Libmonster ID: VN-1450
Author(s) of the publication: R. M. SAVITSKAYA

The rapid and ever-increasing growth of Leniniana-literature about the founder and leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet State-has made it an important task to understand this literature historiographically, to thoroughly analyze and record the work on the life and work of V. I. Lenin, including his biographies from the first experiments of their creation to scientific publications (the last ones). years. This topic is extensive, and its study is just beginning. This article attempts to characterize the main editions of V. I. Lenin's biographies and trace the stages in the development of this important work.

The first reference and biographical reference to Lenin in Russian encyclopedic publications dates back to 1900, when the second volume of the Maly Encyclopedic Dictionary by Brockhaus and Efron contained a laconic reference "Ilyin Vladimir", indicating that he was an economist, a representative of Marxism, and a list of a number of his works: "Economic Studies and articles", "The development of capitalism in Russia" and others 1 . Similar short excerpts were published in subsequent years: in 1901-in the" Encyclopedia " of M. M. Filippov (t, 2), in 1905 and 1907 - in the "Encyclopedia" (2nd, ispr. ed.) of F. F. Pavlenkov, in 1908-in the "Small Encyclopedia". Brockhaus and Efron Dictionary (vol. 2, vol. III) and in the " Big Encyclopedia "(vol. 21), in 1915-in the" Encyclopedia Dictionary "of Pomegranates (vol. 27) and the "Encyclopedia" of Brockhaus and Efron (vol. 24), in the " Russian Encyclopedia "(vol. 11) , in 1915-1916 - in 1-mi 2- m volumes of S. Vengerov's" Critical and Biographical Dictionary of Russian Writers and Scientists " 2 . Moreover, if in the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1900) the pseudonym " V. Ilyin" has not yet been disclosed, then in the additional edition of 1907 of the second edition of the dictionary of F. P. Tolstoy. Pavlenkov it is already being revealed.

Along with these purely reference publications, works appeared in the pre-revolutionary years that laid the foundation for the Marxist biography of V. I. Lenin. These were N. N. Baturin's Essay on the History of Social-Democracy in Russia and M. N. Lyadov's History of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (Part 1), published in 1906. The first book covered the most important stages of Vladimir Ilyich's activity in 1900-1905: editing the newspaper Iskra and the magazine Zarya, fighting "economism", developing a plan for creating a Marxist party in Russia in the article " Where to start?" and the book " What is to be Done?", the struggle with the Mensheviks at the Second Congress of the RSDLP and after it, disagreements with G. V. Plekhanov after the congress, and V. I. Lenin's withdrawal from the editorial board

1 See L. E. Tignanov. On the question of the earliest publication about V. I. Lenin. "Political self-education", 1969, N 8, p. 46.

2 See I. Nikitin. First publication about Lenin in the Russian Encyclopedia. "Knizhnoe obozrenie", 1968, N 51, p. 12; see also I. N. Volper. Pseudonyms of V. I. Lenin. [2nd Ed.] L. 1968, pp. 42, 50.

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Iskra ,his creation of the book "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back", the struggle for the convocation of the Third Congress of the RSDLP, the ideological content and significance of his book "Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution" 3 . The second book, in addition to N. N. Baturin's research, dealt with V. I. Lenin's development of the agrarian program and the doctrine of the party. It is noteworthy that even in these first attempts to create a Marxist biography of V. I. Lenin, the main attention was paid to his revolutionary activities, the development of his revolutionary teaching and its application in the practice of the struggle of the working class of Russia .4
This approach to the biography of V. I. Lenin was further developed in the works published after the February Revolution of 1917. The appearance of these works in the summer of 1917 was a response to numerous requests from workers and soldiers to tell them the truth about V. I. Lenin, whose authority among the masses grew with every day of the revolution, and at the same time a response to the slanderous, counter-revolutionary campaign against him. "In view of the fact that there is a lot of friction between the soldiers of the battery regarding Lenin," said a letter from the soldiers 'committee of the 8th Cavalry Battery, sent to the Petrograd Soviet on April 24, 5 from the active army," please do not refuse to give us the earliest possible answer. What is his background, where was he, and if he was exiled, why? How did he return to Russia and what actions does he take at the moment, i.e. are they useful or harmful to us? In a word, we ask you to convince us by your letter, so that after that we won't have any disputes, we won't waste time, and we can prove it to other comrades in a position to do so."6
This letter was passed to V. I. Lenin, and he began to write a reply. For unknown reasons, apparently due to lack of time, Vladimir Ilyich did not finish the manuscript until the end of 1895. [7 ] It is possible that he decided to respond to the soldiers not in person, but through the press, and therefore asked N. K. Krupskaya to write a short biography of him. Such a biography, entitled "A Page from the History of the RSDLP", written by N. K. Krupskaya, was published in Soldatskaya Pravda on May 13, 1917, without a signature. It began with a story about the circumstances of the journey of a group of Bolsheviks led by V. I. Lenin from Switzerland to Russia in the spring of 1917. Then the main facts of his revolutionary activities were described from the time of his leadership of the Petrograd workers ' circle in 1894 to his return to Russia in 1917. The leitmotif of the biographical sketch is to show the connection of V. I. Lenin with the working masses, his joint activities with such revolutionaries from the working class as V. A. Shelgunov, I. V. Babushkin, N. G. Poletaev, G. I. Petrovsky, M. K. Muranov, A. E. Badaev, N. R. Shagov, F. N. Samoilov. Prior to publication, this essay was edited by Vladimir Ilyich, who made corrections and additions to it .8 Thus, the essay can be considered an authorized biography of V. I. Lenin.

Almost simultaneously with the work of N. K. Krupskaya, M. S. Olminsky's article "On Comrade Lenin" appeared, published on May 26, 1917 in the Moscow Bolshevik newspaper Sotsial-Demokrat. "In general, it is not the custom among us Bolsheviks," wrote M. S. Olminsky, " to nominate candidates for the leadership of the Bolsheviks.-

3 See N. N. Baturin. Essays. M.-L. 1930, pp. 105, 122-128, 135.

4 For a more complete analysis of biographical materials about V. I. Lenin published in pre-revolutionary publications, see: M. S. Volin. Pre-revolutionary biographical publications about V. I. Lenin. Voprosy istorii CPSU, 1970, No. 7, pp. 114-119.

5 All dates before February 1918 are given in the old style.

6 Pravda, 16. IV. 1927; see also V. I. Lenin, PSS. vol. 32, pp. 466-467.

7 See V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 32, p. 21.

8 See Notes of the Lenin Institute, II, Moscow, 1927, pp. 148-154.

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good people, telling their biography... But in view of the persecution that is now being waged in the bourgeois press against the personality of Comrade Lenin, Lenin, and in view of the requests of our fellow workers, we consider it possible to depart from our custom this time." In addition to the information given by N. K. Krupskaya, the author spoke about the Ulyanov family and the emergence of the Bolshevik party. The article shows V. I. Lenin's principled and irreconcilable attitude towards the enemies of the revolution and reveals the reasons why the bourgeoisie hated him. M. S. Olminsky recommended that the workers read the works of their leader. The article ends with a bibliography of Lenin's main works. The articles of N. K. Krupskaya and M. S. Olminsky were reprinted in 1917 by other Bolshevik newspapers and separate publications.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution, interest in the life and work of its leader on the part of the broad masses of working people increased enormously. Therefore, it is no accident that immediately after her victory, the first post-revolutionary biography of V. I. Lenin appeared. It was published in the newspaper Izvestiya VTSIK on November 5, 1917 under the title "Vladimir Ulyanov (N. Lenin)" without specifying the author. This work is interesting because it was the first attempt not to limit itself to showing the practical activities of V. I. Lenin, but to note his contribution to the development of socialist theory, in particular agrarian and national issues. A few months later, on May 29, 1918, Krasnaya Gazeta, the organ of the Petrograd Soviet, published " The Life of Comrade Stalin. Lenin" also without specifying the author. It gave the main milestones of his life and activities. The glavka "Lenin's Views"is interesting. It emphasized that Vladimir Ilyich was a consistent Marxist, who always stubbornly fought against any kind of deviation from Marxism. The article is very popular. The exposition in it is brought to the time when V. I. Lenin headed the first Soviet state in the world.

Other biographical sketches about V. I. Lenin were created in the same year in connection with his injury on August 30. The first pamphlet was published by E. M. Yaroslavsky. It was written the day after Vladimir Ilyich was wounded and quickly published by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The purpose of this work was to " tell everything that relates to him as a revolutionary, communist, leader of the working class of the city and village... We want to tell you only what each of you can verify - only facts. " 9 Presenting the biographical data, the author focuses on the role of V. I. Lenin in resolving the peasant question. This was caused by the need, in connection with the attempt on V. I. Lenin's life, organized by the right SRS, to reveal his true role in realizing the age-old aspirations of the peasant masses for land. For the same reason, E. M. Yaroslavsky showed in the pamphlet the participation of the right SRS in slandering V. I. Lenin in 1917, in their attempt to overthrow the Soviet government with the help of the Constituent Assembly.

However, E. M. Yaroslavsky's pamphlet also had significant drawbacks. It did not mention anything about Lenin's creation of the" Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class " or the Second Congress of the RSDLP. The author associated the beginning of the existence of Bolshevism with the creation of V. I. Lenin, together with the advanced workers of the newspapers Vperyod, Proletariy and his organization. "Since this organization was the majority in social-democracy at that time," writes E. M. Yaroslavsky , " we have since come to be known as Bolsheviks, and the supporters of the minority have been called Bolsheviks.-

9 Em. Yaroslavsky. The great leader of the Workers ' Revolution. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov-Lenin, Moscow, 1918, pp. 3-4.

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va-by the Mensheviks " 10 . The question of the discussion of the agrarian program at the Fourth (Unification) Congress of the RSDLP has not been sufficiently elucidated. It only says that the Congress adopted a resolution outlining a revolutionary way to resolve the land question, but it does not say that, in view of the numerical superiority of the Mensheviks, the congress adopted a program of municipalization, and not nationalization of the land. But, despite all the shortcomings, the work of E. M. Yaroslavsky had a great advantage: It was the first biography to describe V. I. Lenin as the head of the proletarian state, and the socialist measures that were carried out under his leadership in the first year of Soviet power.

At the same time, a biography of V. I. Lenin appeared, written by A. Kh. Mitrofanov11, dated September 1918, and apparently compiled in the second half of that month, since it says that the danger to Vladimir Ilyich's health has already passed. It was intended for the peasant reader, and therefore it covered those aspects of Lenin's teaching and activities that were primarily important for the countryside. In conclusion, speaking about the spiritual appearance of Vladimir Ilyich, the author gives a detail of the event of August 30, 1918, which is unknown according to other sources: "When a criminal started shooting at him (V. I. Lenin - R. S.), the workers were confused for a moment and panic began. Vladimir Ilyich shouted to them: "Comrades, calm down! It doesn't matter - stay organized! " 12 .

In 1919-1920, the first biographical sketches about V. I. Lenin appeared in the languages of the peoples of some republics. Latvian Communists, with the assistance of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), on the eve of the liberation of Latvia from German occupation, published the Biography of V. I. Lenin in Latvian in the publishing house of the Central Committee of the RSFSR. Immediately after the liberation of Latvia, 13 copies were sent there . In the first half of 1920, the publishing house of the People's Commissariat of Land of the Ukrainian SSR published " Biography of Comrade. Lenin Street".

The year 1920 was marked by the publication of three biographical works about V. I. Lenin. Two of them, written by V. I. Nevsky and I. I. Khodorovsky, were published in early 1920 by the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) and sent around the country in connection with the upcoming volost party conferences .14 Both pamphlets, which were popular biographies of Vladimir Ilyich, were subsequently reprinted several times. A particularly accessible form of presentation was the pamphlet by V. I. Nevsky, published in 1928 in the fifth edition .15 But still, the author's desire for accessibility has led to simplification, primitivism in the presentation of some questions, to errors and inaccuracies. Thus, the pamphlet asserts that the split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks occurred after the Second Congress of the RSDLP; the formation of the Comintern dates back to 1921.

A very brief biography of V. I. Lenin was published in the Soviet Calendar for 1920 in the section "Lights of Socialism" 16 . Its author, apparently, was B. I. Gorev17 . This is evidenced by the comparison of the text in the calendar with his subsequent works on V. I. Lenin. It has the same shortcomings as in other works of this author: an exaggeration of the role of the author's work.

10 Ibid., p. 6.

11 A. Kh. Mitrofanov. The leader of the village poor V. I. Ulyanov-Lenin. (Biographical sketch), Moscow, 1918; Ed. 2-E. M. 1918.

12 Ibid., p. 14.

13 See M. I. Kulichenko. The struggle of the Communist Party for the solution of the national question in 1918-1920. Kharkiv, 1963, p. 368.

14 Izvestia of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), 1924, No. 3 (61), p. 27.

15 V. I. Nevsky. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov). Ed. 5-E. M.-L. 1928.

16 " Soviet calendar. 1920". Moscow, 1920, p. 68.

17 There is no signature under the text of the biography, and in the list of persons who took part in drawing up the calendar, his last name is not indicated.

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G. V. Plekhanov, denying Lenin's contribution to the development of the theory of Marxism and reducing his merits only to the practical implementation of Plekhanov's theory of revolution, and others. The author incorrectly interprets the dictatorship of the proletariat established as a result of the victory of October as "the dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry."

No. 12 of the Communist International magazine for 1920 contained an article by A. M. Gorky entitled "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (published as a leading article), as well as his letter to the English writer G. Wells. The article and letter were imbued with a sense of sincere love for V. I. Lenin and admiration for his work, but they were written from erroneous positions and contained a number of politically incorrect statements: extremely subjective assessments of the role of the leader, the people, and the nature of the Russian revolution; lack of showing the role of the party of the working class and peasantry. The article and the letter of A. M. Gorky provoked a sharp protest from V. I. Lenin. He appealed to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with a proposal to adopt a resolution condemning the publication of such articles in the magazine. Vladimir Ilyich himself wrote a draft of this resolution: "The Politburo of the Central Committee considers it extremely inappropriate to include Gorky's articles in No. 12 of the Communist International, especially the leading one, because not only is there nothing communist in these articles, but there is much anti-communist in them. In the future, no such articles should be published in the Communist International in any way. "18 This draft resolution was adopted by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on July 31, 1920.

The years 1917-1920 were a time when there were still no institutions and bases necessary for creating a scientific biography of V. I. Lenin and more accurate popular biographies of him. Therefore, the first Soviet biographical sketches about Vladimir Ilyich Lenin contained many errors and inaccuracies. They presented mainly biographical information, characterized the revolutionary and state activities of V. I. Lenin, but paid little attention to covering his teachings in general and its individual aspects. Only Lenin's teaching on the agrarian question received some coverage. At the same time, such fundamental questions as the theory of the socialist revolution, the doctrine of the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat, and many others were not reflected in the biographical works of 1917-1920.

The years 1920-1923 were the years of the emergence of such scientific centers as Istpart (September 1920), the K - Marx Institute, and the F. A. Kropotkin Institute. Engels Institute (January 1921), the V. I. Lenin Institute (March 1923). The organization of the V. I. Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the RCP(b) and other scientific centers created the necessary conditions for the development of research work in the field of V. I. Lenin's biography. In particular, the Eastpart plan, approved on September 13, 1920, provided for the creation of biographical literature about prominent party figures. From the very first days of its work, the V. I. Lenin Institute set as one of its tasks the study of the life and work of Vladimir Ilyich and the publication of his complete biography. This was already stated in the preliminary outline of the Institute's activities 19 . To do this, it was necessary to collect everything that was written by V. I. Lenin himself, and everything that was written about him, including all the files and papers of police institutions related to his pre-revolutionary activities. Already during the first half of the Institute's work, the collection and systematization of notes, articles, and memoirs scattered in various publications containing material about the life and work of Vladimir Ilyich was undertaken .20 The archive and library of the Institute began to take shape, which became the base on which

18 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 54, p. 429.

19 See Bulletin of the V. I. Lenin Institute under the MK of the RCP, 1923, No. 1, p. 4.

20 Ibid., p. 15.

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Research work on the study of the biography of V. I. Lenin could be developed. At the first meeting of the Institute's council on November 11, 1923, when discussing its tasks and work plan, it was considered necessary to concentrate in the Institute's archive as much as possible all the manuscripts of V. I. Lenin and materials directly related to his life and work.

While this work was being developed, the publication of biographies of V. I. Lenin, written by individual authors, and not always successful, continued. In 1922-1924 B. I. Gorev's book "From Thomas More to Lenin" was published in five editions, the final chapter of which was devoted to Vladimir Ilyich21 . In it, the author did not present biographical data, but tried to reveal the main features of V. I. Lenin as the leader of the Russian revolution, the Soviet state and the entire world revolutionary movement. The content of the essay, however, was affected by the author's Menshevik past. This was expressed, as in his biography of V. I. Lenin written in 1920, in exaggerating the role of K. Kautsky and G. V. Plekhanov. He saw the merit of V. I. Lenin only in translating their theory into the practice of the revolutionary struggle.

In 1922, the first but unsuccessful attempt was made to create a biography of V. I. Lenin for young people .22 Its main drawback was that the biography of V. I. Lenin was given without any connection with the political life of the party, with his party work. In addition, this publication was very sloppy and contained many inaccuracies. All these shortcomings were noted by A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova 23 .

A brief review of the lifetime editions of Lenin's biography shows that they were generally popular and were based mainly on their authors ' direct knowledge of the historical events and activities of the leader. That was their strong point. It was not for nothing that A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova stressed in those years the need to entrust the compilation of biographies of V. I. Lenin to comrades who were well acquainted with him personally, who knew his life, and who worked with him in various periods of the history of the party and the revolution .24 The weak side of biographical sketches created in those years was that, as a rule, they were not based on documentary sources. That is why, in most cases, when they gave a correct assessment of the role of Vladimir Ilyich in the creation of the Communist Party, in the victory of the proletarian revolution in Russia, in the foundation of the world's first socialist state of workers and peasants, and in rallying the Communists of the whole world into the Communist International, they contained some erroneous propositions and a number of shortcomings and inaccuracies. Little attention was paid to the exposition of Lenin's teaching, to the disclosure of the contribution that he made to the development of the theory of Karl Marx and Franz Liszt. Engels.

Immediately after Lenin's death, several biographies of him were published, written by N. N. Popov and Ya. A. Yakovlev, E. M. Yaroslavsky, P. N. Lepeshinsky, V. A. Karpinsky, and I. I. Khodorovsky .25 They bet-

21 B. I. Gorev. From Thomas More to Lenin. 1516 - 1917. Popular essays on the history of Socialism in biographies and Characteristics, Moscow, 1922, pp. 110-118; 5th ed., add. (in the chapter on Lenin). Moscow-Ptgr. 1923, pp. 116-126.

22 I. N. Chebotarev. Vladimir Ilyich. "The Young Proletarian", St. Petersburg, 1922, N 1.

23 See A. I. Elizarov-Ulyanov. A sample of how not to write biographies. Molodaya Gvardiya, 1923, No. 3, pp. 236-238.

24 Ibid., p. 237.

25 N. N. Popov, Ya. A. Yakovlev. Zhizn Lenina i leninizm [Life of Lenin and Leninism]. Moscow, 1924; E. M. Yaroslavsky. The life and work of V. I. Lenin. April 23, 1870-January 21, 1924. Moscow, 1924; P. N. Lepeshinsky. The life path of Ilyich. L. 1924; V. A. Karpinsky. What Lenin commanded us with his life, work and teaching. Moscow, 1924; I. I. Khodorovsky. V. I. Lenin-the great leader and teacher of the working people (1870-1924). A popular essay for workers and peasants. Moscow-L. 1924.

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N. N. Popov and Ya. A. Yakovlev wrote their pamphlet within two days after the death of Vladimir Ilyich. It was typed in a day. E. M. Yaroslavsky's book was also written in a short time, in late January-first half of February 1924. Even so, they were quite full. The work of N. N. Popov and Ya. A. Yakovlev was particularly thoughtful and serious. It was the first successful popularization of Leninism, the first biographical work about V. I. Lenin, which expounded his teachings, and in a certain system. True, the teaching on the national question was somewhat one-sided, and the presentation of the teaching on the peasant question did not emphasize Lenin's development of Marx's idea of the hegemony of the proletariat in relation to all the exploited classes.

In the book of E. M. Yaroslavsky, along with the presentation of the biography of V. I. Lenin and his revolutionary activities, a large place was given to describing him as a statesman. This book differed from the above-mentioned work and more vividness of presentation. It made extensive use of memoirs and other documents. The author first presented the memoirs and stories of N. Ya. Ivanov, Ya. Blinkov, D. K. Goncharova and S. K. Gil about the circumstances of V. I. Lenin's injury in 1918. However, the book revealed Lenin's teaching on the party, as well as the teaching on national and agrarian issues, somewhat one-sidedly and incompletely, and incorrectly assessed the role of some people from Lenin's entourage.

The value of P. N. Lepeshinsky's work consisted primarily in the fact that it was written by a close associate of Vladimir Ilyich, who knew his life and struggle well. P. N. Lepeshinsky presents Lenin's biography in close connection with the history of the revolutionary movement and the Communist Party. V. I. Lenin appears in his book as a living person. It was the first time that information was reported that was not previously known. However, the book paid little attention to the coverage of Lenin's activities in the post-October period.

Biographical sketches written by V. A. Karpinsky and I. I. Khodorovsky were intended for peasants. The first one is better composed. He was recommended by the Agitprop of the Central Committee of the Komsomol to help the political school of village Komsomol members. I. I. Khodorovsky's pamphlet was very popular. However, some important links in the biography of V. I. Lenin have fallen out of it, for example, his activities in 1905. The author has simplified certain provisions somewhat 26 .

On May 31, 1924, the XIII Congress of the RCP (b) adopted a resolution "On the work of the Lenin Institute", in which it called on all party organizations and individual members "to actively and fully assist the Institute in collecting materials related to the life and work of V. I. Lenin". With the same request, the Congress appealed to the fraternal communist parties of all countries - "to help concentrate in the Lenin Institute everything that relates to the life and work of V. I. Lenin."27 By the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of January 16, 1925, all state institutions, archives, libraries, book repositories and individuals were charged with the following duties:-

26 Shortcomings, errors and inaccuracies also occurred in the other biographical works mentioned above, which were repeatedly reprinted (see E. M. Yaroslavsky. The life and work of V. I. Lenin. April 23, 1870-January 21, 1924 Ed. 5th, ispr. l. 1926; P. N. Lepeshinsky. The life path of Ilyich. Ed. 2-E. L. 1924; V. A. Karpinsky. What Lenin commanded us with his life, work and teaching. Ed. 3rd, ispr. and add. M. - L. 1925.

27 See " Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Report to the XIV Party Congress, Moscow, 1925, p. 82.

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It is necessary to submit to the V. I. Lenin Institute one copy of works that have any relation to Vladimir Ilyich. All archives, historical and revolutionary museums, document repositories and other similar institutions, as well as private individuals who had Lenin's manuscripts or any documents about him, were required to submit all this material to the Institute .28 Similar resolutions were adopted by the Central Election Commission and the Council of People's Commissars of a number of Union republics. All these decisions played an important role in organizing the collection of Lenin's literary heritage and materials related to his biography in the Institute's archive and library.

In 1924-1925, the Institute took the first steps to systematize and critically study the published memoirs of V. I. Lenin, as well as archival documents. Work began on compiling a calendar of V. I. Lenin's life by year. In 1924-1925, a brief excerpt from this calendar, prepared by A. Ya .Arosev, a member of the first Council of the Institute, was published in three editions. 29 It included the most important facts of the life, political and literary activity of V. I. Lenin. A similar work was published in Leningrad in 1924,30 It was highly appreciated by A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova for attracting a large amount of deeply studied material, both printed and archival. Anna Ilyinichna called the book useful, "very valuable and meeting the urgent need"31 . These works were the first basis for the Institute to create a biography of V. I. Lenin.

N. K. Krupskaya's memoirs, which began to be published systematically in 1924 in Pravda and other publications, were of great importance for the coverage of Vladimir Ilyich's activities. As for a number of events and facts, her memoirs still remain the only source.

The years 1924-1925 thus marked a transition period from the popularization of Lenin's life and work to the scientific development of his biography. The preliminary work necessary for this purpose has already been started by the V. I. Lenin Institute. In 1926-1929, the Institute continued this preparatory work. All his attention during these years was focused on fulfilling the main task assigned to him by the party-the scientific preparation and publication of V. I. Lenin's literary heritage in the second and third editions of his Works. This was also of great importance for the creation of a scientific biography in the future. The Institute also continued its work on compiling the calendar of Lenin's life, which was started in 1925. Since the archive was the most complete collection of material for 1921, the calendar began to be compiled from the period January-February 1921. The calendar was prepared by former Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars M. I. Glasser 32 .

The xvth Party Congress (1927), summing up the results of the struggle against Trotskyism and completing its ideological defeat, adopted the proposals of the Central Audit Commission on the preparation of a scientific biography of V. I. Lenin and on the transition of the V. I. Lenin Institute to the position of a party scientific institute.-

28 See ibid., pp. 83-84.

29 A. Ya. Arosev. The main milestones of the life of V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin). A brief excerpt from the calendar of the life of Vladimir Ilyich. l. 1924; his own. Materials for the biography of V. I. Lenin, Moscow, 1925; " The main milestones of the life of V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin). A brief excerpt from the calendar of Vladimir Ilyich's life. " l. 1924.

30 "Biography of V. I. Lenin in dates and numbers", [Comp. V. Kikoin. Edited by P. F. Kudelli]. L. 1924.

31 Proletarian Revolution, 1925, No. 1 (36), pp. 248-250.

32 See " Calendar of V. I. Lenin's work. [January 1921]". "Notes of the Lenin Institute". I. M. 1927, pp. 133-158.

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an investigative institution that organically unites people working in the field of Leninist studies, directs research and publishing work in order to actively protect the ideas of Leninism from all kinds of perversions and distortions .33 To implement these directives, the Institute was reorganized in the autumn of 1929. It included two departments: research and popular science. The first one consisted of a number of research rooms, including a study of the biography of V. I. Lenin. The research department was assigned the task of preparing a scientific biography of Vladimir Ilyich. The year 1929 was marked by a revival of work on the collection, systematization and research of materials for the scientific biography of V. I. Lenin. After the merger of the Istpart with the V. I. Lenin Institute in 1928, the Proletarian Revolution magazine published a number of valuable materials on the biography of Vladimir Ilyich. The first place among them belonged to his letters to his family. They recreated the picture of his life in exile, in the first and second emigrations and were of great importance for the characterization of V. I. Lenin's personality, revealed his attitude to people, the integrity of his nature, habits, inclinations, etc.

While the Lenin Institute conducted preparatory work for the creation of a scientific biography of the leader, the publication of biographical sketches written by individual authors continued. In 1927, a brief biography of V. I. Lenin was published in the newest encyclopedic dictionary, and the seventh edition of the Granat Encyclopedia published his biography written by A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova .34 In 1928, the biobibliographical dictionary of twentieth-century Russian Writers published a biography, Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich (V. I. Ulyanov), 35 which, however, was a poor compilation of the biography published in the Granat Encyclopedia. In 1929, the fourth volume of the Malaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya was published, which included a biographical sketch about V. I. Lenin written by its editor-in-chief N. L. Meshcheryakov. 36 The first experience of creating an artistic biography of Vladimir Ilyich 37 dates back to 1928 . However, the author's biased selection of facts and their excessive generalization, as well as the abundance of errors, made this experience of little value.

By the beginning of the 1930s, a great deal of work had been done to create a source base for in-depth research activities in the field of studying the biography of V. I. Lenin. In 1930, work on the preparation of the second and third editions of his Works was largely completed, and the V. I. Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) began to prepare a scientific biography of the leader. The Cabinet of Scientific Biography of V. I. Lenin drew up regulations on the content, direction and plan of this work, which were published in the Proletarian Revolution magazine (1930) under the title "On the Question of the Scientific Biography of Lenin" and signed by the Director of the Institute V. V. Adoratsky.,

33 See " The Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU (b). December 1927. Verbatim report". Book I. M. 1961, pp. 135-136.

34 A. I. Ulyanova-Elizarova. Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich. [Biography]. "Encyclopedic dictionary of the Russian Bibliographic Institute of Pomegranates", vol. 41, part I. M. 1927. Appendix, stb. 304-326. In 1931, this biography in a slightly modified form was published in a separate edition.

35 " Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich (V. I. Ulyanov)". "Writers of the modern Era", Vol. I. Ed. by B. P. Kozmin, Moscow, 1928, pp. 163-169.

36 "Lenin (Ulyanov), Vladimir Ilyich". Malaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya, vol. 4, 1929, pp. 561-570.

37 Vl. Cherevkov. The great exile. Rabochaya Moskva, No. 89, 14. IV. 1928; his. Let's remember Ilyich. Collective reading at a meeting dedicated to the memory of V. I. Lenin. Moscow, 1929; his. Great lives. Newton, Darwin. Edison. Marx. Lenin, Moscow, 1929, pp. 119-169. The living Lenin. "Literaturnaya gazeta", No. 3, 20. I. 1930.

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NN 1, 2 - 3). They emphasized that the scientific biography of V. I. Lenin should give a comprehensive description of him as a leader and theorist of the proletariat in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolutions.

In August 1930, the V. I. Lenin Institute published the first volume of a six-volume collection of Lenin's selected works, which was preceded by a brief biography of Vladimir Ilyich, written by V. G. Sorin, a member of the Institute's directorate .38 This was the first biography of V. I. Lenin created at the Institute. It was also published as a separate booklet and was reprinted several times afterwards, 39 as it was intended for a wide range of readers. The author set out "to give only the most general and initial idea of the main facts from the biography of Vladimir Ilyich" 40 .

This essay completed a certain period in the development of the biography of V. I. Lenin. It reflected the level of development of historical and party science, the degree of study of Lenin's biography. It gave a correct periodization of the leader's life and activities, paid great attention to the presentation of his teachings, the content of his works, and not only individual books, but also articles. Events and facts were presented accurately, except in isolated cases. The content of the work, however, was affected by the views that had not yet been established on certain problems of the party's history, which were not properly and completely covered. V. G. Sorin does not speak at all about the revolutionary narodniks and V. I. Lenin's attitude towards them, about the difference between liberal narodniks and revolutionary narodniks, but writes about the struggle of Marxists, in particular V. I. Lenin, against the narodniks ' ideology in general, represented by its pillars N. K. Mikhailovsky, S. N. Tolstoy, and others. Krivenko and S. N. Yuzhakova.

At that time, in connection with a number of speeches by V. A. Vaganyan (starting with his article "G. V. Plekhanov's Struggle with Economism", published in the journal "Under the Banner of Marxism", 1922, N 5 - 6), a discussion was held on the role of G. V. Plekhanov and V. I. Lenin in socialism.V. Vaganyan, as is well known, tried to reduce the role of V. I. Lenin to the position of a disciple of G. V. Plekhanov in the democratic movement of the 1890s and in the old Iskra. This was essentially a Menshevik concept. This view also affected to some extent the work of V. G. Sorin, who somewhat exaggerated the role of G. V. Plekhanov in the fight against opportunism. When V. G. Sorin was preparing his work, there was a sharp struggle against Trotsky's theory of "permanent revolution", and the problem of the transformation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one was discussed. The discussion also left its mark on the work of V. G. Sorin. In contrast to the Trotskyist "theory", he emphasized that V. I. Lenin strictly distinguished the bourgeois-democratic revolution from the socialist one. Apparently, in an effort to strengthen this thesis, V. G. Sorin did not stop at Lenin's theory of the bourgeois-democratic revolution developing into a socialist one. V. G. Sorin did not quite correctly cover some other issues, first of all the role of V. I. Lenin as the leader of the international revolutionary movement. They also include the reasons for V. I. Lenin's departure from the Iskra editorial board, the purpose of his trip to Capri in April 1908 to visit A.M. Gorky, his attitude to the Bund, and others. In addition, there were errors and factual inaccuracies in the work of V. G. Sorin.

N. K. Krupskaya's letter to V. G. Sorin dated June 20 has been preserved

38 V. G. Sorin. V. I. Lenin. 1870-1924. Brief biography of V. I. Lenin. Selected works in 6 volumes, vol. I. l. 1930, pp. XI-LXX.

39 V. G. Sorin. V. I. Lenin. 1870-1924. A brief biography. Moscow-L. 1931; ed. 2-E. M.-L. 1932

40 V. G. Sorin. V. I. Lenin. 1870-1924. A brief biography. Moscow-L. 1931, p. 1.

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1930 on the occasion of his work 41 . She believed that for a six-volume collection of Lenin's selected works, " it would be necessary to give a biography of a slightly different type: against the background of events, paying more attention to how Vladimir Ilyich and the whole party reacted to certain events, where and why he led the party. In this biography, Lenin comes to the fore as a writer, a participant in various party conferences, and his role as a thinker, strategist, organizer, and leader of the masses is obscured."42 N. K. Krupskaya also noted that the essay covers the pre-October period, while very little attention is paid to the years after October. This was a common defect in many of Lenin's biographies of that period. N. K. Krupskaya also made a number of comments on the text of the biography. V. G. Sorin took some of them into account in the final version, placed in the first volume of the six-volume book, as well as in subsequent editions of the volume and in a separate (second) edition of the biography, published in January 1932, on the eighth anniversary of the death of V. I. Lenin. In addition, he made other changes, corrections and clarifications, for example, concerning the reasons for the withdrawal of V. I. Lenin from the editorial office of Iskra and some other aspects of his activities. In subsequent editions of the book, the author made a number of additions, especially with regard to the events of 1917.

In 1931, the V. I. Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) and the Karl Marx and Franz Liszt Institute. The Marx - Engels - Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) (IMEL) was merged into the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). The regulations on the Institute, approved by the Central Committee of the Party, stipulated that one of its tasks was "to study and promote the study of the life and work of Marx, Engels, Lenin and their teachings." 43
In connection with the 10th anniversary of Lenin's death, IMEL focused its attention on publishing materials covering his life and activities. In 1933-1934, a special series of memoirs about V. I. Lenin was published, consisting of 25 books and pamphlets. The memoirs of V. V. Adoratsky, A. M. Anikst, Ya. S. Ganetsky, N. P. Gorbunov, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, S. V. Malyshev, M. N. Pokrovsky, N. A. Semashko, I. V. Stalin, S. S. Kamenev, M. I. Kalinin, A. I. Ulyanova-Elizarova and others were published.

A more systematic collection of documents, as well as other materials for the scientific biography of V. I. Lenin for all periods, also began. IMEL has started to deploy in-depth research work in this area. Dates of Lenin's Life and Activity were compiled and published .44 In addition, work was carried out on compiling a biographical chronicle, which represented an even more complete record of facts compared to the above-mentioned publication. Biochronics as a whole was supposed to be the backbone of a scientific biography, which was supposed to be developed and published within four years starting in 1934. In 1934, the chronicle for the period from August 1903 to the end of 1904 and for January - February 192145 was published .

Along with the work aimed at creating a scientific biography of V. I. Lenin, IMEL published several popular scientific biographies of him on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death. Their authors were old Bolsheviks-

41 N. K. Krupskaya apparently got acquainted with one of the proofs of the biography contained in the first volume of the six-volume book. This is evidenced by the coincidence of the pages indicated by her with the pages of her biography in the six-volume book, and also by the fact that V. G. Sorin managed to take into account some of her comments.

42 "Historical Archive", 1957, N 2, p. 32.

43 See " The Marx - Engels - Lenin Institute under the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Report to the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b)", Moscow, 1934, p. 15.

44 "Dates of Levin's life and activity", Moscow, 1931; 2nd ed., ispr. and add. - Moscow, 1933.

45 "V. I. Lenin in the era of the Second Congress and the split of the Party (From the chronicle of life and activity)" [podgot. to pech. P. G. Sennikovsky], Moscow, 1934; " Two months of V. I. Lenin's work. (From the chronicle of life and activity). January-February 1921". Moscow, 1934.

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ki - his associates P. M. Kerzhentsev, E. M. Yaroslavsky, Ts. S. Zelikson-Bobrovskaya 46 and others. In addition, the first attempt was made to create a biography of V. I. Lenin for children 47 . In 1937 and 1938, biographical sketches about Lenin were published in the Malaya (vol.6) and Bolshaya (vol. 36) Soviet encyclopedias.

The largest of these works were written by P. M. Kerzhentsev and E. M. Yaroslavsky. They were written on such a serious basis as the second and third editions of Lenin's Works, 23 "Lenin's Collections", "Letters to Relatives", memoirs of relatives and colleagues. And this, of course, was reflected in their content. In the first work, much attention is paid to the presentation of Lenin's teaching and ideas. It widely cites the works of V. I. Lenin of all periods. This distinguishes the biography written by P. M. Kerzhentsev from all the previous ones. For example, for the first time it not only speaks of Lenin's formulation of the national question, but also sets out his teaching on this question. Unlike V. G. Sorin, P. M. Kerzhentsev expounds Lenin's teaching about the development of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist revolution. The book also shows the activities of V. I. Lenin in 1918-1920. However, even in this work, some of the shortcomings of previous biographies were not completely overcome (in covering questions about the attitude of V. I. Lenin to the Narodniks, etc.).

In 1935, the second revised and expanded edition of this book was published, the volume of which increased almost two and a half times 48 . It significantly expanded the biographical and general historical material describing the main stages of the revolutionary movement and the history of the party. The author took into account the critical comments made by N. K. Krupskaya and other colleagues about the first edition of the book. Nevertheless, in her review of the new edition, N. K. Krupskaya noted the presence of shortcomings and errors in it. Her comments on writing a biography of V. I. Lenin in general are interesting. In the popular biography of political figures, she noted, you need a historical background, coverage of the main historical moments, relations between various party groups should be taken in their development, depending on the historical situation, give a living person and his living environment 49. But it was precisely the living V. I. Lenin who was not shown in P. M. Kerzhentsev's book. The author did not reveal his comradely attitude towards people, his concern for others, and his constant interest in the life of the masses. It showed little of Lenin as a party organizer. The book did not show the living environment of V. I. Lenin. "It cannot be assumed," N. K. Krupskaya wrote in this connection, " that some later joined the Mensheviks or became deviators of some sort, or left the party. You can not depersonalize the environment, you must be able to give it " 50 . Also very important is the idea expressed by N. K. Krupskaya about the need to consider Lenin's ideas in their development, in various connections and mediations, with which V. I. Lenin himself agreed at one time .51
The biography written by E. M. Yaroslavsky, in a number of points favorably differed from the work of P. M. Kerzhentsev. Thus, unlike all previous biographical works about V. I. Lenin, it shows the difference between the liberal narodniks of the 1890s and the revolutionary narodniks of the 1890s.-

46 P.M. Kerzhentsev. The Life of Lenin, Moscow, 1934; E. M. Yaroslavsky. Biography of Lenin, Moscow, 1934; ed. 2nd - Moscow, 1934; Ts. S. Zelikson-Bobrovskaya. A brief sketch of the life of V. I. Lenin in the years of Tsarism, Moscow, 1934.

47 D. Gurevich. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. A brief biography for older children, L. 1934.

48 P.M. Kerzhentsev. Life of Lenin, 2nd ed., reprint. and add. M. 1935.

49 "New documents of N. K. Krupskaya about the life and work of V. I. Lenin". Voprosy istorii CPSU, 1964, No. 2, pp. 67-68.

50 Ibid., p. 68.

51 See ibid., pp. 68-69.

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The struggle against the first populists of the 1870s is revealed. The book was written by E. M. Yaroslavsky in a fairly simple language, which made it accessible to a wide range of readers, although the chapters devoted to the pre-October period were somewhat descriptive in nature. The author did not use memoirs, and this would have enlivened the presentation and made the image of Vladimir Ilyich more impressive. But the work of E. M. Yaroslavsky was not free from the typical lack of all biographies of V. I. Lenin published before: the post-October period was very briefly covered in it.

The book of E. M. Yaroslavsky was repeatedly reprinted 52 . Its second edition (1938) differed from the first primarily in that it reinforced Lenin's struggle against Trotskyism and emphasized Lenin's theory of the transformation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one. At the same time, the book of E. M. Yaroslavsky, as in part P. M. Kerzhentsev, was influenced by some misconceptions that have become widespread since the mid-30s. This was especially true in its second and subsequent editions. The book of E. M. Yaroslavsky dogmatically reflected a number of provisions of the " Short Course of the history of the CPSU (b)", published in 1938. As a result, the role of V. I. Lenin as the founder and leader of the Communist Party, the inspirer and organizer of the socialist revolution, the founder of the Soviet State, and finally as the great luminary of Marxist-Leninist science was belittled. Other biographies of V. I. Lenin published at that time also suffered from this main drawback.

In 1942, IMEL published a short essay on the life and work of V. I. Lenin, 53 which was reprinted four times between 1943 and 1946. Moreover, in 1944, in addition to the usual year, a colorfully designed edition was published, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the death of V. I. Lenin. This book was published during the heroic struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders and was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Therefore, it focused on revealing Lenin's theory of the socialist revolution and the role of V. I. Lenin as the inspirer and organizer of the October Revolution and the victories of the Soviet people during the civil war and military intervention. For the first time, the biography also expounded the philosophical teaching of V. I. Lenin. The authors used published and unpublished Lenin documents.

However, the content of this biographical sketch was also influenced by the" Short Course in the History of the CPSU (b)": Lenin's main works, the struggle against the Narodniks, legal Marxists and" economists", as well as the most important events in the history of the party were evaluated by quotations from the"Short Course". These estimates were sometimes one-sided, incomplete, and in some cases erroneous. Just as in previous biographies, this book exaggerated the role of J. V. Stalin. There were other shortcomings in it, for example, it took a step back in comparison with the biography written by E. M. Yaroslavsky, when revealing the attitude of V. I. Lenin to the Narodniks. The authors also made some inaccuracies: it was incorrect to say that in Krasnoyarsk in 1897, the city of Vladimir Ilyich allegedly " succeeded under the guise of a coachman... enter the prison and talk to Fedoseyev, who was sitting there. " 54 On the basis of this work, a biography of V. I. Lenin was compiled for the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (vol.24).

52 E. M. Yaroslavsky. Biography of Lenin. L. 1938; M. 1940; M. 1941; M.-L. 1942.

53 " Lenin Vladimir Ilyich. A brief sketch of life and activity", Moscow, 1942.

54 Ibid., p. 38.

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After the Communist Party and its Central Committee took a course to restore and develop Lenin's norms of party life, the question arose of creating a new biography of V. I. Lenin. In 1955, on the 85th anniversary of his birth, the second edition of his biography, prepared by IMEL 55, was published, which was a step forward in the development of this problem. It outlined a turn towards eliminating from the biography of V. I. Lenin the misconceptions that had become widespread in previous years. V. I. Lenin was introduced to the reader as a true leader and organizer of the October Revolution. The book clearly stated that the revolution was carried out according to the plan developed by him. V. I. Lenin was described as the direct organizer of the victories of Soviet Russia in 1918 - 1920. In this edition of the biography, new Lenin materials were used for the first time ("On the so-called question of Markets", "Beware of spies!"), memoirs of I. V. Babushkin and others, and some errors and inaccuracies made in the first edition were corrected. At the same time, even in this edition, a number of important Lenin's program provisions were insufficiently disclosed, including on the strategy and tactics of the Marxist parties, on the national question, on the variety of forms of transition to socialism, and the features of V. I. Lenin as a person and his constant connection with the people were not shown with due completeness. Some chapters of the book were written very dryly.

The shortcomings of the second edition of Lenin's biography were noted in the special resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the new edition of the biography of V. I. Lenin" of August 31, 1956. The Central Committee of the Party considered it necessary to prepare and publish a new edition of Vladimir Ilyich's biography for the 87th anniversary of his birth, as well as to prepare a popular biography in 1957. The new publications were intended to " show V. I. Lenin as a brilliant thinker and leader of the revolution, who developed the teachings of Marxism in new historical conditions, as the founder of the Communist Party and organizer of the Soviet State, as a teacher of the working people of all countries, and at the same time as a person who embodied the best features of the character of the

A new, more complete biography of V. I. Lenin was published on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his birth. It was written by the author's team consisting of P. N. Pospelov (head), V. E. Evgrafov, V. Ya. Zevin, L. F. Ilyichev, F. V. Konstantinov, A. P. Kosulnikov, Z. A. Levina, G. D. Obichkin and P. N. Fedoseev. Its publication was a significant event in the ideological life of the Communist Party and the Soviet people, a new step forward in the study and coverage of the life and work of V. I. Lenin. It was the first fundamental work that most fully and thoroughly covers the life and activities of the leader: "The Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU and the team of authors,"the introduction said," set out to highlight in this book, simultaneously with the actual biographical data of V. I. Lenin and his most important guiding ideas. " 57 The range of sources used in writing the biography was significantly expanded by new Lenin documents published in the first volumes of the Complete Works of V. I. Lenin, which had already been published by that time. Memoirs and archival documents were used more widely than before. Previously published biographical works about V. I. Lenin, as well as monographic works about him and his teachings, were also taken into account.

55 " Lenin Vladimir Ilyich. A brief biography". Ed. 2-E. M. 1955.

56 See " Handbook of a Party worker "[issue I], Moscow, 1957, p. 356.

57 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biography", Moscow 1960, p. XIV.

page 16

The great advantage of the book was that in it the life and work of V. I. Lenin were described in an indissoluble connection with the growth of the revolutionary movement in Russia. The book reveals more deeply the role of V. I. Lenin as the leader and organizer of the October Revolution, shows his leadership in the struggle of the Soviet people in 1918-1920, reveals his huge role in the creation of the USSR, the development of the plan for building socialism and the main ways of building communism. Lenin's teaching about the party as a leading and organizing force in the struggle for the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the construction of a new social system - communism, and Lenin's teaching about the role of the masses of the people in the construction of socialism and communism-is fully described in the book. For the first time, the authors have shown so fully the significance of the norms of party life and principles of party leadership developed by V. I. Lenin. The book also covers Lenin's principles of foreign policy of the Soviet state, and sets out Lenin's provisions on the peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. The all-conquering power of Leninism is also revealed in the new edition of the biography, and the greatness of the image of V. I. Lenin is shown. Lenin as the leader of the party, of the international communist and labor movement, and as a human being. Throughout the book, a red thread runs through the criticism of bourgeois ideology hostile to Marxism-Leninism, reformism and revisionism.

The second and third editions of this book were published in 1963 and 1967. The second edition included important additions, conclusions and provisions related to the decisions of the XXII Congress of the CPSU. It also includes some new facts revealed as a result of additional study of documents, memoirs and other sources that reveal the image of the leader even more fully. The third edition of the biography of V. I. Lenin did not differ fundamentally from the second, only small inserts were made, a number of clarifications and individual corrections were made.

At the same time, " this book, designed for researchers, teachers, propagandists and party activists , was published in 1960 in a popular biographical essay58, designed for a wide readership. It was written by K. A. Ostroukhova, M. Ya. Pankratova, A. P. Smirnova and E. N. Stelliferovskaya under the editorship of G. D. Obichkin. This book briefly covers the main stages of Lenin's life and activity and the most important issues of his teaching. In 1963-1970, the second and sixth editions of this book were published, and the fourth and sixth were published specifically for the party education system. In addition, the fourth and sixth editions were also released in a small format. Each edition was updated with new data, facts and documents.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth, the fourth edition of the scientific biography of Lenin was published .59 Compared to the previous ones, it makes much more complete use of the materials of the Complete Works of V. I. Lenin, as well as such sources as memoir literature and archival materials. The authors ' team has taken into account a wide range of scientific and research literature. All this made it possible to show more fully the activities of V. I. Lenin, to reveal more vividly his living image as a leader and a person, which enhances the educational significance of the biography, especially for young people. The new edition covers more fully those aspects of V. I. Lenin's teaching and his ideas that are most relevant today. These include questions about the essence of the principle of proletarian internationalism, about the relations between countries that have embarked on the path of socialist and communist development, about the conditions for the conquest of political independence and economic independence by the peoples of colonies and semi-colonies

58 " V. I. Lenin. A brief biographical sketch", Moscow 1960.

59 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biography". Ed. 4-E. M. 1970.

page 17

and progress in social development, on the possibility for backward countries of transition to socialism, bypassing the capitalist stage of development.

The study of V. I. Lenin's biography continues. New materials and facts are identified, collected and published, and only in the five years that have passed since the completion of the Complete Works of V. I. Lenin in 1965, 359 previously unknown Lenin documents were received by the Central Administration of the IML under the Central Committee of the CPSU.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth, another XXXVII Lenin Collection was published, in which 507 works and documents of Lenin were published for the first time, including several speeches, speeches, and interviews that complement our understanding of Lenin's multifaceted activities on many issues.

Recently, a number of valuable publications of documentary sources have been prepared and published that contribute to further study of the life and work of V. I. Lenin: "Letters to V. I. Lenin from Abroad", "Correspondence of the Ulyanov family" and others. The publication of memoir literature about the leader continues. Five volumes of Memoirs of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin have been published. A large number of studies have been published in the form of collections, monographs, and articles. The appearance in the press of each new Lenin work or document about Vladimir Ilyich enriches the study of Lenin, more fully reveals to us the individual aspects and facets of Lenin's teaching, events and facts from his life and activities.

At present, the IML under the Central Committee of the CPSU has resumed work on the preparation of a complete biographical chronicle of V. I. Lenin. In it, year after year, month after month, day after day, hour after hour, all the events and facts of the leader's theoretical, journalistic, political and organizational activities are recorded. Links to sources are provided for each fact. The first volume of the biographical chronicle is already out of print 60 . It is expected to contain three to five times as many facts as the Dates of Lenin's Life and Work, which are attached to the volumes of the Complete Works. This will be a fundamental multi-volume publication. It will serve as a valuable basis for further, even more in-depth development of the scientific biography of V. I. Lenin.

In an age of tumultuous revolutionary events, when every passing day brings new successes in the development of the world revolutionary process, in the struggle for the victory of socialism and communism, and sets new tasks, the communist and workers ' parties and workers of all countries consult Lenin again and again, reread his immortal works, and turn to the pages of works about his life and struggle. The new tasks of communist construction and the international revolutionary and communist movement constantly require close attention, first of all, to those problems of Lenin's teaching and aspects of its activity that help to better understand these problems and find the most correct ways to solve them. Therefore, the development of the biography of V. I. Lenin is a continuous process.

The main immediate task is to continue work on expanding, enriching and further updating the scientific and popular biographies of V. I. Lenin. In addition, until recently there was no complete book for children that would acquaint them with the life and work of V. I. Lenin. This gap is filled to some extent by M. Prilezhaeva's book " The Life of Lenin "(Moscow, 1970). It tells about individual episodes of Ilyich's childhood and youth, his revolutionary struggle and activities as head of the government of the world's first Soviet state. Written vividly and interestingly,

60 " Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Biographical Chronicle", Vol. I. 1870-1905, Moscow, 1970.

page 18

the book is intended for children of primary school age. However, it is still somewhat complex for them, and much of it needs additional clarification. Therefore, it can be considered more accessible to children of secondary school age. The appearance of this book does not remove the task of writing a biography of V. I. Lenin for children, which would tell in an accessible form about his life, about revolutionary and state activities, and in a certain system and without skipping certain important periods, as was the case in M. Prilezhaeva's book. Especially important is the task of creating a biography of V. I. Lenin for students of high school classes, vocational schools, special secondary schools and working youth, which would attract them and be read with exciting interest.

Biographies of Vladimir Ilyich, as a rule, are the first books through which the broad masses of the working people of our country and foreign countries get acquainted with the activities of V. I. Lenin and his teachings. A full, truthful and historical account of Lenin's life-long exploits and his intense theoretical, political and organizational work, as well as his teaching, which has been proven correct by the entire course of historical development, is of great importance for the activities of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the fraternal Communist and workers ' parties, and for the education of working people, and especially young people, for a correct understanding of the role of individuals, parties, and classes in history.

page 19


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