J. Sverdlov dal carcere: 'mandatemi dei libri… Spinoza, le lettere di Marx, Lassalle, Mehring…'

“The persecution to which he was subjected by the tsarist guards failed to break his fighting, revolutionary spirit. In prison, as always, Sverdlov did much reading. He was always urging his comrades, with whom he was in correspondence, to “send me books”. In March 1911 he wrote the author of these lines (1) “I’d like to know what the book situation is. Were they returned to you or will i get them back? If you are still in ‘Peter’ (St Petersburg – Ed.) when you get this letter, send me a German dictionary, Bebel’s ‘From My Life’ in German – if it is still intact – and Spinoza’s ‘Ethics’ and also Marx’s ‘Letters to Sorge’ and Lassalle’s ‘Letters to Marx’… “I am continuing to read as I used to, although the mind sometimes refuses to grasp one or another idea in all its fullness and clarity. When that happens I get down to more mechanical work, and make excerpts from what I have read. I’m still waiting impatiently for the mathematics text-books. As for myself, you need have no worries; I can put up with confinement very nicely. Thanks to saving (on food) I bought some books for eight roubles and fifty-five kopeks. They include four volumes of Mehring’s ‘History of Surplus Value’ and three others. If only Sergei would send me his copy of Heine. He has a complete collection in one volume, which would be invaluable to me as I can’t have more than three books in my cell, not counting text-books. I have three German books, all of which I’ve read, however, though I still don’t have a dictionary. Rush it along. “I’m not especially worried about the future; I never lose faith that everything will turn out all right, that we still have much to look forward to. There’s no sense in thinking of myself just now; the case will be settled one way or another .- and it is difficult to count upon being together soon. But there’s no use in talking about that…” [Claudia Sverdlova, Jacob Sverdlov, Moscow, 1945] [(1) The authour of this books, C. Sverdlova, is the wife of Jacob Sverdlov. – Ed.] (pag 22-23)