More than 70 years ago, in December 1900, the first issue of the all-Russian illegal Marxist newspaper Iskra, founded and directed by V. I. Lenin, was published. The newspaper played a prominent role in the creation of a new type of Marxist party, the party of the working class. The newspaper's distributors and correspondents in Russia were its agents, professional revolutionaries, and advanced workers. They formed the backbone of the Russian organization Iskra, which became the basis of the Proletarian party. The Iskra editorial office, the leading center of the Iskra organization, which was located first in Munich, then in London and Geneva, corresponded extensively with the newspaper's agents and support groups, with social - democratic committees in Russia, and with like - minded people abroad. This correspondence formed a unique archive, carefully preserved by Iskra's editorial secretary N. K. Krupskaya.

The archive documents reveal the outstanding role of V. I. Lenin in the formation of the Iskra organization in Russia. "..."Iskra, "wrote Vladimir Ilyich," put forward a whole organizational plan, and systematically and steadily carried out this plan for three years. " 1
The main provisions of the program of action outlined by V. I. Lenin were formulated by him in the leading article of the May issue of Iskra for 1901 - " Where to start?": on the nature and main content of political agitation, on organizational tasks and the plan for building a militant all-Russian Marxist party. 2 V. I. Lenin considered the article "Where to start?" only as an outline of a rough organizational plan, but the plan itself was described in detail in the book "What to Do? Urgent questions of our movement", which played a prominent role in the struggle for the revolutionary Marxist party of the working class of Russia. Iskra's editorial correspondence contains the most interesting information about the book's creation, distribution, and enormous impact on the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia.

Vladimir Ilyich took up this work closely in the autumn of 1901. Break between the publication of the article " Where to start?" and start working on the book " What to do?" He explained that in the spring of 1901 an attempt was made to unite all the social-democratic organizations abroad (the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad, the Foreign Committee of the Bund, the Revolutionary organization Sotsial-Demokrat, the foreign department of the Iskra - Zarya organization, and the Borba group) on the platform of revolutionary ideas. the Iskra Social Democrats and "it was natural to wait for the results of this attempt." 3 At the June conference of these organizations, it seemed that a step had been taken towards the elimination of the "economist" trend in Russian social-democracy, the herald of whose ideas was the magazine Rabocheye Delo, published in Geneva by the Soyuzovites. By the decision of the conference, the RSDLP's foreign organizations launched preparations for the congress, which was to complete the unification on a Marxist-Iskra basis. However, the" unification " congress convened in Zurich in September 1901 did not bring the desired results. It ends with-

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 3, p. 225.

2 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 5, pp. 5-13.

3 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 6, p. 3.

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The reluctance of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats Abroad to break with economism was clearly revealed. The representatives of Iskra and the Revolutionary Organization Sotsial-Demokrat, having announced their resolution on the impossibility of uniting with the opportunists, left the Congress and soon formed the League of Russian Revolutionary Social - Democracy Abroad on Lenin's initiative. Due to the fact that the attempt at unification "ended in failure" and "it was absolutely necessary to enter into a decisive struggle" with" economism", "it was modified," as V. I. Lenin noted in the preface to the "Economic Revolution".What should I do?", and the original plan of the booklet"4 . V. I. Lenin also took into account the fact that by the autumn of 1901 the main elements of the emerging All-Russian organization Iskra had been identified. This should also be reflected in the book. Its main topic was still the three questions discussed in the article " Where to start?". Vladimir Ilyich formulated them as follows: "On the nature and main content of our political agitation, on our organizational tasks, on the plan for building a militant all-Russian organization at the same time and from different ends." 5
V. I. Lenin worked on " What to do?" almost five months. The current business of editing the newspaper and the day-to-day management of the Russian organization Iskra, which was being created, did not allow him to fully engage in the book. On October 21, 1901, he wrote to G. V. Plekhanov: "I have picked up some material for internal review and in a few days I will take it up close... after this work, it will be necessary to work for Iskra, and then on a pamphlet that I have been putting off for a long time... " 6. However, by the end of November, the matter was moving forward. On November 27, Vladimir Ilyich wrote to L. I. Axelrod that he had "been very busy lately with a pamphlet (against Rabochy Delo) ..." 7
Vladimir Ilyich understood the need in Russia for a book that would clarify the dispute with the " economists "and help local organizations of the RSDLP to realize the pernicious nature of the policy of the"Soyuzovites". In November 1901, in one of her secret messages to Iskra agent I. V. Babushkin, N. K. Krupskaya wrote:"...Now everyone tends to forget that local organizations alone are not enough, that these local organizations should unite, that there should be a special organization that would serve as a link between local organizations. Such an organization may grow up around some all-Russian cause, such a common cause may be a newspaper. The plan for such an all-Russian organization will be developed in a pamphlet that will soon appear. "8 Lenin was in a hurry to write" What is to be done?" also because it was necessary to expose the "Union of Russian Social-Democrats", which had published a pamphlet entitled "Two Congresses" full of slander against Iskra and its organizational plan. Thus, the question was who the local committees of the RSDLP would follow and, consequently, what kind of organization would be built in Russia.

Outlining a plan of concrete measures to neutralize the actions of the "Soyuzovites", V. I. Lenin wrote in December 1901 about the work he was preparing: "We will show there all the malignity of the Rabochy Dyelo trend, reveal all their shameful shakiness and helplessness before Bernsteinism and economism. This pamphlet is already partially finished and is rapidly coming to an end. " 9 V. I. Lenin develops the same idea in a letter dated December 14, 1901, written jointly with N. K. Krupskaya to Odessa, from where extensive contacts were maintained with Kishinev, Kiev, Nikolaev, Elisavetgrad and Kherson: "By the New Year, a pamphlet "Sparks" will be published, in which organizational issues will be considered. reasons for disagreements " 10 .

Almost every letter sent from the editorial office of Iskra to Russia in December 1901-January 1902 contains information about the progress of work on "What to Do?"

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid., p. 4.

6 In I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 46, p. 149.

7 Ibid., p. 158.

8 " Correspondence of V. I. Lenin and the editorial board of the newspaper Iskra with social-democratic organizations in Russia. 1900-1903" (hereinafter referred to as "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin"). Collection of documents. In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1969, p. 301.

9 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 46, p. 162.

10 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 1, p. 340.

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and about its main content. "Meyer has already rolled up 3 printed pages, but has only reached half of them," 11 N. K. Krupskaya wrote on December 24 to former Iskra editorial secretary and agent in Konigsberg I. G. Lehman, who at that time was performing a special editorial assignment in Kiev and other Russian cities. "We will elaborate our view on the role of the all - Russian organ in detail in a pamphlet that will soon appear in the press, which will comprehensively develop Iskra's point of view on organizational issues and, along the way, explain sufficiently why Iskra could not unite with Rabocheye Dyelo," Nadezhda Konstantinovna informed a member of the Committee on December 27 the literary group of the Kiev Committee of the RSDLP and the active correspondent of Iskra V. V. Vakar. A young revolutionary from Perm, L. A. Fotieva, who had just established contact with the editorial office of Iskra, also received news from N. K. Krupskaya on January 2, 1902, that "...A pamphlet on organizational matters is being prepared for publication, which will clarify Iskra's point of view and thus make it clear to the public why it cannot go hand in hand with Rabocheye Dyelo .13 N. K. Krupskaya concluded her letter to Kiev dated January 20 to A. I. Petrenko, a fellow member of the Ufa social-democratic circle, about the tasks of Iskra and its Russian organization with these words: "I am writing briefly, a special pamphlet will soon be published in which the organizational plan of Iskra will be developed in detail. All sincere people now have the word "organization" on their lips, and we need to discuss this issue properly. " 14
At that time, organizational questions were really coming to the fore: the conformity of the structure of social-Democratic committees with the new forms of revolutionary activity, and the correlation between general party and local work. In this sense, the letter of I. G. Lehman dated January 24, written by her from Kiev to the editorial office of Iskra, is interesting. "It must be confessed," she wrote, "that in Russia no one has a clear idea of Iskra's organizational plans. I have talked about this with a large number of people, and at best I have met with a frank admission that this issue is not yet clear to us. So said, for example, Semyon Semyonovich (Northern Workers ' Union. - Author). ...Now only I understood the importance of the intended booklet. If she really opens people's eyes to these questions, then she will do a great job. People who are friendly to Iskra are waiting for this thing with terrible impatience. " 15
In mid-January 1902. Vladimir Ilyich finished work on the book "What to do?", and in February wrote a preface to it16. On March 10, Iskra published an announcement in No. 18 about the publication of N. Lenin's book " What to Do?". The editorial staff of Iskra literally began to prepare it from the printing press for sending it to Russia by illegal transport routes and opportunities. The first transport of the book was detained at the Radzivilov border station: on March 5(18), during customs inspection, illegal literature was found in the double walls of suitcases, including 42 copies of the Lenin book. The literature was confiscated. March 7 (20) another transport with " What to do?" he was detained at the border checkpoint Border. Although the first attempts to bring Lenin's book to Russia failed, the social-Democratic committees and groups soon received it, despite customs slingshots and border cordons. Iskra's "flying" agents I. I. Radchenko and M. A. Silvin distributed a book on social-democratic organizations. M. A. Silvin reported to the Iskra editorial office from Poltava: "What should I do?" we left: 2a3b and Kola-4 (P. P. Lepeshinsky in Pskov and the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle". - Ed.), Semyon Semyonovich-3, Orel-1, here-1, the rest... I sent it to the Old Woman on the Volga and the Urals. (Moscow. - Author). If your email failed, the south will be left out if it doesn't receive much from you. It is a huge success"17 . In April 1902, many social-democratic organizations in Russia were already aware of the publication of Lenin's work, some of which had already become familiar with it, while others had only just become familiar with it.

11 Ibid., p. 352.

12 Ibid., pp. 354-355.

13 Ibid., pp. 362-363.

14 Ibid., p. 389.

15 Ibid., p. 408.

16 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 6, pp. 601-602.

17 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 1, p. 460.

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A. P. Paromova, a former Bestuzhev woman who had been exiled from St. Petersburg to Saratov for participating in the student movement and had joined the Iskra group there, asked in a letter dated April 11: "Send the newly published pamphlet." 18 At the end of April 1902, when Lenin's book reached Nizhny Novgorod, a member of the RSDLP committee, A. I. Piskunov, wrote to the editorial board of Iskra: "Received No. 17 (Iskra. - Author) and "What to do?"19 .

At first, Lenin's book was distributed mainly in the Central Industrial District and in the east of the country. M. A. Sylvin wrote in his memoirs that he and I. I. Radchenko left Lenin's pamphlet "everywhere they visited, especially providing it well to the north: Pskov, Smolensk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Orel, Ivanovo-Voznesensk; some copies of " What to do?" we sent it to Samara for distribution in the Volga region, and then I distributed the book alone in Kiev, Kharkiv, and Poltava. There was a huge amount of interest in it everywhere, and we couldn't meet the demand for it. " 20 Iskra agents I. I. Radchenko and M. A. Silvin, restoring contacts with local organizations and delivering literature, traveled a significant part of European Russia. M. A. Silvin was, for example, in Kiev on April 21, from where he wrote: "What should I do?" in the south, no, in the north, its success is colossal. I will bring you to the south in a week from the north "21, and on 27-in Smolensk and informed V. I. Lenin and N. K. Krupskaya from there:" What to do?" it is widespread in the north everywhere, we are now sending 12 pieces to the south, it is not enough, send more if you have"22 .

"What should I do?" renders... strong influence on Russian figures, "the Iskra organization's report to the Second Congress of the RSDLP noted," a number of individuals, by their own admission, become supporters of Iskra, thanks to the influence of this book. " 23 This tendency was particularly pronounced among the members of the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, which, after the arrest and exile of Lenin and his comrades, became the most consistent supporter and promoter of the views of the "economists". The adoration of the new leaders of the Union for the spontaneity of the working-class movement, the desire to limit it only to narrow professional limits, and the artificial division of the organization into intellectual and working-class sections, each with its own committee, caused irreparable harm to the development of the revolutionary movement not only in St. Petersburg, but throughout Russia. "What should I do?" It was "directed precisely and mainly against the 'Petrograd' type of people,"24 and everywhere it fostered hostility to "all the old' Petrograd people, ' and 'Rabochaya Mysl,' and 'Rabochaya Delo,' and all half-heartedness. " 25 Under the influence of "Iskra" and " What to do?" Opportunism in the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle was gradually receding. Already on May 19-20, 1902, I. I. Radchenko wrote to the editor from Samara that the defection of many members of the" Union of Struggle "to Iskra was a" consequence of " What to do?"26 . "This pamphlet is making a remarkable and enormous evolution," he says in a letter sent to the editor the next day. "I have personally observed how the earthquake in the minds of many people subsided, the institute's resentment disappeared, and the full recognition of their delusions and ferment in the dark was proclaimed. The proof of this is the attitude that we now have with the members of the [committee]. Yes, there are those who can not object to what is said in it, filter: "Yes, where can we be heroes Zhelyabov, Bebel. Iskra develops heroes " 27 .

The development of the workers ' and social-democratic movement in the country has steadily brought the Russian proletariat to the Leninist understanding of political, organizational, and social problems.-

18 Ibid., p. 474.

19 Ibid., p. 499.

20 M. A. Silvin. V. And Lenin in the period of the birth of the party. Moscow, 1955, p. 259.

21 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 1, p. 488.

22 Ibid., p. 495.

23 "The Second Congress of the RSDLP". Protocols, Moscow, 1959, p. 579.

24 V. I. Leni n. PSS. Vol. 46, pp. 204-205.

25 Ibid., p. 205.

26 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 1, p. 527.

27 Ibid., p. 531.

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operational and tactical tasks. I. I. Radchenko spoke very vividly about this in his correspondence to V. I. Lenin from St. Petersburg. On June 19, 1902, sharing his impressions of a conversation with members of a St. Petersburg workers ' circle, he wrote:: "In this conversation, I had to hear, if not literal, then in the spirit of quotes from" What to do?". I sit and rejoice for Lenin, and I wonder what he has done. It was clear to me that the people who were talking to me had read it, and I didn't have anything to post my resume for. I point out only a few points of principle, and give a concrete outline of the plan of all-Russian work that Lenin recommends. And he mentioned it: "You've read What to Do? "What is it?" We haven't read such a pamphlet. "One of your comrades, perhaps?" "No," they said in unison, " we haven't. (The rascals of the committee, they devoured 75 pieces, and did not give the workers). I was startled, there were Lenin types sitting in front of me. People who want a revolutionary profession. I was happy for Lenin, who, far away, barricaded with bayonets, cannons, borders, customs and other attributes of autocracy, sees who works in our workshops, what they need and what will happen to them. Believe me, dear ones, we are about to see our Bebels. Real turners-revolutionaries. Before me sat people who were eager to take up the task not as the current intelligentsia takes it, as if they are having a sweet snack after dinner, no, but to take it up as they take up a chisel, hammer, saw, to take it up with both hands, not letting go of their fingers until they finish what they started, doing everything for the cause with deep faith "I'll do it." I repeat once again that I have never had such happy moments in my life. " 28 "I was very pleased with your report about the conversation with the workers, " Vladimir Ilyich replied on July 22 to I. I. Radchenko. - To the last degree, we rarely have to receive such letters, which really give a lot of cheerfulness. Be sure to pass this on to your workers and convey to them our request that they write to us themselves, not only for the press, and so on, to exchange thoughts, so as not to lose touch with each other and mutual understanding. Personally, I am particularly interested in how the workers will react to "What should I do?", because I haven't received any feedback from the workers yet " 29 .

I. I. Radchenko, together with the St. Petersburg Iskra fighters, carried out a lot of painstaking work before the committee of the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle" turned to Iskra. "I was in touch with the committee," Ivan Ivanovich wrote to the editor, " I got acquainted with sincere and honest employees, members of the committee, I always listened to them about our literature, and even when I told them "What to do?" I knew that they would certainly hand it over to each of their comrades, make them sit down and read it, and After the meeting I asked: "Well, what are we going to do now?" "Yes, now we want to get to know you better," they tell me. "Well, we don't want to," I say. - why? "What was it for?" Write contracts, contracts, etc. again? - No, no, this will not happen, our people are asking to bring you together, introduce you to iskryak...

The St. Petersburg Committee loudly told us :" We do not see any obstacles to joint activity, there are no fundamental differences between us, we fully recognize the organizational program that Lenin recommends... " 30 The change in the position of the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle", its intention to enter into contacts with Iskra and act together with it was of great importance. Started under the influence of " What to do?" The reorganization of the Union of Struggle committee was the first decisive step towards merging it with the Russian organization Iskra. "This case may become a turning point in our entire movement..." 31 V. I. Lenin wrote to I. I. Radchenko. Attaching such great importance to the position of the "Union of Struggle", Vladimir Ilyich was worried about the state of affairs in St. Petersburg. On July 16, 1902, he wrote to I. I. Radchenko: "I am afraid that things are not yet so good that Vanya (St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle". - Ed.) is not yet a complete supporter. It is especially suspicious that Manet (St. Petersburg Workers ' Organization. - Ed.) still did not give "What to do?"32 . Letters of V. I. Lenin, which I. I. Radchenko called pis by the strength of their influence-

28 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 2, Moscow, 1969, pp. 28-29.

29 Ibid., pp. 84-85.

30 Ibid., pp. 46-47.

31 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 46, p. 192.

32 Ibid., p. 196.

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meme bombs were detailed recommendations for the work of Iskra members and their supporters in Russia. Therefore, Lenin's "concrete outline of a plan" for the immediate practical tasks was brought to the attention of the leading figures of the St. Petersburg Social-Democratic Organization by I. I. Radchenko .33 "Your letter," I. I. Radchenko informed V. I. Lenin on August 2, 1902, "was handed over without modification to Comrades Vanya and Mani, and upon reading it received the answer: 'We are very glad that the planned practical steps do not diverge from those proposed by Lenin' ... " 34
Not all Iskra agents and RSDLP committees were able to immediately get acquainted with Lenin's work. Its absence was particularly acute in the south of Russia. Convinced Iskrovka L. M. Knipovich, who was serving an exile in Astrakhan, wrote on June 15 that even such an active Iskrovskaya group as Baku, " What to do?"... still haven't been"35 . She also reported on June 28: "What to do?"so far, little has penetrated the public. We must try to saturate the audience with it as soon as possible. " 36 In this regard, Lidia Mikhailovna asked to send her books to Russia for printing in an underground printing house in Baku. But the editors could not fulfill her request, as the book " What to do?" it wasn't matrized. The Kharkov Committee of the R. S. D. L. P., although it received in April 1902, through the "flying" agents of Iskra, the book "What is to be Done?", on June 22, asked for another 20 or 30 copies of Lenin as soon as possible37 . The Kherson Iskra group could not get Lenin's book for a long time. July 17, 1902 she wrote to the editor: "Pamphlets" What to do?" and they didn't see any letters to the pr[ak]tiki. "38 On July 27, a request was received from her:" Send them to the address: villageNaked Pier of the Tauride province, Osip Kutsenko - revolutionary songs, letter from practitioners ," What to do?" and Iskra 39 .

The attractive power of the book " What to do?" It consisted in revealing and clearly articulating the aspirations and aspirations of the advanced workers of Russia, and spoke about the tasks that were being put forward by life itself and the revolutionary struggle in the country, and which the local workers were well aware of, but could not clearly articulate. To meet the growing demand for Lenin's book, Iskra's editorial staff invested a certain number of copies of the book " What to Do?". The book was sent via East Prussia and Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia and Egypt. They carried it in double-bottomed suitcases and hid it in the holds of steamboats. Thus, on July 14, 1902, at the Aleksandrov station of the Warsaw Railway, the book " What to Do?". She was also found in a transport seized on July 16. On July 28, gendarmes seized copies of " What to Do?". On September 18, 1902, 194 copies of Lenin's work were handed over to the Feodosia police department by the captain of the steamship Borzhom, which arrived from Alexandria. This was the failure of one of the largest transports of the book "What to do?". On the night of February 3, 1903, in Kamianets - Podolsk, gendarmes seized the same book from the arrested members of the Iskra transport group, who were transporting illegal literature from Lviv. On the night of March 5, in Kovno, near the Neman River crossing, customs guards detained two people who were trying to transport illegal literature in a basket and three suitcases with double bottoms, including " What to do?". On April 8, gendarmes seized 210 copies of this book at the border in Suwalki province. Many instances of " What to do?" It was seized by gendarmes in transports on the Prussian border in the Kovno province on June 19, July 13 and August 18, 1903. On August 16, during a customs inspection in Odessa, a double-bottomed chest arrived from Paris, where V. I. Lenin's book was hidden .40
This is not a complete list of intercepted transports "What to do?" svide-

33 See V. I. Lenin, PSS. Vol. 46, pp. 192-197.

34 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 2, p. 103.

35 Ibid., p. 23.

36 Ibid., p. 50.

37 Ibid., p. 34.

38 Ibid., p. 77.

39 Ibid., p. 95.

40 "Red Archive", 1941, N 1, pp. 10-12.

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It shows how intensively the Iskra editorial staff sent this book to Russia. It is known that a significant number of transports with Lenin's work were safely delivered to Russia. Despite the police barriers, the book got to the eagerly waiting reader. "What should I do?" She forced local workers to reflect not only on the state of their committee, but also on general party activities, and on the fate of the entire revolutionary movement. The Social-Democrats did not just read this book, they carefully studied it, presented the contents of the book in working-class circles, and wrote their reviews and comments to the editors. Lenin's book, as N. K. Krupskaya noted, "especially attracted those who were closer to Russian work." 41 That is why the reviews of local party leaders were so keenly interested in V. I. Lenin and the editorial board of Iskra. N. K. Krupskaya, in almost every letter to Russia, asked about the attitude of the Social Democrats and the committees to "What is to be done?". On June 8, Nadezhda Konstantinovna asks, for example, D. I. Ulyanov about the attitude of the Odessa Committee of the RSDLP to Lenin's book: "Have you read" What to Do?", how are they treated? " 42 . On June 20, she asks the members of the Kharkov Committee of the RSDLP: "Write also how the Kharkov Committee treats the pamphlet" What is to be done?"43 . On June 21, N. K. Krupskaya asks the members of the Kherson Iskra group: "Have you seen the pamphlet" What to do? " 44 .

In the summer of 1902, Lenin's work became widespread in the revolutionary milieu. The book was admired for the depth of the questions raised in it and the clarity of their solution. Local organizations began to restructure their structure and plans in accordance with Lenin's recommendations. The editors received rave reviews about the book. In a letter from Samara, the secretary of the Bureau of the Russian organization Iskra, Z. P. Krzhizhanovskaya, dated June 2, 1902, it was stated: "Regarding" What to do?"Claire (G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. - Author) ...he's going to talk... specially. It's beautifully written, and the tone is beautiful... About " What to do?"...so far we hear only laudatory reviews, but it causes a lot of thoughts, questions and requests. " 45 July 11, 1902 Nadezhda Konstantinovna, covering the issues of the attitude of local committees to workers ' weeks and analyzing the influence of the book "What to do?" L. M. Knipovich wrote to Astrakhan about the rapprochement of the positions of the social-Democratic committees in Russia with Iskra: "I am very glad that you liked the' What is to be Done? ' question, but you are absolutely right about the conciliatory policy, and who knows if it will be possible to make a deal with your foreign allies (members of the Union of Russian Social-Democrats).democrats abroad." They keep saying that all the committees are for them, that they will write "their" program and spread out "What to do?". They don't understand what is being done in Russia. The committees are unfaithful to them, and even the Petrograd Union, which declared that it shared Lenin's point of view and would carry it out, has betrayed them."46
In response to the warm gratitude of the Moscow Committee to Vladimir Ilyich for " What to do?"47 N. K. Krupskaya wrote on July 22: "Recently, after the publication of Lenin's book, we have established the most friendly relations with the St. Petersburg Committee. I would very much like to see the same relations established with the Moscow Committee... Write more about the Moscow Committee, the more specific, the better: how are his affairs going, are his contacts with the workers extensive, and what is the organization of the committee? Are workers given "Iskra" and "What to do?". How do they treat the latter?.. If the Moscow Committee, as we have reason to believe, judging by the gratitude it has expressed to Lenin, is friendly to us, it would be good if it could somehow declare this in print, and it would be of great importance at the present time. " 48 V. I. Lenin responded with a special letter to the Moscow Committee's approval of the principles set forth in "What is to be Done?" "Dear comrades, - he wrote to Muscovites on August 24, 1902. - We have received your letter of gratitude to the author

41 N. K. Krupskaya. Memoirs of V. I. Lenin, Moscow, 1957, p. 52.

42 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 2, p. 18.

43 Ibid., p. 31.

44 Ibid., p. 33.

45 Ibid., p. 16.

46 Ibid., p. 63.

47 Ibid., p. 81.

48 Ibid., pp. 88-89.

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"What should I do?" and a decree on the deduction of 20% in favor of Iskra . In return, I thank you very much for your expressions of sympathy and solidarity. For an illegal writer, this is all the more valuable because he has to work in conditions of unusual alienation from the reader. Every exchange of thoughts, every communication about the impression that a particular article or pamphlet makes on different sections of readers, is of particular importance to us, and we will be very grateful if we are written not only about business in the narrow sense of the word, not only for publication, but also in order to the writer did not feel disconnected from the reader. " 49
Under the influence of articles from Iskra, Lenin's works " What to do?The social-democratic committees in Russia recognized Iskra as their governing body and began to send to the newspaper statements of solidarity with the principles of party building proclaimed by V. I. Lenin. Lenin's Iskra became an organ of the RSDLP committees. "When we learned that the St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev Committees and the Yuzhny Rabochy group had decided to recognize Iskra as a party organ, we rejoiced," the Kiev Iskra members wrote to the editorial board, " because this is for us (after Lenin's pamphlet What is to Be Done?) it was identical with the realization in the very near future of the dream of finally organizing a real social-democratic party in Russia, with the Central Committee at its head, which, under the conditions of the present state of affairs, is now most necessary."50
The book " What to do?" she even found herself in the remote corners of Siberia, among the social Democrats, who were thrown there "by the highest command." They warmly welcomed Lenin's work. In July 1903, a group of exiled social-Democrats from Eastern Siberia, in a letter to the editorial board, expressed their solidarity with " What is to be Done?", because the tactical tasks of Russian social-democracy were most correctly and decisively developed there. 51 For those committees that, for whatever reason, did not receive Lenin's book, it was difficult to find the right methods for building their organization, to clearly define their attitude to the problems of the day and to party building in general. On November 6, 1902, N. K. Krupskaya, informing Iskra's agent in Moscow, V. V. Kozhevnikov, about the lack of literature in Tula, asked:: "Take them a little, this committee should be won over, because it is not quite its own yet, give them "What to do?", "Iskra", copies of 5-10 and new products for review " 52 . On November 11, 1902, A. I. Elizarova (Ulyanova) reported to the editorial board about the state of affairs in the Tomsk organization of the RSDLP: "There is terrible poverty here. Everything turns out in a negligible amount. No. 4 ("Zari". - Author) and "What to do?" We haven't seen it. The latter would be especially necessary, because the local spirit is directly smoked. We have to contend with various handicraft enterprises. " 53
In 1902-1903, "What is to be done?", as evidenced by the correspondence of the Iskra editorial board, was widely distributed in the social-democratic organizations of Russia. This is also indicated by the documents of the police department. In one of the gendarme reports on the "highest name" it was noted that the book " What to do?""caused a big sensation" 54 . Even the Minister of Internal Affairs himself wanted to get acquainted with this work. "What should I do?" she became a constant companion of the Iskra people. That is why it was often discovered by gendarmes during searches and arrests of social Democrats in all parts of Russia. In March-April 1902, two copies of " What is to be Done?". On April 21 and November 28, 1902, during arrests and searches of members and active workers of the Moscow organization of the RSDLP, several copies of Lenin's book were seized by the police. On May 5, 1902, gendarmes found Lenin's pamphlet in the possession of demonstrators in Nizhny Novgorod, and in January 1903-during a demonstration in Sormovo. According to the St. Petersburg Security Agency

49 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 46, p. 221.

50 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 3, Moscow, 1970, p. 119.

51 Iskra, No. 50, 15. X. 1903.

52 "Correspondence of V. I. Lenin", Vol. 2, pp. 412-413.

53 Ibid., p. 422.

54 Hereafter, information from the magazine "Red Archive", 1941, No. 1, pp. 11-21 is used.

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So, in July 1902, one of the propagandists of the Nevsky district read the pamphlet " What is to be done?"at a meeting of representatives of workers' circles. and she brought to the attention of the workers the proposal of the St. Petersburg Iskra workers to adopt a centralized system for organizing circle work. On March 16, 1903, the gendarmes found Lenin's book during searches of a group of St. Petersburg students and college students, and on April 21, 1903, the gendarmes found Lenin's book. it was also found in Kronstadt in the possession of persons accused of " spreading propaganda among the miners of the fortress artillery." On December 23, 1902, during the arrest of members of the Kazan Social-Democratic organization, a number of Lenin's works were discovered, including " What to Do?". On January 16, 1903, the pamphlet was found during searches in Odessa, and on February 15, gendarmes seized it from peasants of the Kamenetsky Uyezd, Podolsk province. On February 19, 1903, during a search of members of the Kiev organization of the RSDLP, a draft program developed by the Kiev Party Committee for teaching propagandists in workers 'circles was found, in which the book" What to Do?". The police found her during arrests and searches on February 28, 1903. in Baku, on June 17 in Taganrog, on July 25 in Yekaterinoslav, on the night of July 31 in Smela, etc.

It can be confidently stated that by the time of the Second Congress of the RSDLP, local social-democratic organizations in Russia were well acquainted with Lenin's work " What is to be done?" and most of them supported her program. The ideas of the book, which, according to V. I. Lenin, is "a summary of Iskra's tactics and organizational policy of 1901 and 1902," 55 also formed the basis of the program developed by the editorial board of Iskra and adopted by the Second Party Congress. Later, the book " What to do?" It continued to arouse deep interest among the Social-Democrats, and the need for it was such that Vladimir Ilyich republished it in November 1907 in the collection "For 12 Years".

Distribution of V. I. Lenin's book " What to Do?" and the local assimilation of his party teachings played a huge role in the ideological defeat of" economism " and in the consolidation of social-democratic organizations on a Marxist ideological basis. This made it possible to create a new type of revolutionary workers ' party in Russia - the Bolshevik Party.

55 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 16, p. 101.

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