All language subtitles for Lenin. Episode 4. 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 April 10, 1900 Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov turned 30.

He celebrated his birthday in Pskov chosen due to the prohibition

to settle in the capital, university and industrial cities.

Pskov’s geographical location permitted Ulyanov

to secretly go to Petersburg and Riga in case of need

and meet with his comrades in social-democratic activities

delivering illegal literature from the group of Georgiy Plekhanov

from Geneva through Pskov to Petersburg and other cities.

30-year old Vladimir Ulyanov had a right

to call himself a professional revolutionary:

a brother of a failed Tsar’s assassin, hanged Alexander Ulyanov,

one of the organizers of the students’ disturbances in Kazan,

an organizer of the network of dissemination of the Marxist literature

prohibited in Russia, a propagandist of the Social Democratic ideas,

a man who went through a prison and administrative exile to Siberia,

well-known in Europe as a young lawyer

who started the fight with the autocracy,

an author of articles, leaflets and books.

This is an incomplete list of the revolutionary merits

of a hereditary nobleman Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov.

LENIN. Episode Four

“Lenin’s purposefulness was always concrete –

otherwise, though, it wouldn’t be real purposefulness”.

That was what Lev Trotskiy wrote on April 6 of 1924 in his article “Lenin Before October”.

Purposefulness, hardworking, care and utmost attention to the events

happening in Russia and the world were the main traits of Vladimir Ulyanov.

One of characteristic features of Vladimir Ilyitch

was his unwavering tolerance towards his comrades.

He never expressed his personal attitude to the untidiness of Yuliy Martov

or pretentious aristocracy of Plekhanov.

Interests of the cause – the dissemination of the Marxism,

revolutionization of the Russian society – shouldn’t suffer damage

because of anybody’s sympathies or animosities,

personal discomfort or common dislike to some of the comrades

if their world view coincided with Ulyanov’s view on the events.

At the beginning of his exile to Siberia, in Krasnoyarsk

Ulyanov met Petr Ananyevitch Krasikov –

a grandson of an archpriest from Krasnoyarsk,

energetic Marxist exiled from Petersburg for three years

to his native places for the propaganda of socialism.

In 1892, Krasikov visited Georgiy Valentinovitch Plekhanov in Geneva.

He shared his impressions of that meeting with Vladimir Ilyitch.

“I told him about his difficult material and physical state.

I saw that Plekhanov didn’t have any money

either for publishing of the Marxist literature or for his own existence.

I described Plekhanov’s miserable appearance, frayed trousers,

red stains on his coat and jacket, his constant bronchitis

and paleness of his cheeks”.

Vladimir Ilyitch listened to Krasikov attentively, took a book by Plekhanov

“On the Issue of Development of the Monistic View on History”

from the table and said: “This book is a great book, and at the same time,

it brought a significant amount of francs to Georgiy Valentinovitch.

When I saw him in 1895, there was not a trace of the frayed trousers.

And now we may say with certainty that he will never be poor.

Still, friendship with him, especially personal, is very important for us.

For revolutionaries of his breed, personal connections,

personal sympathies play a huge part:.

Continuity and consistency in achieving his goal –

the establishment of the Marxist party able to become an illegal political leader

for the workers of Russia – undoubtedly gave Ulyanov an advantage

before other Marxists who were trying to gain prominent position

in the Social Democratic movement.

Ulyanov’s brilliant commercial idea that he failed to realize

because of the exile – the opening of the All-Russian illegal political newspaper –

took a new meaning in 1900.

ISKRA (“The Spark”)

The Social Democratic newspaper, as Vladimir Ilyitch believed,

had to connect numerous Marxist circles and individual researchers of Marx

into one revolutionary party under the lead of the founders of the newspaper –

Ulyanov, Martov, Potresov, Plekhanov and his group “Liberation of Labour”.

It was impossible to publish an illegal newspaper in Russia.

Ulyanov’s personal experience proved it.

The police was good in finding and ransacking illegal typographies.

Publishing of the newspaper abroad and its smuggling into Russia

to trusted dealers of the Marxist literature

became Vladimir Ilyitch’s main goals

for the first half of 1900.

Ulyanov considered his failure to get the authorities’ permission

to go abroad a serious obstacle on the way to realize his plan.

He started to work on a plan of an illegal crossing of the border

with somebody else’s passport.

One of the prominent researchers of Lenin’s family tree

Mikhail Grigoryevitch (Girshevitch) Stein who once wrote a phrase:

“In revolution, genealogy is important!” told the story

of how Vladimir Ulyanov obtained a passport of a retired staff counsellor

Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin,

an inveterate landowner with serfs from Yaroslavl province.

Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin had six children.

His daughter Olga Nicolayevna Lenina,

born in January of 1857, was his firstborn.

In 1883, Olga Lenina graduated from the Higher Female Courses

and worked as a teacher in Smolensk evening school for workers;

in a few years, she met some young teachers who knew Ulyanov,

including Nadezhda Krupskaya and Apollinaria Yakubova.

According to Mikhail Stein’s version,

Olga Lenina asked her brother Sergey Nicolayevitch Lenin

to steal the passport of their gravely ill father for Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov.

There were no photos on the passports of those times.

Among the Russian revolutionaries,

it was considered usual to use other people’s passports to different ends.

Revolutionaries were skilled in changing dates of birth in the passport

to reflect the age of a new owner of the document.

According to Stein’s story, the date of birth in the passport

of Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin was changed from the factual –

February 3, 1827 to a date that was closer to the age of Vladimir Ulyanov –

February 3, 1867.

It so happened that Vladimir Ulyanov did without Nicolay Lenin’s passport.

On May 5 of 1900, he obtained his own foreign passport

with the permission of the governor of Pskov for going abroad

for a term not exceeding six months.

Vladimir Ilyitch kept the stolen passport

and used it abroad for conspiracy reasons.

From January 29 to July 16 of 1900,

Vladimir Ulyanov did huge preparatory work for the organization of sales

of the new Social Democratic newspaper and magazine.

He visited almost all the cities where the Marxist circles worked

and were interested in receiving illegal periodical press.

Meetings with the Marxists gave him an opportunity

to draft a preliminary plan of the volumes of the future newspaper and magazine

and to determine the price for sale

and the fee for the distribution of those editions.

On July 16, 1900 Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov went abroad.

On July 19, in Zurich, Switzerland, Vladimir Ilyitch met with a member

of the “Liberation of Labour” group Pavel Akselrod.

They discussed the draft of the “Editorial Statement”

about the publishing of a newspaper called “Iskra” (“The Spark”)

and a magazine called “Zarya” (“Dawn”)

as well as issues regarding the production of those editions.

From Zurich, Ulyanov moved to the village of Vezenas close to Geneva

where he lived until August 24 (September 6) of 1900,

until he left for Germany.

Ulyanov stayed in the village of Vezenas

because it was chosen by Alexander Potresov who left Russia

at the end of April of 1900 to organize the publishing of the “Iskra” and “Zarya”.

In his turn, Potresov chose Vezenas because it was close

to the summer cottage village of Corsier

where Georgiy Valentinovitch Plekhanov used to rent a house for the summer.

On August 20, 1900 Vladimir Ilyitch wrote an emotional story

“How the “Spark” Nearly Went Off”

about his meetings with Plekhanov and the members of his group.

Ulyanov remembered the cruel lessons of the political life

taught by Plekhanov forever.

Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov wrote:

“Plekhanov showed absolute intolerance, incapability and lack of wish

to listen to other people’s argument,

plus insincerity, plain insincerity.

He demonstrated hatred towards “allies” that bordered on indecency

(suspicions of espionage, accusations of cheating, fraud,

statements that he would shoot such “traitors” without hesitation etc.).

Regarding our attitude to the Jewish Union (Bund),

Plekhanov demonstrates phenomenal intolerance

calling it a union of exploitation of the Russians,

saying that our goal is to drive that Bund away from the party

for the Jews are all chauvinists and nationalists and that the Russian party

shall be Russian and not let the “bastard tribe” take us prisoner etc.

Our objections to such indecent talks were in vain.

Plekhanov kept insisting on his views

saying that we simply lacked the knowledge of the Jews,

life experience in affairs with the Jews”.

Plekhanov’s antisemitism had nothing in common

with the ideology of the world Social Democracy that preached internationalism –

international solidarity, equality of the nations

and brotherhood of the peoples of the world.

The sources of Plekhanov’s hatred towards Jews

had easy-to-understand economic roots.

The members of the Jewish Union – the Bund – didn’t recognize

Plekhanov’s exclusive right for printing and dissemination of Marx’s works;

they didn’t want to recognize Plekhanov as an unconditional authority

of the Russian Social Democratic Movement,

criticized his works and interpreted Marxism.

Personal profit, dictatorship ambitions of Plekhanov

turned the meetings of Ulyanov with the “The Liberation of Labour” group

into prolonged arguments about the part of each of the parties of negotiations

in the future income from publishing of the newspaper “Iskra”

and magazine “Zarya”.

Vladimir Ilyitch was distressed:

“Infatuated youth got its portion of the bitter truth

from the object of its admiration:

one shall treat all people without sentimentality,

one shall always harbor a grudge. Blinded with our infatuation,

we behaved like slaves, but its indecent to be a slave.

We were one hundred time more offended

because he opened our eyes personally.

It was so incredibly painful that sometimes it seemed to me

that I would burst out in tears, I swear to God…”

Plekhanov’s wish to be the sole editor, as Ullyanov wrote,

expressions of his “individualism” in his lack of wish to develop

the editorial policy regarding the most principal issues

in the democratic way, through the voting of editors and co-editors of the “Iskra”

and “Zarya” was reflected in Ilyitch’s bitter notes:

“He couldn’t renounce his individualism and his ultimatums

for he just wouldn’t vote on such issues and would keep setting ultimatums”.

Ulyanov and Petrosov described Plekhanov’s closest comrade,

Vera Ivanovna Zasulitch, as a person

with “heroism of a slave, carrying the yoke of Plekhanov”.

Vladimir Ulyanov conceded to Plekhanov.

He wrote about his worries:

“The machine must keep moving as it did before.

However, some spring inside got broken,

and instead of beautiful personal relations we now have

dry professional relations marked with constant calculation

according to the principle si vis pacem, para bellum

(if you want peace, get ready for the war).

On August 25 (September 7) of 1900 Vladimir Ulyanov arrived in Munich.

It was the German Social Democrat August Bebel

who recommended that city to him.

Munich was ideal for publishing of the Russian illegal newspapers

and magazines and suited Ulyanov’s plan

“to organize our literature apparatus there and to go underground in that way”.

Vladimir Ilyitch settled in Munich’s district Schwabing

which may be compared to Montparnasse in Paris.

Our compatriot Vasiliy Kandinskiy wrote:

“Schwabing was a spiritual island in a huge world”.

In 1900, there were 3,500 circles and unions in Munich

involved in the artistic and social activities.

Under such circumstances,

Vladimir Ilyitch and his comrades in illegal activities

could engage in the literature calmly,

without invoking suspicions from the part of the Munich police.

Vladimir Ulyanov stayed with the Social Democrat Georg Rittmeyer,

the owner of the café “Zum Goldenen Onkle” in his house at Kaiserstrasse 53

where the meetings of the Social Democrats

of the Schwabing section often took place.

Through Potresov, Ulyanov met Israil Lazarevitch Gefand

who lived in Munich at Ungererstrasse 80,

better known among the Social Democrats by his nickname Parvus

(“Parvus” means “small” in Latvian)

or by his alias Alexander Lvovitch Gelfand.

Israil Lazarevitch Gelfand was born on August 27, 1867

in the town of Berezino of Minsk Province in a craftsman’s family.

Israil spent his childhood and youth in Odessa

where he moved with his parents after a big fire that destroyed their home.

Life in Odessa of those years was filled with passions,

money, adventures and revolutionary ideas.

In 1886, 19-year old Alexander Lvovitch Gelfand,

as he introduced himself in a questionnaire at Switzerland’s border,

met Plekhanov and the members of the “Liberation of Labour” group in Zurich.

Having brilliant capabilities to sciences and energetic adventurous nature,

in 1888 Gelfand entered the Basel University

which he successfully graduated from on July 8, 1891 obtaining a Ph.D. diploma.

In the second half of 1891, Gelfand moved to Munich

where he quickly established connections

with the prominent German Social Democrats

and became the members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

By the time Alexander Gelfand met Ulyanov,

he was well-known among the world Social-Democratic movement.

He wrote a couple of book,

cooperated with a number of Social Democratic newspapers

and had his own original point of view

on the development of the revolution in Russia.

As opposed to Engels and Plekhanov,

Gelfand believed that in the nearest 10-15 years Russia would turn

into a well-developed capitalistic state capable of depriving Europe

of its economic superiority, and would occupy a decent place on the world market.

Gelfand’s views on the development of capitalism in Russia

and the Narodnik movements fully coincided

with Vladimir Ulyanov’s world view; in his works, he also predicted

rapid growth of proletariat in Russia and fought the Narodniks’ ideology.

In May of 1899, Alexander Gelfand (with a passport of a Czech August Pen)

and German Social Democrat Karl Lemann made a 4-month trip around Russia.

They shared their impressions of that trip in the book “Hungry Russia”.

The book of Lemann and Gelfand was highly appreciated

by the German Social Democrats.

Later, chapters from that book were included in Gelfand book

“Russia and the Revolution” reprinted at the end of the 20th century

under the name of Alexander Parvus.

In the politics, Gelfand was a radical Marxist who stated:

“Only power and the ability to use it make sense”.

Vladimir Ulyanov became a frequent guest in Parvus’s apartment.

The young revolutionaries became friends.

Parvus introduced Ulyanov to Rosa Luxemburg and other German Marxists.

At his request, Karl Lemann granted Vldimir Ilyitch his permission

to use his address for the correspondence with his Russian comrades;

later Parvus would write articles for the “Iskra” under the name of “Molotov”.

In the best traditions of capitalism,

Vladimir Ulyanov organized the advertising campaign for the “Iskra” newspaper.

He published and disseminated in Russia a leaflet-proclamation

under the name of “Iskra” with an article “From the Editors”.

The purpose of the leaflet was first of all to invoke interest

among the potential dealers of the Social Democratic Literature

who were already working successfully.

“Circles of the workers and Social Democratic intelligentsia

are appearing everywhere; they disseminate the local agitation leaflets;

the demand for the Social Democratic literature grows

and gets ahead of the offer,

and intensified persecutions from the government

can’t contain this movement”, the leaflet informed.

Following the strategy of the politicians of all countries and nations,

Ulyanov exposed his opponents, other interpreters of the Marxism

accusing them of provinciality, confusion and absence of connection

with what had already been created by the Russian Social Democracy,

meaning first of all Plekhanov, his group and his peers among the Marxists.

He said on his view on the Russian Social Democracy:

“We understand it as a revolutionary party

directed against the absolutism, an integral link of the working movement”.

One may say with certainty that it was only thanks to the efforts

of Vladimir Ilyitch that the newspaper “Iskra” finally went out of print.

The leaflet-proclamation and the first edition of the “Iskra”

were printed in the typography of German Rau

in the small village of Probsthaide near Leipzig.

German Rau didn’t know any Russian, that’s why a Russian emigrant,

Odessa-born Josef Solomonovitch Blumenfeld

known by the alias of Blum or Tsvetov was invited as a typesetter.

On December 11, 1900 the first edition of the “Iskra” newspaper went out of print.

In total, 4,000 copies of the newspaper were printed

on thin cigarette paper to decrease its weight

what was important for its further smuggling into Russia.

Vladimir Ulyanov wrote the first editorial for the “Iskra”.

In it, he insisted that the main task of the Russian Social Democracy

was the introduction of the Marxist ideas into the minds of proletariat

and the establishment of the revolutionary party.

The second edition of the “Iskra” was printed in Munich,

in a small typography of Maximus Ernst at Senefeldstrasse 4.

The work on it stared on January 24, 1901.

Vladimir Ulyanov published the “Iskra”

at the expense of Alexandra Kalmykova who gave 2,000 rubles

for the newspaper and 1,000 rubles donated by Alexander Potresov

on condition of repayment.

The money of the publisher Kalmykova

who called herself Peter Struve’s mother

created certain constrains for Vladimir Ilyitch.

He had to support Struve in publication of his articles in the “Iskra”

that meant conflicting interpretations of the Marxism

on the pages of the same newspaper and wasn’t good for the consistency

of the propaganda of the future party’s printing body.

Besides, Plekhanov stood out against Struve

as he didn’t want to have a strong competitive author

who had his own position in many issues.

The milieu of Georgiy Valentinvitch Plekhanov

understood his dissatisfaction well.

Plekhanov established a successful enterprise

under the name of the “Liberation of Labour”

and won the favors of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

He considered himself to be the father of the Russian Social Democracy

who had a legal right to decide who of the Russian Marxists

was a real Social Democrat and who wasn’t.

Vladimir Ulyanov never relied on Plekhanov’s financial assistance.

For him, the participation of Plekhanov and the members of his group

in his enterprise was enough. Under such circumstances,

Vladimir Ilyitch had to tolerate the accusations of both his comrades

Potresov and Gelfand and Plekhanov and his clique.

At the end of March of 1901, Yuliy Iosifovitch Tsederbaum-Martov,

Ulyanov’s comrade in underground activities and exile arrived in Munich.

On April 1, 1901 Vladimir Ilyitch’s wife

Nadezhda Konstantinovna Ulyanova came to him from Ufa.

The couple moved to another apartment

where Vladimir Ilyitch registered with the other person’s passport –

for a name of a Bulgarian, doctor of law Iordan k. Iordanov.

Arrival of Martov and Krupskaya in Munich

completed the establishment of the editing group of the “Iskra”

in accordance with the plan of Ulyanov and Plekhanov.

In her memoires, Krupskaya described all her colleagues-the editors:

“Pavel Borisovitch Axelrod lost his working capability for three fourth;

he didn’t sleep for nights in a row, wrote intensively for months

but couldn’t finish any article that he started,

that was how nervously he was writing…”

Regarding Potresov who suffered from bone tuberculosis,

Krupskaya cited Kalmykova:

“Very well-educated Potresov was too spoilt.

He could only write in Italy, on the sea shore, sitting under the palm trees”.

“Vera Zasulitch suffered from insomnia and chronic headaches.

When writing some article, she smoked without stop

and ate only black coffee in her constantly messy room.

Martov (his real surname of Tsederbaum)

was a very easily-impressionable person.

At the same time, he was brilliant in catching the essence of Ilyitch’s thoughts

and developing them in a talented way.”

Regarding Plekhanov: “it was difficult to work with him.

By the beginning of 1900, Plekhanov lost the feel of Russia completely.

His colleagues were tolerant to Georgiy Valentinovitch’s irritability

caused by the pulmonary disease,

but it didn’t justify his extreme spoiling”.

Krupskaya had exophthalmic hyperthyroidism, gynecological illnesses

and an entire row of accompanying diseases.

She knew well that he husband

was constantly on a verge of a nervous breakdown because of his heredity.

In 1900, Ulyanov wrote:

“An enemy fortress is in front of us in all its strength;

from it, the enemy shoots clouds of shells and bullets at us

that take the lives of our best fighters.

We must seize this fortress, and we will seize it

if we consolidate all the forces of the waking proletariat

with all the forces of the Russian revolutionaries into one party…”

It’s easy to imagine those best fighters basing on Krupskaya’s descriptions.

She undertook all the correspondence with the Russian revolutionaries.

Her best qualities – the capability to work with letters thoroughly and for long –

gave Vladimir Ilyitch the time to get down to the organization

of the delivery of the “Iskra”, “Zarya” and other illegal editions into Russia.

In spring of 1901, the Russian gendarmes arrested 3,000 copies

of the first edition of the “Iskra”. It was a huge loss for Ulyanov.

On May 24, 1901 he wrote to Nicolay Bauman:

“The delivery is still very unreliable and accidental…”

“Our bread thanks to which we are still alive are just suitcases.

We pay about 100 rubles for each.

On our opinion, you should settle close to the border

to deliver at least 2-4 suitcases and 10-20 pounds (about 5-10 kg) per month”.

Josef Aronovitch Tarshis (alias – Osip Pyatnitskiy) remembered:

“Special vests were sewn for males

where 200-300 copies of the “Iskra” could fit.

For women, special corsets were sewn;

besides, the newspapers were hidden in the skirts.

Women could take about 300-400 newspapers on them”.

On the revolutionaries’ jargon, such deliveries were called “express transport”.

For the urgent delivery of the “Iskra”,

Ulyanov paid the couriers 10 kopeks per copy

or from 20 to 40 rubles for a batch of the newspapers.

Soon the comrades involved in the distribution of the illegal literature

formed a new circle of acquaintances of Vladimir Ilyitch;

they were ready to risk their freedom and life for some compensation.

Those people became his support and later –

the fighting core of the Bolshevik faction

in the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party.

In March of 1901, the first edition of the “Zarya” went out of print.

According to Ulyanov’s and Plekhanov’s decision,

the magazine was to be published legally,

that’s why they were preparing for its publication openly.

On October 10, 1900 Ulyanov informed Pavel Axelrod

that Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dietz, famous and influential publisher

of the Social Democratic literature expressed his readiness

to publish the magazine; that secured good reputation for the “Zarya”.

However, it proved difficult to find an editor-in-chief

who had to represent the magazine in legal matters

and account for its content according to the German laws.

Vladimir Ilyitch found a Mr. Fentz from Stuttgart

who agreed for moderate pay to account for the content

of the first edition of the “Zarya”.

Still, the magazine that was printed legally in Germany

wasn’t automatically legal in Russia.

The issue of the delivery of the illegal literature into Russia

had always been one of the main tasks of Vladimir Ilyitch.

On May 13-15 of 1901, Ulyanov wrote and published in the “Iskra”

an article “What Shall We Start From?”

That article was a short version of his book “What to Do?”

that became a program source for his comrades for many years to come.

Basing on the experience of the revolutions of the 19th century

and conclusions of Karl Marx regarding the reasons for their failure,

Vladimir Ilyitch wrote: “At moments of explosions and outbursts,

it’s too late to create an organization;

it shall be already in place to start its activities at once.

We never renounced terror in principle.

It’s one of the military actions that may be used

and even shall be used in a certain moment of the battle…”

“Propaganda and agitation are the main tasks of the Social Democracy,

and the level of frequency and regularity of the printing (and dissemination)

of the newspaper may serve as an exact measure of how well

that initial and the most important sphere of our military activities is arranged”,

he wrote.

In other words, Vladimir Ilyitch considered periodical press

to be a part of the military actions, even more important than terror.

Taking such position into account,

it was clear that the relevant military discipline and subordination

were necessary to represent

on the basis of the charter of the Social Democratic organization

“a network of agents… wide enough to encompass the entire country…

to carry out strict and detailed division of labor…”

According to Ulyanov, the development of the revolutionary activities

of the Social-Democrats in Russia was a constant process

of exposing of the existing power, organization and participation

in demonstrations, support of the movement of the workers

and unemployed, participation in the peasants’ disturbances

and other manifestations of the protesting mood in the society.

“We may only develop such level of battle readiness

on the basis of regular activities and with regular troops”,

Vladimir Ilyitch justly mentioned.

In Ulyanov’s opinion, the dealers’ network of the “Iskra” and “Zarya”

was to have the potential of a secret military organization

capable of swift transformation into a terroristic organization

and effective struggle against the authorities.

An ideal dealer of the “Iskra”, according to Ulyanov,

was a man who had some experience of conspiracy work,

special preparation for the terrorist and sabotage activities

in the rear of the potential enemy – the Russian autocracy.

In 1900-1901, there were few people around Vladimir Ilyitch

who would satisfy such demands.

Therefore, Ulyanov’s main task in the following years

was the upbringing of fighters capable of the organized actions

against the authorities and leading the protesting masses

out of common representatives of the intelligentsia.

By mid-1901, Ulyanov realized that his hopes for high income

from publishing of the periodical literature didn’t come true.

Confiscation of the illegal literature by the authorities,

unfair transactions of the dealers of the newspapers

and magazines led the editors of “Iskra” and “Zarya” to bad financial results.

At the end of May of 1901 typography of Maximus Ernst

received a note from Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov signed “Lenin”;

he also signed a couple of letters to Plekhanov

and the German Social-Democrats with the same alias.

It’s most likely that Ulyanov used his new alias

in official agreements between Fentz from Stuttgart,

the editor-in-chief accountable to the German authorities

for the content of the “Zarya” magazine

and alleged Russian editor of the magazine Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin

whose passport Vladimir Ilyitch was using.

Since then, Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov published almost all his works

under the signature of N. Lenin or cryptonyms.

When still alive, Lenin didn’t explain why he chose that pseudonym.

Later it resulted in the emergence of numerous versions of its origin.

Nadezhda Ulyanova, for whom her maiden name Krupskaya had become a pseudonym

after the marriage, answered the question about her husband’s pseudonym by saying:

“I don’t know why Vladimir Ilyich had chosen the pseudonym Lenin,

I’ve never asked him about that”.

Lenin’s associates came up with various versions of where

the main pseudonym came from,

but none of the versions stands up to criticism.

Ulyanov’s reluctance to talk about the reasons why

he wouldn’t explain the origin of his pseudonym is understandable:

he would have to admit that he had used the passport

of a retired Tsar’s official Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin

to cheat on the published Johann Dietz, owner of the typography Maximus Ernst,

responsible editor Fentz and many other Germans

who assisted Lenin in the publishing of the “Zarya” and “Iskra”.

On the cover of the “Zarya”, it was written:

“The Social Democratic Scientific Political Magazine.

Published with the participation of Plekhanov, Zasulitch and Axelrod”.

Vladimir Ilyitch decided not to mention his position of the editor

on the pages of the magazine even under the alias of Lenin.

There may be only one explanation of that fact –

the official documents in which Ulyanov used the passport

of Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin and persons who could confirm

that he introduced himself to his German counterparts with that name.

The Russian gendarmes could find out about the theft of the passport

and, in accordance with the agreement between Russia and Germany,

demand the arrest of Vladimir Ulyanov as a criminal

who had committed a theft in Russia.

However, in 1902 gendarmes visited gravely ill Nicolay Egorovitch Lenin.

They received evidence that he had nothing to do with the “Iskra” and “Zarya”

but couldn’t prove the fact of the theft of his passport.

They believed that Nicolay Lenin, being bedridden and sick,

simply forgot where his document was.

The circumstances under which Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov

got his pseudonym “Lenin” deprived him of his revolutionary romanticism

and exposed actions indecent of a fighter for the people’s good.

That explains Vladimir Ilyitch’s reluctance

to tell about the origins of his alias Lenin.

In the beginning of October of 1901,

the Krzhizhanovskiys came to Lenin to Munich,

his comrades in the distribution of the illegal literature in Petersburg

who were in the exile together with him.

At Lenin’s offer, Gleb Maksimillianovitch Krzhizhanovskiy agreed

to head the dealer network for the sales of the “Iskra”.

With time, the smuggling of the newspaper into Russia improved.

In Petersburg, the literature was delivered to Yelena Dmitriyevna Stasova

who knew Struve, Krupskaya and the Krzhizhanoskiys well.

Thanks to the early memoires of Stasova,

we know of one more way of smuggling of the literature

from Stockholm, Helsingfors and Vyborg into Petersburg.

Stasova wrote about a Finnish man Konrad (or Konnie) Zilliacus

who used to bring smuggled literature into Petersburg in his boat.

Later, the connection of Lenin and Zilliacus

developed into a new direction of cooperation –

deliveries of weapons and ammunition into Russia.

The Bolsheviks and the Soviet Communists preferred not to mention that.

Year 1901 in the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia

was marked by a no less important event

than the publishing of the “Iskra” and “Zarya” –

the creation of the united Party of the socialistic revolutionaries.

In December of 1901, in Berlin a secret agent of the Russian police

Yevno Fishelevitch Asef (or Yevgeniy Filippovitch Azef),

a home teacher Maria Frolovna Selyuk and pharmacist Issak Itkovitch Gersh

(better known as Grigoriy Andreyevitch Gershuni),

having all necessary authority, completed the formal unification

of the northern and southern group of the socialist revolutionaries into one party.

Azef, Gershuni, Gotz and Chernov became the editors of the periodical body

of the Party – the newspaper called “Revolutionary Russia”.

During the same days,

a fighting organization of the socialist revolutionaries

under the command of Gershuni and Azef started its work.

The third edition of the newspaper “Revolutionary Russia”

announced the joining of the groups of socialist revolutionaries into one party

and defined its attitude towards terrorism:

“Recognizing in principle unavoidability and necessity of the terroristic struggle,

the party leaves the right to succumb to it when it considers it possible

taking the present circumstances into account”.

Thanks to Gershuni’s efforts, “the present circumstances”

came into being on April 2, 1902

in Petrograd at the Committee of the Ministers.

20-year old Stepan Valeryanovitch Balmashev,

a hereditary noble from the Arkhangelsk Province,

a very unstable young man dressed in the adjutant uniform

and armed with a gun with poisoned bullets fired two shots

into the Minister of the Internal Affairs Dmitriy Sergeyevitch Sipyagin.

Sipyagin died of his wounds in two hours.

The party of the socialist revolutionaries used that terroristic act

with wide agitation purposes.

They printed “an extra-edition” of the “Revolutionary Russia”

in which Balmashev was portrayed as a people’s hero

and Emperor Nicolay II was described as a contemptible and not-independent figure.

The world was shaken by the murder

of the Minister of the Internal Affairs of Russia Sipyagin.

The mass media of the socialist parties of all breeds

commented on that terrible crime stating

that it was an unavoidable course of events in the Russian life

and predicted further murders of the Tsar's officials.

The fighting organization of the Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries

in an article “Forced Explanation” claimed

that Balmashev executed the decision of the fighting organization

and that the motives of his actions were outlined

in the official statements of the party.

With that article, they wanted to oppose Plekhanov’s version

that appeared in no. 20 of the “Iskra” according to which

Balmashev wasn’t a real socialist revolutionary

and was simply avenging for the violated rights of the students.

Plekhanov recognized that “terror brings up the mass of workers

by arousing it”. However, he stated: “By punishing isolated servants of the Tsar,

we don’t destroy the Tsarism.

The building of the Russian political freedom may only be erected

on the foundation of the political self-conscience

of the Russian proletariat”.

“The Russian revolutionary movement will triumph

as a movement of a mass of workers or it won’t triumph at all!”

What political conscience of the Russian proletariat did Plekhanov,

Lenin and their comrade talk about?

They were talking about the knowledge

of their human-hating theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat

that they instilled into the minds of the masses

which was to become the core of the conscience of each citizen of Russia

and of the Russian society as a whole.

Trying to rule the minds of the poorest part of the Russian society,

in those years the Russian Marxists started to implement

the ancient formula of the power: “To rule means to own”.