The electronic materials of the Presidential Library tell about V. I. Lenin

April 22, 2017, marks the 147th anniversary of the birth of a politician and statesman Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Presidential Library has collected a large number of various materials on the leader of the world proletariat. There are electronic copies of unique historical documents, rare editions, newspapers, photographs, newsreel footage and much more.

The Presidential Library stock lets users get browsing through the digitized copies of rare books written by Lenin and published as abroad (in particular, the 1903 To the rural poverty, written and printed in Geneva, the famous work “What is to be done?”, published in Stuttgart in 1902), as well as in Russia. These are, for example, “Two tactics of Social Democracy in the democratic revolution” and “Report on the Unity Congress of the RSDLP” of 1905 and 1906. In addition, there are all 30 volumes of published in 1926 Collected works of V. I. Lenin in open access on the Presidential Library website.

Apart from the works of one of the leaders of the 1917 revolution, dedicated to his political activities, there are also books that tell about V. I. Lenin's views on literature and art in the electronic reading room. For instance, in addition to complex multi-page articles, his very short statements or remarks about literature and culture in general are gathered in the collected works of “Lenin on Literature,” published by the “Detgiz” publishing house in 1942. There are even thoughts about “a purity of the Russian language.” For example, such as the following: “We spoil the Russian language. We use foreign words with no such a need for it. Why do we say “the defects” if we can say the shortages or the gaps?”

Among the books from the Presidential Library stock, there are a lot of publications telling about the biography of Lenin, giving a chance to look at the leader through the eyes of his comrades-in-arms. Thus, in his book “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin,” published in the 1920s, Lev Kamenev writes: “Lenin’s thought never differed with the matter,” “he was deeply devoted to his work,” “he had a profound sense of responsibility.” In the library fund Lenin's personality is disclosed in materials written by I. Stalin, A. Rykov, V. Milyutin, K. Radek, F. Dzerzhinsky, J. Sverdlov and others.

About the activities of Vladimir Lenin at a turning point in Russian history can be found out at the exhibition entitled To put it up in such a way so that everything will be new”: to the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which is opened in the Presidential Library. Exhibits, dedicated to the leader of the Bolsheviks, tell of his life in the underground in the summer of 1917. There are a map of St. Petersburg with marked conspiratorial addresses, rare editions with memories of associates about that period, a model of Emelyanov’s barn, some stuff from the famous hut in Razliv and many other things.

Lenin died on January 21, 1924. The Presidential Library presents newsreel footage depicting the farewell to the founder of the Soviet state, which was held on January 24. It shows mourning Moscow, an endless stream of people passing along the coffin of Lenin, the Red Army soldiers in the guard of honor, the funeral procession, as well as the leaders of the revolution - Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Klim Voroshilov.

To date, the Presidential Library's fund includes more than 2,000 storage units dedicated to Lenin. In the future, the number of materials of the “Leninist” collection will be increased.