Among Internet users, a quote attributed to the leader of the Bolsheviks is popular, which is often used to criticize people who have left their country. We checked whether it is found in Lenin's texts.
In early August 2022, this quote Lenin is a politician Mikhail Svetov And Telegram channel "Nezigar" They commented on a encouraging letter that political scientist Ekaterina Shulman* sent politics to Ilya Yashin*. In a similar context, the statement was used earlier: for example, at the end of August 2020, the eadaily publication mentioned the phrase attributed to Lenin when Critical Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who advocated the continuation of mass protests in Belarus from Vilnius.
According to some Internet users, the phrase that interests us is contained in one of the letters of Lenin, which he sent from abroad to Russia. All the well -known letters of the leader of the world revolution, as well as its other texts, were included in the complete works, consisting of 56 volumes. In digital form it Available On the website of the Russian National Library.
In Zurich Lenin lived From February 1916 to April 1917, later it was from there that he headed through Germany to Russia. Written in these 14 months represented In the 49th volume of complete works. We also studied all other well -known texts written in the time spent by Lenin in Zurich - they entered 27th, 30th And 31st Tom.
Judging by the letters presented in the 49th volume, Lenin, while in Zurich, actively corresponded with his correspondents throughout Europe-letters were sent to Bern, Geneva, Paris, Vienna, Stockholm, Christiania (now Oslo) and other European cities. However, the “hard labor in Siberia”, like Russia as a whole, the author of the letters deprived of attention - recipients with a similar “address” in this volume were not presented. Lenin did not use the word “hotel” in these letters at all, and the hotel is mentioned, for example, in letters to Moses Kharitonov - the leader of the Bolsheviks still went to Zurich and asked to advise the hotel cheaper.
The traces of the phrase of interest to us could not be found in other volumes covering 14 months of Lenin’s life in Zurich. However, since we are talking about a hotel, it is worth checking earlier letters - in this and other Swiss cities, Lenin has been repeatedly for various reasons. Although in letters until 1916, Zurich was mentioned many times, regret that he was in the hotel, and not at the Siberian hard labor, Lenin did not write anything. This quote could not be found either in the academic works dedicated to Lenin, or in the memoirs of his correspondents.
The earliest mention of the phrase “I am with you with you, in hard labor in Siberia, and with the body, unfortunately, here, in Zurich in the hotel” we found in Livejournal - her Used In his comments in September 2007, a user under the nickname Mortang. Until 2012, this phrase was generally quite rare. For example, in 2009 it I quoted The user of the “Mail.ru” service - he brought this phrase with his question: “I am with you ... And your soul with whom?” In early 2010, Livejournal user I used it Allegedly, the Leninist phrase, talking about his departure to Bali Island. Four times the statement attributed to Lenin, mentioned Twitter users (one of them doubted the correctness of such an attribution), and only once - a user "VKontakte".
Starting since 2012, they began to use a quote more actively - for example, judging by LJSearch, on Livejournal it brought Already in ten publications. Then the phrase (probably for the first time) appeared in the media - the magazine "City" Published Interview with Moscow activists who "arbitrarily improve the urban environment." A quote in this publication was brought by one of the interlocutors of the journalist who left for Amsterdam.
Thus, the phrase attributed to Lenin about “hard labor in Siberia” and “hotel in Zurich” does not have any works of the leader of the Bolsheviks, nor in the memoirs of his contemporaries, nor in academic texts dedicated to the leader. On the Internet, the quote appeared no later than the fall of 2007, became relatively known in the 2010s, and actively used-just a few years ago. Probably, attributing quote to Lenin was initially comic in nature, but later some users of social networks began to perceive it seriously.
*Russian authorities They think Ekaterina Shulman and Ilya Yashin by foreign agents.
Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons
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