. ”

But even with such considerations, the benefits for themselves of the termination of
serfdom, our landlords would not soon have gathered to free their peasants if the
peasants themselves had not expressed the insistent demand for freedom; during the
Pugachevshchina bloody, tsz unsuccessful rebellion claimed the demolition of the
requirement for the insignificance of serfdom; since then, nolnpänpäh have not been
replete; and under the latter, they suddenly flared up in a whole number of provinces.
Lingering became dangerous. Emperor Alexander II said to the nobility: "It is better to
abolish the serf right above, than to wait until it begins to be canceled. That is, it is better
for us to take up the liberation ourselves, h (wait until the peasants of the usa begin to
liberate themselves. They decided to destroy the system of serfdom, but to produce this
liberation according to its interests. The landowners gathered in committees and
commissars, began to work out a plan of liberation. They were afraid to leave any excess
land to the peasants, suggesting that it could they didn’t decide and didn’t want it to be
profitable for them: they had lands, but they didn’t have any money, but they had to get
the money firstly, in order to redeem themselves from bondage from the capitalists, into
which they fell by borrowing money; secondly, to have the means for building a “new
economy.” After long disputes, they decided to leave the peasants for the ransom, the
lump sum of which the landowners were paid by the state for themselves, with those then
to gradually recover from the farmers. At the same time, of course, in all Gfestiaisk
societies that used a comparatively larger amount of land than others, they decided to cut
off the “redundant”! the earth. Redemption amounts have been assigned higher not only
to the value of the land, but in many cases higher than the external value. The state
power, which always protects the interests of the ruling class, has agreed to make
liberation on the main grounds that were exhibited by landowning nobles. The
government, the damage to the state treasury and foreseeing even the terrible
consequences of taking part of the land from the peasants and the shortage of plots on
the remaining plots of unsustainable redemption yala-1, made great concessions to the
aristocratic selfish demands.

The arrears of redemption loans, which immediately turned out to be the transfer of the
peasant to the farmer and the ransom I exceeded (now 100 million] rubles, creating great
difficulties for the state treasury, were the result of too diligent servitude on the part of the
government to the nobility.

On February 19, 1861, the shackles of slavery finally broke. More than 20 million souls
received freedom. The highest manifesto, issued on this occasion, reads: “Autumn
yourself with the banner of the cross, the Orthodox people, and call upon us God's
blessing for your free labor, the guarantee of your well-being and the good of the public.”

God's blessing was called to labor, freed not only from the landlords, but also from a
certain portion of the wet-land; under serfdom, the peasants who had little land remained
with the same allotment; who had more, cut off those; and those and others besieged
such taxes, which absorbed all the profitability of the land. And so, when the first stone of
the peasant ruin was laid; this first stone is the work of the then ruling class and the then
government.

The economy of the free peasant from the very first steps of the new life was in an
extremely deplorable situation. The sizes of land allotments, barely sufficient for existence
under serfdom, were, as I said, cut down, meadows, pastures and forests for the most
part were transferred to the full ownership of the landowners. Means for subsistence from
one allotment of land were impossible to obtain - it was necessary to seek earnings.
Former landowners were not mistaken in their calculations, a former slave came to them
with an offer of his laborers, of course, for the most insignificant reward. The need of a
free peasant fell into the hands of both the capitalists; the serf (obrochny) peasant was not
a very convenient hired worker, for the landowner could have recruited him at any time;
and, moreover, since the liberation of the peasants, a wide domestic market has opened
up for the sale of factory-made products, which could not have been under serfdom. The
serf peasant satisfied most of his needs with his non-accumulative works: there was
enough land to remove flax for fiber, raise sheep for wool, and so on .; with the reduction
of land flax growing had or completely 'stop | or to plant leis for sale and, in order to
replace one's own products, to buy chintz as a piece of material cheaper than flax, going
to thin canvases; raw flax turned out to be more expensive than woven cotton I dyed, and
the direct calculation of a poor peasant farm was to sell flax and buy chintz. The village is
dressed in colorful fabrics; but a lot of chintz dandies flaunts in sandals: bast cannot be
replaced by cheaper material, like linen - cotton. This circumstance has created a huge
domestic market for our cotton production and has served as a condition for the extensive
development of factory-capitalist processing of cotton. Thus, the liberation of the peasants
and the ruin of their economy had a twofold benefit for the capitalists: firstly, it provided
them with cheap free hands that they could use to work for themselves for as much time
as um, and, secondly , they could sell the goods, worked with these hands, to a peasant
forced to buy and, through this sale, monetize the profits that their workers had created .
But we will talk about capitalists ahead. Now back to our question about the origin of the
working class. If we add to what has been said that the free peasant economy, while not
meeting the urgent needs of the farmers, still had to bear enormous taxes, which did not
correspond to the yield from the land, the reason for the widespread rural ruin would
become clearer to us. Indeed, according to the calculation of Professor Yansoia, the
payments of the former landowner peasants of the Vladimir Province [of Russia]
accounted for 276% of the income they received from the allotment land; This means that
the Vladimir peasant gave not only his whole income from the land, but he was also
forced to earn money on the side almost twice as much as his agricultural enterprise gave
him.

  Understandably, increasing the population with insufficient means of livelihood should

have further exacerbated the disaster. - [L. F.]

Exactly the same phenomenon was observed in other provinces.

It is clear that, without receiving the necessary means of existence from the land, the
peasant could not care about improving the cultivation of the land. To pay taxes, to fulfill
some urgent needs, we had to sell livestock, and then it was no longer possible to start it
again. With a decrease in livestock, the amount of manure decreased. Land without
fertilizer plowed out. The shortages in many provinces (the formerly most fertile) became
a permanent phenomenon and, finally, sharveled for the terrible famine of 1891— 1892,
which will undoubtedly be repeated if the peasant economy is not improved. The first step
to complete ruin was the loss of a horse and the handing over of a part put on the
neighbors. Horseless in some localities make up half of all householders. From here it is
already one step to complete ruin. The striving of the ruined peasant to get out of need
forced him to turn to the Rostovite fists for help; hence the origin of rustic bondage among
the usurers, which is a dead loop for most of the peasantry. In addition, selling bread in
the fall (if you need to buy it yourself in winter or spring), in order to dodge the taxes, the
peasant encounters on the market a competition between bread produced in large
landowning farms, bread from good ^ land, harvested in time, well dried and prepared. i.e.
generally better quality; the competition of this bread drops the prices of peasant bread.
The difference in prices of agricultural and peasant bread is at least 10-20 kopecks. for
pood; with an average yield of rye (in the Vladimir Province) from peasant tithing of 26
pounds [s] and agricultural land [Yatin] - 31 p [ud] (in this province a large landowning
economy is not developed yet, it is considered unprofitable), and in other provinces this
difference in yield is greater; in Voronezh Province, for example, the rye harvest from
peasant tithing is 37 p [oud], and from the owner's crop - 48 pounds [s].

  I do not say anything about former state peasants, since although the difference
between the holdings and payments of those and others is great, but at the same time,
the former state peasants paid the tax, more than a half times the yield of their taxes. - [I.
F.shch

But the taxes of the state treasury increased annually on a massive scale, and now the
total income of the treasury has already exceeded 100 million rubles.

Since the peasant economy is ruined, a huge back-tax has accumulated on the plan of
direct taxes; it has come to the point that the peasants of the Samara, Kazan, and other
[ugakh] provinces for three years did not pay a single amount of direct taxes (land).
Peasants serve as the main payers to the treasury; How does the state come out of the
difficulty in which they are put by these debts? It turns out very cleverly. Having used all
the I penalties up to the rogue inclusive, the government still can not "beat out" all the
arrears. But there is still a means to get out of the difficulty - these are indirect taxes. No
matter how ruined a peasant is, if he has become a laborer or a factory worker, he is still
eating bread, salt, and does not walk naked. In order to find an income worker, he goes to
wander around Rusymatushka, takes a passport for this - this is the first income of the
state from the ruined and landless - the passport collection; then, in a hurry sko- | to get to
work, passport person sits down | car or steamer - and pays interest to the treasury; he
buys makhorki1, matches — pays to the treasury (for ma-I horku — you know how much,
and for matches — from 225–300 pieces one penny), buy tea (simple and tiled tea is
overlaid with 10 rubles gold from a pud) and sugar (sugar 1 is lined with 2 p. 15 k. from
the Nuda), replacing the vintage I beer, - again, a big excise pays; buy vodka, I so
necessary for an emaciated person, and again pays a huge excise, 10 rubles. from a
bucket of alcohol (anhydrous); buy kerosene - 60 kopecks pay again from now; He cannot
make a single purchase, without paying a duty or excise to the treasury. The indirect tax I
on wine, tobacco, matches and sugar in 1891 gave 300 million rubles to the state
treasury. Thus, a ruined person does not slip out of the tenacious hands of the state, and
the landless worker has to pay huge taxes to the city in the form of indirect taxes.
Calculate how much VT annually you pay to the state for living hungry in the world, for
working tirelessly, and finally for not being allowed to strive to improve your situation.
  In 1891, the tobacco of the higher grades consumed by the rich and the wealthy,
produced 944,000 pounds, and the tobacco, which I smoke the poor and ipno, was
2,068,200 pounds. - [ii. F.shch

For what state needs you and the peasants pay, we will see below.

Until now, I have briefly told the story of the ruin of peasant farmers. But even under
serfdom, the peasants did not live by farming alone. In the densely populated provinces
surrounding Moscow, all kinds of handicraft trades were developed . One of the most
important trades of this kind was muscular weaving on hand-made flocks or airplanes.
This craft developed particularly strongly after the liberation of the peasants, as the codis
were forced to replace their homespun canvas with chintz.

Weaver: though .and: was not yet a worker: in the current sense and. he lived in the
village, and for the most part he was engaged in farming , according to yarn, for the warp,
and the duck received ready-made from the manufacturers and: the factory owners; He
worked in the barns, for the most part belonging to the maotokam-fabrikantnkam, worked
musket rented to them or large manufacturers. Initially, the work in the lights did not have
factory tension; the weaver was not turned into a machine, he worked then and as much
as he wanted; The work began at the end of the field work and lasted until the beginning
of the Summer Strada. Penalties were almost unknown. The relations between the
factories and the weavers were friendly: “they made up like a family”.

And although the weaver paid a very large part of his labor to the trowels and
manufacturers, he did not interrupt the connection with the land, and the wages he got
from weaving enabled him to cope with all his needs ("lambing then kept more, the land
was shitty"), but with expansion The domestic market began the rapid development of
machine weaving. Capitals accumulated in the hands of individuals. Every year capitalists
opened new paper mills or expanded old ones. By this the terrible enemy of hand weaving
was born and strengthened. An unequal struggle ensued between them. Competition
machine calico lowered earnings from a hand weaver. From this moment begins the
disaster of hand weavers and their quick destruction by the factory.

  The cultivation of commodities of every kind by peasant families (mostly) is called the
bushes, all or most of the peasant families in the village are engaged in this business, or
even several ozkpy villages are whole dpsters, - [Ya. F.shch

“We saw, say the old weavers, that inevitably we would have to quit weaving, but held fast
to him because it fed us.” In order to maintain earnings, “set off for diving,” for example,
we began to specify 15 points instead of 1000 threads 800. But the demand for hand-
made fabrics has fallen every year; the market demanded machine goods, more beautiful,
smooth and durable, and most importantly, cheaper than manual calico. It was impossible
to weave a calico on a manual machine, more or less similar to a machine. At this time,
the relationship between manufacturers and weavers became hostile. Fines have become
an ordinary occurrence, with their trowels trying to maintain their falling income. In
addition, the trowels, to lower the earnings of the weaver, increased the length of the "cut-
off" from 50 arsh. up to 55, and finally, up to 80-tp, retaining the former weaver’s fee with
a cut. To earn as much money as before, the weaver had to work two extra days. The
work has become intense. Little of. For their own benefit, the trowels began to buy lower-
grade yarn for the warp (weft, instead of 20 rubles for a pood, 16-tirulent); the fragile base
was thinned when it was thinned, it was necessary to lose a lot of time on a bunch of
broken threads, as a result, many twins appeared in the worked out mica, they took a fine
for it. Under such conditions in the 1870s, the weaver already earned 10 rubles [s] in the
winter. But in the end this earnings also ceased: the flakes on the hand-made calico on
the market turned out to be lower than the price of raw yarn; by hand-iwola hand weaving
had to quit. Tens of thousands of hand weavers lost their jobs. In the 1860s, there were
45 thousand and 15 thousand factory weavers in one Shuisky district, and by the time of
1887 there were almost no more hand weavers in the whole cotton industry (in musk,
papermaking, dyeing and printing factories) throughout the Vladimir region. b only 76,480
workers were employed, including women and children.

Exactly the same phenomenon occurred in all other branches of the peasant
pszemdelchesky industries. I shall point to the cart and burlache. In the 1850s, up to 3
million peasant carriages transported grain and other goods to large cities at marinas and
fairs, and tens of thousands of barge haulers, strap on their shoulders or horses, loaded
with various goods along all major Russian rivers, especially along the Volga. , Oka, Sura,
Klyazma.

So, this is where the secret of the origin of the Russian working class (proletariat) is. The
history of its origin is the history of the deprivation of a peasant-farmer and a peasant-
handicraftsman of tools and means of production, the history of the ruin of their
independent economy.

The place of the ravaged peasant agricultural farm is occupied by a large landowning (rich
peasants, merchants and landowners of the former), with a greater degree of cultivation of
the land; the place of the poor hand-weaved luminary is a steam-weaving mill with millions
of revolutions; the place of the pathetic nag of a carrier and the heavy bass belt of a
hauler is a railway train and a steamship.

The peasant loses the tools and means of production, and these tools and means of
production are concentrated in the hands of the capitalists. The capitalists and workers
both came as a result of peasant ruin.

An utterly ruined peasant divests the land or rents it to his wealthy people and runs from
village to city in search of work. In the happy case, he finds work in a factory, a factory, a
large landowning farm. The capitalists concentrated all the chief instruments of the means
of production, and, consequently, the means of living; the worker had only one source for
living - the ego selling its workers to the local banks. Now he is already working on the
"master" machines, and the "master" factory, he processes the "master" material, creates
wealth to the owner, receiving for his long day-long work scarce means of livelihood,
doomed to ignorance and poverty with all their consequences.
God, from where and how did the working class appear in Russia.
Before we begin to ascertain the material and political position of the working class, we
shall dwell for a moment on the question of the origin of the capitalists.

Along with landowners - landowners and slave owners in the serfdom, capitalists of all
kinds already existed. In their hands were some branches of popular production, for
example [imer] salinization, mining, distillation; even then they started factories and plants
of various kinds, but mainly handing out raw materials to the mouths of the ovens to us at
home, buying their works, making very large profits; they also bought landowner and
peasant bread, earning trading profits, and gave money to the state treasury and private
individuals through the intermediation of banks. Finally, the treasury gave the wine trade
to the capitalists. The banks, which concentrated the capitalists' money in their cash
offices, gave them for interest to the landowners who needed money, on the security of
their serfs. How great were the banking operations in the serfdom, can be judged by the
fact that the banks were laid by landowners 7,107,184 audit souls (i.e. more than 2/3 of all
serfs) for 425,503,00 rubles. For this loan, the landowners paid one percent only to the
Moscow and St. Petersburg banks annually at 17,082,116 rubles; the landowner paid
three rubles a year from each soul that was laid in these banks.
Wine dealers have amassed many hundreds of millions; their descendants are now the
richest of the capitalists.

The sale of grain bought from landowners and peasants also brought in big profits.

But only with the liberated peasants the accumulation of capital takes on enormous,
unprecedented dimensions. Zhol [eziyb] roads are being built. The construction of them
from 1861 to 1878 spent 2,060 million rubles [s], of which 1,112 million] issued a treasury
*.

For capitalists, owners of money capital, a wide field opens up for buying up and reselling
peasant works. The banks accumulate enormous donated capital acquired by trade and
usury. In 1864, 15 million rubles were invested by private individuals into the State Bank,
and in 1877, the deposing charges increased to 168 million]. During the years of terrible
national disasters, such as the Russian-Turkish war of 1876–77. and the famine of 1891 -
1892, there is a particularly strong "accumulation" of capital by private individuals, their
wealth immediately grows several hundred million. Let us see, for example, in the reports
of the Minister of Financial Institutions on deposits of Depeg n “Savings banks”. The
contributions to these cash registers were:

Years Rubles
1889 ........... 24219176
1890 ........... 25951088
1891 ........... 28951155
1892 ........... 52951562
The terrible disaster of the starving peasantry, the ruin of its economy, was accompanied
by a tremendous increase in the wealth of the capitalists. In the two hungry years, they
had accumulated more than 25 million] rubles.

As capital increased, so did the political importance of their owners. The capitalists
gradually become the ruling class, pushing aside the somewhat old ruling class of
landowning nobility. Having become a political force, they direct state policy in favor of
their interests, in favor of their own pockets. Currently, all capitalists have organized
themselves into exchange committees and other societies, and the government does not
dare to issue a single law concerning their interests, without first consulting with their
representatives.

  By 1860, the railways in Russia were 1,250 miles; and by 1891 - already 31,804 in [irsty]
and 3213 versts were built. In 1891 alone, the treasury provided 65 million for the
construction of railways [d] [d]. - [I. F.]

The capitalists, by the way, used their political power to get patronizing loans for their
trade and industry from the treasury in order to solicit laws that patronize large capitalist
industries that protect it from the competition of foreign goods. In the famine years (1891–
18], 92), the peasants of the Voronezh and other special provinces had only the clothes
that were on them; when the women washed this single clothes, they sat naked on the
stove - there was nothing to buy even a chintz. The demand for the Calico, of course, has
decreased, the manufacturers howled about their losses and begged the government for
issuing rewards from the state treasury for bringing the Cycans to Persia!

So, as a result of the ruin of the peasant, the working class and the capitalist class were
formed. The capitalist class, having concentrated in its hands the tools and means of
national production, has attained power and participation in our government. Having
become a political force, the capitalists used the state power to protect their interests and
to increase their capital. Yoo, what position did the working class occupy, what are the
economic and political conditions of its life? I will try to highlight this question to the extent
of my ability and strength in the next letter, but bye for now!

3. N. L. Sergievsky. Letter number 1 [From Vladimir prison]

Your letter was for me a new proof that for a person who has mastered the essence of
scientific materialism, there is an inevitable uninterrupted development of human
resources, a continuous desire to acquire more accurate and clear ideas about historical
and modern relations. Here a painful, passionate thirst for Knowledge encompasses a
person. Since life is constantly evolving, thought is continuously working and evolving,
with amazing savings in work covering the smallest life phenomena. There is no question
for a follower of scientific materialism about ready, unchanging doctrines, which only need
to be learned. But the great significance of scientific socialism is not in this, but in the fact
that it makes its followers energetic public figures, for whom there is no doubt and
despondency, there is no pondering whether the hostile direction of all the efforts of their
activities will be destroyed. Scientific socialism serves its follower as a very reliable
leader. He gives him the opportunity to make a clear picture of human activity in the past
historical moments. He reveals to his follower a “secret” why a certain activity was, great,
and why the other did not leave a trace of itself.

With a clear idea of human activity in all previous eras, we are entering into modern social
relations, into the maelstrom of social struggle. We will firmly occupy our public place and,
guided by a clear idea of the results of our activities, will unswervingly move towards the
goal. Scientific materialism is an ideological category of modern times, it was created,
grown and inspired by the idea of the working class, the proletariat. To give an idea to the
Russian proletariat of its historical role, to indicate the path that it must take in order to
fulfill its historical mission, is the closest matter of the Russian ideologues — the
“Marxists,” that is, those few individuals from the ruling classes who could understand the
essence of the historical moment and make the interests of the proletariat your interests,
your life’s meaning. This is a great task; Doing it quickly will put them at the head of the
strongest progressive party, will bring the proletariat’s struggle to zero, to a position that
will ensure victory, will bring the proletarians fighting for their interests from an
uncomfortable position, where the mass of fighters dies in the quagmire and from enemy
fire dies useless, before you realize that the item is selected unsuccessfully. I repeat, the
great significance of scientific socialism lies in the fact that it puts its followers on the firm
ground of practical activity, gives into their hands a public banner that will not be stained
with the mud of reaction, lust for class domination and childish fantasies. If the working
class were suddenly turned into a “meaningless” working animal, then there would be no
state-of-the-art, social forms would freeze forever at the point of the highest development,
to which only the interests of the ruling class could bring them; ideologists would then
have to devote themselves to the same kind of activity that the members of the “patron
society-” are now engaged in! animals. " To free the working class then was! would be the
same ridiculous idea how to free a dog or! ass from slavery in man. On the other hand,
when we! we say that changes in social forms of all kinds! occurred under the influence of
the activities of people, animate! such ideas that have grown on the basis of such and
such! economic conditions of life of the people to whom1! belonged to figures, we have no
doubt in re-1 | Aliaosti of the existence and historical role of Peter the Great, Luther, Christ
or Marx. Obviously, we will not ask ourselves this question: would the Jews have
appeared, if there were not this Christ, if the Christ had not appeared, if there had been no
Jesus Christ. We provide the solution of these questions to Kifa Mokievich, but let us say
the conviction that, if we are destroyed, new figures will appear, just as well as we are, as
long as there is a being; the possibility of such a transition from the ruling classes, which
we have made. I expressed to you my | a belief about the role of scientific socialists - I
would like to hear your opinion on this subject; meta, of course, in the same general terms
in which I braid? nulled him.

Now a few words in response to your letter. Nowhere in my work I did not speak about the
“creation” of the monetary form of the economy, this is a small reservation: I goyed about
the origin of this form. question.

I touched it (peek-on®10!) In the very first essay that you did not read. I think that natural
tribute and duties and gifts paid by the people to their princes and judges clearly indicate
the existence of natural (and non-agricultural) The princes of the squad, the defenders of
the land, received, probably, sufficient means of existence within the tribe, made
continuous raids with the aim of plundering the neighboring tribes. satisfied personal need
of the princes and their retinues, partly exchanged in the Byzantine markets for luxury
goods (pillow, patterns, vegetables) and money (coin). But I’m talking about this monetary
exchange, and about the one that arose in the serfs, when landlord plowing arose, with
the aim of producing bread for sale, I suggested that monetary economy arose primarily in
monasteries, patrimonies, within which were located the most extensive domestic bazaars
(but for different reasons). You say: “Not a local organization is the culprit for the
existence of the community and now”, and I will answer this objection in further work. My
phrase is clarified there. There is no disagreement in the pass. Prof. Klyuchevsky
(Boyarskaya Duma), Lashyu-Daiilevsky (Organization of Direct Taxation) provide very rich
materials for solving the questions “why did the tension of payment forces arise” of the
agricultural population of Muscovy? I considered this question in the first essay, and now
I’m hardly likely to be able to do a detailed study of some central questions of Russian
history, including this ...

Farewell, shake your hands. V. V. sends a bow to you and to all friends. Today, during the
festivities, I found a woodcock feather. Probably, the poor thing was seduced by birch
trees and, frightened by the light, hit the white wall. I am sending you this feather.
Goodbye, I wish you all the best 2.

  Pam knows that you have made a big step in the views of the self and the peasant. You
are now laughing at the iad of a muzhik, pathetically exclaiming: “Where are my zero-lapt,
chat, and my soul has it,” ipd than you still much in reverence. You are now telling the
peasant that he is rude, like an antediluvian animal, that you have Prudop, Louis-Blap,
Lassalle, and so on, with which you want * to enlighten the peasant, to turn a person into
his highest form! re-create it. Frankly, you got up in even more "" "position than you were.
- [ii. F.]
Mr. Kharizomenov S. A. (1854–1900) - Zemsky statistician. G. L. L. (b. 1857) - a
representative of the reactionary people, one of the “police parades”, according to
characteristic
V.I. Lepina. - Red,
1 V.V. Krivosheya. - Rvd.
2 The feather, they say, is not from a woodcock, but from a “genuine rooster” ... Explore. -
[s. F.]

2. N. L. Sergievsky. Afterward (Letters No. 3 and 4)

[From Vladimir prison]

Nota al pie
Pam izvysstpo, that you have made a big step in the views of the pas "community" and the
peasant. You are now laughing at a peasant who pathetically exclaims: “Where is my half
bastard, tea, and my soul has,” which you were so reverently awful about. You are now going * to
the muzhik, that he is rude, like an antediluvian animal, that Br3 has Proudhon, Louis-Blaup,
Lassalle, and so on, with which you and the hottest - build up a peasant, transform him into a
higher form * person. Frankly speaking, you got up in another place, where you were. - [//. F.] l
2 Khariomepov S. L. (1854-1900) - Zemsky statistician. Sdao * new G. and. (p. 1857) —
Representative
one of the “policemen V. I. Lepina. - Rsd% Narodniks ", by the characteristic reactionary parodies
**

I don’t want to give “to all the sisters by the earrings”, as they say in a nesopka. Firstly, the
gentlemen of the petty-bourgeois philosophers. Lord Instead of feeding on the hope of
vitality and defensive, hidden from the uninitiated properties of the community, you would
be eager to study in detail about the adventures of the modern order — that’s your
business. Don't hope for a pass, we will try to find out the main features of Russian social
development in order to determine our own position. Come on, gentlemen, nonsense! Try
to understand that the interests of the peasantry are opposed to the interests of the
bourgeois nobility; do not get carried away with gg. Charisomepov and Sazonov2 by the
seeming harmony of interests of large landowners with peasants. Understand that the
government expresses the interests not of the peasantry, but of the big bourgeoisie. Lord
If you manage to understand this, then we are ready to: assist in the implementation of
those tasks that necessarily arise from such an understanding, and will help you in the
implementation, finally, of the "relocations" of the peasants who use them to occupy
vacant land. See, gentlemen, take care! As long as you feed on platonic hopes that our
community will resurrect in the Siberian lands, these lands will soon constitute a profitable
subject of speculation for the bourgeois state and the big capitalists. The Minister of
Finance already openly predetermined that the “untouched, fertile” lands would be
endowed with “the poor, by noble people” and under the big peasant farms. See, you
miss! Then your last consolation will disappear. Moreover, in all the bourgeois textbooks
they say that capitalist profits depend on the well-being of the peasantry. And liberal
publicists say the same to our bourgeois. Look! Suddenly, they will even want to colonize
Siberia in the lobe site (only in their own benefits. We will support you not because we
share your childhood fantasies for just a minute, but on that simple basis that the
resettlement of a well-known (possibly most) part of the ravaged peasants is necessary in
the interests of both the unemployed proletarians and the working proletariat. This
measure will at least briefly weaken one of the biggest contradictions of capitalist
production — overproduction due to lack of purchasing power in most of the population i.

In conclusion, we must render you, little bourgeoisie, that if you support your favorite
community with violent measures, introduce public plowing, prevent them from leaving the
community, etc., we will treat you as reactionaries. Welcome the abolition of Art. 165, the
law on usury, the inalienability (“with the exception of single-communal kulaks”) of
communal lands, the school of literacy, and the support of amateur art, of course, you
can, as much as you like. For a pass, this is just an amusing sight, how well you
understand the real state of things. We do not think that you will ever be able to discern
that the "holistic" peasantry does not already exist - immediately after liberation, on the
basis of it, property differentiation began. Now there is already a large group of large
village bourgeois, for whom the fruits of your cultural activities are intended.

Secondly, gentlemen liberals. Gentlemen Liberals! You only know how to scold Social-
Democracy with alien (transferable) words and look for “obvious” signs of impotence!
Look, gentlemen, at yourself - wc are the most otyanlyastnye bourgeois, I would even say
that you are a bourgeois, although you want to admit yourself even as a bourgeois. jua
Shame, shame, gentlemen, liberals, that you are still limited to a modest controversy with
the “Citizen” about the inexpediency of the corporal punishment of “defaulters” and
“disobedient” peasants. You should long ago have thrown all outrageous remnants of serf
society from modern society. You have a look, after all, it is impossible for the peasants to
levy taxes themselves in the most painful way into the indirect attack of the proletarians.
Tax reform and nominated by the very position of things, for the old can not exist Recall
that your ancestors to the joys of the destruction of the old ruling class promised to shift
with! peasants unsustainable redemption of serfdom to the state (however, they then
wisely kept silent on whom they want to transfer the redemption amounts). And you are
speaking scrupulously about conversations and in fact guard the process of initial
capitalist accumulation in all its horrors! After all, you should know that liberalism, if it is a
major social force, would be in the history of the revolutionary force under such conditions
as our modern. Not! You, gentlemen, are liberal bourgeois (a mixture of the former
nomeshchik-nigilnst with the money-capitalist capitalist), a political nothingness.

You! not even a drop of “civil” courage! You are bop-1 are manifestations of class
antagonism and hurry to assure the government about any such CR & K phenomenon
that it is a “household affair” that is easy to “w-h * 1 dnt”. So, Nanr [nmor], you did recently
with a manifestation of antagonism from the side of a rural large bor? Iua'1 know to the
city, so you acted with the CSDDD. . Ia “And the sin lies that you instilled your
insignificance through your science into the fury of the“ volts ”. One of the cured“ volts ”-
their head — directly stated that you“ began ”, and they“ ends ”yours. You of the best,
most honest young people, gentlemen liberals, have created fighters for yourselves. You
wanted to redeem your nothingness with them like cannon fodder. We will not find enough
harsh words to brand your insignificance, your heinous behavior! We don’t want to talk
about your economic program, for you yourself do not know who you are, whether the
petty are bourgeois or large, or, for example, modest defenders of the rural local
bourgeoisie.

When you are a political force, then we will talk with you.
Third, gentlemen of the "wolves". I know very well, gentlemen, that you are now in the
position of those geese whose ancestors saved Rome 2.

3. To N. L. Sergievsky. (Letter No. 24)

[From Vladimir prison]

Lord By delving into the two rows of questions posed by you, without the slightest difficulty
you can discover your dream, which guides you in acquiring knowledge in the field of
public history. You are not interested in science, but just want to take something from
science to substantiate your biased views. You want to know whether there have been
people in history like you, that is, whether there were thinkers and practitioners who were
trying to delay, to destroy in the root the “historical” progress in social relations. You are
well aware that in the “West” (this is N. V. - all Russian theorists who worked on the
falsification of “scientific socialism” with the aim of attaching it to Russian social relations,
they recognize the indisputable dependence on the material conditions of developing
production) in Western Europe social relations were made depending on the progress in
the material conditions of production, that persons “there” were nothing more than retorts
(gentlemen! I know that this word is unpleasant for you, as well as for the theologians and
“idealists any kind of distasteful was the phrase: "Man about emanated from the lower
zhivotnono kind," but what can you do) in that commit processing "material conditions" in
the "idea." The whole 'set of "activities" in each epoch was expressed in the form of "class
bo (rg> bkg between states, estates, classes. Finally, you ask yourself the 5th thesis):"
Slowly, did it gradually or quickly be done? " This (bourgeois) coup? ”That is, you want to
find out what the“ science ”is: if the class struggle and its victorious and defeat quickly
took place. Do you need boards, was the time the same as you, theorists, collected
thoughts, “come to their senses”, prepare for a “conscious” struggle against a progressive,
but destructive This is your desire revealed in the following question (6th): “How
conscious and progressive were the attempts of the forces displaced by the bourgeoisie
to resist growth, development and political predominance?". This last question is very
interesting. What do you want to know? "Conscious whether, the attempts of “Zhakov”,
“Poor Conrad”, Jack Cat “were progressive” to “seize” the seizure of communal lands for
plowing, with the aim of commodity production, the increasing eco-labor of serf labor, and
so on. I am “conscious, whether progressive attempts were made” of workers at
manufactories to destroy steam engines, and so on. No, that’s the question. You won’t
ask. You will seek in science the answer to the question: “how conscious and progressive
would the attempts be” of “Poor Conrad”, of Pugachev, of workers who used steam
weaving machines. Perhaps the “attempts” were unconscious (boss of state
consciousness!) Or mapoziozatelevny, and therefore do not warm up, as you well know,
that these attempts were defeated. But maybe their initiators had little time to think again,
maybe they simply had no idea that by applying steam technology to workshop production
and by transforming small-scale farming into large-scale it is possible to “make progress” ;
then, on the basis of artel production and large-scale communal farming, the same
development of the productive forces, science, etc., would be accomplished, as now on
the basis of the antagonistic mode of production of small farming. It was this very thought
that dictated the 6th question to you. Undoubtedly, gentlemen, with a certain degree of
diligence, you will satisfy your desire, give a scientific look to your biased vision. But how
can you circumvent the following, for example] facts, I cannot predict, because your
authorities have “silenced” him. This fact of this kind. In the late 40s the study of the
developed capitalist system England resulted in the famous "Communist Manifesto".
Agitation in the sense of the ideas set forth in this Manifesto found a place in Germany.
Bernhard Becker stated the fact that “the undeveloped economic relations of Germany at
this time hampered the solidary political organization of the working class.” In the majority
of localities where small artisans were representatives of the working class (in the main
industries, small artisans took overweight), the majority of workers put forward such
demands that destroyed all solidarity among the workers. These requirements were
completely analogous to those of medieval workshops and corporations . It is worthwhile,
nair [imor], to look at the programs of the so-called “congress of craftsmen” and the
“General German Congress under, craftsmen and”, as well as the foundations from which
the Rhenish-Westphalian commercial harbor comes out of its agitation. these programs
and the foundations of the principle of working solidarity contradicted.
 N. E. Fedoseev means the People of the People. - Red,
 This letter breaks off. - Ed.

It was all: determining the number of artisans, prohibiting each artisan to engage in two
crafts, and denying modern workers' associations, demanding a ban on large-scale
production, and a statement about the inadmissibility of state and cooperative factories
with help from the state (here Laos). Meanwhile, small artisans' demanded for themselves
no-blood taxes and believed that this "will soon solve the social question, unless the"
proletariat "turns the weight upside down ..." I know, gentlemen, in your head when you
read these lines , the thought flashed: “Yes, we know this without your reminders; perhaps
the leaders were of little curiosity, and therefore inactive. ” You think that under completely
“special” conditions of Russian capitalism you will be able to combine, say, Pavlovsky
lockmakers and scaffolds into a major production cooperation. Your inspirers (Vl.
Korolenko in the dapp case) encourage you, saying that the failure of “Chernov” (like the
one about which B. Becker speaks) is a “random” affair. They offer you again “really” to
think about “what” “then it was”, and add that “time has not yet passed.”

So what is the "truth"? Lord The truth of all is more like a "motley cow." One observer
stands at the red side of this cow and says “reasonably” that the cow is red, another
stands at the white side and speaks with less thoroughness that the cow is white, the third
stands at the tail and remarkably says that the cow is tan. From our point of view, this
definition is literally true. The choice of position for observation is far from arbitrary. For
ideologists of the ruling class, the truth will be completely different than the truth of the
economically subordinate class. Never developed (defined), the ruling class can not
accept the "truth" of the economically subordinate class, and vice versa. But you are
standing at the tail? How did you get to this position? What led you to her? Your personal
interests? Far from it. A tradition rooted in you thanks to family and school? This is a
completely false assumption. You were led by .pa is a place (position among the social
struggle going on around you) an “idea,” according to your idea, a “clean,” according to
your conviction, independent of the economic conditions of the modern social system.
You, gentlemen, have an uncorrupted, sympathetic heart - it made you turn viima-pppo (a
very inappropriate word, but I have no time to pick up expressions) to the suffering of the
economically subordinate class, to the sufferers of the “majority of the people”, as you
would say. Through your thinking machine you have developed or are developing your
world view. You are convinced that the idea of a radical elimination of the people's
suffering that you cherish is very high in its origin. The beginning of your idea is rooted in
the material conditions of the capitalist production of the West, this idea got into your
heads by borrowing. You, or rather, your authorities, 1 tell us that the followers of this idea
in Russia have the task to develop a modern economic system right up to the highest
form of capitalist collective production, bypassing the middle historical phase of “private”
capitalist production with all its “terrible” vicissitudes. This basic principle characterizes
your entire worldview. You took this principle in finished form, like the “fried grouse”, from
the shameless falsifier of the idea of “economic materialism” known in Russia - from
reviewer Lshstort ... With this ready-made principle, you want to start exploring public
history and pre-set yourself 15 questions that "must" be resolved. So, firstly, you wish to
give your views a scientific form, to learn some facts from history. You are embarking on
the acquisition of knowledge with the surprisingly firm hope that you will have to wage a
reactionary struggle. So, secondly, while dreaming of renouncing the material conditions
of modern Russian history, you, gentlemen, find yourself in the heaviest dependence on
these very conditions. You believe that your “pure” idea (not from us, but in the “West”
that grew out of economic conditions) is free from the material conditions of production,
but in fact you are inevitably preparing to fulfill the role of “petty-bourgeois” practitioners. I
know, at times you will be “utopian,” you will dream of reforming the existing economic
system on the basis of large-scale production combined into “community” and “artel” (after
all, you must accept N.'s conclusions — down, the ashes of those who shatter old
dreams), but the circumstances (of life) will make of you only “petty bourgeois! Ih”
tractors ...

 Chernyshevsky is his follower. - [N. F.]

 Lippert, Julius (1839-1909) - a prominent Austrian cultural historian. - Ed.

But that is not the tragedy. At the moment, the large capitalist industry has organized the
3-4 million proletarians. The immediate (progressive) task is to change the “political
regime”. The experience of the “West” encourages ideologues to make this change 'by
the proletariat for the sake of its own interests, which should be protected in the future
bourgeois constitution. This task and, in general, a more rapid and lasting change in the
existing political regime can only be accomplished by the proletariat . Now, if the "light
came together" on you, then this task would not have been completed. “Russia would
have gone through the same phases” that were obligatory for England, France, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and so on. That’s what a tragic situation we would have been if we had,
like you, disowned those “ideas” which are dictated to you by a different life. I joke,
tragedy, of course, there can be no one here, except for you personally.

I finished; in conclusion, let me express the hope that you will not be offended by the tone
of the present letter, for my words are aimed at expressing the disagreement between us,
the tremendous being * of new disagreement ...

Again, reread your 15 questions and again ubo? I’m saying that I couldn’t say otherwise
than I said ... Maybe I’m “mistaken, maybe, невер wrong (I understood all the Inflow of
expressions, like: условия conditions for the possible appearance of the historical arena’;
ли did the bourgeoisie need power? states ";" slowly, the bourgeoisie gradually reversed
gradually L ";" as far as (I was progressive, attempts were made to rally the growth,
development and prayers of the prevalence of the bourgeoisie *, " etc., and especially 7
zisov concerning agrarian relations eny. yaspS Say exactly what you want, what issues
and with which i © n1 you want to find out. You would have quite satisfied us, if each of
your 15 questions you briefly motivate. And now I have to guess at the motives guiding
you.

4. To N. L. Sergievsky. (Letter No. 32)

[From Vladimir prison]
NN says: “First of all, the appearance of the world is due to their mothers; mothers gave
birth to people with conditions for human development. Preobrazhensky taught literacy -
and now they plunged into life-gutting without light, without happiness, without joy, with
monotonous, hard work, giving the means to sustain this life.

This life puts a stigma on its victims. Individuals, not mutilated by life, think: “What am I”,
“Why and why am I condemned to live such a life”, “What is a person and what is his
purpose?”. These are the questions that torment a young worker, a modest one, who
works diligently for a master, a worker who has barely left the school bench with which he
diligently listened to the instructions of the teachers. These teachers gave them materials
to solve these “damned” questions, did not even touch them during the training course,
and if they did, they imposed on them a ready-made solution, which life itself later pressed
into the heads of most people like them.
Right or wrong, the hostile feeling of NN towards their teachers is another matter; he
indignantly recalls them: “They run, fat, for cute girls and cackle, but not to teach us
something.” This is very naive, but well said. (Note - I do not change the wording of the
questions that arose from NN, or his review of the school.)

As for me, I do not see why workers like NN owe their present existence to
Preobrazhensky rather than to their mothers. They are obliged to mothers and teachers of
letters: I don’t find any special merits from those and others. *

Now I’ll go into the very essence of your yesterday’s dilemma. I agree with your argument,
so I don’t try to prove one thing or disprove another, but simply to formulate my solution to
this dilemma - this is what you offer me. From the very beginning, as I began to
consciously and independently think, I was interested in ash questions. The catastrophe
caught me at that moment when I had to choose one or another public professional
appointment. My father, who was very concerned about my education and, as much as he
could, and tried to acquaint me with public life, wanted to see me as a prosecutor, but I
could not agree to this mission, and for reasons arising from the words of the father
himself. Father gave way. "Well, be a lawyer."

I did not solve the question of my profession, that is, in the seventh grade I announced to
my father that I wanted to be a doctor of medicine. . Father: “Well, as you wish; here at
least the situation is secured and independent; and the place will get soon. But how? I
made 15 years money for a scholarship to you when you are in law school (there is such
a cash department in the court department to ensure the education of children at the
university in law school!) ... However, as you wish, this is your business. ” Why I chose the
medical profession, but I can say; thinking was shallow here. I have seen that scoundrels,
dandies, lazy people go to the mountainous people, and more and more respected people
go to the doctors; then the lawyers are dumbing on balls and pa panels, and the doctors
are doing more solid and serious work. It seems that this was the reason for the
preference of a medical career. Then there came a period of terrible mental crisis, when it
was necessary to work out views at all costs, and this development was not given. I then
read a lot and greedily, Ouspensky could not read, stomp about it: it was already hard, but
he blew away the same questions, deepened the same questions and, putting them in all
logical clarity, left them unresolved. There is a disaster. After it, but deciding the question
of the future, I was troubled by the same mental ailment, the elaboration of views (oh, how
difficult it is to get it - to develop convictions, without reasonable pedagogy, while
opposing everything around!). I had to pass the visa. But then a naive conviction arose:
not worth it! The people I loved with all my heart rebelled. “Because it is impossible to
study at a university, that there is disgusting, disgusting. The village is mret from hungry
typhus, the guys are dying from bad food and care, and I will treat them when they have
nothing to eat and their huddle is thin. ”

  "1m thе strоv 1 lschegozzezzezö roig bögögs. (The words translate with these; and I
would like an irglätttttt, to them for UHT-dim-special talgs.) - [And. F] Translated from
French, this proverb means: “Even the most stupid way to know enough to become a
mother ?. - P-cd

- Yes, you are a pain in a summertime, you delay the spread of typhoid, prudent people
tried to convince me (and, by the way, I was very much respected). I do not want! .. Not
worth it! I can’t say in the affirmative whether my decision was based on logical reasoning
or was the result of mental illness (this is not insanity, but a disease like a child’s
“teething”). Now I think that the latter is more likely, that is, I have not solved the question,
but discarded it as unimportant. Caring for bread never took me and did not bother me.
Well, that's pretty. Now I have solved this question; I will not talk about a gradual
approach to his decision; I will inform you only of the wording, as it is now with me, that is,
already with the help of knowledge and some experience.

If the majority of the Russian intelligentsia shared the principle: “pasho time is not a time
of broad tasks, but a time of creative petty work of teachers, doctors, midwives,
experienced medical assistants, etc.,” this is how literary intellectuals formulate this
principle despotism and darkness would have disappeared long ago. The intelligentsia
chose life according to this principle, but, on the contrary, this principle appeared as a
result of life. This principle is nothing more than slavish worship of reality. He was
formulated by the writers, only a few idealists share his soul and heart, most intellectuals
simply “live” by this principle, not knowing it, as the Moliere bourgeois said in prose —
without knowing the theory of prose — I will analyze the origin of this principle. 1} Our
literature was still ‘Recently there was a hot blink between the Nedelya publicists and
Shelgupoly, between Tolstoyans, Shelgunov and Mikhailovsky; in the last pillar of Ch.
Ivanovich "took part in the fact that he was ironic over Tolstoyans and so on." I have great
respect for the “good” teacher, the “good” doctor, and the midwife. And I give full justice to
their useful activities. But if the very best teacher decides to define his activity as the most
necessary, as the most rational, as the most progressive, and to assert that his activity is
the meaning of the present epoch, and all the other figures are so-so, or stupid idealists, -
-o, then I will not find enough contempt to stigmatize this reasoning reptile. Then I will say
to the ideal teacher: “The most (stupid in your ranks will always be able to learn to read
and write ...”

I am not at all frightened and tormented by the role of a “wandering comet among
countless luminaries” (settle the words of Lermontov). Let no one know about me, let me
be, let me die without a trace, without the use of rotting somewhere in prison. What of it?
And the idea of something! This idea, embracing the whole being, which has reached the
degree of a rational outlook, about which you can give yourself a rigorous critical report -
this idea determines the activity; activity is a necessary, irresistible consequence of
conviction. I think a known activity is necessary; deciding this question, I think only about
the practical application of this activity. I will wrestle with the idle question: “It is necessary,
it is necessary, but is it possible? My passionate belief that “ns all the rays of light will
perish and the vicissitudes of the struggle against darkness, and some of them will
overcome the darkness and be the light of the future,” infuses new forces and new energy
into the exhausted and desecrated heart. The happiness this idea gives is truly immense
happiness, real happiness.

  Ch. Ivanovich - Uspensky. - Ed.

To finish this question, I will tell about my practical decision of it. This is already prose.
Once again, I take the opportunity to remember the kind word of the Kazan parod-picon.
They gave me prudent advice. And now he absolutely agreed with them. All members of
the populist circles are most conscientiously studying selected special sciences, and they
really come out with excellent specialists - doctors, teachers, medical assistants,
midwives. This is according to the principle: “The village needs a tremendous practical,
direct help - for this, knowledge is needed.” “The peasant only realizes in an intellectual a
person, not a gentleman, when an intellectual proves that he treats him humanly - a useful
• necessary person, and not a subject from whom you can lure handouts and generally
burn like a gentleman”. “Having come closer to the peasant: on the practical basis of
application of special knowledge, an intellectual can engage in finding out to the peasant
his own peasant outlook and, in this way, prepare a practical public figure from the logo.”
How useful are the socialist villages (the populists I am talking about - strict followers of
"scientific socialism" and this is immeasurably different from the local idols, Fedya and
Zhsrvitsky) - this is another matter, and I don’t want to touch it. But with the decision of the
question of professional work, as it is formulated above, I fully agree.

But (it’s not a damned “but”, but a simple union) I’m quite convinced that under the
present political regime I can, at least in time (before the first catastrophe), become a
professional intellectual worker, ttat1] [immer] teacher, doctor and so on. And., and
therefore put aside all care about it.

In Germany, all social class democrats from the upper classes are professional workers:
doctors, lawyers, writers, professors, teachers, etc. Bebel is a weaver of the profession,
he had to give up his craft for state and publicist activities.

Prince Bismarck often martyred the Social Democratic deputies in the Reichstag; in the
Russian edition, his speeches made such a sense: “That you, gentlemen of the Reds,
receive a free salary, ruin the workers, for how many years you have been robbing the
workers, and they have been good for you; only your business is to criticize the pass; it's
easy! Come on, offer something of your own, and we'll see! ”.
For the book. Bismarck pa "old men" with the same accusation pounced Schippel,
Werner and K ("young", "irreconcilable"): "You, old men, have made warm places in the
Reichstag and are old, useless!".

Now we are! .. Oh, scary! Shaleborers come to us with “damned questions” that have
sprung up in their heads, and they painfully search for their solutions and do not find ...
that is, find them, but how? - They arrange a violent strike, become entangled in
syllogisms and calm down ...

This is all I know. And besides, they come to me and ask to resolve painful questions.
Poloshim, I am Preobrazhensky or some other animal of the “Week” breed; to the
questioners, I keep such a speech: “Um, um ... I think these are all the issues; Oh,
gentlemen, gentlemen! do you not know that “our time is not a time of broad tasks ?!” ”.
Questioners: “That is, this is how to understand, it’s hard for us to live, there is no urine,
how can we be here - we ask you?”. I: “Spontaneous questions, gentlemen, you quit, it’s
impossible to say, well, it’s impossible, and there’s nothing to talk about. If you want to, I
will teach you the alphabet, first we will read the alphabet, then “Native Word” and so
on ... Lubehonko ” I do not want to get a letter, I will teach you literacy. Only know, fat, that
the girls run! Abyss on you, damned, pet.

  Shtibletov, a nut-Zuev worker, one of the participants in the circle, was sitting in Vladimir
prison simultaneously with Fedoseyev. - Ed.

But I am not Transfiguration; served 21 / g year in prison, after 7 months. again I went to
prison for an indefinite time— “there is no use”! “And for how long, you repulsive, make
noise in the world,” Preobrazhensky and liberals shout at me, “you only get in the way.
Useless, and in fact there is no use for you, and you will rot in jail, and no one will
remember about you! .. ”

You, my dear neighbor, seem to be quite mistaken, thinking that Ouspensky’s “favorite
heroes” are not far from writing 3 letters, a merchant who has seen and taught the village
children, barium, baking about the education of peasant children and carrying along a
barchuk son. No, you are not morals. Ouspensky portrays simply unadorned life tragedy,
his sympathies are not on the side of these figures (pesomieino, very useful, handsome,
with a beautiful soul), but on the side of others, for example, the “comrade” to whom the
author writes 3 letters, Kramolnikov ( I am mistaken), “Has not risen” and others. Before
Kramolnikov, a theorist who dreams of widespread social activity, the ugly “question”
about protecting a small, unhappy boy-worker suddenly jumped out, the Germans caught
up with the pursuit of the chase. “Come on, try, protect him ...” - And “Maiko” 1 will curse
you, because she needs an awn ...

This is an “ugly” question, there should be no “fluctuations” here, but they are, and
insurmountable. In the last two terrible years, the mass of the best, with “golden hearts”,
young people rushed to feed the village, save them from typhus and cholera ... They fed
Grisha, and Grisha's brother, Vasya, the starving and crying, was denied soldering “until
tomorrow,” for bread is not for everyone ... Damn. Yes, here you could go crazy. I would
look at a “foreigner”, what would happen to him if he accidentally bumped into not one
group of children of one family, but two or three. The fact of the matter is that he rested
his forehead against the wall and ...

1 Maiko - in Serbs-kp "mother": unhappy boy in rag. Razaz Uspensky "Resurrection" was
a machep serb. - Ed.

Yes, it is impossible to live in the village - here, even if you are with the calmest nerves,
you will not stand it, I experienced it myself, although I lied in the village, not seized by the
modern maelstrom, ruin the village. Just scared to live there! Children die without help
from diarrhea. The doctor gave me a whole first-aid kit and instructions for treatment. All
the time free from compulsory classes I was running but sick, in the morning they came to
me with the children for medicines. Well, what could I do? Nothing. Only a bitter feeling of
shame and humiliation remains.

10 people (including the breadwinners of families) from my patients died, there was no
good supervision (they fed me with mushrooms, they killed kvass, there was no
necessary poverty) ...

I have given almost all of my salary for the funeral ... Well, what of it. Nothing but a terrible
feeling of irishness, there is no need for special responsiveness ...

“Send to you the Queen of Heaven for the care of us” ... —that is the cordial greetings of
my country acquaintances. Let, who can, rejoice, but I can but - I am ashamed to receive
this heartfelt greetings.

5. To N. L. Sergievsky. (Letter No. 39) (November 23, 1893)

H oh ... ayuya Vladimir "life" is over. Now Vologda life begins. You know, I have some
kind of a particularly false-vinmaniyu appeared to everything that is punished by ust-
salsols kop, I am Rhone and salt of the Vychegda jungle. C1, going to Korodegas, I will
find in this jungle the “initial laziness of the soul”, corresponding to 93 ° / o of forest,
“arable land by the shifting” and “t-adyayyagomu forest”, the crop itself is 20-50. This for
me has a kind of prezhest. I hope to get a terrific impression on the acquaintance with the
“flight attendants” and “bobrovnik” of the mythical days living side by side with us ...
Tomorrow morning, to Himself: Andrei Andreyevich will go down. Under the present social
conditions, in Russia, in all things, labor is very poorly developed. This, they say, is very
disadvantageous in many ways. But for the pass - only in one. We have to learn (to do
theoretical work) and at the same time: to agitate, sometimes not feeling in ourselves to
this last abilities and skills. If I am not mistaken, Vyg made exactly such a conclusion
regarding himself. At the moment, you, not a specialist, fall to the lot of the most important
thing, but a matter that requires a special skill, ability. Andrei Andreevich - a man with a
soft character, with a very thin, "aristocratic" soul; intoxicated in the mouth but fights,
doesn’t limp either body, tongue, mind by mind. Consequently, he is a man on whom one
can fully rely in order to curl the broken relationship with East [Omshtym], Alokt [Orsky],
Gus [Ovtm], Fire [Ogl.s], Ilyushin, Shagovy, Letavin, Volkov. 14wap | om] Mwap [ovcci]
and partly with Popkov. First of all, for Al.skt [Orsky], Gus [sva], Shtnbl [etov], Popk [ov]
and Andrei Apdreev [pcha] it is necessary to find places, work, And in the continuation of
their sitting material assistance nm: and family The lekt [Orsky] must be directed through
Apdre [eya] Apdr [eugpcha], to which it is given POL. NOH agrees. Then, finally, with the
existing Vladimir forces, in my opinion, only one thing can be done: to supply Andreyevich
(so that he reads the above listed workers) books like “Who from lives what” of Dikhstein,
“ Manifesto of the Communist] Party "," The development of scientific socialism. " It would
be good to ask in M [oskve] to write off the pn "romstografirovat" of Axelrod, V. Zasulich's
articles on the "workers: movement" in the West and: we; Marx-Aveling's translated article
“Participation in the revolutionary movement of“ Igni Russian workers ”(if I am not
mistaken in the title); Plekhanov's critical article about Karoshsho or something else (as
mentioned, what are his articles about Gl. Ouspensky). This, for a while, I think, will limit
the attitude towards workers. And there you will be visible. As for Apdr [her] Andreevich],
besides everything I said above about scrap, he has another one: his dignity is the habit
of thinking, a rather broad outlook and, most importantly, the "tireless" desire for
knowledge ( it is precisely such a thirst for knowledge that differs from Shtibleta and one
of Aldr's friends [Aya] Apdr [eswich]). You, as I know, honorable comrade, do not like to
have a debt, intercourse with people "uncertain." Certainty you will not meet in Apdr [her],
but, of course, you will treat him for this reason just as you feel about the “pigalitza”, “the
boy in pantaloons”. Andreevsky - with unabashed convictions, faithful to the workers, full
of internal contradictions, working with the makings of a warrior who dreams that the
working class "surpasses the rational mind" of the ruling class, i.e., obviously, dreams that
“-In the full armor of science,” and each member of the workers' party was a conscious
member (about the meaning of cultivated convictions). The autocrat in his “mental eyes” is
“cabatchik”, the church is “the Babylonian harlot”. He was skeptical of sectarian
rationalists. Tolstoism but overwhelmed him, as he undoubtedly imposed a languid stain
of thoughtlessness, contradiction. You, perhaps, will have time to get acquainted with all
his letters, some rewritten by V. V. *, partly in the original. The original (written in pencil)
with an appeal to "my friends" is the answer of Andr [sya] Andreyevich] to my large letter.

Part of this last I send you, unfortunately, another part Apdr [it] destroyed. If you have time
to get acquainted with our correspondence, then your conversation with Apdr [it] Aidr
[evichm) will take a certain direction. My disagreement with him was reduced in the last
letters to a few of the simplest, though still important, questions. You have to, I would like
to, explain to him that the economic materialism that interested him so much is a whole
philosophical system, and not just the science of "material objects." Talk about the ethics
of socialism (that is, "theories and practices of progress") (iodine "psychology" he means,
apparently, ethics). I did not succeed in acquainting him with the working-class movement
of the western proletariat and did not have to talk about what exactly is the unity of the
workers (in its sense of “sincere”, “lovefulness”), t, o. facts like the sufferings of the
workers and their families (during the strike), caused by the desire to give work to their
unemployed comrades, the facts of international unity, facts like the letter of 70 thousand
German workers to the French on the eve of Seda peace of victory, etc., etc. As for
religion, he expresses a thought here, such as those expressed by Karl Marx in the era of
thought with a metaphysical coloration (in the introduction to Hegelian philosophy and in
correspondence with Ruge).
  In, V. Krivosheya.

The AEDR [her] Andr [Eevich] will probably personally speak with you about his fantastic
productive community with “annually changing members” (note that he is not thinking of
rebuilding the world through this utopian community, but looks at it of the future, and it
certainly admits that propaganda and agitation should be carried out in the same way as
they are done so far, that is, not from the outside, but within society). It seems to me that it
is not difficult to prove to him the chimericality of this task, the fulfillment of which will
require a lot of energy and will undoubtedly weaken the (socialist) activity among the
workers. In any case, the life of such moral people, as op, among the workers will bring
more benefits, yes, incomparably more than life "on the side", as an illustration. Then the
possibility of implementing socialist (collectivistic) principles does not require proof, for
these principles will be realized in the depths of modern life, the collectivistic society will
grow from the modern and so on.

Well, I talk about absurd, loneliness is already beginning to act on the imagination: I speak
as if I would have to talk with Aidr [it] Andreevich]. - Goodbye ... Under such conditions, in
which I am at the moment, I can say I want to tell the truth about the relationship with a
person with whom you leave without confidence to meet one day. My dear comrade, I
have a “very heart for me” in a form in which I rarely show these feelings to others. Aspei!
Accu! 1 - as a gender diva. Haha How brightly the picture of the “concert hall” appeared
before me, as if I were somewhere nearby in a deaf room, immediately after the end of
the concert.

So, Andr [her] Andreevich] is an interesting person, and I think that under the influence of
scientific thought he can soon turn into an eminent socialist worker. Here, in prison, they
say that Andr [s] Andreevich] is second only to Moiseyevna. Tomorrow, instead of with
Addr [oy] Andreevich] you will go to M. G. and ask to prepare dinner for A. [ndrey]
Andreevich].

Goodbye again. Once again I embrace you in a friendly way. Give my regards to my
opponents. V. V. sends you a letter. He let him read it to me, but conclude from this letter
that he is reading, this is just a minute mood. Say hello from me to MA. I will give you a
card that was forcibly removed from my physics, which was probably affected by the
effect of violence.

Farewell, dear comrade; My card is with a secret: cover the dark side with your hand - I
will, cover the light side with and. Give my manuscript M. G., when she reads, send Chulr
— woo. All my letters will be addressed to M. G., including to you. Write to me, too,
through M. G. Clap off the delivery of V. V. books; I took them away from P. M., but they
have not yet been brought by Natalia. It would be nice to get for Pego Green and anything
else.

 Goodbye! Goodbye! - Ed.

Nota al pie
 P. A. Moiseenko (1852–1923) was a weaver, a remarkable Russian revolutionary, organizer of
the Morozov strike. - Ed.

5. To N. L. Sergievsky, nº6 [Solvychegodsk] May 7, 1894

Dear comrade, my prolonged silence will perhaps discourage you from writing to me; and
that would be a very unpleasant consequence of my carelessness. I would like to share
with you my thoughts. About a curious sign of a scour. About 12 years ago, the
predecessors of my unexpected like-minded people solemnly proclaimed: “The state
constitutes the largest force in the country and the only political oppressor of the people,
thanks to it only small predators can exist. This bourgeois naroit is held solely by bare
violence ... in exactly the same way as the Mongols of Genghis Khan held on to us. We
see the complete absence of popular sanction, this arbitrary force, which creates
principles and forms that have nothing to do with popular desires and ideals. ” Then, it
was asserted categorically that the “people” had “old traditional principles”, but it only
somehow came out that these “popular principles” could not “gain wide development”
thanks to “naked violence”, and, most interestingly, The people themselves were declared
helpless to independently fight against “naked violence” in the pursuit of conditions for the
broad development of their principles. For “struggle with growth”, “with bare violence”,
extraneous force, it was considered possible to put forward an external force that guessed
folk ideals. When “bare violence” would be broken, then “a noble knight should have put
freedom obeying at the same time the "will" of the people, as it is expressed under free
conditions. Representatives of the people were to revise "all legislation and all institutions
according to the instructions of their voters." Such was the naive dream of petty-bourgeois
idealists; they sought to “represent” the petty bourgeoisie, and thanks to the tactics of the
struggle they were fighters of the organized big bourgeoisie, since this latter corresponded
to the feudal-bourgeois regime. But the shgs were but petty bourgeois at heart; they were
“utopian” (submitting to a complete travesty of the will, “considered to be a duty to •
appear before the people with their program”) ... That was naive idealism.

  MG G. Gopfengauz. - Ed.

Their activities have shattered about the unpreparedness of bourgeois society for a
serious struggle against the feudal regime, about the "paschash of society", as they say
usually. Successors arrived. These clearly saw the reasons for the failure of the activities
of their predecessors, and therefore they firmly decided to stand at the head of real, not
abstract, social power; but, having acquired the real soil, they lost the beautiful form of
utopian ideality, they decided to “forget for a while” their principles, to bury them in the
depths of their souls; it is because they were convinced that the big bourgeoisie is the
most energetic or powerful enemy of the feudal regime. For the big bourgeoisie, in order
not to scare them, they refused “for a while” their principles; the activities of these
gentlemen will not be smashed, it will go that way, will use the Tomi means, which their
patroness considers possible. They are naive bourgeois fighters; they are hardly invited
by the drill. Joasia to their service if they do not defend their interests. “In the air it smells
like a real betrayal of a man,” my unexpected comrades say about the above. Time has
convinced these "children" of the fathers! Utopians, “that in our social development the
contradiction of the interests of the people as an aggregate of the working classes and the
benefits (?) of the bourgeoisie, which is so characteristic of the West, is already reflected.”
For them, this contradiction has already been revealed on Russian soil. They set
themselves the goal of "with one blow to overcome the remnants of feudalism and
separate themselves from Burl Jouy." But, casting retrospective views on the immediate
past of our social movements and analyzing the present, they sadly but categorically state
that the mass of the people, depressed and scattered, do not take and cannot “take the
initiative of a conscious movement to achieve their (ideological) task . "They relied on the
people in the struggle for ideals" to be "practically impossible business," that is, in other
words, the task they set as a nationwide task turned out to be an external "people" that
could be solved "outside of the people, external force. The force, capable of
accomplishing the great task with one blow, consists in them, they are the carriers of both
the great task I and the tremendous force. As you see, my unexpected comrades lost
much of what was the initial clarity of the soul of their predecessors. The “bourgeois]
znaya no longer seems to them” as an external growth created and supported by “naked
violence”; they have to talk about “social contradictions”. Time deprived them of their
naivety; correctly understanding some sides of the standing public, they see a “desirable
clearance” | in the ideas of their utopian fathers; if they were naive petty-bourgeois
idealists, then these are simply foolish idealists. No, I would not subscribe to their pro-
{ezzupp y M.

  Creed, “Red

I can not figure out what exactly they liked in my answer; “I read through everything I had
written on this side of the matter, but I didn’t find a single provision that, by its ambiguity,
would give the possibility of an absurd conclusion that my comrades want to subscribe to.
I say quite unambiguously that, in my opinion, only the proletariat can open an energetic
struggle against the feudal regime in the forms of attaining representation of the working
class; he should also belong to the initiative and the final completion of this case. I cannot
pin too high hopes in this matter on the petty bourgeoisie (the peasantry), although I
recognize the antagonism of its interests in the modern form of the state. Since the
peasantry is hostile to the feudal regime and is interested in universal representation, to
the extent it is a progressive class; according to the fundamental conditions of antagonism
of the interests of the peasantry with the modern form of the state, they (the peasantry)
are pushing it onto the reactionary path. I too doubt that the peasantry could rise to the
idea that the root of its social disasters is private property, small private commodity
economy; it is well aware that large property is a blessing, but few reach this ideal,
becoming ruthless exploiters, like the hero of Pavlovsky Essays. But we cannot already
talk about 90 million property owners, for we see that about, if not much more, these 90
million are proletarians, employees, small tenants. Some P-th in the “Russian Vedomosti”
touched upon the issue of “breasts”. He forgot to say that the “agitators of the working
class” were not at all out of the sense of false aristocracy who considered the “rag-cutters”
a reactionary element. Shaggers took an active part in beating the Communards, bought
by Versailles, and so on. and so on That the unoccupied proletariat, indeed, at first only
disarmed the organized working proletariat in its struggle with the ruling class, is
undoubtedly. The working class of England received the organization initially in large-
scale industries. The goals of the workers organized in unions did not initially include the
unification of the entire working class for the revolutionary struggle; Therefore, they didn’t
allow in their own environment not only the хthought workers ’, but also the unskilled
workers of their own branches of production. The existence of various kinds of exceptional
laws against workers' organizations and the difficult situation of workers in small industrial
establishments and in land economy of the cranio made it difficult for the working groups
to agitate the working classes. But lately in England, thank the incredible works of the
ideologues of the working class; managed to organize and tramps and rural workers. This
is in England and with wide freedom of the labor movement. In Germany, where the goals
of the labor movement from the very beginning were broader than those of the British
workers, workers in the petty industry, the rural proletarians I and Hürnspringer were
never excluded "agate-! tori "of the labor movement. Chimney sweepers, shoemakers,
and joiners are present in the Reichstag as a social-house! representatives. What N. N.
joined the German socialist, - | democracy, we know this well. Many strikes! Social
Democrats were taken in the types of job delivery but having it. Bebel et al [ugio], the
socialists for-1, in the Reichstag, demanded the delivery of the work of bera-1 bit.
Meetings of the unemployed are organized with the participation of Bebel and others. In
France, the same. You ask me about my opinion on the reform of Morloy, which should
"heal the gaping wound in the social life of Ireland." I know very poorly the conditions of
farming in the Irish form- I measure, and therefore I can talk about this subject. But
Morley's bill is more like a bourgeois toy, which the Irish laboring people want to attract. If
a farmer is able to pay rent to a landlord, if he drives it out for arrears, then it is obvious
that the farmer’s working fee can serve as a payment to eliminate the forced expulsion for
non-payment of rent, farm), or the destruction of rent, so with. expropriation of property
lepd-1 lords. Morley doesn’t make any real effort to improve the equipment of a small farm
and thinks less about expropriation. He offered to pay the landlord half to the farmer "!
Good arrears from the state treasury so that the landlord would take back such a farmer,
and this last | pay the other half to the debts. You cannot expect so that the application of
this measure is wide: pay half the arrears and pay an annuity without paying an annual
rent, but the person who feeds on potatoes can afford it, but lords will not lose: if the
treasury is paid if the farmers are rented or will be guaranteed the right income, then they
will accept this intervention, presumably, with enthusiasm.

If the landlord wants to receive a higher rent as the rent increases, he will complain to the
commission, and this will “work out” other, more equitable conditions, only with the
“consent of the parties”. Finally, the purchase of land plots by farmers with subsidies from
the state treasury will only accelerate the ruin of farmers, just as the ruin of our peasants
is accelerated by their purchase of land through the peasant bank into ownership of a high
market rent.

I am sending you a fragment of a letter in which I wanted to talk with you about the first
article by N. —on in the April book of Russian Wealth, but I managed to do it. The article
is curious only because it clarifies the views of the author; those fundamental errors of N.
—on, which I put in a logical connection with the author’s affiliation to thinkers like
Rodbertus, turn out to be positively inexplicable. Ii. “He got confused in opposing, self-
exclusive concepts. The revitalization of cotton mills in 1893, as Yang had expected, was
II. He put in touch with the harvest. But this is the silliest nonsense; in the same way, an
absurd explanation of the recent hitch in dealings with the manufacturers of this
production is the lack of export of grain to Germany. The hitch is caused by the large-
scale production and, most importantly, the appearance in large quantities of goods “out
of the competition” of large joint-stock enterprises that have applied the latest equipment
to production; As a result, there was a decrease in the market price and business profits
of other enterprises in this industry. All the fairs went very well. It is curious that I. —On
upholding our original theory about the disadvantage of using high technology with cheap
workers. A striking example of the opposite - S. Morozov.

6. To N. L. Sergievsky Letter number 10, February 1, 1895, Solvychogodsk

Dear comrade, forgive me for not having responded to your letter for so long. My
unfortunate work leads me to a tense nervous state, then plunges me into apatsho. I
would like to develop questions as detailed as possible - t thousands of obstacles to this.
Please search for the 2 books "Foundations" 1 for 1882. I need an opa to the cut (actually
the article of Semevoki "Household and peasants in the second half of the XVIII century")
I turned to V. I. Semevsky for clarification of some of his conclusions about the marital and
corvee systems, about the allotment, the size of the court, and so on. Petersburg Public
Library and Archives.

But I know if I understood your thoughts correctly in the last letter. In one thing, I certainly
agree with you - this is skeptical of cheerful hopes. For me, the first steps of the new time
were very convincing (for evaluation), and in fact they are very important. Now something
like an operetta (politely speaking) presentation occurs. I would have shown that the dead
Polish landowner or “sensitive Tekla”, who “didn’t care for myself”, had resurrected in front
of us. But no, the psychological lining is now different. Is there any doubt that the “rural
gentlemen” have left the public aropa? No way - they are the actor, they are the main
actors of the modern drama (and operetta regzoye dgaat) Turn in the 60s we are not
without reason called bourgeois; in the proper sense, the bourgeoisie was so powerless
and the liberalism of the nobility — a truth, a new and remarkable trend — was not so
broad that there was almost nothing; but what came out fell under the measurement of the
nobility arshin and the assessment of the noble coin. So, by measurement, they were cut
off, and by assessment they put down a stamp. Is there any change now? No, except "the
fact that the industrial and monetary bourgeoisie received some direct influence, but this
influence is limited to a narrow sphere; and its influence (or rather, the influence of the
entire bourgeoisie) inevitably seeks to become universal (it is impossible to distinguish
economic relations from all others). You say that the economic interests of rural and urban
gentlemen are quite cleverly balanced by the fact that striving for this balance, pursuit
gives them a flavor of “our” economic policy. Let's say that. But the balance of
antagonistic forces (I say terrible Whose, but there is no way to monitor the use of the
appropriate words, can it really be any sustainable? I don’t think. A memorandum M. f. is
very characteristic of understanding this issue. And the representation of rural gentlemen
who can discuss something, but not discussing some projects, because they became
bills, and some projects, because they have not yet become bills, will hardly satisfy the
rural gentlemen. The generous “wake”, as the Khan Baskaks put it, is a very important
cog in balance. But I actually do not care about this relationship. Before me is the
immense power of the new time — the proletarians. What are they now? Nothing (they
don’t even have those “rights” that peasants can use “according to the law”). Can't they
get on the scales? In my opinion, they can not get. And this is the main thing for me, the
whole interest of my life. Perhaps, even probably, the bourgeoisie will take advantage of
the disturbed “balance”; but I see no reason for departing from the energetic striving to
achieve in order to eliminate the “autocracy” of the bourgeoisie. Autocracy is a sweet
sound - where is your content, where is flesh and blood ?! The bourgeoisie (again, the
"business" layers of it) limits it a little or a lot, as you wish; rural gentlemen - but to them
"voluntarily" - the front corner under the images; but autocracy is absolutely for
proletarians. They do not want such an exceptional sympathy for them. I do not dare to
say anything definite about the peasantry. Firstly, the social moral movement seems
progressive only relative. Secondly, I am afraid to follow the example of Mikel, when he
was a Marxist, One thing is here that the agricultural population is economic and legal!
Shepni lives under the serf regime and allocates from its midst a mass of proletarians.
Regarding large land tenure, the old one has to be repeated - it is mobilized and
concentrated in the hands of a few individuals from the nobility and merchants. However, I
can not talk about this subject, because I do not know the current state of affairs; but I see
that it is hopeless.

The book of Beltov makes a huge impression on my comrades . They write to me about
Beltovs that he is in dire need of money; this could be helped by selling his books without
the commission participation of stores. I will write to you in the next letter about my
comrades from Rostov-on-Don and their case (for which they were sent here). About
Vasily neither hearing nor spirit. Amazing. Hello to my friends.

Nota al pie
“Foundations” is a journal of moralism®, a liberal-populist direction. - Ed.
  Regzopa uga (a - a pleasant person, a person in favor. - Red-
   M. f. - Ministry of Finance. - Ed.

-------

1. MG G. Gopfenhauz (Vladimir prison on November 8, 1892)

Dear cousin, yesterday I received your telegram (I was given it only after 3 days!) And
immediately telegraphed to you my answer regarding your arrival here. I am almost sure
that my telegram will not find you in Samara anymore, and this is a great pity. I
telegraphed several times (it seems to me three times) that your arrival is inconvenient
until the end of the investigation and that I hope to come soon myself, I also wrote to you
in letters, adding that spending money on dating is now too much luxury that money will
be really needed in the future. In addition, you risk not even getting permission “to meet
with me, although I have a“ legitimate ”right to do so. And in the event that I was released
soon, I would have to spend about 150 rubles. on the return trip with you to Samara,
because I do not want to stay in Vladimir. You see, dear Maroussia, how many
considerations are against your trip here, not to mention the fact that you would have to
live here without any classes, etc., etc. Your decision to come was obviously influenced
by my sad and irritable letters (if only you received them - this is not visible from your
letters); but, my dear, do not forget that the Russian person “gets used” to outrageous
conditions or at least manages to treat them rather lightly, like a Shchedrin boy. No matter
how destructive an effect is on the body, imprisonment in a smelly chamber without clean
air will alter this condition by your arrival. For some reason, you think that I do the same
by "live"; this is not quite true, although I am bricked up in a stone coffin, but I live and,
oddly enough, sometimes I get a minute of such a watered life “happiness” as it is very
rare for “led”. In addition, I am so busy now studying the highly interesting materials
reported by Somonov, that I positively have time for fruitless, painful fantasies, the result
of which is a cruel, terrible prison guest - the blues. Recently, I again neglected the
doctor's advice to do less (because nothing comes out of the total, the brain still works)
and I work 10 hours a day. Now I have such a mood, which was in the winter of 1889,
when I parted with P. V., Alekseich 1 and others].

Please tell me the content of the essay by A. M. on attempts to increase wages in Russia.
I think that all attempts in this regard were either unsuccessful, or, if successful, they gave
a temporary increase. In general, wages in the last decade, judging by the data that I had,
increased for industrial workers — this is directly dependent on the appreciation of the
necessary means of consumption; the last five years is likely to be accompanied by a very
significant increase in wages, because there is not the slightest reason to assume that the
“high” price of bread is temporary. Consequently, the increase in wages is not a
consequence of the rising cultural level of the working class. This is likely to be impossible
in Russia for a long time, because the labor market is growing annually by millions of
proletarians who cannot be bought inspite of all their cheapness, as long as we have a
monopoly (монопольное), with feudal character (феодальным характером), capitalist
production (капиталистическое производство) (due to the customs tariff) (таможенным
тарифом). It is interesting that the family of feudal Morozovs (феодалов), Trekhgornaya
manufactory, Thornton’s partnership already have a constant growing army of workers,
proletarians in the full sense of the word (i.e., detached from the land, etc.) (оторванных
от земли), and therefore proportion the wages with the value of the necessary means of
subsistence. Therefore, their wages are higher for some ranks of workers, even twice as
high as in vassal manufactories (вассальных мануфактурах). Although their wages are
lower in some cases, the level to which wages are generally paid, for example, single
workers are preferred, and the working family, in which, according to the punishment of
God, the third child is born ”, Iappr [imer], of the frost factories, either calculated, or
expelled to the I“ private ”apartment. And those factories that work | “On Morozov”,
including the Shuisk, Sobiis, and Bolinskii manufactories, and the mass of “southern oz
yaks” —with from about l och to the other, give workers a wage below the necessary
livelihoods, respectively their workers have not yet broken their ties with the land and
receive from it a shortage of funds. Write me about the export of Russian bread to foreign
markets. With me, there was almost no export, and from the information you provided
about the state of the Odessa Bureau and the overcrowding with southern bread, I did not
understand the state of export. I The Chronicle of Vestn [ika] Finance] (the bread market,
Odessa, Petersburg, Warsaw, etc.) gives very accurate data.
  "Bulletin of Finance, Industry and Trade" - Journal of the Ministry of Finance, St.
Petersburg (1885-1917). - Ed.

I'm interested in the numbers, but only the conclusion. Since I am writing this letter at
random, not expecting that it will find you in Samara, I don’t finish it. I read Semenov, but I
will also wait to send you. I will soon have all the money; now I need so much more, as I
have asked you in previous letters. Goodbye, dear Maroussia, do not despair of my
colorless letters. Hope to come to you soon. Hot kiss. Write more and more about
yourself.

The day before yesterday I asked you to return your letters that were not given to me. I
think that if you didn’t acquaint me with a whole series of facts at once, but with particular
circumstances, even in chronological order, then such letters would not be resolved to be
delayed and cut, because the law does not allow politicians to get acquainted only with
the current reality (daily and monthly editions). This law in Russia is just as anachronistic
as the shameful chains on the convict, it was important when the first "politicians",. like the
priest Avvakum, used the "news" from the will to control reality, and now the jail is a
completely different device than in the days of Kotoschiah, and the law on preventing free
news from "politicians" turns out to be nothing more than an instrument of refined torture
and torture ...

Dear Maroussia, do not be sad! The main thing is not to be embarrassed by my letters, in
which the essential is not enough. I eat well, do not worry about it. The main thing is that
the walk is still not allowed, the Provincial Government answered the following days (a
month later!) About its paraphrased “report” by the prison governor that, because “every
day” from the convoy dress up “two and three” guards, then “a walk but can be resolved in
the absence of guards "; and the tables and beds turned out to belong to the “noble”
thieves' camera, at least they were superfluous in it, and from this camera they were
transferred to me in no way but they could be. I would have the right to use them if I were
a thief, a crook, a murderer, but not suspected of idealism. However, this irritability is
explained by my subjective structure, because the “impartial” witnesses of my situation
assure me that I live “comfortably” ...

2. MG G. Gopfenhauz (Winter 1895 or 1896, Vladimirskaya Prison)

My dear, my dear, my dear ... today, it seems, the last day I am with you under the same
roof. These two divided were terrible! Being so close and not seeing each other after 2
years ... Oh, how hard, painful it is to tears ...

The executioners will probably be allowed to say goodbye ... I had to hide the time that I
know that you, my dear, are here. I tried to write to you, but you seem to get it. Maroussia,
dear! Now, only in full, I experienced a passionate love for you in terrible agony. The
whole picture of your exile in the desert north seems bright to me; I feel a vivid agony of
torment, all the grief that you will have to endure. Tomorrow I'm on my knees. I spend the
train that takes you away from me ... to the torment. My dear, know that at this moment I
will whisper into the wake of the terrible train rumble away into the distance my hot
prayers to you, the words of my hot love for you, I spend this roar with a sob, which is now
barely holding back ... So close was a date and for a long time it moves away with the
train that takes you away. Such moments as the present, ne are forgotten. You know, in
part, my spiritual mood in front of my [yyu]. In its further development, it drove me to the
firm intention to resort to the right means to get freedom, for example, if there is a long
conclusion or reference. Now, before the greatness of terrible grief, that thought of
shamefully craven affinity has disappeared, the grief before separation with you has
awakened the life forces: I want to live and I will live by all means! Contempt for the
executioners, love for you will be the source of my vitality. Know, dear Maroussia, I love
you and I will live with this love and hope to see you.

 This letter breaks off. - Ed.

Here and far away in all letters to M. G, Gopfengauz, the date is stamped with a pencil in
an unknown hand. - Red

Despicable mercenary lackeys promise me a prison crawl in exile in V. Siberia. And

before that, it was not my liking to frighten, it only excited the question of the purpose and
value of such a life, but now this question does not exist: there is a goal. True, the
enormous deficiencies in my education and in my psyche showed up for the mole quite
clearly, and now, after 74 / gl [em] of such a life, which will have to live a few more lots,
maybe a lot; then they will be even more and I will be forced to move into the category of
disabled people, with broken iorvs, with some moldy knowledge. But what1 From the
category of "passive" I will be knocked out, by hot, passionate faith and hope will not
diminish, but increase. I. besides, then we budol! together, there is no danger of such
separation as now. Strange and cruel Russian fate! It turns love into agony when this love
is especially beautiful, when life is full and united, when life is broken. According to the
memory of the past, the memory of such moments as the present, closely and firmly
connected us and lessened the pain from the consciousness that life was broken. That's
what awaits us. We will be courageous to wait for this moment, there will be happiness,
great happiness in it! Goodbye my dear sweetheart! Save this letter bye, just hide it away,
so that the ns can be taken in M [Oskve], I [Roslavl] or B [olog] de; I will try so that in B
[olog] to you in the name of Gbrktra 1 they send another dopeg. My dear, you will go in
my fur coats - I am very pleased that I managed to do it. Take care of health. Goodbye,
my Marusenka! ..

My advice: be an individualist, t. e. to stay away from comrades, and then a meager life
generates. milky quarrels that completely poison life. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, dear.
Snore a little ring! My dearest...

NML archive, f. 150, op. 1, Published for the first time, sd. xp 35045.
Autograph.
2. MG G. Gopfenhauz Solvychogodsk, April 18, 1896

I wrote TSBO several letters, but I received an answer only for one. I only recently learned
that you were in Arkhangelsk and not in Kholmogory. I wrote to your address in Kholm-
gory and A. G. Buyanov. (You wrote: “The address in X [Olmogort] is the one on the
package without transmission.”) Under such conditions, correspondence is not yet
possible. I need to send money from Arkhangelsk to me in any case. I have a dress and
shoes. Volgin1 I received a book, but I don’t think it was the work of that author, oh [I]
wrote you. I wrote to you that moving to Arch [angel] lips [orisho] for a pray is impossible.
On the petition would have responded but earlier 4 month [s]. I would have had to get out
of such a way of being dragged to the destination, t [a] to [a], the matter is not over and
the sentence should be expected for me at the beginning of autumn. Finally, I want to
finish the work, whatever it is, or else my whole life disappears. Unfortunately, now T. T.
can no longer talk about its publication. The mood is very bad. Write, it will be, it will be, it
will be (Sol-Vychogodsk) and to no one else. Does anyone of your comrades have the
book Ivashokov, The Fall of Serfdom, and the magazine [a] Ustoi, 1882, book number 2,
70-71.
I will not write until I get a response from you.
NML archive, f. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time
units xp 35646,
Autograph.

3. MG G. Gopfenhauz Solvychegodsk, May 5 1896

Marusya! Until now, we can not arrange the correct correspondence. I have not received
a single letter from you for a very long time, although I have sent you several of my letters.
Write to me. Happiness for people: for ill health (the onset of tuberculosis), one of the
comrades' mops, Alexander] G. Shlnkhtor received permission to go for treatment for
kumys in Samara]. I wish I had such happiness ...
Ashley is also a Nerevedep [to] others; I, as relaxed at the Siloam Font, stay with Iossos.
You will not find it possible to send me, but not for me, 10-15 p. in the 20th of this month I
am.

1 Wolves A, Nsevdoshsh Plekhanova G. V. - Ed.

2 There is a n work by N. E. Fedoseyev about the economic paths of development of
Russia and the reasons for the fall of serfdom. - Red
 On the back of the letter in ink it is written: "Viewed on May 18, 1896, '(signature)". - Red

4. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Solvychegodsk July 4, 1896

My dear! I was terribly struck by your last letter. You got the wrong information. I really
have a close friendship with AB. And, as far as I know, she, assuming to go to Vladimir] to
help the Ministry, in what would be possible, said that she would be called a bride to give
a date. In general, I now have such a position, and in the future such a perspective that is
inappropriate to the “dreams of personal happiness,” that it really doesn’t occur to me to
think about something like a “bride”. It is better to touch it entirely, since in the fall
everything and everyone in the area of personal plans will certainly be untenable. Thank
you for the articles of Ivanukov; However, they will help me very little, because, firstly, not
all were sent, and secondly, the presentation in the book is much more complete.

M. Kovalevsky is here. Gold also. I would very much like to read “Compendium for the
Study of the Economic] State of Russia” *. If it is possible, they came for the shortest time.
(I sent my literary] note about the “cloudy day” Korolenko (in Russian Boh'atstvo) to
Petrusia I for placement in a local newspaper a month ago, but they refused to print it. I
sent it to Kazan; the results are unknown.

And I would love to print. Schlichters, as I wrote to you, were transferred to Samarsk [th]
lips [Ersho] for the treatment of koumiss; Alexander] G. tuberculosis. My and my
comrades financial situation is very bad. For 6 but enough per month 24 p. I do not
receive money from anywhere except 6 p. benefits. But you in no case, do not send me
out of their benefits.
I wrote you the last letter right; obviously, it | but it came to you.

Good-bye, my dear, leave empty doubts and suspicions with anxieties ... And so hard,
why bother torturing yourself.

Nota al pie
Schlicht er G. G. (1808–1940) - one of the oldest activists of the CPSU, the party chloplop since
1801. In 1893, arearetopap in Kiev and in 1895, exiled for 5 years to Solvychegodsk, where,
together with N. Ye. Fedoseev and others organized the Social Democratic circle. - Ed.
 This refers to the collection “Materials to the characteristics of our economic development” with
the articles by K. Tulin (V. I. Lenin) and L. Potresov. G. Plekhanov, P. Skvortsova and others, was
issued in early May 1895. The collection was detained by censorship and then destroyed by a
decree of the Commanding Committee of Ministers; some part of him, however, was saved and
received widespread among Marxists. - Ed.
 P.P. Maslov. - Ed.

5. MG Gopfeigauz Solvychegodsk, July 13, 1896

My dear! With the last mail, I sent a petition to the ministry] internal] d [about] the transfer
to Arkhangelsk. But it seems that I will not have to see you in the European Union;
Apparently, reliable rumors reached that the decision was made either in the sense of a
“cross” for 3 years, or Eastern [Siberia] of Siberia in the same period. I look forward to
announcements the other day. See you there. Maybe I will have time to middle up some
of the work if I have time, I will send it to you, otherwise you will have to put it on the back
burner and, perhaps, completely quit. The collection is very interesting; here he was very
annoyed by some and pleased others. Ravens received: Major General. Your brother was
expelled from M [oskvt] until July (it seems) in Vologda. You will need money to pay off
the local debts and the road (I will go to the stage). If you correspond with P. V - m, then is
it possible to arrange with money through it.
I will start working again. Goodbye.
Your P.
6. MG Gopfengauz Solvychegodsk August 8, 1896

My dear! Regarding the decision there were no more rumors. I could not ask for any leave
of the [nd] city of the Arkhangelsk] lips [ruff] because I would not find motives. Whereas
Arch [aigel] sk - provincial mountains [od] and there you are - that is the motive that I set I!
petition, and secondly, the opportunity to find earnings. From Vologda cities and from
other places of exile and conclusion, revolting rumors about a mass filing of petitions (with
repentance] and without oiogo) about the use of the “graces of the manifesto” come. This
is one of the most characteristic trash features. Will you send that part of the assembly
where the Volta article is about Struve? Did you arrange to send me the news from Peter?
Goodbye, my dear. I received a “compilation” sent from the previous mail - I will send the
third part soon.

7. MG Gopfengauz Solshlchegodsk August 21 1896 g

Dear, my dear! So far, from M [shististerstv] a pet answer.

Did you get a book reminder from the library? I do not know how to put this matter in
order: I would have had to send all the books immediately (i.e., Skrebitsky’s two books:
materials), and they will
need to end work. If I send them now, I’ll have to quit my job. If you need to send, to send.
And in any case, I will send it off when the “decision” comes, although then all these
books will be needed for me, From prison I did not pay anything to the library. You wrote
to me that you leave the library] a book, I waited for my company to be given me, but I did
not receive it, but suddenly I was taken away with a yot. Before leaving, I asked t
[heartbroken] popik to tell the manager that I would return the books after work. Do not
send, Marusya, money - I will do it in the near future. Your comrade did not come here
and didn’t warn me about the passage: in this case, I could have flown into it at Dvinskaya
pier. Gurvich we have a pet; what it is? I send the collection (from Art. III) with this mail.
According to rumors: in the Lower and Samara arrests; among other things, arrested were
Skvortsov, Mikhail Grigoriev, Rozanov ^ Romapov, Malyshev Alexander.

Goodbye, my dear Maroussia.

Your nickname.
1 "News" - I am a bourgeois-liberal newspaper. Petersburg P87Y-1906). - Rod.

Will you send your photo even now? Please send me my cards for three days. Goodbye,
honey.
At the mole of the awn a beautiful dog - setter "Chick." If there was time, I would hang
around with a gun. So pulls in the meadows and forests.

8. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Solvychegodsk October 27th 1896

My dear! Yesterday, on the last day of my old link, I received only two lines from you.
Today begins a new link, the sentence has been announced so far, it’s already known that
five years have been appointed by East [Siberia]. I forgot the last address (first name and
patronymic). Write it to me (it seems, Mar, Aidr.). Write to Vologda. I will probably have to
wait for spring in Moscow or in Yekaterinburg] (and maybe in Tyumen — now they are
arranging such things). Goodbye my dear! I left the books from the library here at the
political exile Ekaterina Mikhailovna Alexandrova, if they need them, write to her • - she
will send to Vladimir. Otherwise, I will use them even if they let me work. Goodbye dear!
Will you try to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [utreppph] of Affairs about transferring
you to where I will be appointed. They say they will have to go to Irkutsk almost until
September of next year.
Goodbye write! Did not have time to do anything ...
Your E.

9. MG G. Gopfenhauz, December 43, Fominsky stage, 1896

My dear, I wrote four letters (in Ustyug, on A [in] Ksentievsk, Monastyrikhe and in Tot'mo
from 5 r.) I received. You spoiled me with letters so much that I expected to receive here.
Today I learned a very sad news. From Kadnikov to Vologda, the route was changed, so I
have to spend 10 days in Kadnikov! In Vologda, they will take the railway [th] (railway
station at 16 in [Moscow district] from Kadnikov). From Vologda will be sent to Yaroslavl in
the new year. If they succeed, send me books to Kadnikov. I have no notes with me. I
sent you a letter from Moyastiri. Goodbye my dear!
Your Peak ...
Archive PML, f. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time
units xp 35650.
Autograph.

10. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Totyga, stage 1896, December 17

15 Totma added a mentally ill prisoner to me. The bottom of the op is pretty calm, but it
also moans, howls, screams. Tonight he threw himself headfirst down from the stove and
hurt himself. He calls me imperial] majesty, now fearful lord, then brother Konstantin.
Sleep almost completely but you have to. The stages are incredibly dirty, with countless
cockroaches. Fortunately, only three days remain before Kadnikov. And in Kadnikov, as I
wrote to you, they will hold for 10 days. I have the first volume of Vodovozov and Savin
translations. I would like to read the one where the articles on the liberation of the cr [isya]
n in the West [oops] Europe (or the serfs) peasants in the Western [hellish] Hebrew [ope]).
I still don’t know if you had any suspicions about Pav. Dmitr Before your arrest, I wrote
you to send me a mirror and walk past that house where I lived in 1893. I received a
mirror, when you were already in prison. YY D. said that on the first day of your arrest you
wanted to bring a note. Is it true? Did you pass by the house? Whether sending a mirror
was familiar to me that my suspicions are unfounded (I wrote to you about these
suspicions in my last letter). Write me about this as soon as possible and in more detail.
After Totmt I send inquire about letters to all stations and everything is in vain. Write, my
dear, dear Marusya.
Your I.
Archive IML, f. 350, op. one,
hell. xp 35540.
Autograph

11. Gopfengauz, Kadnikov, stage 29 December [abri] 1896

I single my! What does this mean - within ten days here in Kadnikov, I have not received a
single letter from you. In a letter of money and a simple letter received before my arrival,
you write that you did not receive a single letter of mine from the road. Between that, I
sent you 3 or 4 custom letters [s] starting from December 7th, and on December 13th and
17th [april] notified you that I would have to sit in Kadnikov until 10 days. Oh, how hard it
is, and know the reasons for the sudden silence! It seems that you are sick or have not
received my letters. I wanted to telegraph, but I know how. From Moscow, I will write
directly to you (give a detailed address). I am sending you a box and songs of Vologda] cr
[is] n! I need more jewelry box, and you send it to me, but send it to me. I felt relatively
good all the time on the road, and by the end, my general condition had become very bad.
It's horrible! Calculate the days when the letters should have reached
you, when you had to answer, you are waiting - and day after day everything is not and no
... Goodbye! I wrote to you, it seems that I do not have books, and most importantly, no
trousers (only rags remained), linen and galoshes (felt boots were holed). Before I leave,
I'm wiring you. In Vologda, they will hold for less than a day, in Yaroslavl, it seems, one
day! consequently, they will bring to Moscow on 4 or 5 January. Write to me, my dear,
though not often, but correctly - for God's sake, right! Goodbye!
Your nickname...
NML archive, f. 156, op.
sd. xp 35641.
Autograph.

12. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Totyga, stage 1896, December

You cannot imagine, my dear, my joy, when I unexpectedly received your letter here at a
deaf, terribly dirty Avksentyev stage. The boy, the son of etashtsik, brought a letter to the
guards and asked them to break the envelope and read to whom it was written. I
accidentally entered and read the address. The postal clerk gave the letter to some
passing coachman to deliver it to the stage. By happy coincidence, it is not lost. I myself
did not anticipate that traveling through the stages would be easy for me; but so far I feel
healthy and the road is not only not tired, but, on the contrary, is of much interest. On
December 10th I will come to Totma, on December 12th I will come out of it and after 12
days (that is, on December 24th [April]) I will come to Vologda. Money for the road I had
20 p. 10 p. I spent on some roads [s] at * nadl [ezhnpsti], and 10 p. took with him - on the
road enough. I didn’t take the books with me, as I don’t have to read at the stages I have
no trousers - it would be nice if I could send it to Vologda. In Moscow, it will be necessary
to prepare linen and sew a summer or autumn coat. In Solvychevo

I was sent home about three days before being sent home arrest, and the day before I
was put in the police office; there I wrote a short note for the “Samara] Vestn [ika]” *. From
his work sent Petrusya for the newspaper one small essay. The work is useful in Yakutka,
and they will send it to me there if it is impossible to write in Moscow. I had a rather good
relationship with most Sol comrades; but there were no close friends. In an indifferent,
mixed heap of exiled politicians, the Poles nationalists were especially sympathetic to me
(they are tactful and interesting). I sent you the last few letters to an unknown address (to
Kersh); I do not know if they are all received by you; Gurvich sent a long time to the same
address. I have a box, maybe I will send it to you from Vologda. Goodbye, my dear, my
dear! Tomorrow on a further journey.
Your nickname.
In Ustyug, just before sending, I received your letter and parcel.
NML archive, f. 156, op. one,
eo. xp 35638.

13. MG G. Gopfenhauz Solyzychegodsk November 12, 1896

I do not need it, since everything you need is available. Write to me when I telegraph
about leaving here, to the Totma prison, and then to the Vologda prison. Work is not
finished; wrote one tiny essay. Will it be necessary to send library books to Vladimir, you
will write to me, and I will dispose of the atom accordingly. If they are to be returned in a
year, then later: it will be impossible to take it again. Rumors about surprising scandals
between politicians in the Arkapgelsk province.

They wrote here that it was as if two mistresses in Arkhangelsk had quarreled and filed
one for another lawsuit to the justice of the peace and 1 p. 15 k. My God, what is it done?
After all, it is a shame and an absolute inability to live. Write me a detailed, who for what
reasons participated in this case. I do not know when they will send me out of here, but
now, probably, soon. It would be madness on my part to travel to my account in Siberia.
This requires a huge amount of money for which I have no rights: I have it. I will never
agree to that. Please stop all efforts in this direction. Goodbye1

14. MG G. Goifengauz
Solosh.chkz fit SHO g ,!
My dear! Collections came out with the next post (except for the latter). Nothing is known
about my fate yet. Two mediums passed when one could expect an announcement and
dispatch, and there is nothing. Maybe * another permission will come for you to go to Arch
[apgel] ck. But complain about me, for God's sake, for rare and short letters! By seit, dear!
You will send the part of the collection where Voltov's article is about Struve.
Goodbye my dear!
Your u

last from G., then I wrote C. Thank you for the package. It would be interesting to know
the 2nd article, but now it's too late, do not send. In the last letter you write only about the
lessons. I do not know, asan you write. From Kiev, dopet but received, did not receive,
and TulinRadi god, report as soon as possible and the exact address.
NML archive, f. 156, op. 1 Published for the first time
units xp 35644.
Autograph.
15. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Solvychegodsk 1896
 

letters; By the way, I don’t have the right to expect more frequent letters from you than I
send you ...
Tulin did not receive; they say from the best article in the entire collection. Neither the
decision, nor the answer to the request to transfer to Arch [angel] sk still does not exist
and nothing is heard about them.
Here, one of the political exiles, Dr. Novikov, my enemy and the bane of the last two years
of exile, received, on the basis of the All-Yanmarine Manifesto, the right to choose any city
in Russia] impsr [ni], except for the imperial and metropolitan, to serve the exile (about 1 >
/ g). This Lord presents the case in such a way as if the application was made without any
request from him. Meanwhile, the "Commission for the reception of petitions, to the
Highest] and [me] brought, ”in a copy he was notified that his petition to the B [the highest]
and [me] had been received; this, according to him, was not he who filed, but one of his
friends without his knowledge ...

Nota al pie
This refers to the article by K. Tulin (V.I. Lenin) “The economic content of populism and its
criticism and the book by Mr. Strune (Reflection of Marxism in bourgeois literature). Regarding
the book by P. Struve: “Critical notes on the issue of the economic development of Russia”, “Sub.
1894. - Ed.
  Probably September (49 days before the end of the term, which ended in November). - Ed.

There are strange positions and dark! ' “Though believe, at least believe, and not at least -
as much as at least,” say the Soltsy. In our province, one or two mothers, one aunt, one
friend and three personally wrote petitions on behalf of political [their] exile [s]. Very quirky
people. One worker (Afanasyev) wrote to the Minister] Internal] D [a] request to ask the
Emperor] to apply the manifesto] for transfer to such an area (from Ustysolsk) where you
can find earnings. M. Ell Totelbaum from Ustysissolska asked for justice on the basis of a
manifesto], since, according to her impartial conclusion, the punishment (3 years of exile)
does not correspond to the crime committed]. And a process engineer from Shuya Kulev,
also from Ustissol'sk, directly repented of his errors, brought guilt and was waiting for
mercy. Luckily, you and I have no amorous relatives and, especially you, have a hint of a
crime committed, i.e. there is nothing to match the punishment to.
There is absolutely nothing interesting about newspapers; but there are plenty of
curiosities, both from the field of domestic and foreign life, especially the latter.
B. Fig [ee] p was sent to Sakhalin in 1895, and Orzhik died long ago. Are there any
details. I will send you all the interesting numbers of "News". Goodbye, my dear, dear ...
It only remains for me 49 days of links. At least one month of freedom granted to all other
inhabitants.
Goodbye. Send the letters carefully sealed, and if you send the books, then send the
registered parcel post *.
NML archive, f. 156, op. one,
The letter is inscribed by the hand of M. G. Gopfengauz: “This letter excites the falling energy. Is
my doubt really a bubble? Oh, how much blood is spoiled by the gift! ” - Ed.

16. MG G. Gopfenhauz Solvychegodsk, 1896

My dear, I sent you the last letter two days ago.

Immediately inform me of the receipt of both that and the present little note. I received a
refusal from M. TGulin] not received.
Goodbye].
NML archive, f. 156, op. one,
units xp 35635.
Autograph.

17. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Moscow shipping 10.1. 1897

My dear, two weeks have passed in the Moscow commune of the Clock Tower, and there
are still no letters from you through the prosecutor. On departure from V., they told me
that I had letters; they would be sent [through] the prosecutor of the Moscow] judicial
chamber; they still gave me but. Obviously, the prosecutor thinks not to miss. The
partnership is still small - about twenty people. With the exception of four Muscovites and
me, all the other Poles. The vast majority of them are Lodzipski workers. All in B [eastern]
S [ibir], even those sentenced to three years. But I know how to make money with pam, I
need at least 250 rubles, I wrote to Petrusya 1. I do not know if I can get it. I should have
bought an autumn coat, overshoes, boots, paper, etc. Yes, the Petersburg party (more
than 20 pcs) was taken directly to Siberia along the rail road. There is a rumor that we will
be sent in the same order in February. Address letters to the prosecutor] eudebpa pal
[ata] for transmission to the political] administrative] transfer papers, and parcels to prison.
Theophil Petrogayak (5 l [e] V [ostnual] S [ibiri]) “The government (for 3 g [ode] of the
Eastern] S [ibiri]) send greetings to Rosol (Piiega) and Matsnovsky. They asked to inform
them that they were sitting in the Moscow] transfer prison; FalskiGg and Shiite on
Povyaka await sentencing. Fedor Lyubinsky died. Anton Volpyan-kevich (V [ostoya] S
[nbir] for 5 lots) and Falvkenborg (Arkhangelsk] or Vologda] Guber) - spies. Spy BELSKY
(bricklayer) - 3 years of Tiflis; Ivanitsky and Rupkevich - to the Irkutsk] lips. for 5 [years]:
Ivanitsky - in Kiropsk, and Rupkevich - in Balagansky district (in Malyshev); Kulchitsky -
14 g g [ode] of the cross and 5-l [e] Eastern] C [ibi | ri]; Rodzevich Ludwig - 1 g [od] of the
cross and 3 g [ode] of Russia, Savitsky Ignaty and Adolf Kelza - 3 years Riga.
Strozhevsky sends greetings to Bike and others [ugm] familiar. It is a pity that I have
dates. Goodbye, my dear, my dear Maroussia.

18. MG G. Gopfenhauz, Moscow] transfer] prison, 1897

Well, my dear, all you have to do is be a guardian angel of unrecognized genius! I even
felt terribly at your excessively unfair appreciation of my short sketch of the essay, printed
by a provincial newspaper in the editorial, which came out from under a red pencil. The
most correct thing is that this essay will remain completely unnoticed - even bibliographic
rats ignore it. I have not written to you for a long time. Your letters seem to have received
everything. Parcel with pants [s] also received. In one letter (small, it seems in where the
models were) I could not make out a few lines, unfortunately, crossed out by you (I asked
and once again ask you to leave in letters everything is as it is written). Newspaper news
do not report - not at all interesting. It is terribly annoying that I still do not have dates. I
asked the censor to send you my photographic card and a small letter; you will receive
them, ve] yuatno, not soon. I received money (200 rubles). But to sew for this money coat
and linen will not succeed. You'll probably have to get stuck here before navigating. You
can send me some linen from me in the drawer. Which of the songs I recorded (sent from
K [adnikov]) did you like the most? Isn't it true, some lyrical songs are very elegant (Iappr
[imer], “Ah, today's night ...” and “Sorry, girls, sweetheart”), and the historical (epics) are
extremely interesting (“Not at the time shown” , they say, recorded by Garshin). Packing
the package better and send it directly to me. I would very much like to get 3 tons [ohm]
Cap [itala], but so far this is not possible. Write as often as possible, address letters to the
prosecutor], the court has fallen [aty] - goodbye!

I would like very much to get (proof of “historical] reference”) if you can send me at least
your number when you send the box. The frankness of the last letter is very much to my
liking. But you do not be angry with me that I say this. Goodbye, my dear, dear ... Tv
[oops].

--------

From the Editor

The correspondence of N. E. Fedoseyev with L. N. Tolstoy refers to 1897–98. Fedoseyev

met with the Dukhobors in the Alexander Prison and a joint journey to Verkholensk as a
pretext for her — the place where Fedoseyev exiled. The charm of Fedoseyev’s
personality, sincere participation and attention from his crones to their fate favored the
usually closed Doukhobors to him. The friendly relations that started along the way went
on and on. The Dukhobors in detail and frankly wrote to Fedoseyev about their life in
exile. Conversations with the Dukhobors, their letters prompted Fedoseev to appeal to
Leo I. Tolstoy with a request for help for them. In total, Fedoseev sent three letters to
Tolstoy.

The first letter of Fedoseyev is dated December 1897, the second (apparently, the end of
February or March) is preserved, the third is dated May 1, 1898.

On receiving the first letter, Tolstoy wrote down on January 1, 1898 in his diary: "I
received a letter from Fedoseyev from Verkhol'sk about Dukhobors, very touching."
Fedoseev requested that the history of the Dukhobors be set forth in the pages of the
New Word. But he did not know that this magazine was already closed by the
government.

Tolstoy sent a copy of Fedoseev's letter to England to his friend V. G. Chertkov, who lived
there in exile and was going to organize his own publishing house, Free Word. On the
copy, Tolstoy made an inscription: “I am sending you a copy of the letter of the
administrative exile Fedoseyev with very important and interesting details about the
Dukhobors. I answered him. ” The text of this first letter of Tolstoy to Fedoseyev was not
preserved. In his last letter, he was interested in the personality of Fedoseyev himself and
addressed him with a number of questions about his life. But Tolstoy did not receive an
answer, since the letter arrived at Verkholensk, probably a few days after the death of I.
Ye. Fedoseyev.

1. L.N. Tolstoy [Circa December 10, 1897], Verkholevok

Dear Lev Nikolayevich, a few months ago you turned to the editorial office of a St.
Petersburg newspaper with a letter about helping Caucasian Dukhobors, the victims of
persecution in 1895. At the time when the ruined Akhalkalaki Dukhobors, dispersed
throughout the Georgian villages, died from poverty, several dozen they were subjected to
terrible torture in the distsinli-battalion battalions of the Yekateriogradskaya stanitsa,
Terek region.

I decided to tell you some of the details of this last circumstance, as well as about the
further fate of the Dukhobors who refused to use the weapon, assuming that you do not
know what I learned from themselves during their life together on the way.

For refusal of weapons and soldiers' service (April 2, May 6, June 29, 1895), a military
court (from June 16 [18] 95 to May 3 [18] 96) sentenced 41 Dukhobor disciplinary
battalions from Akhalkalaki district (Tiflis province), Elizavetnolskon province and Kars
region. Of these, 11 people were installed in the Ekaterinburgograd battalion on October
20, 1895, 8 people — December 29, 8 people — March 8, 1896, 1 person — April 23, 2
people — 28 June, 4 people — 9 August and 7 people - October 4th. The disciplinary
authorities were instructed to force the Dukhobors to serve. For refusing to exercise, they
were first locked in a punishment cell for 3, 5, 10 or even 15 days in a row. Then, when
this measure did not lead to anything, they resorted to corporal punishment. The battalion
commander, Colonel Maslov, and the company commanders Bogayevsky, Shankin,
Okinchyts, Pokrovsky, and Protopopov, sentenced the Dukhobors to 20-30 beams. They
were beaten with bundles of connected thorns, treating the executioners during the
execution with vodka. In August 1896, Lieutenant Colonel Morgunov, who had made
Maslov’s place, and company commanders Bogayevsky, Volochkov, Protopopov and
Pokrovsky, increased the punishment from 30 to 60 and 80 strikes. Morgunov sec pa
mare ...

Prisoners and personnel officers were ordered to drive Dukhobors into the church with
belts and checkers. When the Dukhobors, who had been driven into the church, refused
to be baptized and kneel, they were immediately bleeding (“they were drenched in blood”)
and were beaten with belts and checkers. Systematic torture forced the Dukhobors to
agree to go to the training and take weapons for receptions. The Dukhobors agreed to
this, saying that they would not use weapons in any way.
About their stubbornness told the emperor; from Petersburg it was ordered to once again
ask each Dukhobor in
Separately: whether he will bear the soldiers' service. Maslov lined up the Dukhobors and
ranks and asked everyone in this form: "Will you serve, will you prick, if the king orders
you, your neighbor?" 7 people said “yes” and were left to serve the sentence in the
disciplinary battalion, and the remaining 34 people a month later, on November 25 [18]
96, were sent to the Yakutsk region.

One more detail. The senior doctor (at the disciplinary battalion) Preobrazhensky who
came to him sick Dukhobors forced to eat meat, "spat in the eyes and outraged in every
way" and drove away without help. The Doukhobors, beaten with rods, when they could
not walk or sit, this doctor did not take to the hospital. Dukhobor Mikhail Shcherbinin "died
on his feet." Transfiguration refused to take him to the hospital.

The split in the community, the gap with the next of kin due to disagreements over the
oath and the weapon, I ruined the loved ones and their plight in exile-1, could not leave
heavy traces in the soul you | sent

For many of them, moreover, but the beatings inflicted during the prayer on the steeper
and in the next days, and the cruel tortures in the battalions, passed without a trace. All of
them: I am depressed, heartbroken, and passive towards the future. ” They did not say
farewell to their relatives, and I, of course, correspondence with them is difficult to the
extreme.

During the landmark journey, the Doukhobors had already lost 4 comrades. Alexander
Grpdchil died in Chelyabinsk, Ivan Kukhtipov I in Krasnoyarsk, Fyodor Samgschdoshga, a
seriously ill patient, was taken to Moscow, Lukyan Novoksheiov died in a Yakut acute
camp. The health of many patients inspires concern. Fyodor Fomenov and Fyodor Malov
have obvious signs of consumption; Philip Popov lost one eye from trachoma. The link to
the Dukhobors was assigned administratively (with the highest approval) to 18 years.

  The message in the Saratov Diary about the vivacity of the exiled Dukhobors is incorrect.
It is not true that they were allowed to be carried to the grave of a comrade who died in
the Krasnoyarsk prison. - [N. F.]

The justification for the use of an unlawful term of administrative expulsion is the period of
valid and reserve military service. But I am the number of 34 exiled Dukhoborov-soldiers,
four served two years, 6 people - in I year; for the same period were sent instead, with
them and elk who served the period of active service spare (krasnobilottsy). According to
the news received by the Dukhobors from home, another 80 “Krasnobiletts” men were
sent to the Yakutsk region after them. Ust-Notor was chosen as a place for the Dukhobor
to settle, 300 versts from Amt and 150 versts above the Okhotsk road, to the northeast
from Yakutsk. I am the locality, but the words of comrades who know the Yakutsk region
are more comfortable for farming than the previously designated Aldan. From Yakutsk to
Ust-Notor, the Dukhobors arrived on the 20th day (September 25). At the cabin, they
settled all together (30 people) in one Tunguska yurt. In the spring they think to start
clearing arable land from under the forest and building houses. For the first time they
bought bread for up to 400 poods (1 p. 50 kopeks) from eunuchs in Ust-May.

They were transferred to the sent to Aldan Olkhovik and Sereda and some Egorov (also
for refusing weapons). Olkhovik and Sereda are full of life and energy, and I am very
happy for the Dukhobors who appointed them to them. ” In material terms, our landlords
will live in misery, at least until they acquire an agricultural holding. The government
allowance will not be enough for one subsistence, but here they need to get tools and
inventory (Olkhovik heard from someone that the treasury will deliver agricultural
implements from the treasury; I don’t know how true this is), but above all with a warm
dress and shoes. Cash aid is imperative. For its time, the treasury issued a benefit for
three months (before January 1) 386 rubles for 30 people (obviously, they deducted their
own money sent to their Dukhobors by their relatives and taken from them in prison).
Consequently, sending money directly to the address of the Dukhobors is useless, since,
accordingly, sending will reduce the government allowance.

  Due to their joint living with vegetarians, Dukhobor and Olkhovik refused to hunt and fish.
- [I. F.]

It would be nice if the Ust-Notor colony sent books, ranging from the alphabet and ending
with general education. Essential medications with a popular clinic are needed for them.

Knowing the history of the last persecutions of the Dukhobors from the stories of
themselves, I was extremely annoyed to read the distorted information about this and the
only censored article in Russian in the Exchange] Vedomosti], besides, Yasinsky provided
them with extremely vulgar comments and ended up with a reactionary and shameless
project. Dukhobor community

It seems to me a very important grandfather, if you put this story on the pages of the “New
Word”. I could send you some materials (about the litigation with Gubanov, which so
affected the pogrom on June 29, and about this defeat), based on the stories of the
Doukhobors themselves.

The names of the Dukhobors who were exiled to the Yakutsk Region: Vasily Sherstobitov,
Grigory Znbarov, Mikhail Arischenkov, Nikolai Rylkov, Nick. You. Ryl'kov Peter Safonov,
Nikolai Shcherbakov, Pyotr Salykin Daniel Dymov- eky, Nikifor Safonov, Grigory Vanin,
Gregory Sukharev, Ivan Malakhov, Cyril Cheveldeev, Dimitri Astaforov Kuzma Pugachev,
Semen Usachev, Alistratov Vaulin Hilarion Shchukin Stepan Ribalkin Fedor Fomshfov],
Pyotr Kpiyakpp, Grigory Verigin, Ivan Chutsiov, Philip Popov, Fyodor Malov, Lukyan
Novokshenov - died in Yakutsk, Nikolai Sukhachev, Fyodor Plotnikov, Alexey Makhortov,
Alexander Gridchin - died in Chelyabinsk, Mikhail Scherbinin - died in battalion, in
Ekaterinogradskaya stanitsa, Ivan Kukht Brokers - died in Krasnoyarsk, Fedor Samore
Dine - in Moscow, in a city hospital. 16 of them - Spassky society, Elizavetpolsky
province., 11 people - Shuragel society and 1 - Zarushatsky society, Kars region. Most of
them are married people. Wives and children stayed at home. Along with them, spare
Ivan Rybin was exiled and left in Aleksandrovsk, Irkutsk Province, before the winter or
spring dispatch to the Lensky Route spare Vasily Pozdnyakov, Peter Svetlischev and
Grigory Boykin.

Address of the Dukhobors: Amginskaya Station, Yakutsk Region and Okrug, to the local
councilor of the 2nd station for transfer to Vasily Fedorovich Sherstobitov living on Usg-
Notora.

Mail goes only to villages [oiya] Amgi. Their letters under the control of the police.

Reprinted by the cat

About ubryuyuappppomu in Mon. 37/38
"Literary Inheritance"
for 1939, iyad-in Academy
Sciences of the USSR.

2. L. I. Tolstoy, May 1, 1898, Verkholensk

Dear Lev Nikolayevich, in a few days I received a letter from UET-Notorets. P. Olkhovik
and Rylkov (Dukhobor) came to Yakutsk on a call from the administration for obtaining
government allowance (LLC) for economic acquisition and for purchasing horses and
tools. All of them are healthy and cheerfully accepted for the construction of houses and
the preparation of arable land. From February 2, 20 of them have been living temporarily
in the Kopsk village of Petropavlovsk, 150 Gerstah from Ust-Notora.

By the summer, they think so firmly established that they decided to call their families.
Letters from home very encourage them: settled on the Tiflis lips. they are told that,
thanks to the help and support from outside, they no longer feel in dire need.

I do not know how they will receive the news of the permission given to their comrades to
move to America or England; this permission, apparently, is not distributed by the
pastoralists; the condition for relocation — not being on call — makes it extremely difficult
and completely superfluous for most Doukhobors.

Among several dozen sectarians who were deported last year to Eastern [early] Siberia
from different provinces of EurGopoi] Russia (by the way, 12–13 “peplatz-gtsikov” from
the Krasloufim district; they were exiled to the Yakutsk region for 5 years), there were
some Yegorov. Probably it was he from Pskov. This Egorov is exiled for refusal of military
service. He was first settled in Aldan, and then you have with Olkhov [ik] and Sereda
transferred to Ust-Notora. Money for him can be sent to the address: Amgiiskaya station,
Yakutsk region, Zemstvo assessor of the 2nd station, for transfer to the Dukhobor Nikolai
Ivanovich Rylyshv (or Peter Olhovik) on Ust-Notor. They received the books sent by me,
they also receive letters, apparently without delay. Alder] expresses it is desirable to have
general education books for reading the Ust'-Notor colony, for exceptionally popular books
and in greater choice. They are allowed to come to Amga to receive correspondence and
go shopping. In mid-May, I will see the second batch of Dukhobors sent to Ust-Notora.
N. Fedoseev, deeply respecting you
My address: Verkholeisk, Irkutsk Province, Nikolay. Evgrafovich Fedoseev.
Reprinted by text
published on Mon. 37 (N
"Literary Heritage">
for 1930, Academy Publishing
Spider USSR

---- ----

Articles and documents

1. A Programme of Action for the Workers (1892)

The manuscript of N. E. Fedoseyev, left by the worker in Orekhovo-Zuevo in 1892

Leído

Notas al pie de esta edición

This manuscript by I. Ye. Fedoseyev, a propaganda letter called the Workers Action Program,
was found in the “share of the Vladimir provincial gendarme administration for the production of
inquiries about the proliferation of criminal propaganda among factory workers in the Nikolskoye
district of the Pokrovsk district and in the village of Zuyevo , Bogorodsk district. On the original, at
the top of the manuscript, there is an inscription: “Extracted and represented by agent chickpeas.
September 5, 1892 Head Vlad. G. Zhand Office Colonel Voronov ". - Red

The text in brackets is crossed out in the manuscript. - Ed.

  The whole of this passage from Marx and Engels’s Manifesto of the Communist Party, which is
not in the preface, but in the conclusion of the manifesto, is quoted by Fedoseyev exactly. We
give this place: “The Communists consider it despicable to hide their views and intentions. They
openly declare that their goals can only be achieved by forcibly overthrowing the entire existing
social order. Let the ruling classes tremble before the Communist Revolution. To the pelekite
proletarians, to lose in addition to their chains. They will gain the whole world. Proletarians of all
countries, unite! ”(Gospolitizdat, 1956, p. 71). - Red,

First published in Quiche Printed by photocopies. YaVlaOimirshaya district archive NML, t. 156,
op. 1 unit xp 3, organization of the RSDLP 1892-1914 vg. ”, pp. 535–539, 10

2. Historical inquiry (Jan 1897)

Reprinted in the text published in the newspaper << Samara Bulletin, January 26 and 17, 1897

Everything passes, everything changes. There were ideas - they turned into words; there
were words — they were replaced by an incoherent, lascivious moaning. Alas! We are no
longer up to ideas! Now, we regret to recall even the glories, even those poorly endowed
with internal content of speeches, which empty wise men filled our ears! ”. In these words
Shchedrin characterized“ signs of the times ”in the late 60s, when the impressions were
still alive naturally, the idealistic idea of the meaning and meaning of the “era of reform”
could still be preserved among contemporaries. Since then, both in the press and in a
certain part of society, the idealization of this era is becoming brighter and stronger,
elnosti and figures. The reasons for this phenomenon, of course, lie in the historical
circumstances of the post-reform life and especially in the context of the last decade.

But what does the idealization of this past constituting the childhood of our society mean?
It seems that it doesn’t mean anything good by itself, it does not contain any solid pledges
of the future. In the field of social activity, she expressed herself in opportunism, in the
field of thought she gave rise to impotence, sugary melancholy, and death.

After all, forty years will soon be fulfilled, just as a post-reform existence began for
Russia. Such a period of time, even in the life of society, is enough for the forces and
abilities with which it entered into a new existence could definitely be formed and actively
expressed. According to the results of the post-reform life, one can judge the nature of the
reformation period; The results of the activity represent the criterion for evaluating the
social forces (общественных сил) that were manifested in this activity.

But idealization is alien to analysis, avoids critical conclusions and generalizations, it can
only exist if there is no criticism. That is why idealization as a social phenomenon is not
only a sign of the times, but also a handwritten receipt in the impotence of the social trend
that can only express its role in the present and future in the sweeping idealization of the
past. This is exactly the case with the social force that replaced the pre-reform ruling
class (господствующего класса) and in the near future will take its social position *. As for
the old “leading class,” (руководящего класса) his role in the further fate of the reforms,
which itself had brought to life, found out all that this social class (общественный класс)
was capable of accomplishing.

Life has evolved; she has put forward new requests, and in the interests of the latter we
must uncover the real meaning of idealizing the past. No matter how idealized this past is,
its real features must certainly be taken as the basis for characterizing the modern
idealization of this past. At the time of ona, when the writer idealized serfdom, he was
called a sub-feudal serf because in the idea of a serf-like nature lay a real fact, no
idealization could pervert the obvious meaning.

  The genius writer was mistaken here too. For a long time, from the very beginning of the
reforms, he recognized that Pyotr Ivanovich Drakpn was hitting, laughing at the “young
liberals” who frivolously celebrated a complete victory over him, Draknai. "Now Drakpn is
everywhere ... As if nothing new had happened." See Chapter XI, Dneppk Provincial, p.
290. Meanwhile, the jubilant cries of bourgeois liberalism gave way to “incoherent,
lascivious stop” according to the pitiful ideas and words that were first uttered loudly by
the liberal forces - Treptygchamp (from the Drakpsky family), to the ideas and words that
carried out Ch'oMstag'm Kochkarpikovyy e1 1iShiapiats (see "Signs of the times" - "New
Iartzie" ... 382 p.). Is this not the degeneration of the complete and hopeless impotence of
the “new old man”? [All notes to this article are made II. E. Fedoseev. - Ed.}

Likewise, we now have the basis and the right to assert that the modern idealization of the
era of reforms covers in itself some kind of roalpy historical meaning.
I.

To characterize the Reform period, and to determine with this characteristic, the modern
idealistic-liberal mood, I will use the great work of Vlad. Korolenko “On a Cloudy Day”
(“Episode from an Unwritten Novel”, “Russsaia] Wealth”, '1896, [kN. 2]

To the reviewer of Russian Thought (1896, April), this “episode” outrages “in the way of
something painful, indefinite and painfully sweet” ...

But you know what is more in this tirade - contradictions or a peo-monotonous claim to
“courage and decision” where there is nothing except impotence and emptiness. “Alas,
the pam is no longer up to the ideas! .. Representatives of the hopeless krasporochy
become in our eyes amiable, even great”, .. Fortunately, the reviewer recollected himself
and did not impose 1 '. Korolenko "great people." “For Mr. Korolenko,” he continues, “such
reputed husbands, perhaps, do not exist in the Russian past, although he loves and
respects certain eras of this past and is sometimes able to talk about such eras with
genuine delight.” “What time is it,” exclaims oi, “and so on. G. It seems to the reviewer that
these are the“ hot passionate words ”of the artist himself, and that of the former serf
liberal enthusiast, now the Zemstvo chief of Semen Afanasyevich Lipopatov ...

I quote this review quote only as an illustration; I leave aside the question of how much
Mr. Korolenko is guilty for these impressions and how right the receptionist was in
general, identifying Mr. Korolenko with his protagonist of the “Episode pz unwritten novel”,
and I will take up exclusively Semyon Afanasyevich Lipovatov and his memories of the
past.

From fragments of impressions and fragmentary memories of Semyon Afanasyevich, we

first of all familiarize ourselves with the public mood of the moment when the reform
system of the 60s was being prepared.

Sem. Afan. he sees himself as a young landowner of N ... The N-Okoy nobility, then the
first Great Patriotic, turned to a well-known address about emancipation; S.A.'s name also
stood under this address. How this dog was, as it were, brilliant, or something! .. Then,
when the Titovs and Sheremetyevoys began to sing an ardent “fight for the interests of
the class” with the governor, the Decembrist, the name of S. Af. again embellished this
protest. Strange, but here there was something brilliant, something vigorous and special,
and Sam. Af he remembers only that his name was on the address, that is, on the first
address that corresponded to the spirit of the times.

And what a time! What enthusiasm, what speech, what ardor, what self-confidence, what
hope. Where is all this, that is, not even these facts, but this particular tone of life, this
fragrance of being. It seemed that some special reflectors and resonators were placed on
the entire face of the Russian land, giving strength to every sound, shining to every
phenomenon. Is it only youth?
No, the old people then also became young, and indeed it was not only on one side, that’s
surprising ... Suddenly Smolensk nobility would become famous. Suddenly the LUKOIL
Agricultural Society opens up new horizons! .. Glitter, hum and some kind of sparkle! But
wasn’t there a shine in this protest by notables, in this struggle with the old Decembrist, in
this clash of the “banner of liberation” with the aristocratic banner? And again his name
becomes the property of the press, and again he is welcomed - only from the other side ...

And there again delights and expectations, then zemstvo, new courts, foodCho ’...

Among the leaders of the 60s, as is often the case in social life, there were only a few
people who fully mastered the subject. As a minority, the future Shchedrin executives and
personalities had a great deal of preparation for an independent quick and correct
judgment of the subject. These people, indeed, were inspirers, and "resonators" stood
near them. Some of the noble masterminds had a striking influence on the masses. One
of these was the Tver leader and deputy Upkovsky. His influence is found, for example
[imer], in this, though insignificant, but extremely characteristic episode. Kaluga deputy
Prince. Obolensky, at a meeting with members of the editorial board, commented on the
following. “We (Kaluga nobles) wanted to make all the peasants proprietors ... And in
order to give them extra land, this does not make a difference for us: it costs us nothing.
Upkovsky arrived and said that this does not make any difference. ” Comrade Unkovsky
but to the committee and also an active activist of the city of Golovachev later wrote:
“During the entire period of the Tver committee's activities, deaf murmur went among the
nobility of Tver, even protests were in the committee, even denunciations existed. We
(i.e., Unkopsky, Mr. Golovachev and some others) were called red and revolutionaries.

 Equality. - Ed.
 Ii. Semenov, “The liberation of the peasants”, t, III, part 1, 96, General presence, p. 240.

But when the project was drafted and became known to the bona fide majority of the
nobility, then even the Moscow gossips began to talk about us, the frontier nobility,
including 300 balls, was almost entirely among the 300 balls. on our side. "

 That they only stand up right. - Ed.

 Dzhanshiev, “From the Epoch of Great Reforms,” ed. 4-0, p. 100, footnotes. 26
 I will not dwell on those sides of the memory of Sam. Afan., Which he conceals himself.
Moreover, in such cases he himself says directly: “the clash of the flag of liberation” with
the aristocratic banner.

Semen Afanasyevich, Mr. Korolenko, belonged, apparently, to that large group of

“representatives” who were inspired by others and reflected their inspiration; the reflected
rays created a public "glitter and sparkle", and the reflected voices - the roar of
enthusiasm.

But is Semyon Afanasyevich the faith even in this secondary and passive role to his
historical type?
In the artist's work Sam. Afan., Recalling the past time, can not find the reasons why he
and many others like him, why there was brilliance, hum.

A thought flashed through his mind: "Is it really just youth?" But the memories do not
confirm this assumption.

Sem. Afan. old people are remembered, then becoming young, and most importantly, the
fact that the enthusiasm covered not just one district, but many. ’The reasons for this
Sem. Afan. can not remember.

It is in this irrelevance or frivolous hobby (Som. Afan. "Hemmed only that his name was on
the address ... corresponding to the spirit of the time") and there lies a deep distinction
between the historical Semen Afanasyevich and his artistic image created by his own
memories.

This can be seen even with a superficial acquaintance with those few inspirers whose
ideas were perceived by Semyon Afanasyevich.

In fact, if landlord leaders could give and gave direct and clear explanations of their
convictions, their protests, demands and expectations, they thereby illuminate for us the
reasons why their ideas served as a revelation for many of Semen Afanasyevich.

The ideas developed by the first, and therefore had a quick and wide distribution, and
therefore aroused such enthusiasm that they themselves Sem. Afan-whose same
thoughts wandered in their heads, their hearts burned with the same passions and hopes;
only their thoughts were poorer and more nude from ideal covers, and their hearts were
harder. And this does not mean, of course, that the practical meaning of the ideas
perceived by Semi Afanasyevich was dark for them.

Therefore, we have to get acquainted with the extent allowed by the framework of a
newspaper article with the logical arguments with which the inspirers themselves
motivated their demands, protests and hopes (“consistent with the spirit of the times”).

II.

"Remember, says Saltykov, the years of liberation and confess that this word has never
been given more than a wide meaning, never the interest excited by him in society, but
grapichil so closely with enthusiasm." It must be remembered that the time we are talking
about bore the characteristic features of blissful ignorance and “initial clarity of the soul.” “I
swear,” said one of the Shchedrin “Kadyks”, “I am not a serf owner; I swear that I was still
in my youth ... I realized how much better it would be, cleaner and more noble, and it
would be more appropriate if the lamps were prepared for me, my boots were cleaned, my
slaves were carried out but slaves, and free people like myself . Did many at that time
realize this? ”*.
How long before had Ogarev come to noisy enthusiasm for his idea of freeing serfs from
forced serfdom by freely hiring at factories and mills. “How I love this people,” wrote a
dream-poet, but ashamed of his nakedness, “as I would like him to honor me for a friend
who wishes him good and does him to him. Maybe, in time, after setting up a factory, I will
clap about the “committee of factories and plants encouragement”. Here are the new
searchlights. Ns know if they will like it, but now I see them through the prism of
enthusiasm. ”

 Dnoipik Provitsiala, p. 82.

 Semeaspiy, “The Peasant Question. II, pp. 302-303.
Although ... a friend of Eolipsky and Gertsev could not have heard of the true nature of
such social relations, which was already found in European life.

This suspicious enthusiasm, moreover, of the “idealist”, had, however, a real basis for the
fact that in that epoch the corvée labor (барщинный труд) represented the greatest evil;
the most terrible purulent ulcers of serfdom (крепостного) nested inside and near him.
Regardless of this, serf labor (крепостной труд) became superflous, disadvantageous
and detrimental, and “civilian relations” (вольнонаемные отношения), making up the
most important problem of the time, were, so to speak, an ideal, for they also discovered
with their own eyes their contradictions. Therefore, the replacement of serfdom
(крепостных) by civilian (вольнонаемными) relations according to the interests of the
ruling class (господствующего класса) could seem and was indeed progressive
manifested; and this, in our eyes, explains Ogarev's enthusiasm, no matter how utopian
his project is. Ogarev is a son of his time and a representative of his of social status
(социального положения).

Having set ourselves the goal of becoming acquainted with the most vivid expressions of
the broad demands, wishes and hopes of the liberal representatives of the landowner
environment, we will not find any suitable examples of this for all that concerned directly
the reform of serfdom. The most ardent of the emancipators, when it came to economic
relations, somehow immediately became narrow, callous egoists. Such as CP. Obolensky
{see the quotation from the above speech, it seems, was not at all, and this, by its own
explanations, did not leave doubts in the real sense of its seemingly pure generosity.

Here it was a matter of the vital practical interests of the landlords, and therefore for them
there seemed to be less room for expressing even purely verbal generosity. G. Somovsky
“regretfully” states the fact that “even in some nice statements by representatives of the
nobility, unpleasant views on the peasant question sometimes slipped.” These
unsympathetic views just concerned the size of the projected plot and duties.

 But there were such examples. G. Kppshpskpy, Astrakhan deputy, although he himself
pripplgya. that pph "land is no good." however, he agreed to cede the exempted peasants
an extra “yes”. Now oops so - this box argued. “And when the peasants are not mine,
maybe this land will be useful for something.” //. Semenov, vol. II, 58, General presence.
 See his article in “Collecting a jurist, general knowledge,” t, 1-
But some, like, for example [imer], a well-known deputy from the Ryazan minority of two
(of whom one was himself) Koshelev, and here they did not miss the chance to draped
beautifully with the demands of "justice." “It hurts me to give a voice against too high land
plots, too low in some localities, and against the excessive privileges provided to the
peasants, to be fair first of all ... Although with a broken heart, I could not allow myself any
hobbies even in favor of long sufferers” .

 Skrebitsky, t. IV, p. 795,

In the name of class justice, Koshelev demanded, according to the calculation of N.

Semenov, segments of the plots that existed among the Ryazan peasants under serfdom,
over 250 thousand dessiatin.

Ulkovsky, insisting on a segment of the so-called “hollow lands” among the peasants,
argued that the Tver committee, “following just principles, had come to the conclusion that
the empty and hollow lands, which were needed only for haymaking, could be provided for
voluntary agreements.

 I. Semenov, vol. II, p. 184. note.

 Skrebitsky, vol. II, pp. 287-288.

Subsequently, justifying the accusation by the editorial commissions] of intent to “deprive

the peasants” of a significant amount of land in the peasant use, “Unkovsky frankly
stated”: “Do not imagine that I dreamed only about making peasants alone the best and
most beneficial for their conditions ... I was not such an altruist, and I did not know any
others like that. Yes, and I could not be him, being a representative of the nobility. "

 See his letter of January 24, 1893 to Mr. Dzhapshiev. “From the era of great reforms,”
approx. 30, at 105–106 pp. Isn't it true, reader, it’s nice to find positive facts in the most
typical modern hymnistasters in the “notes”?

Most of the “good words” were spent in praising future mutual relations between the
liberated peasants, who were largely transformed into free-lance workers, and their former
owners, who turned into benevolent landowners — neighbors and supportive employers.
Segments from existing peasant holdings, limiting these latter extreme measures in the
development of “volunteer labor necessary for Russia” are all in the projects of the nobility
committees and the “reviews” of deputies not presented as simple prosaic measures
providing a landowner pocket, but certainly in the form or demands of higher justice, or
measures that ensure the future greatness of the new Russia and the well-being of the
peasantry.

But the very idea of giving land to the peasants for ransom — is it a true expression of the
ideal motives of the noble landowners?

This can only be given a completely negative answer. This can be seen at least from the
following documentary data.
In the collective letter of the 37 members of the 2nd invitation I (deputies from provincial
committees were so called) we read this kind of statement: “However, considering
voluntary agreements (with the preliminary release of the peasants without zomla) is the
best and right way to establish new relations , we but I can’t confess that the full and
immediate application of this principle could lead landowners to complete ruin in some
localities ... This led us to the consciousness of I the necessity of using, in certain cases,
the 1 buyout system of the well-known parts of landed estates for peasants ”(Semenov,
vol. III, part 1, pp. 480-400). In order to clarify a little these beneficent special conditions
that snatched the “sympathetic” roadblocks of peasants off the land for ransom from the
“unsympathetic” deputies, I will cite a few more quotes from projects of provincial]
committees. Without redemption of estates with land, the transition to free labor but the
expiration of the mandatory period for landlords is impossible. To apply free labor to
farming, two conditions are necessary: capital and labor. If under serfdom landlords but
made up for themselves capital, then with compulsory labor, all the more. To eliminate
such a disastrous situation for the landlords need to buy (Kursk minority).

Upon repurchase, “landowners will replace the collateral with capital” (the Nizhny
Novgorod minority), or at least “will be freed from bank debt by re-. his water over the
peasants ”(the majority of the Kursk Committee). “The capital received for the ransom will
put the landowners and the opportunity to transform their farms” (the Minsk minority) and
“give agriculture the necessary development, replacing compulsory labor with free hiring”
(npzhorodskin, Kharkov, Kiev, Astrakhan, and the members of Vladimir). “The redemption
of the land, or, better to say, forge the obligations that lie on the sing, is the surest and,
perhaps, the only means to free the serfs without violating the material interests of the
landowners” (the Simbirsk minority).

 Skrebitsky, vol. IV, pp. 259-260.

The burden of bank debt, absorbing a large share of landowner income, was the
conditions for the existence of the vast majority of serf landowner estates, especially the
central chernozem belt; in the presence of this condition, one desire “to at least get rid of
bank debt” was very much in favor of landowners' hearts in favor of compulsory and
immediate redemption of peasant plots, albeit “in the necessary amounts”.

 “When it is laid down in the board of trustees, the payment of interest takes more than
half of the gross income from the landowner ... Often, the rooms were bought with the
smallest amount added to transferring the buyer's debt to the buyer” (from the article of
Chernyshevsky (Is it difficult for the land? ", 1859, Vol. I, XXIII, Dep. 2, p. 20). According
to the Nizhny Novgorod deputy Streyoukhov, the owners of the pledged estates paid
credit institutions from one-third to one-second income (J. Semenov, Vol. II, 53 General
presence.). "Many Mogilev landowners" have amassed considerable debts due Above the
estimated redemption amount ”, in view of this, in their project they expressed the wish
that part of the redemption bonds would be retained in favor of the landlord even if the
debts exceeded the redemption loan” (Skrebitsky, t IV, p. 442).
So, in the area of direct economic relations there was no place for frivolous hobbies, or for
pointless enthusiasm. Here, in all projects, on all requirements there is a clear seal of
narrow and ruthless class interests (безжалостных классовых интересов), no matter
how hard they try to disguise them in perfect justice (идеальную справедливость).

The destruction of serf relations (Уничтожение крепостных отношений), that is, the
peasant reform in the proper sense (крестьянская реформа в собственном смысле),
made it imperative a whole system of reforms in all public institutions . Reforms of local
government, judicial institutions, censorship - these are the main more or less immediate
consequences of the same great reason for the termination of serfdom. It is in this area of
reform that the demands and protests of representatives of the local nobility really differed
by brilliance and broad aspirations, even including the great principle of egalité in new
Russia.

The owners of the serfs declared the energetic demands of a public jury trial, the
responsibility of all individuals before the court, the organization of a new electoral all-
estate self-government (всесословного самоуправления), "some freedom of the press"
(or "freedom of the press within reasonable limits"), etc.

Here, at this point, the enthusiasm of a certain part of the nobility turned into the
enthusiasm of the whole society.

The question is, in what mutual relation were these broad demands of the landowners
with their practical class interests? Did the common “spirit of the times” that gave Russian
landowners then, against the will and common sense, of the Russian landowners, or did
they condemn them, who, motivated by their own interests, put forward demands, as it
seemed then, that corresponded to common desires?

Letting go on this question, one must drop the highly interesting criticism of the pre-reform
justice and administration, the criticism that served as the starting point of the reform
requirements of the nobility, and stop only on the motivation of the latter.

  Remember the words of Unkopsky quoted above: “I was not an altruist, and there were
other such words. Yes, but he could be him, being a representative of the nobility. "

* Those interested in this criticism can get acquainted with the sing from materials in the
1st m. Skrobitsky. See especially Mponio Unkovsky, pp. 780-792, and a statement of the
general opinion of the deputies of the 1st Parliament, ibid., Pp. 768-769. Rostovtsev, in a
letter to the emperor, summing up this criticism, very poorly conveys the words and
expressions: “In all the opinions of the deputies, only the insanity is one idea, the psomsle
is shared; This is the unfortunate device of the current local government of the courts and
the actions of them are arbitrary, mischievous and hidden, in general.
Everyone is convinced that with such a court order and police order, the well-being of both
local property and peasants can be arranged securely and firmly. ” (II. Semenov, Vol. P
”p. 931.)
"With the existence of serfdom, the present administration, close in character to the
patrimonial serf relations, could still be tolerated." More: it was necessary. “Hitherto, the
economic part, the administration, and the court were concentrated in the village of each
landowner; he (the landowner) found in the solution of all the questions that arose, so to
speak, at his side. ” “There was an examination of the complaints of the peasants; no
landlord clashes with officials inside the estate were possible; he, so to speak, disposed of
himself at home, now it will be different ... "

“New attitudes of landowners to peasants, new rights and interests of landowners ...
indicate the necessary transformation of civil courts with the introduction of public and
verbal justice in them; possible publicity and speed of decisions, destroying clerical
secrets, will bring the greatest moral and material benefit to society. " “In presenting my
consideration,” explained Kardo-Sysoov, “I expressed only a practically correct view of the
main beginnings with a strong conviction that for general calm to the state it is necessary
that the reform of serfdom (ys) should go along with the reformed institutions of judicial,
administrative and the policeman. "

Kharkiv deputies, demanding changes in the pre-reform administrative and judicial

structure in the types of elimination of abuse and arbitrariness, added: “A prudent
expanded print publicity will completely eliminate any possibility of arbitrariness and laron-
shonnn of legal duties ... . The Yaroslavl deputies expressed the conviction that “only with
the introduction of the transformations they require, all property and personal rights can
be completely protected”.

 In Pkoa, Skrebitsky, Vol. I, p. 785.

 Nizhny Novgorod deputy Stremoukha, there jo, p. 865-866.
 Petropo-Solopopo and Nikiforov, Tambov deputies, ibid., Pp. 783-784
 Kardo-Sysov, Tver deputy, p. 801, Pzh1.
6 Skrebitskin, vol. 1, p. 802.
0 Ibid. “When organizing society,” Shchedrin wrote, “according to the outlined plan, it was
assumed that each cell would retain its tune in the whole ooo in the same way,” Su. Signs
of the Times, p. 418,

“Bel of significant changes in the structure of the court and the police, the peasant reform
can at the very beginning encounter extreme difficulties and lead to a great deal of
disorder. It would be very useful to increase the number of officials, but to appeal mainly
to the electoral beginning. Special attention should be paid to the post of magistrate, to
the county’s massacre and to the local police. ” The Saratov authorities ensured the future
relations of the peasants to the landowners and the peasants among themselves were
made dependent on the structure of a good local administration and the judiciary.

“The transformation of the administrative and judicial part is expected by all classes in the
sense that the force of the law and respect for it are elevated to indisputable execution,
hesitantly bureaucratic in control” (Vladimir Deputy Parchev).
“The nobility, being the main landowner, is more interested than others in good local
government” (Pushkin’s Tula deputy).

"The local nobility, enlightened more than the other classes, one can lead and motivate
the people ... Some noblemen-landowners have a real benefit in maintaining public
peace" (Ryazan deputies Ofrosnmov and CP. Volkonsky).

“As with the destruction of serfdom,” said the deputy of the city council of Bosagovskiy,
“there is no reasonable reason to keep the separation of rural inhabitants, because the
interests of the nobility are intimately connected with the interests of other villagers, it
goes without saying that the economic administrative management should be elected for
all classes and responsible only before the court of society; moreover, approval in posts
should depend solely on the correctness of the election, and not on the arbitrariness of
the administrative authorities. ”

 Skrebitsky, vol. I, p. 803.

 Poltp p.kve deputies, p. 807,
 There, p. 810.
* Tamzhe, p. 804,
3 Tamzhe, p. 768.
3 Tamzhe, pp. 352-353,
 
The hot enthusiast Prince Obolensky fantasized with his inherent naivety: “When the
peasants are freed for ransom with the land, then there will be only private (!) Clashes
between the noblemen and the peasants for hire, contracts, etc., and not class clashes.

The same local interests (among the peasants and landowners) will enable the nobility, as
an educated class, to receive a beneficent influence on all the needs of the region; the
nobility is transformed on a new basis, will receive the respect and love of the people and
will rise to such a degree of moral strength that it will have an impact on all matters ...
Nobles will become enlightened and respected representatives of the people. "

 Poltava deputies, p. 775. Volkov-Moscow added to this: “If the government is local and
centralized through bureaucracy and enforced by officials who benefit from disagreements
and complaints, then, of course, the life of peasants alien will improve Hitherto all the
claims of various bosses and the intricacies of legal proceedings "; ibid., p. 762.
 Ibid., P. 817-818. Whereas Yurevich, the Minsk deputy, a man who is obviously positive,
reasoned like this: “Landowners, representing the highest class and the most educated
class, are briefly familiar with the conditions of rural life, and therefore can be more
successful than people of other classes in the developing rural areas. Society concepts of
citizenship and the holiness of the law. In addition, the question of the material well-being
of the landowners is closely and inextricably linked with the supposed change in the
relations between landowners and peasants. Therefore, the person or institution that will
be responsible for resolving disputes and misunderstandings between landowners and
peasants would be more fair to give the choice of nobles. ” Ibid., P. 810.
Koshelev categorically argued, without any objectivity, that “the nobility, as the class most
educated and as the main landowner, must for the good of the whole region retain a
predominant voice in management. In order for landowners to be full members of the rural
population, they must be in a free close relationship with the farmers. This can be realized
only under the conditions of equality of those and others, the commonality of their
interests and the unity of jurisdiction. If the landowners as such do not receive the
present, participate in local government .. if they do not have power and significance in
their local area, but, on the contrary, will be under the arbitrary order of the camp officers,
police officers and governors, the landowners will give their land for rent : the disease of
absenteeism will develop on a massive scale; the capitals, foreign lands, especially the
public service will be filled with these drones, and the internal life of Russia will become
even worse and wither ... What about the nobility? Are real landowners, enlightened,
strong, independent members of the rural population, or citizens, swindlers, tourists and,
finally, subjects to recruit officials? 1 I add my weak voice to the general hot, though
formal requests from Russians for bestowing the benefits of local government on limiting
the arbitrariness of officials and on delivering nm through the opportunity to live peacefully
and safely in the villages, freely develop my strengths and affinities and bless the great
transformation , rushing Russia to a new way of being. "

  Shchedrin's grandmother Tatyana Yuryevna was more sensitive to regapping this

question. In the late 1860s, Shchedrin wrote: “I am firmly convinced that in the end, the
theory of advanced fertilization will triumph and then immediately cease to perplexed
itself. One large embrace will be formed, which will include the sowers and the people
sown, and by the way will take n bureaucrats. And then there will be great joy; the
bureaucrat will indicate to the sower and say: "All in me!"; the sower will indicate to the
bureaucrat and say: “This is my support!”; sowed for their part will dare and sentence:
“Sons of the gossips” (from the agreement, small matters grow. - Ed.), which in Russian
times means: “Here they are! here are our blessings benefactors 1 ". "Signs of time",
rtr 387. '
 Skrebitskits, Vol. I, p. 780-783,

Unkovyky was “convinced that this participation in the general affairs of local residents
cannot be considered offensive to the nobility 1, and especially if he is given first place in
public meetings and has the preferred right to occupy posts, as suggested by the Tver
committee. As for these privileges of the nobility, they cannot hurt the independence of
the peasants because, by the way, the public interests of all estates for the destruction of
serfdom and the distribution of duties on the land will be the same, and the dependence of
posts on choice and responsibility to an independent court will put every elected person
needs to honestly serve the public interest. "

 Ofrosimov and Prince. Volkonsky explained this in these words: “The true awfully awaits
the nobility when the rest of the inhabitants are alone in separate societies. In this order of
things, the nobles will live between societies in the form of some outcasts ... Their
privileges will be the right to wear a mupdir on solemn occasions, to boast of pedigrees
and occupy the places of the stealing and powerful chpovpikov. Ibid., P. 352, t. II.
 Sprebitsky, vol. I, p. 880-881. The liberation of the peasants without the establishment of
an independent court of responsibility of officials, but the conviction of Wikowski, will be
accompanied by unrest and distemper. But unrest is beneficial to bureaucrats, they justify
their unlimited arbitrariness and postpone any change in their position. If the unrest comes
to horrific proportions, the bureaucrats have nothing to fear: they have no families in the
cities, many of them do not have immovable property. In case of danger, the opp will sit
down on the first steamboat and safely reach, with their acquired wealth, the foreign pier,
p. 795.

We will dwell on this, although for a comprehensive and complete description of the
question one could still cite a number of interesting quotations.

Summarizing all the above requirements of deputies, it is possible to establish the

following order of their logical development.

Under serfdom, all matters (except the most important criminal ones) between the
landowner and the peasants were decided by the landlord at his own discretion. With the
cessation of serfdom between landowners and free peasants, new relations arose, the
legal form of which was to be the “position” on the liberated peasants and new special
laws. Along with this, a mass of new judicial and administrative cases should have arisen.
The provision of new social relations, the resolution of cases arising from their violation,
passed on to the pre-reform judicial and administrative institutions, but the attitude
towards which the nobility expressed complete distrust.

Noble deputies seemed completely impossible to leave in the hands of the old institutions
the solution of new affairs, with which the most essential material interests of their class
were now associated. Therefore, they demanded a “reliable” guarantee of “unswerving”
implementation of those legal provisions that were supposed to give legal authorization to
the new relations between landowners, on the one hand, and the working proletariat
(рабочим пролетариатом) and tenants, on the other. They expressed the conviction that
the most perfect laws would be a bad guarantee if at the same time they did not reform
the local institutions and the court. The most important condition ensuring the legal
protection of noble land property, the efficient receipt of property rights in favor of the
landlord, employment contracts for workers and renting land '1, the deputies considered
the oral, speedy and public jury court, the responsibility of all officials before the court.
The deputies saw a guarantee of preservation of the political rights of the ruling class for
the landowners under new social relations in the local electoral self-government.

  See review Kosheleva, Skrebitsky, vol. I, p. 318.

 Om, the review of Unkovsky and Kyrdo-Sysoyela, Skrebitsky, v. IV, p. IZO.
 Review Ofrosimova and CP. Volkonsky, Skrebitsky, vol. III, p. 573. "In the event of a
malfunction of the peasants in the payment of duties, the collection of arrears in the
current order of management will be more expensive than the arrears." In view of this, the
deputies suggested “arranging local institutions so that the morale of participation and the
peasants themselves would be nominal and would not drown out all moral and human
feelings in them, but, on the contrary, would develop in them sensible notions like it is
clear that the landowner land they own is not the mercy of the authorities, but foreign
capital, from which interest is paid before the return of the capital itself ... "See also the
reviews of Paul and Miklashevsky, ibid., pp. 583-584.
8 See reviews of the Poltava, Kharkiv and Tver deputies. Ibid., P. 1100.

From these basic requirements, the requirement of “possible freedom of the press" or
freedom of the press within reasonable limits "logically flowed, for nair [imer], publicity of
legal proceedings and the responsibility of officials are impossible without the cash of
some press freedom. At the head of the future local government, at the request of the
deputies, the nobility was to take the position, since, firstly, as the largest landowner, it
was most interested in good local government; secondly, it was the most educated class
and more aware of local needs and needs. The superior position of the nobility in the local
government of the GTE was supposed, according to the deputies, to have harmful
consequences for other estates, since with the abolition of serfdom, the interests of all
classes, and especially the interests of landowners and peasants, were merged. The
position of the first among equals, the predominant voice in the elected local government
should, according to expectations, give the nobility political independence and strength to
make them full members of the rural population.

Thus, all the demands of the nobility deputies, they declared regarding changes in public
and judicial institutions, seem to be sufficiently motivated by their own class interests
under new social conditions. To the extent that the old system of government crushed the
whole people, the negative credo nobility merged with the demands of the whole people,
expressing its interests. But the positive program of the deputies contained sharp features
of complete contradiction with the interests of the economically subordinate classes and
the exceptional political domination of the two-rip landowners. The noble representatives,
like almost all the people of that time, were too idealized to fulfill their class requirements.
This circumstance was undoubtedly due to the fact that the true nature of the new social
status of the nobility has not yet been revealed, and the demands arising from the
interests of this class corresponded to some extent to the interests of the whole people.
But even in idealized form, the demands of the noble representatives for a minute did not
stop being bourgeois demands (буржуазными требованиями), with more or less
admixture (примесыо) of landowner privileges (помещичьих привилегий). The principle
of еgalité in the mouths of landowners-dreamers had an incomparably narrower meaning
than that of the bourgeois ideologues.

And in terms of the atom, Upkovsky and Koshelev are a lot of the niche of the bourgeois
liberal. As for freedom of the press and public activity, in the eyes of the deputies, it
seemed to spread among the masses "concepts of citizenship, respect for the law, with
which the nobility sought to protect their extreme class desires."

No matter how fragmentary the facts, on the basis of which the real facets were made,
nevertheless, it seems, they are enough to admit that Semyon Afanasyevich in the work
of Mr. Korolenko does not correspond to his historical type. He cannot recall the sufficient
bases of his activity in the era of reforms, whereas as an ordinary landowner he should be
aware of these bases in a pure form, freed from ideal impurities. Semey Afanasyevich, as
well as Koshelev-Ryazan, recognized, of course, his insistent demands absolutely fair, but
he would not have been able, and would not have found it necessary, like this last one, to
express his reverence for this justice, since understood the contradiction of class justice
with the vital interests of others.

The nobility as a class could give no more than what it had or carried itself. As soon as
the true nature of “civilian relations”, which represented the serf society as unconditionally
progressive, almost ideal, affected the nobility and entered the new social role, all the
flowers of idealization immediately flew off.

“At first, after the promulgation of the Manifesto on February 19,” wrote May 7, 1861,
Prince Vol. N. Cherkassky. Myzinu, - all were in some kind of idyll. I can’t tell you how
disgusting this mood was, which so little agreed with reality; now I began the opposite
mood ... "1

  Dzhanshiev, “From the era of great reforms,” approx. 19 to p. 301.

Began "plucking", perfectly depicted Shchedrin. "Cornets landowners sat down in their
lairs and began to silently scrub feathers." And at a time when the liberal bourgeoisie
lulled themselves with the words “our time is not a time of broad tasks,” the retired cornet
Fatman wrote a project “on the need for decentralization” (see the Provincial Diary, pp.
08-69).

3. Service record (Head of the St. Petersburg Security Department, Colonel

Pyramidov)

Nota al pie
The article was written in Moscow, in the transfer prison of Butyrka, and n handed the pelohallo to
freedom. Published in the “List of Workers” ”No. 5, edited by the group“ Freed Labor ”. - Glad
Reprinted in the text “Literature of the second paslo of money wat nº 7-8, 1933

(“I sing the service for the protection of the tsarist autocracy and the state capitalist
enterprises. Vladimir Pyramids began in Moscow with the rank of captain, it seems under
the Moscow gendarme administration. In 1887 he was transferred to Odessa in the same
chip. Here he soon emerged in the eyes of governments as a clever detective, I am a
skilled investigator. For the political duties of Koberman and Goldopdach ([1889-1891),
Morozov (1892), Tsiperovich, Iakhamkes, and others (1894), he was promoted to
lieutenant colonel and appointed head of Odessa gendarme department {1893). The big
work of the Odessa artel workers (1895) and the working case of Kobgep, Kulchitsky and
others (1896) made him so famous that the government decided that only them, Vladimir
Piramidov, could crush the powerful revolutionary movement among the workers in St.
Petersburg. From January 1897 Pyramid appointed head of the St. Petersburg security
department. He was entrusted with the cause of the struggle for the protection of the
political domination of the owners of the owners, protected by the tsarist autocratic
government. It is therefore entrusted to him the cause of the struggle of the Petersburg
workers. In view of this, we find it useful to acquaint the Petersburg comrades with the
new gendarme and tell them what means he used to fight the Odessa workers.
Pyramids could not, of course, deliver a more or less severe blow to the workers
'movement in Odessa, and our Odessa comrades can proudly say that the workers'
business develops quite widely and firmly with them. Pyramidov, surrounded by bands of
rumors, attacked our Odessa comrades mainly at night. He also attacked them when they
peacefully read books and newspapers “forbidden” by the censorship and when they
discussed at the meetings the vital questions of the working people. Before flying into the
search, Pyramids tracked down through spies, who are familiar with, who are more
educated than others, who are influential and who keep books. In short, Pyramid did
everything that makes any gendarme of the Russian land. The Pyramids did not
recognize anything through their spies, since the workers, with a certain degree of caution
and observation, could easily hide from the spies. Usually Pyramids immediately arrested
a mass of people, imprisoned entire families in the hope that children out of pity for their
father or mother would betray themselves and their comrades. To this end, he arrested
old people (for example, the 64-year-old worker Pismenov, arrested Kornblyum's mother
with four children); he resorted to the arrest of minors as a sure means to track down the
roots and threads (for example, he arrested the 14-year-old girl Dora Steinrauch and kept
her in prison for more than a month; 12-year-old Kornblyum is still in prison). During
interrogations in the presence of a comrade of the Pyramids prosecutor, he first of all tried
to undermine the accused’s faith in the comrades, falsely assuring them that they were
betraying him by blocking themselves. With the same purpose, he started a “secret
conversation” with the prosecutor (so that the interrogated could clearly hear him) that
such and such confessed during interrogations and betrayed his comrades; it happened
that false notes were written to the arrested, allegedly coming from his comrades, with the
help of which they tried to confuse the accused; for example, recently gendarmes
succeeded in deceiving many workers, informing them that one of the comrades allegedly
fled abroad; In their testimony, they poured everything on this comrade, who in reality is
still in prison. If such a technique succeeded, Pyramidon began to slander the comrades
intellectuals at the comrades of the workers that the worker “is rubbish, drunkards,
prophesy even the illegal activities that you give to them, you think for them your soul, and
they sell money for you”; at the same time he brazenly lied, telling that both now and in
previous cases it was worth keeping the worker in prison - and he collapsed in his legs
and begged: "Excuse me, your excellency, I will tell everything." And at the same time, the
workers slandered the intelligentsia that the latter deceive the workers, strive for some
personal, self-serving goals.

To torture the prisoner alone in prison, the Pyramids for five months allowed for fresh air
walks, knocking tight trench flaps, but allowed visits to relatives, did not allow reading his
books (gave only a prayer book and living removed), did not give writing materials,
allowed write no more often, as twice as many times, and no more than a quarter of a
sheet (he did not miss the letter on the half-list as being too long). The prison guard
ordered the selection of tobacco, a table, etc. Complaints about the brutal treatment of the
prison authorities left unanswered; for example, one worker, Kartashov, under Gendarme
Lykovo and four police officers, the assistant prison officer struck the neck. The complaint
did not lead to anything.
If Pyramidon noticed that the accused was a proud man, ardent and not particularly
sensible, then he began to praise the revolutionary movement before him, admired the
skill and experience of the leaders, promised a quick victory and, drawing the interlocutor
in such a way, talked out about his own activities and learned the names comrades.

Those who did not succumb to this stupid bait, he tried to annoy those, accusing him of
cowardice. “You are a coward! Only at liberty and you can speak with your tongue and
incite others, and how you went to prison, they immediately became afraid, from
everything
refuse. Only the words in your language - I do not know, did not drive, did not happen. "
For this, one of those arrested called him a blackmailer, a scoundrel and a bastard.

Pyramidon, in addition, tried to act on those arrested through their parents and wives,
urging them to write to children and husbands about the need for sincere repentance and
for issuing comrades. During interrogations, Pyramids (and his pupil Berg) usually did not
allow competent workers to write down their testimonies and entered into the record
whatever they wanted; Signing the protocol was often given after two or even four weeks
after interrogation. In cases where the arrested person himself wrote the protocol, the
gendarme officer and the prosecutor’s comrade tried to dictate not what the arrested
person said.

Finally, it should be noted still the following reception Pyramid. He sometimes released
prisoners from prison in order to track down his acquaintances and his connections with
others. So, he temporarily released A from Nick A and Konshin from prison, for the same
purpose he detained two workers in Odessa against their wishes and contrary to the
sentence on which they were both subject to expulsion from Odessa and their homeland.

In certain cases, Pyramidon was able to pretend to be a "good-natured"; he was

affectionate and politely offered tea and cigarettes to the arrested (at the same time he
cautiously soothed: "Do not be afraid, I do not mix the dope").

He loved to talk with his tongue. For example, he began a conversation about the fact that
he is also a working man: “You have corns from the ax, and I have from the pen - we are
both working people. I am also busy for 8-10 hours a day. ” One day, talking to a worker in
such a manner, Pnramidov said: "I will find a fifth place in the republic." The worker
expressed doubt about this: “When the pass is in the republic, you will not serve.” “Where
will I be then?” - “You will hang somewhere on the gate,” the worker noted.

But so far the Pyramids, as an experienced trail of L т tel and a clever detective, are
called upon to save the exploiters and their king from the formidable growing power of the
organized pez of the Burburg workers. This man of small stature, with an evil, impudent
physiognomy, with red whiskers, sparse slicked hair on his head; I always have an eye for
him, even when he pretends to be honest, thieves, “iyovytko” (quickly) dart around.
From reliable sources we know that the Pyramid intends to produce mass pogroms,
seizing at once not only those suspected of being revolutionary, but all those familiar with
such people.
In addition, several times, in a more or less concealed form, he offered the arrested to
become his spies (for such proposals, he was repeatedly going to be beaten).

If all these tricks and dirty tricks failed, Pyramidon began to intimidate the accused with
heavy punishments that seemed to await them; threatened with penal servitude,
Shlisselburg, a stone bag, a gallows and rods.

When it was possible to force the accused to confess, Pyramidon was being rude,
shouting impudently, stamping his feet, swearing with square curses, driving out of the
interrogation with a shout: “Go to hell, sit down!”.

Documents

REPORT PROTOCOLS

Nikolskoye small town, Pokrovsky district, 1892, Vladimir province on September 24

Nikolay Fedoseev. By signing this protocol, I want to confess that I really came to
Nikolskoye's place on August 29 along with the same person who was shown to me in
prison and was called Vasily Krivoshey. I came with him to Nikolskoye place, and at the
beginning of our stay here we were in a hotel where we drank tea, and then at about four
o'clock, at Krivoshey's suggestion, we went to his acquaintance, the Precursor, whom he,
Krivosheya, recommended me in the name of Nikolai Vasilyevich, moreover, he said that
we were returning from Moscow, where he had gone to look for work. I stayed with
Predtecheisky until 1 o'clock [at] the next day. Before my arrest in Vladimir, namely a few
hours before him, I met with the teacher Forerunner, and, knowing Krivoshey's arrest, I
asked Predtecheisky, if they ask him about his comrade with whom Krivosheya then had,
then show Signs of a person not suitable for me. He promised me that. That is why I
refused to go on a trip to Nikolskoye and any acquaintance with Krnvoshey. My trip had
no criminal purpose, and I undertook it at the suggestion of Krivoshei. When I went to
Predtecheisky, I asked him for a paper, and, having gone to another room, while the
others drank tea, I wrote a short summary of the Social Democratic program! I wrote this
program in a large hand, with which I did not always have a thorn, but I did it for a secret.
This is a handwriting, and in order to make it more readable, because I knew that my
small handwriting was illegible and difficult to read. I write the last words big, as I wrote
then the program. Where I met Krivosheya, I am here for help. I compiled the Social
Democratic program at the request of a man whom I do not wish to name.

Nikolay Fedoseev,

  See in this collection the “Workers' Action Program” - a propaganda letter to the walnut-
Zuev workers. - Red
Vladimir
1893, I January 28 I

I have the honor to supplement the explanations given before by the testimony given to
me in the proposed questions of the third year. of the year. In 1886 - (1887 academic
year, while studying in the VII class of the gymnasium, I lived in the apartment of Vra-I
Palatine Inspector of the city of Mandelyntamma, and then with the city of Efi-Imov, the
Ufa bread-owner. After going to the VIII class, I left for Vakat 1 to my father, who at that
time was a judicial investigator in the city of Noliisk, Vyatka province. In August 1887, after
returning to Kazan to continue the exercise, I stayed with the company commander,
Polyakovo; I lived until I left the gymnasium, repeating what I explained during
interrogations in 1889, when I was In addition to the investigation of the case, I must note
that the immediate cause of my leaving the gymnasium was the arrangement of the library
from books that I had taken out of use in the gymnasium libraries. The Pedagogical
Council, taking into account my behavior and success in continuing the entire hympasic of
the course, did not exclude me from the gymnasium, but offered my father to take me
from the educational institution on the application. Upon leaving the gymnasium, I began
to prepare for the examination for the certificate of maturity. At that time I lived in
apartments with my gymnasium comrades. In the summer, from May to September, I lived
with my parents in Kotolyshche, Vyatka province.

  On vacations, on holidays. - Red

Before my arrest in 1889, I lived with my school friend, Maksimov, a medical student, and
at the time of his arrest, I lived in the village of Klyuchi, Kazan district, near the midwife,
Ms Kashenskaya. The comrades with whom I lived in my apartment were not brought in
as defendants with me in the case to which I was brought on July 13, 1889, and which
ended for me with two and a half years in prison. At the end of the prison sentence in
January 1892, I came from St. Petersburg, where I was serving my sentence, together
with my friend Yagodkshm came to the provincial city of Vladimir. Having no relatives or
acquaintances here, for a long time we found work to obtain the necessary means of
subsistence. At the end of April, I received a lesson and a seven-county surveyor of the
city of Belloshs, but a proposal from someone I met here at the end of April. Upon arrival
in Vladimir, I lived instead of with Yagodkshshm and another comrade who arrived from
St. Petersburg also after serving a prison sentence; in February - pa Ilinska street, in the
house Latendorf. Comrade Yagodkin, not finding his earnings here, begged for proper
permission to go to his homeland, to the Orenburg Province.

Sania lived with me until May, when he went to the Kostroma province for a medical
examination to serve military service to the place of registry. At the end of May or at the
beginning of June, at the suggestion of the city of Belloshsha, I went along with him to the
village of Shevernikh, in the Vyaznikovsky district, as a tutor and tutor for his children. He
returned to Vladimir in the twenties of August. Living in Vladimir, in the house of
Latendorf, we did not have servants; Some duties were performed by our servant
Latendorf. Who of my friends visited the pass at the end of April, but I wish to name it, so
as not to serve as a cause of their concern. Shortly after our arrival in Vladimir, Maria
Goifeigauz came to us, she lived with us until March; in the air, when my comrade Sashin
got sick, my sister came to him from Kazan, she asked to write to Iamts near IODO.CHI. I
have nothing to say about acquaintance with Mr. V. Krivoshey in addition to what I had
said before, that is, I met Mr. Krivoshei by chance at a mutual acquaintance and met him
in the library. In view of the importance that I learned from Mr. V. Krivoshey during the
explanation to the Prosecutor, I consider it necessary to name the person whom I
accidentally met Krivoshey: this is exactly the person who gave me his lesson at home
Pollonina; this is Nikolai Lvovich, if I am not mistaken, Sergievsky, I met him, looking for
work and found out that he would soon give up his lesson.

Nikolay Fedoseev.!

p-i
Amendment: on the first half of the sheet the date number 7 is not correct, "on"; on the
second page, crossed out "I can further complete" corrected: "found out", "which",
"attached". What is fixed is true.

Ii. Fedoseev.

GYA Moek, region, f. 131,

"Moscow Court of Justice",
op. 49, d. 15.

Reprinted by photocopies, in the Archive of the ML, f. 156, op. one.

His Highness Mr. Prosecutor of the Vladimir District Court

Political prisoner Nikolai Fedoseyev
Explanation

I have the honor to present Your Highness the following explanation regarding my last
testimony, January 28th. Firstly, the testimony about my life, before being involved in the
Kazan political process, is fragmentary and vague and relates to the formal side of the
issue; I could not give more detailed testimony, I did not digest your questions; the
description of my personality, compiled by the Prosecutor of the Kazan Court of Justice
and attached to the case on July 13, 1889, contains more detailed information about my
life; in any case, I prefer this characteristic over my last testimony, given by questions of
Your Highness that I did not understand. Secondly, making a more specific indication of
your demand and insistence on the fact of acquaintance with Mr. V. Krivoshey, I referred
to my previous testimony about this. At present, I find it necessary to explain that I did not
mean when I testified on January 28 to repeat about my acquaintance with Mr. Krivoshei
all that I had shown in previous explanations; but in view of the statement of Your
Highness that you could not read all my testimonies and explanations, and in view of the
fact that the Gendarme Colonel was also not familiar with them in detail, I have the honor
to provide your Highness with more detailed instructions. My acquaintance with Mr.
Krivosheya was accidental, it happened shortly before my trip from Krivosheya to
Orekhovo-Zuyevo (3 or 4 days before this trip); it happened as I showed on January 28;
The interest of getting acquainted with Krivosheya for me was that when I learned that he
had lived in the factory center for a long time, he wanted to get information from him about
the outside of factory life; before the trip I met with Krivosheya twice, or, counting the
moment of acquaintance, three times; after the trip i did see him; I met him at the public
library (before the trip). In conclusion, I find it necessary to repeat once again my
statement that the preliminary investigation did not clarify the most important
circumstances concerning my trip with Krivoshey to Orekhovo-Zuyevo and writing a lot of
manuscripts for Krivoshei there, at his request, and finally, accusing me of “distributing
outrageous leaflets among the workers”: it is based on what and can be justified. I have
the honor to present my explanation to ask your Highness to join the case.

February 2, 1892.
Nikolay Fedoseev.

GIL Mosp. region, f. 131, Reprinted by photocopy,

Moscow Court of Justice ”, kept in the NML Archive,
op. 49, d. 15 f. 156, op. I.

In the Vladimir provincial gendarme department

Political prisoner nobleman Nikolai Evgrafov Fedoseyev
Statement

  At the top of the statement is the inscription by the hand of the gendarme: "Received
November 6, 1892". - Red,

Mr. Colonel, I have to make a substantive addition to my testimony given by me to you in

the presence of the City Prosecutor of the District Court at the Orekhovo-Zuyevo station
on September 25, and would have no way to ask you to attach this addendum to the
investigation file that I am charged with the crime provided for by 252 art. Ulozhepiya] on
punishments].

Until now, I had expected that I would be removed from a more detailed interrogation, as
the city prosecutor announced when I was interrogated from the interrogation in
Orekhovo-Zuev. Three years ago, the city prosecutor categorically rejected my request for
interrogation, inviting me to present my explanation on my own, without offering any
accusatory questions. This categorical refusal of the city by the Prosecutor explained that
my participation in distributing outrageous sheets among the workers was fully clarified by
the investigation. I had the honor to immediately protest against this conclusion of the
Prosecutor about my guilt in the present case, citing in my statement to the Prosecutor the
evidence of my innocence of what the Prosecutor so categorically accuses me of. The
form of my statement to Mr. Prosecutor was probably the reason why this statement was
generally related to the case, at least this was announced to me. This gives me a reason
to state my testimony in their whole and detailed form in order to ascertain my actual role
in the present case. All my participation in the case to which I am attracted on charges of
distributing outrageous sheets among the workers is limited to my trip from Mr. V.
Krivoshey to the factory town of Orekhovo-Zuepo and in writing the manuscript attached
to the case as material evidence. Before setting out my testimony regarding this, I would
have the honor to ask you to listen to my explanations regarding my negative testimony
about meeting Krivoshey and going with him to the factory. At first I did not think to give
up all this, and during your visit, Mr. Colonel, visiting me in prison on September 14 to ask
you why I traveled from Krivoshey to Orekhovo, I replied: "See the factory and get to know
the workers." But, after it was announced to me that I was accused under Article 252, and
the material evidence was brought in the case to which I was attracted, I also denied my
acquaintance with Krivosheya and going with him to the factory; the motive of this denial
was my deep conviction that the effect produced by a tacit way can never figure out the
real role of the persons involved in the political case; An example of this is for me the fate
of three persons in my first case, completely unconnected to this case, but sentenced to
capital punishment. By rejecting my acquaintance with V. Krivosheya, I thought to force
the latter, because he himself showed that he traveled with me without ascertaining either
the purpose of our trip, nor my participation in the matter at all, so I wanted to make him
find out my role in this matter. But at the confrontation with Krivoshey, this latter for some
reason completely refused to recognize me for Fedoseyev, with whom, as he himself
showed, he traveled to Orekhovo-Zuevo. I did not dare to refute this testimony of
Krivosheya, because in fact, bringing me to justice in the present case is entirely
connected with an unfortunate coincidence with just Mr. V. Krivosheya.

I met Krivosheya at the end of August, after my arrival from the village, where I was
preparing the children of one land surveyor for the exam for admission to the Mezhevoy
Institute and the gymnasium. I saw with Mr. Krivosheya and more than two times. From
conversations with him I learned that he had been living in a factory area for a long time; I
was also interested in the appearance of factory cities and the life of their inhabitants, but
I was familiar with this dog from facts and figures, from books; I asked Krivosheya about
the life side of the {factory city, with which I was completely unfamiliar, but I could not give
me any satisfactory answers to my questions from Mr. Krivoshei. He suggested that I go
with him and take a look at the factory city with my own eyes. On this proposal of
Krivosheya, I agreed with that greater haste that I decided to leave Vladimir the other day.
We left Krivosheya on Saturday on a night train; we arrived at Orekhovo-Zuevo on
Sunday morning. Krivosheya offered to stay in rooms, but since I expected to use this visit
to inspect the huge city, I suggested that Krivosheya immediately proceed with a tour of
the city. He took me to a hotel where, according to him, especially a lot of workers and
other inhabitants of the city gathered. But on the occasion of an early time, a holiday and
a hotel there was nobody. We drank tea there and waited for the blessing for the mass in
order to go to church.

In the church we stayed until the end of the liturgy, and then Krivosheya chanted me on
the streets of Orohono-Zuova, the Cheroz River, the Klyazma; after this walk we went
back to the hotel, where there was already a lot of people. During the walk, and now
Krivosheya looked for some worker among his attendants, his acquaintance, but did not
find him. Then he suggested that I go instead with him to his familiar teacher
Preobrazhensky (or the Forerunner), who could let me know about the school business in
the factory that interests me. I have already testified about the stay and apartment of the
teacher. Now I will add only that I ate conversations with the teacher and his brother, a
medical student who played the role of a sanitary doctor at the factory, who told me the
information that interested me: the teacher about the school, and the doctor about the
sanitary situation of the workers — so ate these conversations on the proposal teachers
we all went for a walk on the factory streets. I was walking with a teacher. We walked
hours until 10 pm. Upon returning to the teacher's apartment, I announced that I was
leaving for Vladimir with the nearest train station, because on September 1 I intend to
leave for Samara; According to the teacher, I was persuaded to stay on the hourly train on
Monday, in order to inspect the factory workshops in the morning, during work. I agreed.
Krivosheya then suggested that I go with him to one of his familiar workers, with whom he
would like to introduce me. I expressed my consent to this. Krivosheya took me to one of
the barracks, where he asked me to wait in the yard until he asked if the worker he was
talking about was at home. A few minutes later, Mr. V. Krivosheya went down the stairs
with some kind of person to whom he introduced me; he seemed to me to say the name
of this man, at least I said, at least I don’t remember her. Mr. Krivosheya talked with his
friend, I remember, as to why you can not go into the apartment of this friend. During my
walk, I tried to find out from a friend Krivoshey about the life and mood of the workers and
about the action program that his comrades followed during the famous strike in
Orekhovo-Zuevo in 1887, but to learn something definite about this score from this
gentleman I could not, for he was very drunk. During the short walk in three, the familiar
Krivosheya left us for some of his acquaintances, with whom Krivosheya wanted to
introduce; after some time he came to us with this friend of his, but this last stayed with us
for no more than two seconds and left for some reason, saying that he would be back
soon. After that, we soon parted with Krivoshey’s acquaintance, for he, however,
presented nothing interesting to me. On the way back to the apartment of the teacher
Preobrazhensky, I spoke with Mr. V. Krivoshey about the labor movement in the West (I
remember that, I spoke with him in a train car during my trip to Orekhovo) and about the
significance of strikes in Russia; upon our arrival at the teacher's apartment the
conversation stopped; the teacher, his brother and some other comrade went to bed; the
bed in the other room was ready for us; we immediately went to bed and fell asleep, for
we had slept the night before. Pa woke up another day late. Attending workshops but was
successful, for the doctor was demanded for some patient (or there was no time for the
teacher — I don’t remember well). It was inconvenient to talk with Mr. V. Krivosheya about
what was said last night, in front of unauthorized persons. Krivosheya suggested that I
outline the main points of my worldview on paper. I fulfilled his request at the time when
they drank tea. Then V. Krivosheya left, saying that he needed to visit the bailiff for a
testimony of trustworthiness; I waited for him before 1 o'clock [day], but I didn’t wait, and
since it was impossible for me to stay, because my departure or my bride from Vladimir
was decided for tomorrow, I decided to leave alone; the teacher took me to the station.
After the trip with Mr. V. Krivosheya, I did not seem to have met. The personalities of the
two workers who walked with us did not consider, for it was dark and I cannot recognize
them. Here are my full, true testimony. I apologize for the negligence of the presentation
and writing: for prison conditions, I do not have time to carefully present my testimony. I
have nothing more to show. I compiled the manuscript for Mr. V. Krivoshey, and he didn’t
tell me that he was thinking of giving it to someone else.

October 6, 1892
Nikolay Fedoseev.

GIA Moek, region, f. 131,

"Moscow Court of Justice",
op. 49, d. 15.

Reprinted from photocopies stored in the NML Archive. f. 156, op. one.

His highly honored Mr. Gendarme Colonel

Political prisoner nobleman Nikolai Evgrafovich Fedoseyev
Statement

  At the top of the pistom, there is a lot of zapzarm: “Received [on1 November 13, 1892”. -
Ed.

GTMShO is an honor to present to Your High Favor explanations regarding my letter,

which gave your High Favor reason to express me through the Prison Office the strictest
reprimand and warning. In this letter of mine, I wrote only my own view of the private law
on the resolution to read periodicals for political prisoners during preliminary detention; in
my reasoning by was indecent expressions insulting this law; I wrote only that this law has
now lost the meaning that it had two centuries ago, under completely different conditions
for the protection and maintenance of prisoners, and most importantly, under a completely
different spirit of the law; that is, this law is currently an anachronism, that is, it does not
correspond more than to the whole amount of penitentiary conditions; only the meaning of
torture and torture has remained, and this is contrary to the general spirit of humanity
(philanthropy), which almost changed all the old legal provisions on this subject;
consequently, if I wrote that this law lost its meaning and retained only the value of torture
and torture, then I understood its contradiction with the general spirit of the law now,
which is expressed in such immense importance of facts as, for example, the recent
abolition of corporal punishment for exiled women. For me, as well as for any other
intelligent person, the prohibition to read periodicals is a very significant deprivation, and I
express full confidence that this law, which has become an anachronism, will be changed
in the near future in the prescribed manner. I compared this prohibition with another such
anachronism — shameful chains on the convict, that is, I would like to say that the chains
on the convict made tremendous sense under other conditions of detention and
protection, when at the same time such measures as nostrils and cutting off the ears, and
now behind the chains there is only the value of shame and anguish, i.e., therefore, they
also contradict the spirit of the present legislation.

Expressing such reasoning, I believed that I did not violate the law, which does not pursue
such reasoning at all, especially the historical assessment of individual and non-core legal
provisions, since this reasoning is carried out in decent words and does not tend to induce
anyone to oppose the legislative provisions being criticized. I did not suspect that I, as a
political prisoner, am on this account in completely different conditions and that my
argument in a private letter about a separate statutory provision is illegal and puts me
under arrest in a punishment cell. I did not know that; I believed that for me the basic law
of the Russian Empire on the punishability of written and verbal reasoning is valid.

I would have had the honor to express to Your Excellency at all about my stating of that
instruction, which you are guided to send to me.

I, for example, do not understand why your High-Nobility detained the books sent to me:
Reiigardt "Woman before the Court", a book of legal content and quite scientific; then
those writings of Spencer, the reading of which was permitted to me in other places of
detention; and, finally, “L'echochii” (LOPE ”of Professor Lotourno, in the Paris edition, but
translated into pages of Russian journals.

By this explanation, I mean to express to Your Excellency that my violations of the

exceptional rules, under the action of which I am * are unintentional on my part, because I
do not know these exceptional rules.

Finally, I have the honor to ask Your Excellency to return the second part of my letter to
me, which could not be sent to.

November 12, 1892.

Nikolay Fedoseev.

GYA Moek, region, f. 131,

Moscow Court of Justice ",
op. 49, d. 15
Printed by photocopies
stored in the NMD Archive,
f. 156, oh? one.