All language subtitles for Lenin. Episode 3. Documentary Film. English Subtitles. Russian History. (inglés)

present

Lenin. A key image of the Soviet epoch.

For four years a creative group of historians, filmmakers, lawyers,

criminalists and researchers from other fields of knowledge

was studying the documents related to the life of Vladimir Ilyich

Ulyanov-Lenin. In total, they studied over 20,000 documents,

tens of millions of pages from the leading Russian

and foreign archives and libraries.

The movie based on the largest-scale recent research gives an exact answer

on what kind of person Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was in reality.

Many of the demonstrated documents and photos

are published for the first time.

On August 31, 1893 a 23-year old graduate of the Petersburg Imperial University

Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov arrived in Petersburg from Samara.

“Petersburg doesn’t exist as a separate location.

Petersburg is a geographical, political and revolutionary center of Russia.

Entire Russia watches the life in Petersburg.

Any step Petersburg undertakes serves as a leading example for all Russia”

–the chief of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin said

about Petrograd at the session of the Petersburg Committee

of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party of the Bolsheviks

on May 30, 1917.

A young Orthodox Marxist, a brother of a failed Tsar-assassin,

energetic and incredibly hard-working,

obsessed with the idea of the revolutionary reforms in Russia,

on September 3, 1893 Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov became an assistant

to an attorney Mikhail Filippovitch Volkenstein.

LENIN. Episode Three

At the end of the 19th century. liberal and socialistic views in Russia

were an integral part of the world view

of the separate groups of the Russian intelligentsia.

Mikhail Filippovitch Volkenstein wasn’t an exception;

because of the Tsar’s antisemitism, he was forced to hide his real name –

Moisey Falkovitch, under which he married in 1893 a Klara Iosifovna in Vilno.

From the first days of cooperation with Ulyanov,

attorney Volkenstein knew about his interest in Marxism.

Working for Volkenstein, Vladimir Ilyitch could become

one of the most prominent lawyers of Russia.

Vladimir Ulyanov chose a different path - of revolutionary actions.

The work of an attorney’s assistant was no more than a cover

for the secret activities of a propagandist and agitator

for the teaching of Karl Marx and his followers.

Very soon, Vladimir Ulyanov got acquainted

with other four Petersburg groups

that were learning and disseminating Marx’s teachings.

Later, those groups got the following names: “Legal Marxists”

headed by a son of the Governor General of Irkutsk, a hereditary noble

and a student of the St.-Petersburg University Petr Struve;

“a group of Technologists” headed by Stepan Radchenko,

a son of a petty timber merchant, a student of a technological institute;

a Marxist circle of Yuliy Tsederbaum, better known by his alias – Martov;

“the Social Democratic Circle” under the command of Konstantin Takhtaryov,

a son of a general, professor of the Artillery Academy.

Apart from the above-mentioned groups and circles,

there were many individuals in Petersburg – noblemen, officials and students -

who were studying Marxism

more out of curiosity than with any practical goals.

A portrait of an average Petersburg Marxist of 1893 was the following:

a young man or a young lady aged 18-25, coming out of nobles or officials,

with higher education or a student, from a rich family,

having no connection to the working class or peasantry.

The group of Struve (“Legal Marxists”) learnt Marx’s concepts

mostly for scientific and research purposes.

Radchenko’s “technologists” didn’t have any good idea

of why they were learning Marxism.

German Krasin and Gleb Krzhizhanovskiy from the group of “technologists” believed

that the knowledge of Marxism would help them

become successful engineers and entrepreneurs.

That was because one American publisher printed out 5,000 copies

of Marx’s “Capital” stating it was a manual on successful business,

which was also written in the ad and foreword to the book.

For Stepan Radchenko, a family man, Marxism was a source of profit –

he was successfully trading illegal literature.

Thanks to Marxism, students of the courses Nevzorova and Yakubova met young men –

students-technologists.

The circle of Yuliy Martov was the only one that used Marxism

in accordance with its initial purpose – as a revolutionary teaching.

Marxist circle of Takhtaryov consisted of young men

whom common people usually call “those who care about everything”.

Despite that they, as opposed to Vladimir Ulyanov

who stood out against assisting the hungry during the drought,

organized assistance to the peasants and workers in the hungry years

and in the following year when the epidemics of cholera erupted.

Leaders of the Marxist circles of Petersburg knew each other personally

and were on friendly terms.

The main link connecting all the circles

was the illegal Marxist literature smuggled from Geneva

by the “Liberation of Labour” group headed by Plekhanov.

The books published by the group were sold in Russia,

which generated significant profits.

Year 1893 was a year of serious losses for Plekhanov

as some prohibited literature was confiscated in Russia

by the police and customs.

The biggest loss was the arrest of 3,000 copies

of smuggled illegal books of Marx and Engels,

the price of which amounted to the value of the village of Alakayevka,

the estate of Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova bought for 7,500 rubles.

Another problem that Plekhanov group faced was absence of contacts

with the workers of the Russian enterprises

whom they initially were going to teach Marxism.

The group was getting information about the events in Russia

mostly from foreign and Russian newspapers and magazines.

After finding a place to live and a place of work,

Vladimir Ulyanov in October of 1893 became a member

of the circle of technologists led by Stepan Radchenko.

Vladimir impressed his comrades with his knowledge of Marxism

and took one of the leading positions in the circle.

Soon, he set a row of important tasks for the members of the circle:

intensifying of the propaganda of Marxism among intelligentsia and workers,

establishment of circles with the participation of the workers,

consolidation of all Petersburg circles

and creating of their joint center with united leadership.

The ideas of the Old Man, or Bald Man –

that’s how Ulyanov was nicknamed because of his early baldness –

were not new for the Marxist society of Petersburg.

Some well-known propagandists of Marxism supported those ideas,

but by Ulyanov’s arrival, they had been already exiled or doing hard labour.

Still, the “technologists” accepted Vladimir’s plan and got down to business.

To cover financial expenses of the circle’s activities,

its members were planning to get profits

from the sales of illegal literature published by Plekhanov’s group,

and creation and dissemination of their own works on Marxism.

Ulyanov’s first work printed on hectograph, a primitive copying apparatus,

was an article “Who are the friends of the people

and how they are fighting Social Democracy”.

A bit later, the second and the third edition of that article were published

in Moscow with a note: “Edition of the provincial group of the Social Democrats”.

At the end of February of 1894, at Shrovetide,

Vladimir Ulyanov went to a party arranged by Petr Struve

accompanied by Zinaida Nevzorova, Apollinaria Yakubova and Stepan Radchenko.

At that party, Vladimir

Ulyanov met a noblewoman, a graduate of the Higher Female Courses

Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya.

Nadezhda Krupskaya worked as an accountant’s assistant

in the book shop of Kalmykova (according to the latter’s words,

she replaced a mother for Struve),

was a regular visitor of Kalmykova’s family,

communicated with Struve’s circle – more as a young girl

looking for intellectual pastime than a follower of Marxism.

Krupskaya knew Nevzorova and Yakubova well from the courses;

she also knew about non-Marxist relations

between Vladimir Ulyanov and Apollinaria Yakubova.

Krupskaya and Yakubova differed greatly both externally and with characters.

In those years, Krupskaya looked more like a graduate of a gymnasium

than like an adult 25-year old woman.

Yakubova was tall and broad-shouldered, with well-formed figure,

and externally she looked as old as she was – 24 years.

Krupskaya wasn’t social, she talked little, with short sentences,

but she could work effectively and for long with books,

edit manuscripts and do secretarial work.

Yakubova had other abilities.

She was an energetic social woman, she loved to argue,

there was always commotion around her – males liked her.

Like all Marxists, Krupskaya and Yakubova had aliases.

In correspondence, Lenin called Krupskaya “Fish” and “Minogue”.

It was he who gave her those nicknames,

later accepted by other members of the circle.

Yakubova was called by her name – Apolya, Kuba, or Polya.

For some time, Ulyanov dated both women.

Krupskaya edited Ulyanov’s articles, held correspondence

with Marxists from other cities and, as her compatriot claimed,

was good at selling illegal literature.

Vladimir spent almost all his spare time with Yakubova.

He was a frequent guest in her rented room.

Krupskaya, Nevzorova, Yakubova and other students and graduates

of the Highest Female Courses were united by professional activities –

they were teaching at the evening and Sunday school

behind the Neva Post.

By 1895, 35 evening schools of the Russian Technical Society

were working in Petersburg, which encompassed 3,800 workers.

The idea to use lessons at school for the propaganda of the Marxism

doesn’t have a defined author. Mostly likely,

the workers just enjoyed talking about their production and life problems

instead of pre-planned lesson.

Krupskaya recalled: “We tried to explain Marxism to the students

without mentioning Marx’s name.

All their life situation was leading them to apprehending Marxism…”

True, labour of male and female workers at the factories was extremely hard.

A 12-hour working day (and some enterprises worked for 13

and even 14 hours), exhausting working conditions,

bad living conditions were driving the workers to despair.

On paydays, most workers drank alcohol

until they couldn’t remember themselves,

what led to fights and family dramas.

Almost all workers of the first generation (rarer – of the second generation)

came from peasants. Illiterate or almost illiterate peasants

used to communal work in the village couldn’t get used to the city life.

The situation of the workers was exacerbated by a system of fines

and punishments introduced at the enterprises

where the workers were often unable to contest the decision of the employer

on a deduction of some damage inflicted to the enterprise.

The workers’ awful plight was discussed at the ministries of the Empire;

numerous officials were developing instructions

which were not enforced as all the Tsar’s ministers were corrupted

by large manufacturers and entrepreneurs.

The workers were dealing with the arbitrariness of the employers

in the peasant’s way: they ransacked plants,

beat up hated masters and damaged hi-tech equipment.

Concentration of huge masses of workers in the cities

where they experienced the same problems

was inevitably to lead to their factual consolidation into one dangerous force.

The process of industrialization of Russia that started in 1885

showed the workers its terrible face.

For them, the fight for normal conditions of life usually ended

in an exile, prison or hard labour.

Despite the fact that the workers still had strong Orthodox faith

and belief in the justice of the Tsar, Marx used to say:

“Out of all classes that oppose the bourgeois now,

proletariat is the only revolutionary class.

All other classes are in decline,

they are being destroyed by the development of large manufacturing

while proletariat is its own product”.

Repeating Marx’s words “proletariat is the only revolutionary class”,

the Marxists from Petersburg busied themselves with gathering

and analysis of the situation of workers at the capital’s enterprises.

Vladimir Ulyanov could talk to Krupskaya, Yakubova

and other teachers for hours, trying to see what the workers were thinking.

To improve the quality of the propaganda,

Ulyanov and his comrades followed Marx’s experience

and composed a questionnaire of 57 points (Marx had a hundred).

The young Marxists printed it in typography and disseminated

at almost all the plants in Petersburg.

The result didn’t keep them waiting: the workers got interested

in the activities of the intelligentsia.

Some leaflets, proclamations and brochures

that were disrobing the cruelty of the Russian capitalists

raised the demand for the illegal Marxist literature.

A gendarme who studied some Marxist literature

confiscated from the workers wrote:

“A state coup through the organized forces of the workers

was their end goal; in their brochures and proclamation the Social Democrats

always pointed to the government as the main enemy of the workers”.

Regarding literature work of Vladimir Ulyanov,

censor Matveyev wrote to the Censorship Committee:

“The state is portrayed as an accomplice and ally of the capitalism

that is depriving and exploiting the work of the people;

moreover, innocent desires of those

who expect the authorities to solve the issues of people’s need

and satisfy their social necessities are mocked at as sheer stupidity”.

The censor pointed out to another peculiar trait of the works of Marx

and his followers: “He is applying it (Marxism) to our social life arbitrary,

denying in principle any measures of improvement

of the economic situation of the people if they come from the state”.

Regular supply of the illegal literature,

amendment of its assortment and establishment of a printing body

capable of effective coverage of the life in Russia

from the positions of Marxism –

those were the ideas which in May of 1895 brought Vladimir Ulyanov to Geneva

to the members of Plekhanov’s group “Liberation of Labour”.

The first meeting of Lenin and Plekhanov took place in Plekhanov’s apartment

in the Candolle Street. Drinking beer in the Laundolt Café

in the company of well-known European Marxists – Lafargue, Gaud, Longuet –

Ulyanov and Plekhanov were discussing

the reasons of the failure of the Jacobin Dictatorship.

When Plekhanov said that the dictatorship fell

because the garrote was cutting heads too often,

Ulyanov raised his brows and replied seriously:

“The Jacobin Republic fell because the garrote cut the heads too rarely.

A revolution should know how to defend itself”.

The experienced Social Democrats only smiled,

attributing those words to Ulyanov’s youth maximalism.

Regarding the smuggling of literature,

Ulyanov and Plekhanov were united:

they had to spare no efforts to print it in Geneva and disseminate in Russia.

On September 7, 1895 he returned to Russia

with a load of prohibited literature hidden in a suitcase with a false bottom.

The activities of the circle of “technologists” or the Central Circle

was based on the principles of democracy

popular among the young representatives of the intelligentsia.

For them, Marxism was an intellectual hobby.

Personal friendship was the basis for the communication

that took up the majority of the time the members spent together.

The creating of a threesome in the group, namely Ulyanov,

Krzhizhanovskiy and Starkov that wanted to head its other members

invoked outrage and contempt among the other members of the circle.

In his defense, Vladimir delivered a passionate speech

in which he called normal human relations “primeval democracy”,

talked for long about the necessity to establish an organization,

insisted that division of functions would give every member of the circle

a function that each was already fulfilling anyway:

delivery, storage and sales of prohibited literature, accounting,

propaganda and agitation, renting of secret premises for undercover meetings.

All the members of the circle stood out against Ulyanov.

Zinaida Nevzorova wrote about that:

“At first, it was difficult for the party organizations

to overcome their lack of habit to work as the organizations

under somebody’s leadership”.

The “technologists” accused Vladimir Ilyitch of Bonapartism,

dictatorship, usurping power and anti-democratic views.

Ulyanov’s idea of narrow specialization of the circles and individuals

for different tasks of the propaganda and sales of the Marxist literature

was nothing else than an idea of network marketing of books and magazines

with the use of sectarian methods

to involve new members into that network.

At the end of September of 1895, a meeting of the group of “technologists”

and Martov’s group took place in Gleb Krzhizhanovskiy’s apartment.

The main topic of the meeting was the consolidation of the Marxist circles

into one united Social Democratic organization.

Ulyanov, Krzhizhanovskiy and Starkov willfully appointed themselves

to head the threesome with Ulyanov at the helm

though they didn’t have any authority for that

delegated by other members of the group.

Still, they worked on consolidation with Martov’s group

and the legalization of the city Social Democratic organization.

Pleading reasons of conspiracy, Lenin would use that method

of self-appointment for a very long time, until his death.

One of Lenin’s favorite phrases was:

“The task that proletariat entrusted us with” –

despite the fact that it had never had any factual foundation.

Lenin replaced delegation of authority by the workers

with delegation of authority by his comrades

who appointed themselves to the leading positions as well.

Ulyanov proposed the following structure of the city Social Democratic organization:

circles of workers,

working district groups that were to head the circles,

central group that was to head the district groups

and led by the leader of the entire organization Ulyanov.

As an illegal secret organization,

the organization of the Social Democrats was doomed for failure

with the inevitable arrest of its active members.

The documents of the police department demonstrate

that they had full and complete information about that circle:

“The central circle is divided into two parts.

The first is the Central Committee

whose duty is to supervise the circles of the workers,

prepare and send agitators and leaders to the latter and publish illegal literature.

The Committee is composed of: from intelligentsia –

Ulyanov, Starkov and Krzhizhanovskiy,

from the workers – Yakovlev and Shelgunov.

The Committee has its own cash reserve for the purposes of agitation

that was collected from donations, payments for the parties,

lottery winnings, sales of illegal literature and so on.

The second – the literature group.

It is composed of the same Ulyanov, Starkov and Krzhizhanovskiy.”

The main obstacle on the path of establishment

of the city Social Democratic organization

were the personal traits of the members of the circle.

Pronounced individualism of the young Marxists

prevented Vladimir Ulyanov from turning his circle

into an organization based on discipline, subordination and responsibility.

Lenin wrote: “Without strengthening and development

of the revolutionary discipline and organization of conspiracy

the struggle with government is impossible.

Vladimir Ulyanov knew that it was individualism that brought his comrades –

nobles from intelligentsia – to learning Marxism in the first place;

however, that individualism became the main obstacle

on the path to establish the capital’s Social Democratic organization.

Flexibility, compromising, incredible working capacities

permitted Ulyanov to lead the Central Circle – if not fully,

then at last partially – and by December of 1895

to involve about 200 people in the propaganda

and agitation for the Marxist causes.

For Vladimir, Martov’s religious feelings weren’t an obstacle

for consolidation with his circle:

Martov and members of his circle were Jews.

The question of whether a Jew might be a Marxist

had only one answer for Lenin: yes, he might.

The factor of primacy of gaining faith in God

or following Marx’s teaching was significant for the compatibility

or non-compatibility of religion and Marxism.

Lenin’s teacher Georgiy Plekhanov considered himself

to be a religious man, Orthodox,

as the majority of Marxists of non-Lenin’s breed.

At night from December 8 to 9, 1895 Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov

and his comrades in the underground activities –

Krzhizhanovskiy, Starkov, Vaneyev, Zaporozhets and the others –

16 people in total…

Open! Open!

…were arrested by the police for the anti-governmental activities.

Vladimir Ulyanov was put in a solitary cell no. 193

of the House of Preliminary Detention in which he stayed for 14 months.

In a month after the start of his detention,

he got the prosecutor’s permission for regular deliveries

of books and food from his relatives, including mineral water.

Like in youth and childhood, Vladimir started to live

according to the schedule. He did exercises in the morning,

ate breakfast from the tavern or food sent by the relatives,

then read, worked on a new book, had a lunch, slept, had a walk,

read, had dinner, then worked on the book again and went to bed.

Vladimir gained some weight and look absolutely healthy.

Among the books that Ulyanov had in his cell

(and there were about 200 of them), there were some prohibited ones:

three volumes of Marx’s “Capital”

and works of the famous German Social Democrats.

After Vladimir’s arrest, to disorient the investigation

Martov suggested printing out a leaflet on December 15 in Moscow

signed “Union of the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class”.

It was Martov who made up the name of the non-existing organization.

The members of the circles tried to demonstrate to the police

that the arrested Marxists didn’t have anything to do

with the organization of strikes in the country

that in truth had been provoked by the previously published leaflets.

The trick didn’t work: the police learnt the literature style of Ulyanov well.

They had plenty of opportunities to compare his original texts

written in detention with the texts of leaflets and brochures

that were disseminated among the working community.

Having studied those, they established Vladimir’s authorship in the appeals

to the revolutionary activities with ease.

At the end of 1895-beginning of 1896 Vladimir Ulyanov wrote the Project

and explanation of the Program of the Social Democratic Party.

The Russian Social Democratic Party demands first of all:

1) the convening of the Assembly of the Lands

out of representatives of all citizens for drafting the Constitution;

2) general and direct election right for all the Russian citizens

aged 21 regardless of any religious differences and nationality;

3) freedom of meetings, unions and strikes;

4) freedom of press;

5) abolition of classes;

6) freedom of faith;

7) right to persecute any official in the court of law;

8) cancellation of passports and complete freedom of movement;

9) freedom of jobs and occupations…

The vocabulary of that documents,

exquisite in comparison with other Lenin’s works,

revolutionary pathos and self-assurance of its author depict Vladimir Ilyitch

as the courageous fighter for the social justice and democracy…

although he had never been one.

After coming to power in October of 1917,

Lenin deprived all the Russian citizens of their rights and freedoms

under the slogans of defending the revolution.

Officers of the Gendarmes Separate Corps always interrogated Ulyanov

in the presence of the prosecutor of the St.-Petersburg District Court.

Thanks to four protocols of interrogations that survived

we may see Vladimir’s tactics during the investigation.

He tried to evade giving evidence referring to his allegedly bad memory:

“I don’t remember where the leaflets came from;

I don’t know Plekhanov; I haven’t been to Geneva”.

He held correspondence with Yakubova, Krupskaya

and other members of the circle through the books

delivered to him by his relatives; he wrote between the lines with milk

(that method of secret writing had been known in Russia

since the times of Ivan the Terrible).

Books that survived the House of the Preliminary Detention in Petersburg

prove that all the illegal correspondence of the arrested

was under the strict surveillance of the gendarmes;

they knew what Ulyanov was writing to his confederates.

It’s likely that it may explain arrests of Martov, Babushkin

and other members of the circle in January of 1986.

Everything about the detention of Vladimir Ulyanov

in the House of Preliminary Detention in Petersburg seems unusual:

a person accused of anti-governmental actions,

smuggling and dissemination of illegal literature

was getting prohibited books in prison, with the prosecutor’s permission,

and kept disseminating them, as well as managing the activities

of an undercover organization and communicating

with the worst enemies of the autocracy – European Social Democrats.

There may be only one explanation of the prosecutor’s favoritism –

his informal relations with attorney Volkenstein.

Krzhizhanovskiy described his detention at the House of Preliminary Detention

as torturous. He stayed in a common cell;

he didn’t get any literature from his relatives

and was limited in dates and normal nutrition.

Zaporozhets and Vaneyev were in even worse conditions:

after a month in detention, the former went crazy

and the latter contracted tuberculosis.

All other arrested in Ulyanov’s case were kept in extremely harsh conditions.

There was no hearing in the case of Ulyanov and his comrades.

At a decree of the administrative authorities,

at the highest order of the Tsar, Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov

was sentenced to nothing more than a warning punishment –

exile to the Eastern Siberia for three years.

On October 14, 1897 Appolinaria Yakubova met him by the gates

of the House of Preventive Detention. According to her words,

Vladimir Ulyanov evaluated the state of his organization as unsatisfactory.

He didn’t support Yakubova who started an affair with Takhtaryov

regarding the organization of the workers’ cash reserves,

drove Apollinaria to fainting and in his usual cynical style

accused her and Takhtaryov of deviation from Marxism

and of other ideological sins.

“I felt sorry for Yakubova.

I knew how loyal she was to the revolution,

how touchingly she cared for my brother when he was in detention,

and it seemed to me that my brother was overestimating the danger

of the “young members’” deviation” –

that was what Anna Ulyanova wrote

about the meeting between Vladimir and Apollinaria.

In the evening of the same day Ulyanov met his comrades in the organization.

The Marxists discussed the affairs

of the “Union of the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class”

(as their circle was called now)

and planned their activities for the period of exile.

On January 22, 1897 in Petersburg the “Permitted Convention

on Discussing Measures against Syphilis in Russia” finished its work.

The head of the syphilis department of the Krasnoyarsk Provincial Hospital

Vladimir Mikhailovitch Krutovskiy was one of 500 delegates at the Convention.

During his student years, Krutovskiy became a member

of the People’s Will organization and since 1880

was under secret supervision of the police;

he knew Alexandra Mikhayovna Kalmykova and at her request,

he promised to help Vladimir Ulyanov in exile.

From Samara to Krasnoyarsk,

Krutovskiy and Lenin travelled in one compartment.

Being an experienced doctor, Krutovskiy told Vladimir Ilyitch a story

about Iof, a son of one doctor from Krasnoyarsk

whom his father permitted to be placed into a mental hospital

for obsession with propaganda of Socialism and anti-governmental ideas.

He compared Iof to the main hero of the “Ward no. 6”

as if confirming that obsession with one idea was a mental disorder.

On March 4, 1897 Vladimir Ulyanov arrived in Krasnoyarsk.

Thanks to connections of Krutovskiy,

who also happened to be a member of the medical department

that examined the exiles, Ulyanov was exiled to the village of Shushenskoye

of Minusinsk district which was situated much further to the south

than other places of exile.

On April 4, Vladimir Ulyanov met Vaneyev, Krzhizhanovskiy and Starkov

at the Krasnoyarsk railway station; they all had to spend the time

before going to the places of exile in the Krasnoyarsk transit prison.

At last, on April 23 Ulyanov’s poor comrades left the prison

to be escorted to places of their exile.

In those spring days, Ulyanov and Martov agreed

that after the exile they would emigrate

and join Georgiy Plekhanov’s group “Liberation of Labour”.

According to the plan of Vladimir Ilyitch,

he and Martov were to take the leading position in Plekhanov’s organization

through taking initiative in propaganda and organizational activities

from the old members of the group – Zasulitch, Axelrod, Deutsch, Ignatov –

into their hands, and to make Georgiy Valentinovitch

a powerless patriarch of the Russian Social Democrats.

Inspired with such plans, the conspirators left for the places of their exile.

According to the recollections of Vladimir ILyitch,

life in Shushenskoye was like any landowner’s life:

hunting, fishing, mushrooms and berries picking, no forced labour,

payments from the authorities – 8 rubles per months,

which was twice as much as the income of a poor peasant,

Plus, peasant servants. “Romanov’s summer cottages” –

that was how the exiles called their villages.

After Ulyanov’s arrest, the foreign press, especially the Socialistic,

started publishing articles on the harsh fate of young representatives

of the Russian intelligentsia, who dared challenge the autocracy.

Plekhanov and the members of his group blew up a real scandal

around the arrest of Ulyanov, Martov and their friends.

Political weight of Georgiy Plekhanov was growing quickly

all over the world, and that allowed him to mobilize more and more money

for the needs of fighting the Russian authorities.

It’s known that during the period from 1896 to 1898,

Plekhanov’s group received over 50,000 rubles in donations.

The American society of people

sympathizing with the Russian Social Democrats undertook to pay

1,000 dollars annually to the group “Liberation of Labour”;

the English unions handed over to Plekhanov over 800 pounds;

the European socialists sent a share of their money

mobilized at conferences and lectures

for the development of the socialistic movement in Russia.

The Russians were also taking part.

Coming to Plekhanov’s lectures, they were buying the books

of the Russian revolutionaries and donated money

for the propaganda of Marxism in Russia.

Sensing heightened attention of the Europeans,

Vladimir Ulyanov felt the need to constantly create literature works

with the critics of the Russian government

to keep people interested in him personally.

Ulyanov went on writing his work “Development of Capitalism in Russia”;

in correspondence with Martov, he was discussing plans

of opening of the All-Russian political newspaper edited by him and Martov.

In August of 1897, Anna passed Plekhanov’s words to her brother:

“Nobody in Russia writes for the workers as well as he does (Ulyanov)”.

At the end of 1897, Vladimir Ulyanov wrote a letter to Nadezhda Krupskaya,

already released from under the arrest and awaiting departure

to the exile for the anti-governmental activities.

In it, he proposed to Krupskaya.

Krupskaya’s reply was simple and laconic:

“Well, let me be the wife, then”.

In the evening of May 7, Nadezhda Krupskaya,

exiled in the case of the “Union of the Struggle

for the Liberation of the Working Class” and her mother

Elizaveta Vasilyevna arrived to Shushenskoye.

Krupskaya brought a piece of news important for Vladimir –

on the First Convention of the Social Democratic Working Party of Russia

that took place in Minsk on March 1-3.

Only nine delegates were present at the convention

who represented six Marxist organizations of Russia.

The main task of the Convention was the establishment

of the illegal Social Democratic party of Russia.

The participants of the convention couldn’t come to a decision

of how to name the party.

First they discussed the name “Russian Social Democratic Party”;

however, not a single delegate was Russian by nationality.

Because of that, the party was officially called

“The Social Democratic Party of Russia”.

The word “working” was included after the convention

when Petr Struve was composing the Manifest of the Party

with the consent of two members of the Central Committee

who were also the delegates.

Among the workers, the establishment of the “Working Party” provoked bewilderment

that soon turned into outrage, as workers didn’t delegate the authority

to the participants of the convention to create a party of workers.

Ivan Vasilyevitch Babushkin, whom Lenin considered an example

of a conscientious worker, wrote:

“It was quite unpleasant for me.

It was clear that the intelligentsia made a mistake here.

It was a wrong and even criminal thing to delegate a representative

from the city without informing the workers about it,

as we had no idea about representation at the convention.”

Vladimir Ilyitch received that piece of news differently –

he was happy as a child. “I’m now a Social Democrat of Russia”,

he told his acquaintances proudly.

Nadezhda and Vladimir talked about the events of the last years,

their comrades arrested by the gendarmes

and plans for future all the night through.

“I saw that Nadezhda Konstantinovna looked unsatisfactory.

She’ll have to care for her health here.

As for me, Elizaveta Vasilyevna said: “You gained so much weight!”

As you see, the remark is excellent, I don’t need any better”,

Vladimir Ilyitch wrote to his mother about the arrival of Krupskaya.

In the House of Preliminary Detention,

Krupskaya contracted a severe form of dysentery.

A gynecological disease she developed after that

ruined the revolutionary’s health for good.

By her arrival to Shushenskoye,

Krupskaya who was 154 cm tall weighted only 40 kg.

In the afternoon of July 10, 1897 priest Joann Orestov

married a nobleman Vladimir Ulyanov and a noblewoman Nadezhda Krupskaya

in the church of Holy Peter and Paul.

All residents of Shushenskoye who were free from their village chores

were present at the wedding ceremony, including the village head Zausaylov.

“The best years of my life passed in Shushenskoye”,

Nadezhda Krupskaya will say many years later.

The wedding bouquet hadn’t withered yet

when on July 14 Ulyanov received a letter from Apollinaria Yakubova

who arrived in Krasnoyark on the way to her final place of exile.

Vladimir Ilyitch rushed to Krasnoyarsk “to breathe some fresh air”

after a year and a half in “Shu-Shu”, as he mockingly called Shushenskoye.

He came to Krasnoyarsk only on September 11,

as he couldn’t get a permission for a visit from the authorities.

By that time, Yakubova had already left for the village of Kazachinskoye.

While being in Shushenskoye, Vladimir Ulyanov wrote and published

over 28 printed works, finished and published his book

“Development of Capitalism in Russia”,

developed a plan of establishment of the Marxist revolutionary party

based on the idea of publishing of the All-Russian

illegal Marxist newspaper abroad.

In November of 1897, Dmitriy Ilyitch Ulyanov,

younger brother of Vladimir Ilyitch, was arrested and sent

to the Taganka prison in the case of the “Moscow Working Union”.

On April 22, 1898 Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova,

mother of Vladimir and Dmitry, wrote a letter to the director

of the police department of Russia in which she said:

“Detention may completely ruin his health

and fills me with apprehension most serious and most scary;

moreover, in my family, there had already been several cases

of mental illness: my brother, overcome by this disease, committed suicide”.

These lines of the letter may be applied

to all children of Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova without exception.

On January 29, 1900 the term of exile of Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov ended.

That very day early in the morning he left Shushenskoye

together with Krupskaya and her mother.

On February 6, the couple arrived in Ufa,

where Nadezhda Ulyanova had to stay for another year in exile.

On February 9, leaving his sick wife with her mother,

Vladimir Ilyitch went to Podolsk to his brother Dmitriy

who by that time was released from prison

but remained under the police surveillance.

Ulyanov kept to his agreement with Martov

about joining Plekhanov’s group.

Ulyanov saw the development of the market of illegal literature

in transition from the sales of fundamental Marxist works

to the sales of periodical press.

All people who were close to Vladimir Ulyanov in that period

of his revolutionary activities met sad fate.

Student Zaporozhets went crazy and died in the mental hospital in 1905;

student Vaneyev contacted tuberculosis in the House of Preliminary Detention

and died of it in the exile.

Krupskaya, Yakubova, Nevzorova and many other female revolutionaries

lost ability to have children.

Other volunteers who were helping Ulyanov also felt the consequences of his work:

attorney Volkenstein emigrated from Russia in 1922,

and in 1934 committed suicide;

doctor Krutovskiy died in 1938 in a prison hospital

of the Main Political Department,

priest Joann Orestov died in the labor camp of the Main Political Department,

officers of gendarmerie and prosecutors

who carried out investigation in Ulyanov’s case

were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918…