The Lenin State Library of the USSR LENIN AND LIBRARY ORGANISATION fn) Progress Publishers Moscow Translated from the Russian Designed by Alexei Ostromentsky Compiled by K. I. Abramov Editorial Board: N.S. Kartashov (editor-in-chief), K. I. Abramov, B. P. Kanevsky, I. P. Osipova, V. V. Serov, N.I. Tyulina B. MW. JIEHHH MW BUBJIMOTEYHOE JEJIO Ha an2autickom A3v1Ke VYXTHKTMCVBOy3aporu nnxpaa.aaoxcv-jNTiwxiouele3i e toen0cicry.1bxa8Top41 cuM.R a9T i H9e Bia2n, H G31T H3o3aHbfP,piana2iie M5ooTmtn.ecemm 2a.Hn2mmx Hb.Trrrp0c uoepp9TTp.splasa8aea ,bMb2wxx 3k.aupt /oTynoN,amcp T5 oTOc l2meku0ooMob5naAMdrr . Cmac opTuet a9cBJtK xfpau.O3HT .uva eW aonCxKC. co3aH T«arpOaB[x 4x3H “a pYu mT3oC3xk eorHaKowOnpcaHNsTBeueTuM.OH cbKmr .po Hop 9r»Os1aTo n3M6ueeb..B yy 0xHm .8nT ..Tpln8oO oiBue3,.cp e.nm ry caaomFkM1 . BPano 1uiop,c1K Ki3cpxn.o 4pTmpp +uyasHa06rp ,et.,1pe .w 1noH TanoMH8oxsao1r4mctgu1xo.oy9 pax 0pniie2 1iat10NcKa ,p8e.aHx1 Oe./,pM B3r 3KeH2.sk63.HnTm1 .yeyaee 76xenx T1.Box t.oa.Kny o mcamMpk acuO uYrapCpioamuaJtzCK .xT ,eoC uo nmoPnnakuyc Oap t9x6.e3 e-y.ut tOTsxnuTpepaoTsa y.aa ap M,oCj. s1e C1Noi,eCr8 aM19Po.m7.1 . . © Wsnatenpcrso «Kuura», 1977 English translation of the abridged Russian text ‘© Progress Publishers 1983 Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1 0103000000-623 35 g3 014(01)-83 Contents Page ay eface oo. eee ee ee 9 Party Organisation and ‘Party Literature. . Coe eee 15 LENIN ON LIBRARIES IN RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES BEFORE THE GREAT OCTOBER SOCIALIST REVOLUTION * from Notes to the Russian Translation of History of Trade Unionism, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Translated from the English by Vladimir Ilyin, Vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1900; Vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1901 . . 21 ‘To Volume I [March, not earlier than 8 (20)- -August 16 (28), 1898] 21 To Volume II [Beginning of September 1899-January 19 (31), 1900]. 22 On Behalf of the Central Committee of the Russian Social- Democratic Labour Party . . 23 Statement by the Group of Founders of the RSD. LP. _ Library at Geneva. . . 23 From a Letter To Maria Andreyeva Co ee ee 24 Yo V. A. Karpinsky . . 24 The Character and Organisational Forms of. Party Work. From Resolutions of the Sixthh (Prague) All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.LP. . . Loe Lo 25 To Maxim Gorky . foe 26 From Organisation of the Masses by the German Catholics... 27 from Cheap Meat for the “People”... 28 * Excerpt from the Bulletin of the New “York Public. Library, 1912, No. 2. [Bibliographical, Statistical and Other Excerpts and Notes on Various Questions] . . . 28 What Can Be Done for Public Education. 29 {nsertion for N. K. Krupskaya’s Article “On the Question «o f the Policy of the Ministry of Public Education”. . . 31 From a Letter To 8. G. Shahumyan . . 32 Book Review. N. A. Rubakin, Among Books, “Vol. I, Nauka Publishers, Moscow, 1913. Price 4 rubles. Second Edition. . . 33 * Translated by Richard Dixon. LENIN ON LIBRARY ORGANISATION IN SOCIALIST SOCIETY The Tasks of the Public Library in Petrograd. . . . + * Instruction on the Transfer of the Reference Library to the Smolny Library Organisation. Draft Decision for the C.P.C. . . * To the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum... . -- * Telegram to the Petrograd Library Department of the People’s Commissariat for Education. . . - sos + os toe ee To the Library Section of the Commissariat for Education . To A.N. Prokofiev. ©.) ee tt tt Telegram to A. P. Kudryavtsev Co Speech at the Second Conference of Heads of Adult Education Divisjons. of Gubernia Education Departments, January 24, 1919. 6 The State of Library Service. Draft Decision for the C.P.C. . To the People’s Commissariat of Education. . . - - = - From Draft Programme of the R.C.P.(B.) . Protection Certificate for V.1. Taneyev. . - - - + + sas Speech of Greeting, May 6. First All-Russia Congress on Adult Education, May 6-19, 1919... . - ee ee ne * Amoenn dSmceiennttsif ic anLdi brAadrdiietsi.o ns . to 6t.he Dr- aft eeeR esoleuot ion tto f the Ct.Pt.tC. * From Remarks on the Draft Decree on Requisitions and Confisca- tions. To M.N. Pokrovsky . . - ) 5 + eo te to tt * Draft Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on Handing Over Whiteguard Literature to the People’s Commis- sariat for Education for Safekeeping and Public Use in State Libraries with an Amendment and a Mark by V. I. Lenin . Telegram to G. Y. Zinoviev. re To the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum... - - 7 * Additions and Amendments to the Draft Decree of the C.P.C. on Centralisation of Library Organisation Written by Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya. ©.) - eee poe ts From Theses on Production Propaganda (Rough Draft) . To D. B. Ryazanov . Co From a Letter To D.B. Ryazanov. . . - - ee ee ge * Marks on the Article by F. Dobler “The Modern Library Sys- tem” in the Newspaper Pravda, No. 24, February 4, 1921. From Instructions of the Central Committee to Communists Work- ing in the People’s Commissariat for Education . . From The Work of the People’s Commissariat for Education . To A.M. Lezhava. 2). 6 ee ee To A. V. Lunacharsky, M. N. Pokrovsky and Y. A. Litkens . * To the State Publishing House. . . - - - + + +: > To ¥.A. Litkens. 2 6. 2 ee Draft Decision for the C.L.D. on Local Economic Conferences, on Reporting and on Complying with the Instructions of the From instructions of the Council of Labour and Defence to Local Soviet Bodies. Draft . Coe Loe “To N.L. Meshcheryakov . . - . eee toe te tt From Speech on Local Economic Bodies Delivered at a Sitting of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, May 30, 1921 * To N. P. Gorbunov (Note on a Letter from the Hlinois Univer- sity Library, U.S.A... Letter to G. Y. Zinoviev and Instructions to the Secretary . A Note to E. Varga and Theses on the Organisation of an Information Institute on Questions of the International Labour Movement . rrr re To A.V. Lunacharsky . . Draft Decision for the Politbureau of the C.C. RCP. (B.) oc n the Free Sale of Books from Moscow Warehouse Stocks . * Note on a Letter of D. B. Ryazanov . . To the Foreign Literature Committee . * To People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, Records Bureau, All-Russia Extraordinary Commission, People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs, Comintern, C.C. R.C.P.(B.) . Fyrom The New Economic Policy ‘and the Tasks of the Political Education Departments. Report to the Second All-Russia Congress of Political Education Departments, October 17, 1921.0. « foe Desirable Literature (Publications from Germany) . * Assignment to N. P. Gorbunov . foes To the Foreign Literature Committee. . . * To A. V. Lunacharsky, M. N. Pokrovsky, YA. Litkens . * To V.M. Molotov, A.S. Yenukidze, M. 1. Kalinin . Preface to 1. 1. Stepanov’ s The Electrification of the R.S.F.S.R. and the Transitional Phase of World Economy . To the Presidium of the Socialist Academy . from Decree on the Functions of the Deputy Chairmen of the Council of People’s Commissars and of the Council of Labour and Defence . . Letter to A. V. Lunacharsky and Assignment to V. A. Smolyaninov From Pages from a Diary . Coe ee From On Co-operation . LENIN’S RESEARCH WORK IN SOVIET AND FOREIGN LIBRARIES * fo the Director of the British Museum . From a Letter To His Sister Maria. . . * To the President of the Société de Lecture, Geneva . * To The Manager of the Bibliotheque N2 ationale, Paris . From a Letter To M. V. Kobetsky . To L. B. Kamenev . : From a Letter To Isaac A. “Hourwich : From a Letter To His Sister Maria . From a Letter To Inessa Armand. . From a Letter To V. A. Karpinsky . From a Letter To His Sister Maria . From a Letter To G. Y. Zinoviev . From a Letter To M. M. Kharitonov . from a Letter To His Mother . | from a Letter To G. Y. Zinoviev . * To the State Library in Berne. . From a Letter To V. A. Karpinsky . * From a Letter To Inessa Armand . From a Letter To Inessa Armand. . . . -.- +e eee 119 * List of Books and Request for Information on the Rules of Public Library. - - 6 ee ee et 120 * Certificate for V. V. Adoratsky. .. -. - 121 * Telegram to the Kazan University Library . 121 * Note to the Secretary. . . Loe es 122 To V. D. Bonch-Bruyevich . 122 122 * To the Socialist Academy . * To N.N. Krestinskky. 2... eee ee te 123 * Note to the Librarian and Marks on the Register of Books and Pamphlets Received from Abroad. . . - - - +: 124 * To the Rumyantsev Museum. . - - +. - + : 125 Froa mLett er To N.P. Gorbunov. . . . - + + ee etl: 125 From a Letter To the Heads of All Central Establishments and Organisations Cn 126 127 To Lydia Fotieva . 127 To His Sister Anna . DECREES AND RESOLUTIONS OF THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT ON LIBRARY ORGANISATION AND BIBLIOGRAPHY * From Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on Organising a Central Board of Archives and Libraries, and Also on Creating Archives and a Library of the History of the Revolutionary Movement in Russia . Soke ee 131 * Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on Uniting Instructional and Educational Institutions and Establishments of All Departments in the Department of the People’s Commissariat for Education . . . . - .- + ee + es 132 * Telegram Summoning to Moscow Representatives of Petrograd Libraries for a Conference on Centralisation of Library Orga- 133 nisation . 2. ee ee * Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on Safekeeping 133 of Libraries and Book Depositories of the RS.F.S.R.. . * Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Draft 134 Decree on the Library Information Bureau. . . . ... - * Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Pro- cedure for Requisitioning Libraries, Book Depots and Books * Resionl uGteinoenr alo.f the 2. Co2.u nc6 il eeo f Peeopelee’ s Commissars on the Release 135 of Funds for the General Library of the Supreme Economic Council. 2 2. 0. 6 eee 136 * From Minutes No. 241 of the C.P.C. Sitting of January 2, 1919 Signed by V.I. Lenin. ©. - - © eee ee 136 * Fro1m9 19 MiSniugtneesd Nboy. V2.4I5. oLf enthie n.C..P..C . -S itteieng oef e Janutarey s1 4, 137 * Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars_ on Publica- tion by the Library Department of the Peo le’s Commissariat for Education of Data on Fulfilment of the Resolutions of the Council of People’s Commissars on Library Reorganisa- 137 tion * Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Ap- 6 pointment of a Commission to Work Out Measures for More Energetic Implementation of the Decrees of the Council of People’s Commissars on Library Organisation. . 138 * C.P.C. Resolution on the Granting of Funds to Expand ‘the Library Staff of the Rumyantsev Museum . 139 * Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on Scien- tific Libraries . 139 Resolution of the Council of People’ s Commissars on the Release of Funds to the Theatre Department of the People’s Commis- sariat for Education for Archive, Library and Museum Work 141 Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on Handing Over Whiteguard Literature to the People’s Commissariat for Education for Safekeeping and Public Use in State Libraries 141 Telegram to the Public Education Departments of the Gubernia Executive Committees. . 142 * Resolution of the Council of People’ s Commissars on the Distribution of Literature . 143 Decree of the Council of People’ s Commissars on the Nationali- sation of Stocks of Books and Other Printed Matter . 144 Decrée of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Transfer of the Organisation of Bibliography in the R.S.F.S.R. to the People’s Commissariat for Education . . 145 “ Certificate for V. I. Sreznevsky . . 146 Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on Centralisation of Library Organisation in the R.S.F.S.R. . 148 * Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Proce- dure for Acquiring and Distributing Foreign Literature . 149 Decision of the Council of People’s Commissars on Provision of the Rumyantsev Museum with All Published Printed Works and Other Material . 151 Decree of the Council of People’ s Commissars on the Procedure for Acquiring Foreign Literature by State Institutions. 152 Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on the Carriage- free Sending of Freight and Parcels Containing Printed Matter from Printshops to the Central Book Chamber and from the Chamber to Book Depositories. . 153 REMINISCENCES OF VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN Krupskaya N. K. Lenin’s Work in Libraries. . Karzhansky N.S. Lenin at the Fifth Congress of the R.S.D.LP. Bonch-Bruyevich V. D. The R.S.D.L.P. (Library and Archives in Geneva . . Karpinsky V. A. Reminiscences . Bonch-Bruyevich V. D. Lenin and the ‘Library ‘of. the Academy of Sciences . . Lunacharsky A. V. Books to All Parts of Russia . . (From a Speech Made at a Jubilee Sitting to Mark the Sth Anniversary of the Foundation of the State Publishing House) Lunacharsky A. V. Reminiscences of the October Revolution . Pokrovsky M. N. Opening Speech at the First Library Congress of the R.S.F.S.R., July 1, 1924 . Bonch-Bruyevich V. D. On the History of ‘the Organisation of the Russian Central Book Chamber in Moscow . Modestov V. A. A Memorable Conversation . 196 Appendixes Letters to V. I. Lenin and Documents on Library Organisation Written on His Instructions. . . 2. 2...) ee ees 194 Questions of Library Organisation and Bibliography Considered at the Sittings of the Council of People’s Commissars under the Chairmanship of V. I. Lenin . Loe ee 205 Subject Index . 212 PREFACE Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, founder of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and leader of the first Soviet socialist state in the world, devoted great attention from the very first days of the Soviet power to the education of the people, to organising the work of cultural and educational institutions, libraries and reading-rooms. He considered libraries as the most massive and accessible centres of political education of the workers, propagation of knowledge and raising of the people’s cultural and technical level. Lenin’s works, reports and speeches, notes and draft reso- lutions of Party and state organisations contain'a detailed programme for constructing the Soviet socialist system of library services for the people. In Lenin’s opinion the most important condition for creating this system was the princi- ple of party and state guidance in cultural and library con- struction, the leading and directing role of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government in creating an extensive network of libraries and the requisite material and financial basis for organising public use of the library book stocks. As was pointed out in the draft Party Programme drawn up by Lenin, fot the purpose of rendering all-round state assistance in self-education and enlightenment of the workers and peas- ants, educational and enlightenment institutions, libraries and reading-rooms were opened (see pp. 47-48). Direct lea- dership in developing a system of mass and scientific libraries was exercised by the People’s Commissariat for Education, within which were created managing bodies of library organisation: the Scientific Libraries Department, the Library Section of the Extra-Mural Department, and others (see pp. 39-43, 45). Lenin’s teaching on the leading and guiding role of the Communist Party and the Soviet State in socialist construc- 9 tion and library organisation, his statements on the class character of library work, on the subordination of library work to the building of the new, socialist society determined in principle the social role and significance of libraries and shaped their new social functions. Already during the pre-revolutionary period in Russia, V. I. Lenin put forward and grounded the principle of partisanship of libraries, of their active participation in carrying out socialist transforma- tions (see pp. 15, 25-26), criticised the bourgeois assertions on the non-political, non-Party character of library work in a class society (see pp. 27, 33). After the victory of the October Revolution Lenin repeatedly stressed the indis- soluble link of library organisation with the policy of the Party and the government and with the tasks of building socialism and communism (see pp. 44, 47 ef al.). Lenin drew attention to the importance of libraries’ contri- bution to drawing the people into fulfilling state plans for socialist transformation, stressed their obligation to promote scientific and technological progress, the spreading of scienti- fic and technical information, the propaganda, of advanced production experience among the working masses (see pp. 60-61, 90 et al.). After the foreign military intervention and the civil war. during the period of rehabilitation of the national economy, Lenin worked systematically to improve the stocking of libraries, their provision with pamphlets on production, accounts and reports of economic and manage- ment institutions, scientific and technical publications (see pp. 72-73, 75-76, 79-80, 89, 91, 92 et al.). Noting the impor- tance of spreading through libraries scientific and technical literature, publications on production and accounts of econo- mic institutions and conferences, Lenin wrote on April 11, 1922: “‘...unless an increasing number of the population grow accustomed to reading these reports in the libraries, it is use- less talking about transforming this semi-barbarous country into a cultural and socialist one” (see pp. 96-97). Lenin’s statements on the social character of libraries determined the qualitatively new content of their activity di- rected at accustoming the broad masses to reading, at creat- ing the necessary conveniences in libraries, at making libraries accessible to the general public and democratising the forms and methods of library service. Lenin’s demands for promotion of reading among the working masses, “encouragement of new readers, women, children, non-Rus- sians, etc.” (see p. 46), “training the population sufficiently 10