p Early in May 1889 the Ulyanovs went out to a farm near the village of Alakayevka in Samara Gubernia, and in the autumn moved to Samara (now Kuibyshev)^^6^^. Meantime the secret police had succeeded in tracking down the Kazan revolutionary study-circles. In July Nikolai Fedoseyev was arrested and imprisoned along with several members of the circle which Lenin attended. It was only by a lucky chance his departure from Kazan-that Lenin escaped an arrest.

p Lenin had to do something to earn a living. In the course of May and June he advertised in Samarskaya Gazeta: “Former student seeks a lesson. Place away from home no obstacle. Write V. U., c/o 23 Yelizarov, Voznesenskaya Street, house of Saushkina.” There was a note on the list of persons under police surveillance to the effect that Ulyanov made a livelihood in Samara by giving lessons.

p Unable to enter the university either in Russia or abroad, Lenin tried to get permission to pass his university examinations without attending lectures. But it was not until the spring of 1890, after several applications had been made, that he received such permission. He began to prepare for his examinations with his customary energy. He made up his mind to take his degree simultaneously with his former Kazan fellow students. To do that, he would have to master the four-year course of university studies in eighteen months of independent work. Lenin drew up a rigid schedule of studies, and strictly adhered to it. In the summer, in Alakayevka, he set up what he called his “work room" in a distant part of the garden, and he would come there after his morning tea, loaded with books and writing materials, and work till nightfall.

p Lenin worked hard, but he knew how to relax as well. In the evenings the house in Alakayevka resounded with music and singing. Lenin often sang together with his sister Olga, who also played the piano accompaniment. He was particularly fond of the song “Our Sea Is Friendless" to the words of “The Swimmer" by the poet Yazykov. He sang with great feeling:

p But the billows carry over
Only those whose hearts are strong!
Courage, brothers, let the tempest
Swifter bear our boat along.

p Lenin’s relatives pointed out that there was nothing wistful about his singing. It always had a courageous note in it and rang like a call for action. Dmitry Ulyanov recalled that one morning, when Olga was playing the Marseillaise, Lenin came into the room and suggested singing the Internationale. In those days this hymn was almost unknown in Russia. The brother and sister started to practise the tune, then sang the whole hymn in French.  [23•*  Lenin had studied music as a child, but then gave it up, a thing he always recalled with regret. He was very fond of music, for which he had an appreciative ear.

p In 1891 Lenin took his examinations in law at the Petersburg University in two stages-in the spring and autumn. He was the only one of all the examinees to receive the highest marks in all subjects, and was granted a first-class diploma. While in St. Petersburg for his examinations, Lenin took the opportunity of contacting the Marxists there, and obtaining through them a supply of Marxist literature.

p Lenin was given the addresses of St. Petersburg Marxists by A. A. Shukht, a close acquaintance of his who, after returning from exile in Siberia, resided in Samara.

p At the close of January 1892 Lenin was called to the bar and in March he began to practise in the Samara Regional Court. He appeared for the defence in court about twenty times during 1892-93. Most of those he defended were poor peasants and artisans.

p His legal practice, however, interested him least of all, his energies being wholly devoted to studying Marxism, to preparing himself for active revolutionary work. At the time of his arrival in Samara there were several illegal study-circles there of revolutionary-minded young people, mostly students. The majority of those circles adhered to the Narodnik trend.

p Quite a few revolutionary Narodniks of the seventies lived in Samara, but nearly all of them had retired from politics by that time. Always eager to learn and take the best and most useful of everything, Lenin spent a good deal of time in talks with Narodnaya Volya veterans, critically assimilating the experience of the revolutionary movement of the past. He showed a keen interest in their stories about revolutionary work, secrecy techniques, and the behaviour of revolutionaries during interrogations and trials. Although he did not share their views, Lenin had a profound respect for these brave, selfless revolutionaries.

p The appearance of this well-educated Marxist had a powerful impact on the revolutionary study-circles of Samara. With his characteristic ardour and ability to win others over to his way of thinking, Lenin started to advocate Marxism in Samara as well.

p In the 1890s the Narodniks turned from revolutionary fighters against tsarism into moderate liberals. In Samara Lenin began an unrelenting struggle against Narodnik ideology, against liberal Narodniks.^^7^^ He delivered frequent lectures exposing the unscientific nature of the Narodnik views and showing how untenable they were and how they clashed with reality. He lectured to a study- 25 circle, which included workers of the Samara railway depot, on the subject of “The Village Commune, Its Destiny, and the Ways to Revolution”. In 1892-93 he wrote and then delivered in illegal studycircles lectures directed against the leading ideologists of liberal Narodism—N. Mikhailovsky, V. Vorontsov and S. Yuzhakov-and also gave talks on the works of Marx and Engels. His paper on Marx’s book The Poverty of Philosophy roused great interest in the revolutionary study-circles. Lenin delivered his lectures in an atmosphere of sharp ideological struggle. He upheld the Marxist doctrine, skilfully repelling the attacks of his opponents.

p In Samara Lenin translated Marx’s and Engels’ Manifesto of the Communist Party from German into Russian. The manuscript of his translation circulated from hand to hand, was read in the Samara circles and even found its way outside Samara. Unfortunately, this manuscript was lost.

p Lenin closely followed the international events. He rejoiced when the Anti-Socialist Law introduced in Germany in 1878 was repealed under the pressure of the growing working-class movement.

p In 1892 Lenin organised the first Marxist circle in Samara. The circle discussed the works of Marx and Engels - Capital, Anti- Diihring, The Condition of the Working-Class in England, the works of Plekhanov and others. All the Marxist literature that could be obtained in Samara at the time was studied and discussed. The circle members carried on active propaganda of Marxism. Lenin often lectured in the circle on questions of Marxist theory and read articles which he wrote on the subject. During his stay in Samara he wrote several articles, among them, according to the testimony of the circle members, an article on V. Vorontsov’s book The Destiny of Capitalism in Russia (a fundamental work of liberal Narodism), which has not been found.

p Lenin’s prestige among his followers stood very high. “Simplicity, tactfulness, a zest for life were remarkably combined in this twentythree-year-old man with dignity, profound knowledge, ruthless logical consistency, clear judgement and precision in definitions,”   [25•*  I. Lalayants wrote in his reminiscences.

p Already at that time Lenin displayed a creative faculty of mind in dealing with the problems he was studying. He approached the theory of Marxism with an open mind, and accepted nothing as dogma. He regarded theory as a key to the understanding of Russia’s economic and 26 political situation, and every conclusion he drew from the books he read he tried to verify in practice.

p Equipped with the Marxist scientific method, Lenin made a profound and thorough study of Russia’s economy. He collected and analysed a vast amount of data on peasant farming, especially Zemstvo^^8^^ statistics. He set forth his analysis and conclusions first in a lecture to the study-circle and then in an article entitled "New Economic Developments in Peasant Life”, which he wrote in the spring of 1893. It was the earliest theoretical work of Lenin that has reached us. It shows that Lenin was already well versed in Marxist theory, and used it competently in his study of the life of Russia’s peasants. Lenin showed that while the Narodniks denied the development of capitalism in Russia, capitalism was growing with irresistible force, and that a process of profound economic differentiation was going on among the peasantry, who were splitting up into poor, middle and rich peasants (kulaks). Data cited by Lenin proved the existence of antagonistic classes among the “communal” peasantry, whom the Narodniks idealised.

p The sound knowledge of peasant farming which his study of the countryside had given him was to stand Lenin in good stead in his subsequent theoretical researches. It equipped him with extensive authentic factual data which gave him ample material for profound scientific generalisations and conclusions, and for a devastating criticism of Narodnik views.

p Lenin’s activities were not confined to Samara. He was in touch with a number of towns in the Volga region. A number of people came to Samara from Saratov, Kazan and other Volga towns to study the new, Marxist doctrine. In this manner, the Volga region began to play an important part in spreading Marxist ideas in Russia.

p Lenin corresponded with Fedoseyev who was living in Vladimir at the time. They exchanged views on Marxist theory and on the economic and political development of Russia. In 1893 Lenin received from Fedoseyev, then again in prison, a manuscript dealing with the causes of the fall of serfdom in Russia. The manuscript, with Lenin’s marginal notes, was read and discussed by the members of the Marxist study-circle. This correspondence between Lenin and Fedoseyev went on for a number of years but, unfortunately, it has not been found. Lenin had a deep affection for his like-minded friend. Many years later he wrote: “Fedoseyev played a very important role in the Volga area and in certain parts of Central Russia during that period; and the turn towards Marxism at 27 that time was, undoubtedly, very largely due to the influence of this exceptionally talented and exceptionally devoted revolutionary.”  [27•* 

p Kazan and Samara were very important landmarks in Lenin’s life and activity. It was in those years that his Marxist convictions crystallised. The Samara period was a period of mustering strength before coming out into the broad arena of revolutionary struggle. He longed to have full scope for revolutionary work. He wanted to be in a major industrial centre with a numerous proletariat.

In August 1893, with this aim in view, he left Samara for St. Petersburg.