Vladimir Lenin: How to Become a Leader by Vladlen Loginov

Author:Vladlen Loginov [Loginov, Vladlen]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The Birth of a Party

Ulyanov detailed his further movements in a letter to Axelrod: “I was initially in Vilnius. I spoke with people there about the collection. The majority agreed that it is time for a publication of this kind and promised their support... They said that we should assess whether it fits with the tactics of agitation and tactics of economic struggle. I stressed that that was really up to us.

I was later in Moscow... There have been huge pogroms there [arrests – author ], but it seems there are still enough people around for our work to continue. We have received some material from there, namely an account of some of the strikes... We will get that to you...

...Give me more details about the collection: what material we already have, what is planned, when the first issue will be published, and what exactly we need for the second... We’ll likely send some money...” 1

There is something unusual, both in tone and content, in this correspondence. Earlier, his letters had been to family and friends, or to acquaintances near and far. In them he would share his thoughts, put forth arguments, or express his wishes. But in this letter, he is for the first time reporting on work accomplished. It was the first time he considered himself part of what was for him something significantly greater, in which relationships were built not on personal friendships, but on their belonging to a common cause.

To this end he had taken on certain obligations which had necessitated this dangerous journey across Russia. This new style of communication was in no way a burden to him. It is with obvious enthusiasm that he waxes in his letters to Zürich about paper and ink for printing press, channels of communication, secret meetings, and methods of correspondence. He writes that India ink requires “the addition of a small quantity of potassium dichromate (K₂Cr₂O₇): that way it won’t wash off,” and that when sending correspondence in the bindings of books, “one must use a very watery paste: no more than a teaspoon of starch (potato starch, not wheat, which is very strong) to a glass of water.” 2

Ulyanov returned to St Petersburg on 29 th September. By the following week he was already taking steps to unify autonomous social democrat groups in the capital.

By the middle of November, this task was complete. In attendance at the meeting where this unification was formalised were the core of the ‘old men’: Vladimir Ulyanov, Anatoly Vaneyev, Pyotr Zaporozhets, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Alexander Malchenko, Yakov Ponomarev, Stepan and Lyubov Radchenko, Mikhail Silvin, Vasily Starkov, Zinaida Nevzorova, Apollinariya Yakubova and Nadezhda Krupskaya. Yakov Lyakhovsky,

V. M. Trenyukhin, and S. A. Gofman were present from Martov’s group, along with Martov himself. These 17 individuals would form the spine of the organisation in the city. In the event of any disaster befalling them,

V. K. Seryozhnikov, A. I. Shestopalov, and I. Smidovich were nominated as replacements, as were Fyodor Gurvich-Dan, Boris Goldman-Gorev and M. A. Luria from Martov’s group.

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