In the life and work of V. I. Lenin, the Petersburg period was extremely important. In St. Petersburg, Lenin established close ties with the workers and became close to the best and most advanced representatives of the proletariat. During these years Lenin was being formed as the leader of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia; he was the initiator and leader of the great historical process of uniting Marxism with the mass working-class movement; under his leadership, the Russian social-Democrats moved from circle propaganda to mass political agitation .1 This period began on August 31, 1893 (when V. I. Ulyanov moved from Samara to live in Petersburg 2) and ended on February 17, 1897 (when Vladimir Ilyich went into Siberian exile).

St. Petersburg was not an unfamiliar city for Vladimir Ilyich: he visited it in 1890, then twice more-in the spring and autumn of 1891, during the external state examinations at the St. Petersburg University. "Vladimir Ilyich used his trips to St. Petersburg to pass exams," Lenin's scientific biography notes, "and to get in touch with the Marxists of the capital, through them to stock up on Marxist literature." 3
Little information has been preserved about those years of Lenin's life. Biographical Chronicle " adds only clarifications to what is said in the biography: where (at whose apartment) Vladimir Ilyich met with the St. Petersburg Marxists in 1891, what publications were then received from them by Lenin 4 . Naturally, therefore, everything that complements this information is of great interest. Referring to the well-known book by V. E. Mushtukov and P. E. Nikitin " Lenin lived and worked here. According to the memorable places of Leningrad and its environs" (ed. 5-E. L. 1970), the reader seems to find such data. The book says that during his stay in St. Petersburg for university exams, Lenin first attempted to establish contact with the St. Petersburg workers and visited a workers ' Marxist circle. Further, the authors quote the memoirs of A. G. Karelin. "In the autumn, or rather in the spring of 1891," says the worker A. G. Karelin, "there was a meeting of one of the Brusnevsky workers' circles in one of the houses near the Moscow police station, not far from the Obvodny Canal... One of the intellectuals brought a man of short stature, bald, with a small reddish beard, without naming him, asked permission to stay with this person at the meeting. " 5 This man, the authors write, was Lenin.

Taking advantage of the fact that the 2nd and 3rd editions of the book contained a reference to the source of the above information, we sent a request to the Leningrad Party Archive: "Is there any name of this "one intellectual"in the specified manuscript of A. G. Karelin?". The answer read: "In the memoirs of A. G. Karelin,

1 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biography". Ed. 5-E. M. 1972, p. 50.

2 In 1893, not only Lenin, but also his family left Samara. The Ulyanov family moved to Moscow (see M. I. Ulyanov a. From the Samara (Alakaevsky) period (1889-1893). "Memoirs of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin", vol. 1. Moscow, 1968, p. 158). In the book by M. Mitelman, B. Glebov, A. Ulyansky "The History of the Putilovsky plant "(ed. 3-E. M. 1961), it is stated: "At the end of August 1894, Lenin, who had gone to Samara for the summer months, returned to St. Petersburg" (p. 96). In fact, in the summer of 1894 Lenin went to visit his relatives not in Samara, but in Moscow, and at the end of August 1894 he returned to St. Petersburg not from Samara, but from Moscow ("Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biographical Chronicle", vol. 1, Moscow, 1970, pp. 89, 90). The noted inaccuracy, starting from the first edition of the named book, is repeated in all subsequent editions.

3 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biography", p. 19.

4 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biographical chronicle". 1. 1, p. 56 " -57, 59.

5 V. E. Mushtukov, P. E. Nikitin. Op. ed., p. 19 (excerpts in the text are made by the authors of the book).

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There is no additional information about V. I. Lenin's visit to the Brusnevsky circle in 1891, which is kept in the Leningrad Party Archive, to those used in the book "Lenin Lived and Worked Here" by V. E. Mushtukov and P. E. Nikitin. Karelin's report raises doubts and needs to be investigated." This prompted us to turn to the memoirs of V. M. Karelina, "one of the most prominent participants in the movement of the early 90's" 6, a comrade in the revolutionary struggle and Karelin's wife. Her memoir notes "Three Meetings", published in No. 1 (10) of the magazine "Krasnaya Letopis" for 1924, contained information similar to those reported by Karelin. Historians have turned to Karelina's memoirs more than once. Thus, V. E. Mushtukov noted: "Even then (in 1891 - A. M. ) Vladimir Ilyich visited the classes of some underground circles. A former employee shared her memoirs about one of these visits to the circle headed by S. I. Radchenko in the magazine "Krasnaya Letopis". She wrote that Lenin took an active part in the work of the circle. " 7 Quotes from the memoirs of V. M. Karelina are also given by V. V. Chuev, who, based on her story, stated (with reference to 1891):" Vladimir Ilyich, being interested in setting up work in St. Petersburg workers 'circles, despite the danger of being arrested, visited some of them for classes." 8
Karelina's memoirs were published during the lifetime of many members of the workers ' circles of the 90s of the last century, Lenin's associates in the revolutionary struggle. If the publication contained something seriously contrary to the truth, these comrades probably would have issued a refutation. This did not happen, which indicates the reliability of the actual part of Karelina 9's memoirs . But with her, I think, something happened that often happened to other memoirists - she made a mistake in dating 10, and her memoirs require correction. Their text opens the way to clarification. She writes that the person who brought Lenin to the class of the workers ' circle (like Karelin, she calls him "one intellectual") was Radchenko 11 . If it is possible to find out when Lenin and Radchenko met, then it will be possible to more accurately determine the time of the circle class that the Karelins remember.

When did Lenin and Lenin first meet? Radchenko? To answer this question, let's look at how Lenin's acquaintances with St. Petersburg residents generally began after he settled in the capital. A. I. Ulyanova-Elizarova said: "After arriving in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Ilyich began to make acquaintances little by little, cautiously... He wanted to meet people who shared his views... He was looking for those who knew as well as he did that the revolution in Russia would be brought about by the working class."12 And Lenin found the people he was looking for. However, as Anna Ilyinichna noted, "during that winter (the first winter of his stay in St. Petersburg - A.M.), Vladimir Ilyich had few acquaintances" 13 . But they did show up. And the main role here was played, as can be judged from memoir sources, by his entry into the Marxist circle, which consisted mainly of students of the Institute of Technology.

The circumstances surrounding Lenin's entry into this circle are not exactly described in the same way by memoirists and historians. M. A. Silvin, a member of the social-democratic movement since 1891, recalled that one autumn morning in 1893 Vladimir Ilyich, then a university student and a resident of St. Petersburg, came to him: "He then explained that

6 "Essays on the history of Leningrad". Vol. II. l. 1957, p. 383.

7 V. E. Mushtukov. Lenin in St. Petersburg-Petrograd. L. 1957, p. 4.

8 V. Chuev, V. I. Lenin in Samara (1889-1893), Moscow, 1960, p. 48.

9 Even earlier, Karelina published an article based on her memoirs, " At the Dawn of the Working-class Movement in St. Petersburg." (Krasnaya Letopis, 1922, No. 4), the authenticity of which also did not cause any doubts. . Comrades in the revolutionary struggle described Karelina as an honest person, who was alien to drawing and falsehood. And these qualities could not, I think, but affect her literary work.

10 An example of such a mistake is the memoirs of V. A. Knyazev, a St. Petersburg worker who participated in the revolutionary movement of the 90s of the XIX century. In 1924, he wrote that Lenin, together with P. K. Zaporozhets and V. V. Starkov, drew up a program of classes for workers ' circles in 1891 - 1892. However, to the very first publication of Knyazev's memoirs, a note was made: "It is more correct in 1893" ("About Ilyich." Collection of memoirs, documents and some materials. l. 1924, p. 113), and in subsequent editions the date was once again clarified: "in 1894-1895" ("Memoirs of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Vol. 2. Moscow, 1969, p. 42).

11 V. Karelina. Three meetings, page 10.

12 "Memoirs of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin", vol. 1, p. 39.

13 Ibid., p. 42.

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recently arrived, looked around, rented a room somewhere on Yamskaya, signed up for the estate (lawyers. - A.M.) and now makes acquaintances. In the letter I sent to them, which I immediately looked at, the residents of Nizhny Novgorod suggested that I treat Vladimir Ilyich with full confidence and mentioned Alexander Ilyich. This was more than enough, and I immediately realized what kind of dating my visitor was looking for. " 14 Further events, Sylvin continues, unfolded as follows: "After destroying the letter, on the same day I found Mr. Krasin, informed him about an interesting visitor and insistently offered to meet him. The name "Ulyanov "made an impression, but I was told"we will discuss". Very soon, however, V. V. Starkov came to me and told me to tell Ulyanov the place and time of the meeting... The meeting took place at the apartment of Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov. There were also G. B. Krasin and S. I. Radchenko. " 15 Thus, it turns out that between Vladimir Ilyich's visit to Sylvin and his arrival at the apartment where Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov lived, Lenin did not have any meetings with members of the circle of technology students. This version is reflected in the book by A. F. Kostin16 . But was the date described by Sylvain really the first? This question arises because there are memoirs that contain a different version. Krasin recalled :" Once in the winter of 1893, S. I. (Radchenko - A.M.) told me that tonight we should go meet a recently arrived Marxist, the brother of the famous revolutionary A. I. Ulyanov, who was executed in connection with the plot to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. This brother expressed a desire to join our circle: "Let's go and see." So we went to see Vladimir Ilyich with the purpose of making his acquaintance and passing a light theoretical examination of his firmness in the principles of Marxism (after all, his brother was a Narodnaya Volya member). We were met by an unusually lively and cheerful person... the examination of which turned out to be quite difficult, since we ourselves immediately found ourselves in the position of examinees"17 . So Krasin and Radchenko went to meet Lenin at his apartment. Sylvin, as we have already noted, believed that Lenin's first meeting with members of the group of technologists took place at Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov. Who is right?

To answer this question, we will again turn to the memoir texts. Sylvin writes that when Lenin first visited him in 1893, "I frankly informed him that I was a new person here and connected with a small group with which I would introduce him." 18 Silvin settled in St. Petersburg in August 1893, just a few weeks before Vladimir Ilyich moved here .19 As a "novice" and treated him comrades in the underground. Radchenko, the de facto leader of the technologists 'circle at that time, for example, answered Sylvin's questions about the number of workers' circles in St. Petersburg, their connection with each other, and the existence of any other social-democratic organization in the city other than the technologists ' circle: "It's too early for a yellow - headed man like you to know about this."20 So Sylvin didn't know what the tech club was up to. Obviously, the comrades did not consider it necessary to inform him about the steps taken in connection with the news that Ulyanov, who had arrived in St. Petersburg, was looking for acquaintances in the revolutionary environment.

In the circle of technologists, secrecy was strictly observed. In addition, those who wanted to join it were also subject to quite high requirements in the field of theoretical knowledge. Radchenko usually collected information about those who wanted to join the underground group by stealth and meticulously. Krasin recalled: "He (Radchenko - A.M.) was a very steady and careful man - it was impossible to avoid him on a crooked horse, and therefore it was not so easy to get into our circle: S. I. carefully collected information about everyone, got acquainted himself and, if there were any 'contraindications' ideological or personal nature, categorically rejected the candidate"21 . Z. P. Nevzorova-Krzhizhanovskaya, a participant of the revolutionary movement of the 90s of the last century, recalled:

14 M. A. Silvin. Lenin in the period of the party's birth. Memoirs, L. 1958, p. 41.

15 Ibid., pp. 41-44. Krasin, Starkov, Krzhizhanovsky and Radchenko are technology students, members of the circle in question.

16 A. F. Kostin. Lenin-the creator of a new type of party (1894-1904). Moscow, 1970, p. 23.

17 G. B. Krasin. Stepan Ivanovich Radchenko. Old Bolshevik, 1933, No. 2 (5), p.188.

18 M. A. Silvin. Op. ed., p. 41.

19 Ibid., p. 22.

20 Ibid., p. 35.

21 G. B. Krasin. Op. ed., p. 188.

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"This group was kept very secret, access to it was very difficult and only persons who had studied Volume 1 of Capital well were allowed22 . That is why it is quite possible that Radchenko and Krasin, the most respected members of the circle of technologists, first came to the apartment of Ulyanov, who recently settled in St. Petersburg. The newcomer Sylvin might not have known about this visit.

Obviously, Radchenko and Krasin were satisfied with their meeting. Vladimir Ilyich was soon invited to a new, broader meeting with members of the circle of technologists. It took place, as Sylvin correctly noted, in the apartment of Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov. However, even this time Sylvin was not present and wrote about it, as it appears from his memoirs, according to Radchenko 23 .

Comparing the memoir testimonies of Sylvin and Krasin in terms of the issue under consideration, we should in this case give preference to the latter, since Krasin tells about what he himself witnessed, and Sylvin wrote from hearsay and made a factual inaccuracy: the meeting, which he calls the first, in reality was the second 24 . During this meeting, as Radchenko later told Sylvin, "all the cards were laid out in front of Vladimir Ilyich." 25 Now he was a member of a revolutionary organization.

When did all this happen? According to Sylvin - in the fall, and Krasin-in the winter of 1893. A comparison of the surviving factual evidence supports the dating of Sylvinus. In the scientific biography of Lenin, after indicating that Vladimir Ilyich arrived in St. Petersburg on August 31, 1893, it says:: "Soon Vladimir Ilyich joined the Marxist circle, which consisted mainly of students of the Institute of Technology." 26 The Biographical Chronicle makes a clarification: Lenin's entry into the circle of technologists is dated here on October 27, 1893 . There is no reference to archival documents, however, the Central State Administration of the USSR stores documents that can indirectly clarify the dating.

The police Department's collection contains the "Case of Stepan Ivanovich Radchenko, a student of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology", which includes "secret surveillance leaflets", from which you can learn about his movements: trips to his relatives in Konotop, return to St. Petersburg, etc. It turns out that at the very time when Vladimir Ilyich arrived in St. Petersburg (August 31, 1893), Radchenko was not in the capital: he went to Konotop and returned on September 11, 1893. From another " case "("On the introduction of criminal publications from abroad into Russia"), it became known that on October 27, 1893, Radchenko was arrested and taken to a pre-trial detention house. On November 9, he was released for lack of evidence .29 From the memoirs of Krasin and Sylvin, it is quite obvious that Ulyanov's first meetings with members of the circle of technologists took place in the following years:-

22 Z. P. Nevzorova-Krzhizhanovskaya. Sketches of memories. The Old Guard. To the 30th anniversary of the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class". A collection of memoirs and materials about the underground work of Russian Marxists in the 90's, Moscow, l. 1926, p. 66.

23 M. A. Silvin. Op. ed., p. 44.

24 Since the Biographical Chronicle, noting Vladimir Ilyich's entry into the circle of technologists, refers (p. 80) to the book "Lenin in Petersburg" (l. 1957), we note that it contains the statement: "In the first half of October 1893, Krzhizhanovsky and Starkov had their first meeting. meeting of V. I. Lenin with a number of participants of the circle of Marxist technologists, organized by M. A. Silvin. In addition to Silvin, this meeting was attended by: S. I. Radchenko (head of the circle), V. V. Starkov, G. B. Krasin" (p. 21). This inaccurate formulation is repeated by some other authors with slight variations (see, for example, F. I. Opalikhin. Lenin in the workers 'circles of St. Petersburg (1893-1895). "Izvestiya" Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute named after V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin). 1960, issue 40, p. 28; T. P. Bondarevskaya, A. Ya. Velikanova et al. Essays on the history of the Leningrad Organization of the CPSU. Part 1. L. 1962, p. 38).

25 M. A. Silvin. Op. ed., p. 44.

26 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biography", p. 26.

27 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biographical Chronicle", vol. 1, p. 80. The publishers of Krasin's memoirs also pay attention to errors in dating Krasin. Thus, in the book " Lenin. The Petersburg Years. According to the memoirs of contemporaries and documents" (M. 1972) the above testimony of Krasin is given in the following form: "One winter (October) 1893 Stepan Ivanovich (Radchenko) told me that this evening we should go to meet a recently arrived Marxist" (p.21).

28 TsGAOR USSR, f. DP, division 3, d. 104, 1893, ll. 60, 65.

29 Ibid., case 7, 229, part 1, 1893 " L. 65.

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whether even before the arrest of Radchenko, that is, before October 27, 1893.

All this allows us to conclude that Vladimir Ilyich met Radchenko and other members of the circle of technologists in the period from September 11 to October 27, 1893. The generally accepted statement that Lenin joined the circle of technologists in October 1893 is somewhat clarified: until October 27. It is likely that further research will allow us to establish a more accurate date.

But let us return to the part of our note where it is said that Karelina's memoirs open the way to clarifying the time when Lenin attended a class of the workers ' circle. Knowing that Radchenko met Ulyanov in the period from September 11 to October 27, 1893, it is impossible to accept the statement of the Karelin couple that Radchenko brought Vladimir Ilyich to the circle classes in 1891. In the minds of memoirists there was a certain shift in time, and the event that took place in 1893, they attributed to 1891. And it follows that Lenin did not visit the Brusnevsky workers ' circle, as Karelin said in the message given in the book by V. E. Mushtukov and P. E. Nikitin, but the working circle of a group of technology students. Karelin's mind obviously did not capture the moment of transition from classes in the Brusnevsky circle to classes in the circle of technology students.

Karelina gives very valuable information in her memoirs. She describes in some detail how the class of the workers ' circle that Lenin attended went, how Vladimir Ilyich behaved, and what he said. "We began," she writes, " with general conversations about the work of circles in general and about our studies, about arrests, etc... Radchenko and I were talking, and the stranger (Lenin - A.M. ) listened attentively to our conversation and somehow studied us all in a particularly inquisitive way, piercing us with his attentive gaze. Then the conversation turned to another topic. Radchenko talked all the time. We mainly studied Karl Marx's economic theory. Stepan Radchenko gave a detailed explanation of everything we went through last time." Lenin joined in the conversation. "From time to time, the stranger began to make some additions of his own... He made more and more comments and additions. " 30
As a well-established Marxist, Lenin was clear about the weaknesses of the social-democratic propaganda of that time. Karelina tells more: "In our studies, all attention was focused mainly on the theory and everyday practice of the working-class movement. Although we were told about the need for a political struggle, but somehow our attention was not particularly vividly and clearly fixed on it." Lenin, as she remembered, spoke with enthusiasm: "You will never achieve lasting improvements in your position through the economic struggle, the main point is in the political struggle. You must lead the political struggle. " 31
This testimony is extremely important. It shows that even before Lenin wrote his fundamental works on the aims of the working-class movement, on the tasks and content of social-democratic propaganda, he expressed his views on this subject to the St. Petersburg circle workers. Even at the beginning of the Petersburg period of his activity, he was of the opinion that the Social-Democrats should not consider economic agitation as their sole task. Vladimir Ilyich put forward broader and more precise goals for them. Thus, V. A. Shelgunov, a member of Marxist circles and later a member of the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, recalled: "Ilyich always said that economic questions should be raised, but they should be put in such a way that the worker could see that without serious changes in the political life of Russia, the economic situation of the workers would not improve." 32 . Thus, Shelgunov confirms the testimony of Karelina, who wrote in 1924 that the words of Lenin that were imprinted on her mind (they are given above) "were uttered with such force and authority that I still cannot forget them" 33 .

Vladimir Ilyich joined the group of technologists at a time when they were feeling dissatisfied with their activities. Sylvain, for example, recalled that in " vague general terms, approximately, we were aware of our tasks and the goals of our work. We didn't even have any information about-

30 V. Karelina. Three meetings, page 10.

31 Ibid.

32 V. A. Shelgunov. Memoirs of the St. Petersburg labor movement of the half of the 90s. "Staraya Gvardiya", p. 51.

33 V. Karelina. Three meetings, page 10.

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suitable for all programs of group classes " 34 . Lenin, on the other hand, having become accustomed to the environment of the St. Petersburg Marxists, was not slow, as Krzhizhanovsky wrote, to "revolutionize" the existing order among them .35 One of the moments of such "revolutionization" was noted by Knyazev. He wrote that Lenin, together with Zaporozhets and Starkov, drew up a program of classes, as a result of which "work in our workers' circles became more in-depth and correct."36 Unfortunately, such an important event in the life of St. Petersburg Marxists is omitted by historians who study the Petersburg period of Lenin's activity.

N. K. Krupskaya recalled: "This Petersburg period of Vladimir Ilyich's work was a period of extremely important, but essentially invisible, imperceptible work. He described it that way himself. There was no external effect in it. The question was not about heroic deeds, but about how to establish a close connection with the masses, get closer to them, learn to express their best aspirations, learn to be close and understandable to them and lead them"37 . Krupskaya's words, I think, will gain the greatest concretization when the evidence (memoirs) of the best representatives of the very mass that have come down to us (memoirs), whose aspirations and hopes Vladimir Ilyich not only recognized, but also expressed, formulated in the form of a coherent and complete teaching, will be attracted to the maximum extent.

34 M. A. Silvin. Op. ed., pp. 85-36.

35 "Memories of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin". Vol. 2, p. 16.

36 Ibid., p. 42.

37 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 232.

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