Letter to R.V. Malinovsky, 10 April 1914

Translated from: ru/1914/1914-04-10_pismo_rv_malinovskomu_10_aprelya_1914.txt

From Iosif in Turukhansk!
10 April.

Hello, friend!

I received issue No. 1 of Rabotnitsa and one issue of Put Pravdy with your Duma speech. Thank you, friend, especially for the speech. I salute all of you, and especially you and Badaev, for the successful speech in the Duma on the question of the press! It gladdens my heart that your speeches will be discussed at workers' meetings. In my opinion, this is the only correct method of work, so well mastered by the collective of the Petersburg Marxists. One should proceed in this way on every question that concerns the workers. In general, one's heart rejoices at the sight of how skillfully, how masterfully the faction and the Petersburg collective make use of every kind of legal opportunity. The organs of the press, political and trade-union, growing like mushrooms; the successful speeches by members of the faction and their frequent travels (very necessary and useful); the regular intervention of the Petersburg collective in all matters of proletarian actions; the growth of Pravda's prestige, not only in Petersburg but also in the provinces; the colossal growth of donations to Pravda and, alongside this, the pitiful wailing of the liquidator group, which is disintegrating in every sense -- the picture is mag-ni-fi-cent, devil take me!...

I have also read your article in Pravda on the tasks of the opposition. Both your conduct (speaking out in Pravda, not in Sovremennik) and the article itself are irreproachable. Give it to them, those sons of pike from Sovremennik -- let them have it, friend!...

One of my Petersburg friends writes to me that there is a terrible shortage of literary workers in Petersburg. If this is true, write -- and I shall tell I. Stalin to write more frequently. It would be some help, at least. He has already sent to Prosveshchenie a long article on "Cultural-National Autonomy."

If he receives the necessary books from Russia (and he will, since he has ordered them), he will write and send an equally long article (enough for about five feuilletons) for Pravda under the title "On the Foundations of Marxism." There will also be (for Prosveshchenie) an article on "The Organizational Aspect of the National Question." If necessary, he will write and send for Pravda a popular article on the national question, entirely accessible to workers. Just write and place the order.

Then a request: I have not been receiving Pravda since January. Tell them to send it. It can be sent to the old address. I get occasional issues of Pravda by pure chance, and without a newspaper it is very hard here.

I sent you a letter the other day. You have probably received it and are cursing me. Well, curse away to your heart's content, if you think I deserve it...

Regards to Stefania.
Kiss the children.
I shake your hand.

Iosif, Turukhansk Territory.

P.S. We have "new developments" here: the new governor has relocated me to the far north and confiscated money received in my name (60 rubles in all). Such is life, brother...

Someone, it turns out, is spreading rumors that I shall not remain in exile until the end of my term. Nonsense! I declare to you and swear by the dog that I shall remain in exile until the end of my term (until 1917). I once thought of leaving, but now I have abandoned the idea, abandoned it for good. There are many reasons, and, if you wish, I shall write to you about them in detail some day.

Iosif.

P.S. I read an article by L. Martov on the opposition in which he tries to whitewash the liquidators while casting a shadow on your Bolshevik profile. I swear by the dog, friend, it would be hard to find such a juggler, such a trickster, such a buffoon and comedian as L. Martov in all our socialist literature. Things are bad, very bad for the liquidators, if they are reduced to playing the part of that famous character from Gleb Uspensky, that pathetic buffoon and "pyro-hydro-technician" who engaged in "beheading the head and other parts of the body." It goes without saying that the only fitting response to L. Martov's article is ridicule.

Well, all the best.
Iosif.

Bolshevik Leadership. Correspondence. 1912-1927. pp. 18-20.
RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 5394. L. 6-8.

NOTE
The Bolsheviks long refused to believe (right up to the February Revolution) in R.V. Malinovsky's activities as a police agent. This is reflected in the friendly, trusting tone of Stalin's letters to him.