ЧТО СВЯЗЫВАЛО ВЛАДИМИРА УЛЬЯНОВА С ПИСАТЕЛЕМ ГЕОРГОМ БРАНДЕСОМ?

Abstract

One of the documents shedding light on V.I. Ulyanov's (Lenin’s) interest in Marxist, populist and historical literature is his letter dated December 27, 1889, sent by him from Samara to Leipzig to the address of F.A. Brockhaus’ bookselling company to find out the possibility of ordering the literature of interest to him, banned in Russia by censorship, with its subsequent delivery to the addressee. In this letter, Vladimir Ulyanov asks to send him the works of the Danish writer and publicist Georg Brandes. The letter, discovered by German scientists and transferred back in Soviet times to the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, was published in the Communist magazine with a comment that soon after his arrival in Samara, young V.I. Ulyanov sought to obtain Marxist literature, including in the original language, which was a confirmation of the recollections of relatives and friends that V.I. Lenin already then stood on Marxist positions. But the list of books requested by V.I. Ulyanov also included the writings of Karl Kautsky, populist literature, and books that promoted the activities of populist circles. No comment was given to this circumstance both in Soviet times and by contemporary Russian researchers. This article is devoted to finding out the reasons for its absence.