(November 10, 1915)
J.V. Stalin
Dear friends!
Finally, I have received your letter. I thought that the slave of God was completely forgotten, but it turns out you still remember me. How am I doing? What am I doing? I am living trivially and doing almost nothing. And what is there to do in the absence or almost complete absence of serious books? As for the national question, I don’t have any “scientific papers” on this issue (not including Bauer, etc.), not to mention that I cannot even get the lousy “National Problems” that they publish in Moscow for the lack of money. There are a lot of questions and topics in my head, but no material to consult. I am desperate to get my hands on it but in vain. You asked about my financial situation. I can tell you that no exile was as unenviable as my life here. And why do you ask? Did you get any money by any chance and perhaps you want to share it with me? Well, go ahead! I swear it would be most welcome. The address for money would be same as for the letters i.e., to Spandaryan.
And how do you like the trick of Beltov [Plekhanov – VS] about “frogs”? [Plekhanov had compared the Bolsheviks to ‘frogs’ – VS] Isn’t it true: an old crazy woman chattering nonsense about things that are absolutely incomprehensible to her!
<> I saw Gradov [L. B. Kamenev] during the summer with his company. They all look a bit like milksops. Well, and “eagles”!...By the way, I received your letter in a rather peculiar form: 10 lines were crossed out, 8 lines were cut out, leaving the letter with no more than 30 lines. Facts…
Could you send me something interesting in French or English? Maybe something on the national question? I would be very grateful.
I will end here.
I wish you all the best of everything.
Your Dzhugashvili
From the Archive of V. D. Mochalov
I.V. Stalin, Sochineniya, Tom 17, (1895-1932), Scientific Publishing Company, Tver, 2004, p. 44.
Translated from Russian by Saad Yousaf Aahni (Stalin Society, Pakistan) and Polina Brik (American Party of Labor).
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