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Lenin speed reading. Technique of reading texts diagonally to acquire speed reading skills

I. Ganichev, “Soviet Siberia”, No. 6 dated January 8, 1939

The publication of “A Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” is of great importance in the ideological life of the Bolshevik Party and our entire country. This remarkable work, created with the close participation of Comrade Stalin, contains a vivid history of Bolshevism and provides a deeply scientific coverage of all the main problems of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory. Studying the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks),” which is a true encyclopedia of Marxism-Leninism, together with a deep study of the brilliant works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, will help our leadership cadres eliminate their theoretical backwardness.

In its resolution “On the organization of party propaganda in connection with the release of the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) emphasized with particular force the need for our leading cadres to master revolutionary theory. “It is a mistake to think,” this resolution says, “that the task of mastering theory is feasible only for a small circle of workers. Mastering Marxist-Leninist theory is a gainful endeavor. It is now, under Soviet power and the victory of socialism in the USSR, that unlimited opportunities have been created for our leading cadres to successfully master Marxist-Leninist theory, study the history of the party, the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin. In order to master the theory of Marxism-Leninism, you just need to show desire, perseverance and strength of character in achieving this goal.” (Emphasis by us. I.G.).

The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) also indicated that the main method of mastering the science of Marxism-Leninism is the method of independent study of the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)” and the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. “...The main method of training personnel in Marxism-Leninism,” says the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, “should be the method of independent study of the history and theory of the Bolshevik Party, tested by the experience of the older generation of Bolsheviks...” (Emphasis by us. I.G.).

The older generation of Bolsheviks, under the most difficult conditions, persistently and constantly studied the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism, independently studied the brilliant works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. The Party calls on all Party and non-Party Bolsheviks to study revolutionary theory as the older generation of Bolsheviks studied it, as Lenin and Stalin studied it.

Lenin was an outstanding follower and continuator of the work of Marx and Engels. He further developed the teachings of Marx and enriched them with new content based on studying the experience of the revolutionary struggle in the new era. Lenin constantly studied the works of Marx and Engels and living life, the practice of revolutionary class struggle. Lenin based all his conclusions on the basis of this study.

Lenin studied the main works of Marx and Engels: “The Communist Manifesto”, “Capital”, “Anti-Dühring”, etc. in his youth. With great difficulty, he obtained these books illegally and carefully studied them. Some of the works of the founders of Marxism had not yet been translated into Russian, and Lenin studied them in German (“Anti-Duhring”, etc.). Back in 1890, Lenin amazed all his comrades with his deep knowledge of Marx and his ability to apply this knowledge to the specific conditions of revolutionary work in Russia. Later, Lenin constantly read and reread the works of Marx and Engels. Lenin often reminded that Marx's teaching was not a dogma, but a guide to action.

Lenin approached the study of the works of Marx and Engels creatively - he studied, first of all, the ideological content of the work and the revolutionary method - materialist dialectics, which Lenin called the “living soul” of Marxism. Reading and re-reading Marx, Lenin seemed to “consult” with the brilliant founder of scientific communism in solving the most difficult theoretical and practical issues of the new historical era.

A remarkable example of how Lenin studied the works of Marx and Engels is provided by his preparatory work for the book “State and Revolution” - Lenin’s notebook “Marxism on the State”, published in the XIV “Lenin Collection” and published as a separate edition.

At the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917, when the approach of revolution was already felt, the question of the attitude of revolutionary Marxists to the state naturally came to the fore. Emphasizing the greatest theoretical and political relevance of this issue, Lenin at this time again carefully studied the works of Marx and Engels and wrote down in his notebook all their statements about the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat. This notebook with Lenin’s extracts from the works of Marx and Engels served as the basis for writing the brilliant book “State and Revolution”. Studying the notebook “Marxism on the State” introduces us, as it were, to the laboratory of Lenin’s creativity and clearly shows Lenin’s methods of working with a theoretical book.

Lenin read with a pencil in his hands and very often made a detailed summary of the book he read. He wrote down in his notebook the most important provisions of the book he was studying, and sometimes in his own words he outlined the main content of one or another section. At the same time, Lenin left large margins on each page for his notes, which he wrote immediately or during subsequent work on the notes. Lenin in his notes did not simply rearrange this or that book. He wrote down his comments, brief and sometimes quite detailed, in which he developed his understanding of one or another issue raised by the author of the book.

In the outline itself, Lenin highlighted the main provisions in various ways. He underlined some places once, others - two, three times, some - with a simple line, others - with a wavy line, some - weakly, others - boldly, etc. Often, in order to specially highlight this or that place in his notes, Lenin wrote it down more in larger handwriting than usual, or enclosed that place in brackets of various sizes and shapes, put it in frames, etc.

In the margins of his notebook, Lenin wrote various marks - question marks, exclamation marks, and wrote short, laconic expressions that clearly reflected Lenin’s attitude to this or that issue. All the margins of his notebooks are covered with numerous laconic expressions: “good”, “very good”, “important”, etc.

So, for example, taking notes on Engels’ article “On the Authoritarian Principle,” Lenin, emphasizing Engels’ expression: “Revolution... is the most authoritarian thing!”, wrote in the margin: "Well said!"(Lenin, “Marxism on the State,” p. 75).

In each book, Lenin paid attention primarily to its ideological content. In the notebook “Marxism on the State,” Lenin, analyzing the statements of Marx and Engels about the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, carefully observes how they develop Marx's ideas as they are concretized on the basis of the experience of the revolutionary movement of the masses. Lenin in his notes always indicates when this or that work of Marx and Engels was written, and emphasizes how the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat was developed depending on the experience of the revolution of 1848 and especially on the experience of the Paris Commune.

Lenin takes notes in detail on Marx's writings on the Paris Commune: he carefully notes all the features of the Paris Commune as a new type of state, as a proletarian state. Lenin lists 19 of these most important signs. As a general conclusion, Lenin notes: “Marx’s main idea: conquest political power the proletariat does not mean taking possession of a “ready-made” state machine, but (1) “breaking up”, destroying it and replacement new. Which new one?

Marx studies experience Communes, he does not invent this “new” power, but studies How revolutions themselves “discover” (“finally discover”, p. 49. ed. 3) it, just as the working-class movement itself approaches this task, how practice begins to solve it." (Lenin, “Marxism on the State,” p. 58). And then Lenin again lists the main achievements of the Paris Commune.

Lenin enriched revolutionary theory with new content based on the study and generalization of experience and the practice of class struggle in new conditions. Lenin discovered the soviets as a state form of dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin emphasized this greatest role of the councils in his summary of the works of Marx and Engels on the state. Outlining Engels’ work “Critique of the Draft Erfurt Program,” Lenin writes: “The bourgeoisie adopted the “bureaucratic-military” state machine from the feudal + absolute monarchy and developed it. The opportunists (especially 1914-1917) grew into it (imperialism, as an era in advanced countries, generally strengthened it enormously). The task of the proletarian revolution: “ BREAK", break down this machine, replace it with complete self-government below, in the localities, and STRAIGHT the power of the armed proletariat, its dictatorship, at the top. How to unite and connect communities? Nothing, say the anarchists... Bureaucracy and the military caste, says (and does) the bourgeoisie... A union, an organization of armed workers ( "Councils of workers' deputies"!), says Marxism." (“Marxism on the State,” pp. 26-27). Lenin emphasized the words “with the advice of workers’ deputies.”

Taking notes on the writings of the opportunists, Lenin makes sharp critical remarks and shows all the baseness and meanness of the traitors to the interests of the working class. In the margins and in the text of his notes one can constantly find such expressions directed at the revisionists: “Wrong, “the pearl of reformism,” “monstrous!”, “vulgarity,” “porridge,” “guard,” etc. He mercilessly criticizes opportunists of all stripes, especially for the revision of the distortion of the revolutionary views of Marx and Engels and shows this distortion in each individual case. He reveals the vile, fraudulent forgeries by the revisionists of the statements of Marx and Engels about the revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat, etc.

At the end of his summary of K. Kautsky’s articles on imperialism, Lenin gave him the following assessment: “Imperialism is the policy of the “economic phase” of finance capital!! Is this what you wanted? A slanderer and a sophist, a rabulist, a chicaneer - that’s who you are! The essence of the matter is avoided by subterfuge.” (“Proletarian Revolution”, 1938, No. 9, p. 181).

So at the end of his summary, Vladimir Ilyich gave a general assessment of the book and its author.

Lenin's notebooks with summaries of the works he read are of exceptional importance. They show the method of Lenin's work and reveal the truly colossal work that resulted in Lenin's brilliant works and all his speeches. It is enough to point out that, while working on his brilliant book on imperialism, Lenin studied a huge amount of literature in various languages (over 600 books, in addition to many newspaper and magazine articles) and wrote several plans for his work. Lenin's notebooks on imperialism (there are 20 of them in total) occupy 4 Lenin collections.

Lenin's Philosophical Notebooks contain summaries of the works of Aristotle, Hegel and Feuerbach. Taking notes on their writings. Lenin expressed his remarks on various issues of science and philosophy. He specifically shows how to “read Hegel materialistically.” That is, use the dialectics of the idealist Hegel to understand and develop Marxist philosophy - dialectical materialism.

Sometimes Lenin, unable to make notes, made notes in the margins of the book (if the book belonged to him). He underlined the most important passages in various ways, and wrote short comments or notes in the margins of the book. At the end of the book, on a spare page, Lenin wrote a general conclusion and sometimes compiled a short index of the most important pages of the book.

Lenin read the most important works, especially the classic works of Marx and Engels, several times. He often looked through his notes, made additions to them, wrote new comments, and compared them with new facts and materials. He often wrote in his notebook, “come back again.”

In his lecture on the state, Lenin especially emphasized the need for a deep study of the works of Marx and Engels. Regarding the study of Engels’ book “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State,” Lenin said: “One should not be embarrassed if this work is not immediately understood after reading. This almost never happens to any person. But by returning to it later, when interest is awakened, you will achieve the point that you will understand it in the predominant part, if not in its entirety.” (Lenin, op. vol. XXIV, pp. 364-365).

When studying the History of the CPSU(b) and the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, we must always remember how Vladimir Ilyich worked with the book. We must study the way Lenin and Stalin studied. With a pencil in hand, carefully study the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks”, the primary sources - the works of the founders of Marxism-Leninism, take notes on what you read, return to questions again and again, expand your understanding of the subject, study reality, see new facts, generalize and analyze phenomena - this is what Lenin’s style of working on a theoretical book teaches us.

Errors OCR rules A.Shilov.

“You should only get acquainted with people equal to yourself. You suffocate in a foreign environment.”

He once described his reading technique this way: “The absorption of thoughts in the process of reading has reached my phenomenal ability. The gaze grasped seven or eight lines at once, and the mind comprehended the meaning at a speed corresponding to the speed of the eyes. Often a single word made it possible to grasp the meaning of an entire phrase.” It is believed that Balzac read through the word. When reading this or that work, he always highlighted the main thing and cut off the unnecessary. Balzac also had a phenomenal memory. His contemporaries mentioned that the writer had all types of memory, clearly remembered words and phrases in conversation, faces, things, as well as places he had visited, read or heard about. In thirty minutes he could read a medium-sized novel, in this he can only be compared with John Kennedy, whose result was the same.

“Freedom without knowledge is always at risk; knowledge without freedom is always in vain.»

John Kennedy constantly developed the technique of speed reading. Before the start of his presidential campaign, Kennedy managed to read a little more than 280 words per minute, but while he was president, his reading speed increased to a thousand words. However, he rarely read documents with such speed. Kennedy easily controlled his speed reading technique and devoted maximum attention to important materials. John Fitzgerald was not the only US president to master speed reading.

“Work so that those tiny sparks of heavenly fire, called conscience, do not die in your soul.”

The first president of the United States not only loved and knew how to quickly read books, but also had oddities. He always read newspapers out loud, which greatly irritated the people around him. He mumbled and listened attentively to the articles. I often reread the same sentence several times. Washington explained his approach to reading the press by saying that in this way he separated true information from the speculation of journalists and the meaning of the articles became clearer.

“Words are a wonderful obstacle, you just need to know how to use them.”

He is called the most widely read of world leaders. He was a voracious reader of books; some sources report that Roosevelt could read an entire paragraph at a glance. Having picked up a book, he always read it to the end, without being distracted for a minute. All his life he studied speed reading with unique fanaticism. It is known that the thirty-second President of the United States began studying this area with fairly average indicators. He constantly worked to increase the area of attention of words: first from four to six and so on, bringing up to eight, and later he only needed one quick glance to assimilate the content of an entire paragraph of average size. Roosevelt read voraciously. Every day the president read several books. He began reading early in the morning, reading a book before breakfast, and if he had no official business in the evening, then two or even three more books. He did not ignore newspapers and magazines, reading them in a matter of minutes. By his own calculations, he has read tens of thousands of books in his entire life. Roosevelt had a phenomenal memory and studied foreign languages all his life. Hundreds of all the books he had ever read were in foreign languages. Also, thanks to his memory, he could quote and retell two or three pages in a minute in great detail. Reading allowed him to easily establish contacts with completely different people. He could discuss any topic and carry on any conversation.

Interesting fact!

In a phrase “I killed my grandmother this morning!” Franklin Delano Roosevelt brought back the attention of his interlocutor, who was distracted from the conversation. Roosevelt was a devoted fan of books and allocated huge amounts of money to the development of the publishing business. He also published his own books, of which there are more than two thousand. Today, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speed reading technique is a separate technique.

Soviet leaders also mastered speed reading techniques and loved books.

“Of course, criticism is necessary or obligatory, but under one condition: if it is not fruitless.”

Joseph Vissarionovich loved to read no less than Franklin Delano Roosevelt; according to some confessions of the translators, during a break between negotiations at the Yalta Conference in 1945, they devoted several hours to talking about reading and books. The daily norm for the “father of nations” was five hundred pages of printed text. At the same time, he could study several books a day. Stalin studied particularly interesting books, making notes in pencil and writing down particularly important points. The leader had at his disposal a huge library of masterpieces of world classics, selected publications, collected works of Soviet authors, collections of Soviet encyclopedias, dictionaries and reference books. Stalin loved to re-read the works of A.S. Pushkin, was interested in his biography and the memories of his contemporaries about the great classic.

Of course, it was impossible to read the entire library. Stalin simply looked through most of the books, which did not prevent him from learning their contents in detail and speaking knowledgeably about the work and its author. He read historical books especially carefully, often rereading them several times. Sitting at a table with several colored pencils, he made notes in the margins, underlined phrases that interested him, and sometimes highlighted entire paragraphs for memorization.

“Working people are drawn to knowledge because they need it to win.”

I read diagonally, but thanks to my excellent memory I could easily retell the page I had just read close to the text. Lenin received the ability to speed read and phenomenal memory at birth; this helped him throughout his life to read and remember a huge number of books, thousands of magazines and articles.

Vladimir Ilyich’s closest collaborator V.D. Bonch-Bruevich said: “Vladimir Ilyich read in a completely special way. When I saw Lenin reading, it seemed to me that he did not read line by line, but looked page by page and quickly assimilated everything piercingly deeply and accurately: after a while he quoted individual phrases and paragraphs from memory, as if he had studied for a long time and specially just read. This is what made it possible for Vladimir Ilyich to read such a huge number of books and articles that one cannot help but be amazed.” And Lenin’s comrade-in-arms, revolutionary P.N. Lepeshinsky noted: “If Lenin read a book, his visual and mental apparatus worked with such speed that it seemed simply a miracle to outsiders. His sensitivity when reading the book was phenomenal.”

Lenin read almost everything: from world literature to serious scientific publications, and with equal success, both in Russian and in foreign languages. Once, to a question from O.B. Lepeshinskaya: “But how do you manage to read page after page so quickly?”, Vladimir Ilyich answered without hesitation that if he had read more slowly, he would not have had time to read everything that he needed to become familiar with. He remembered all the books he read in any language known to him with almost one hundred percent accuracy.

Among revolutionaries, not only Lenin stood out for his excellent memory and speed reading. Nikolai Chernyshevsky also had incredible abilities.

“Learned literature saves people from ignorance, and elegant literature saves people from rudeness and vulgarity.”

Chernyshevsky read at least two books a day. Fluent in several foreign languages. But his most important ability was the ability to instantly switch his attention from one object to another, creating the appearance of maintaining two centers of excitation in brain activity. This phenomenon was studied by Russian academician V.N. Bekhterev; according to him, the public figure had unique brain properties. It was a common and everyday thing for Chernyshevsky to write an article and at the same time dictate to his secretary a translation into German of another work. During his life, Chernyshevsky published more than sixty books of various literary orientations and hundreds of scientific articles.

Russian writers and poets were masters of speed reading, which aroused delight and envy among some of their colleagues.

“I write for myself, but I print for money.”

He had a special love for reading; he could read for days without stopping. Pushkin paid special attention to the biographies of outstanding personalities, whom he knew by heart by the hundreds.

He had a brilliant grasp of history. I remembered all the information that had ever touched and arose in life. Dates, numbers, geographical points, and names, surnames and genealogies aroused special interest in the genius for memorization and study.

“Love a book, it will make your life easier, it will help you sort out the colorful and stormy confusion of thoughts, feelings, events, it will teach you to respect people and yourself, it inspires your mind and heart with a feeling of love for the world, for humanity.”

He read diagonally and was fluent in speed reading techniques. Once, his friend and comrade A.S. Novikov-Priboy spoke about how Maxim Gorky read in his memoirs: “Taking the first magazine, Alexey Maksimovich cut it and began to either read or look through it. Gorky did not read, but seemed to simply glance across the pages, top to bottom, vertically. Having finished with the first magazine, Gorky began to work on the second, and everything was repeated: he opened the page, looked down at it from top to bottom, as if on steps, which took him less than a minute, and so on again and again until he reached the last page . I put the magazine aside and started working on the next one.” Moreover, having started a dispute about speed reading and memorizing what was read with Gorky, A.S. Novikov-Priboy suffered a fiasco. The next day after Maxim Gorky read a large pile of magazines, Alexey Silych conducted a small check, during which it turned out that Gorky not only remembers everything that he read with such ease and speed the day before, but also the plot of the story he read in the magazine, and the train of thought of the author’s critical article. He supplemented everything said with statements and epithets.

“Imagination is a great gift that has contributed so much to the development of mankind.”

He devoted most of his life to literature. He quickly and thoughtfully read books one after another and considered them his “slaves.” Karl Marx said: “Books are my slaves.” He always left notes on every book he read, mercilessly folded corners, and always left bookmarks on important pages.

When discussing outstanding Europeans and speed reading, it is impossible not to mention Napoleon.

“An ignorant person has a great advantage over an educated person - he is always satisfied with himself.”

Reading books from his youth became a vital necessity for him. He read at a speed of two thousand words per minute. One of his habits was to read a sizable book early in the morning. I often took notes on what I read.

Katerina Goltsman

Who learned to speed read? This question is usually of interest to those who want to learn how to read quickly. From those people who have studied and learned speed reading, people want to know about the best exercise that allows them to learn quickly read .

This article talks about how famous people read.

Useful and free information on the site about how to learn to read faster and remember more

Concentrate your gaze on the center. Mark identical blocks with your peripheral vision. The goal is not to find identical blocks as quickly as possible, but to concentrate your gaze on the center of the screen with your peripheral vision and find the necessary information.

Speed reading and Lenin This is what one of V.I.’s closest collaborators says. Lenina V.D. Bonch-Bruevich: “Vladimir Ilyich read in a completely special way. When I saw Lenin reading, it seemed to me that he did not read line by line, but looked page by page and quickly assimilated everything with amazing depth and accuracy: after a while he quoted individual phrases and paragraphs from memory, as if he had studied for a long time and specially just read. This is what made it possible for Vladimir Ilyich to read such a huge number of books and articles that one cannot help but be amazed.” P.N. Lepeshinsky says: “If Lenin read a book, his visual and mental apparatus worked with such speed that it seemed simply a miracle to outsiders. His sensitivity while reading the book was phenomenal.” P.N. Lepeshinsky also conveys the memories of his wife, who sailed with V.I. Lenin on a ship from Krasnoyarsk to Minusinsk into exile and watched as Vladimir Ilyich read a book: “He had some kind of serious book in his hands (it seems in a foreign language). Not even half a minute had passed before his fingers were already turning over a new page. She wondered whether he was reading line by line or just glancing over the pages of the book with his eyes. Vladimir Ilyich, somewhat surprised by the question, answered with a smile: “Well, of course, I read... And I read it very carefully, because the book is worth it.” – But how do you manage to read page after page so quickly? Vladimir Ilyich replied that if he had read more slowly, he would not have had time to read everything that he needed to become familiar with.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the fastest and most voracious readers of any government leader. Various sources report that he was able to read an entire paragraph at a glance, usually completing any book in one sitting. Roosevelt studied speed reading with fanaticism.

It is known that Roosevelt started in this area with average reading speed, which he decided to seriously work on improving. Among his first achievements was to increase the area originally covered by the suspension to four words, which Roosevelt subsequently increased to six and then to eight words.

Balzac's speed reading method

This is how Balzac described his way of reading: “The absorption of thoughts in the process of reading has reached a phenomenal ability in me. The gaze grasped seven or eight lines at once, and the mind comprehended the meaning at a speed corresponding to the speed of the eyes. Often a single word made it possible to grasp the meaning of an entire phrase.”

Chernyshevsky's speed reading skills

Chernyshevsky could simultaneously write an article and dictate a translation from German to his secretary. Bekhterev explains this phenomenon by the ability to instantly switch one’s attention from one object to another, creating the appearance of maintaining two foci of excitation.

As Washington read

Washington read the morning newspapers only aloud. He listened carefully to the text, muttered and disturbed his neighbors. He claimed that reading aloud helped him understand the meaning of the text and separate truth from lies.

Monk Raymond Llull knew speed reading techniques...

An Italian monk who lived in the Middle Ages, Raymond Lullia, proposed a reading system that made it possible to quickly read books, but until the 50s of the last century, speed reading was the lot of a few bright thinkers and politicians who developed this skill on their own. Among the famous people who knew speed reading, it is enough to list such great people as Honore de Balzac, Napoleon, Pushkin, Chernyshevsky, Lenin, John Kennedy.

Speed reading and Martin Eden

“In the narrow closet there were clothes hanging, and there were books that no longer fit either on the table or under the table. While reading, Martin used to take notes, and they accumulated so many that he had to stretch ropes across the room and hang notebooks on them like drying laundry. As a result, it became quite difficult to move around the room. Martin often cooked while sitting, because while the water was boiling or the meat was frying, he had time to read two or three pages.

He worked for three people. He slept only five hours, and only his iron health gave him the opportunity to endure the daily nineteen hours of hard work. Martin didn't waste a single minute. He stuck little pieces of paper behind the mirror frame with explanations of certain words and their pronunciation: when he shaved or combed his hair, he repeated these words. The same leaves hung over the kerosene stove, and he memorized them when he cooked or washed dishes. The leaves were constantly changing. Having encountered an incomprehensible word while reading, he immediately went into the dictionary and wrote the word down on a piece of paper, which he hung on the wall or on the mirror. Martin carried pieces of paper with the words in his pocket and looked at them on the street or while waiting in line at the store. Martin applied this system not only to words. Reading the works of authors who had achieved fame, he noted the features of their style, presentation, plot structure, characteristic expressions, comparisons, witticisms - in a word, everything that could contribute to success. And he wrote everything down and studied it. He didn't try to imitate. He was only looking for some general principles. He compiled long lists of literary techniques observed in different writers, which allowed him to draw general conclusions, and, starting from them, he developed his own new and original techniques and learned to apply them with tact and measure. In the same way, he collected and recorded successful and colorful expressions from living speech - expressions that burned like fire, or, on the contrary, gently caressed the ear, standing out as bright spots among the dull desert of philistine chatter. Martin always and everywhere looked for the principles underlying the phenomenon. He tried to understand how a phenomenon arises in order to be able to create it himself. Martin could only work consciously. Such was his nature; he could not work blindly, not knowing what was coming out of his hands, relying only on chance and the star of his talent. Random luck did not satisfy him. He wanted to know “how” and “why.”

Speed reading and Stalin

Stalin's library contained almost all Russian literary classics: both individual books and collected works. There were especially many books by Pushkin and about Pushkin. His library contained all Russian and Soviet encyclopedias, a large number of dictionaries, especially Russian dictionaries and dictionaries of foreign words, and various kinds of reference books.

Stalin looked through most of his books, and read many very carefully. He read some books several times. Stalin read books, as a rule, with a pencil, and most often with several colored pencils in his hands and on the table. He underlined many phrases and paragraphs and made notes and inscriptions in the margins. Joseph Vissarionovich looked through or read several books a day. He himself told some of the visitors to his office, pointing to a fresh stack of books on his desk: “This is my daily norm - 500 pages.”

Karl Marx made books "slaves"

Karl Marx said: “Books are my slaves” - and he covered the margins of every book he read with marks and notes, folding and folding the pages he needed.

Hitler's Speed Reading System It is curious that Hitler also had his own reading system. In his free time and during unemployment, he indiscriminately devoured political, scientific and technical literature, which in brochures, treatises, pamphlets and quickly torn little books quenches the thirst for knowledge. First, he leafed through the books, usually from the end, and checked whether they were worth reading. If it was worth it, he read exactly what he needed in order to defend in his own way, with other examples, his ideas that had been established since the times of Vienna and Munich. He worked intensively on publications only when they reported facts that he believed he should have ready someday as evidence. Every day, early in the morning or late in the evening, I worked through one significant book. Hitler did not study thoroughly, universally, but he never studied without diligence. He calmly considered only what he admitted. According to the secretary, in his personal library there were no classics, not a single work characterized by humanity and spirituality. What he sometimes regretted was that he was doomed to refuse to read fiction and could only read scientific literature.

Think about what you read

Once you have read a piece, mentally repeat what you have learned and check how you understood it.

Without notes, you are unlikely to understand anything. Therefore, students take notes after the speaker.

Are all the terms in the textbook familiar?

The more unclear words, the lower the reading speed. You can skip one term, but if there are a lot of them, then understanding the text will not be high.

Look for Alternatives to Reading

Sometimes it turns out that it is much better to ask for advice from a smarter person than to figure it out yourself. It is also possible to reformulate the question and find out some of the information from alternative sources of information.

Read at your own pace

Haste is constantly forgetting something. What doesn't go easily doesn't go at all. Great is the Lord, who made everything complex difficult to understand, and the unnecessary incredibly complex.

Mastering the sciences is not running from word to word according to the principle “the faster you run, the more you learn.” Reading is learning, training, intimacy.

In leisurely reading, abilities are developed. If we read at our usual speed, then the assimilation is complete.

When reading, linger on difficult parts of the book. What is familiar - skim through it.

Read important text very slowly.

The effect of speed reading is not to read texts as quickly as possible, but to find solutions to difficult situations as quickly as possible.

How Gorky used diagonal reading
This is how, according to the memoirs of A.S. Novikov-Priboy, Maxim Gorky read the magazines: “Taking the first magazine, Alexey Maksimovich cut it and began to either read or look through: Gorky did not read, but seemed to simply glance across the pages, top to bottom, vertically. Having finished with the first magazine, Gorky began to work on the second, and everything was repeated: he opened the page, looked down at it from top to bottom, as if on steps, which took him less than a minute, and so on again and again until he reached the last page . I put the magazine aside and started working on the next one.”

Speed reading and Lenin This is what one of V.I.’s closest collaborators says. Lenina V.D. Bonch-Bruevich: “Vladimir Ilyich read in a completely special way. When I saw Lenin reading, it seemed to me that he did not read line by line, but looked page by page and quickly assimilated everything with amazing depth and accuracy: after a while he quoted individual phrases and paragraphs from memory, as if he had studied for a long time and specially just read. This is what made it possible for Vladimir Ilyich to read such a huge number of books and articles that one cannot help but be amazed.” P.N. Lepeshinsky says: “If Lenin read a book, his visual and mental apparatus worked with such speed that it seemed simply a miracle to outsiders. His sensitivity while reading the book was phenomenal.” P.N. Lepeshinsky also conveys the memories of his wife, who sailed with V.I. Lenin on a ship from Krasnoyarsk to Minusinsk into exile and watched as Vladimir Ilyich read a book: “He had some kind of serious book in his hands (it seems in a foreign language). Not even half a minute had passed before his fingers were already turning over a new page. She wondered whether he was reading line by line or just glancing over the pages of the book with his eyes. Vladimir Ilyich, somewhat surprised by the question, answered with a smile: “Well, of course, I read... And I read it very carefully, because the book is worth it.” - But how do you manage to read page after page so quickly? Vladimir Ilyich replied that if he had read more slowly, he would not have had time to read everything that he needed to become familiar with.”

Speed reading and Stalin
Stalin's library contained almost all Russian literary classics: both individual books and collected works. There were especially many books by Pushkin and about Pushkin. His library contained all Russian and Soviet encyclopedias, a large number of dictionaries, especially Russian dictionaries and dictionaries of foreign words, and various kinds of reference books.
Stalin looked through most of his books, and read many very carefully. He read some books several times. Stalin read books, as a rule, with a pencil, and most often with several colored pencils in his hands and on the table. He underlined many phrases and paragraphs and made notes and inscriptions in the margins. Joseph Vissarionovich looked through or read several books a day. He himself told some of the visitors to his office, pointing to a fresh stack of books on his desk: “This is my daily norm - 500 pages.”

Chernyshevsky's speed reading skills
Chernyshevsky could simultaneously write an article and dictate a translation from German to his secretary. Bekhterev explains this phenomenon by the ability to instantly switch one’s attention from one object to another, creating the appearance of maintaining two foci of excitation.

As Washington read
Washington read the morning newspapers only aloud. He listened carefully to the text, muttered and disturbed his neighbors. He claimed that reading aloud helped him understand the meaning of the text and separate truth from lies.

Monk Raymond Llull knew speed reading techniques...
An Italian monk who lived in the Middle Ages, Raymond Lullia, proposed a reading system that made it possible to quickly read books, but until the 50s of the last century, speed reading was the lot of a few bright thinkers and politicians who developed this skill on their own. Among the famous people who knew speed reading, it is enough to list such great people as Honore de Balzac, Napoleon, Pushkin, Chernyshevsky, Lenin, John Kennedy.

Karl Marx made books "slaves"
Karl Marx said: “Books are my slaves” - and he covered the margins of every book he read with marks and notes, folding and folding the pages he needed.

Roosevelt mastered speed reading
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the fastest and most voracious readers of any government leader. Various sources report that he was able to read an entire paragraph at a glance, usually completing any book in one sitting. Roosevelt studied speed reading with fanaticism.
It is known that Roosevelt started in this area with average reading speed, which he decided to seriously work on improving. Among his first achievements was to increase the area originally covered by the suspension to four words, which Roosevelt subsequently increased to six and then to eight words.

Balzac's speed reading method
This is how Balzac described his way of reading: “The absorption of thoughts in the process of reading has reached a phenomenal ability in me. The gaze grasped seven or eight lines at once, and the mind comprehended the meaning at a speed corresponding to the speed of the eyes. Often a single word made it possible to grasp the meaning of an entire phrase.”

Speed reading and Martin Eden
“In the narrow closet there were clothes hanging, and there were books that no longer fit either on the table or under the table. While reading, Martin used to take notes, and they accumulated so many that he had to stretch ropes across the room and hang notebooks on them like drying laundry. As a result, it became quite difficult to move around the room. Martin often cooked while sitting, because while the water was boiling or the meat was frying, he had time to read two or three pages.
He worked for three people. He slept only five hours, and only his iron health gave him the opportunity to endure the daily nineteen hours of hard work. Martin didn't waste a single minute. He stuck little pieces of paper behind the mirror frame with explanations of certain words and their pronunciation: when he shaved or combed his hair, he repeated these words. The same leaves hung over the kerosene stove, and he memorized them when he cooked or washed dishes. The leaves were constantly changing. Having encountered an incomprehensible word while reading, he immediately went into the dictionary and wrote the word down on a piece of paper, which he hung on the wall or on the mirror. Martin carried pieces of paper with the words in his pocket and looked at them on the street or while waiting in line at the store. Martin applied this system not only to words. Reading the works of authors who had achieved fame, he noted the features of their style, presentation, plot structure, characteristic expressions, comparisons, witticisms - in a word, everything that could contribute to success. And he wrote everything down and studied it. He didn't try to imitate. He was only looking for some general principles. He compiled long lists of literary techniques observed in different writers, which allowed him to draw general conclusions, and, starting from them, he developed his own new and original techniques and learned to apply them with tact and measure. In the same way, he collected and recorded successful and colorful expressions from living speech - expressions that burned like fire, or, on the contrary, gently caressed the ear, standing out as bright spots among the dull desert of philistine chatter. Martin always and everywhere looked for the principles underlying the phenomenon. He tried to understand how a phenomenon arises in order to be able to create it himself. Martin could only work consciously. Such was his nature; he could not work blindly, not knowing what was coming out of his hands, relying only on chance and the star of his talent. Random luck did not satisfy him. He wanted to know “how” and “why.”

Vlad. Bonch-Bruevich

WHAT VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN READ IN 1919

Although Vladimir Ilyich, in the afterword in the book “State and Revolution,” stated that “it is more pleasant to make a revolution than to study,” but in fact, in the whirlwind of events, he read incredibly a lot, wrote a lot, and worked a lot in literature. And if, entering the office of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, I found Vladimir Ilyich at the right window, with his hands behind his back under his jacket, or with the thumbs of both hands in the slits of his vest, looking intently into the distance at the Kremlin Square, often so deep in thought that he If I didn’t hear the steps of the person entering, I probably knew that I had to prepare the paper, that soon Vladimir Ilyich would sit down to write, and that then the small, even handwriting would cover many sheets of paper, which I would have to rush to rewrite with all my might so that Vladimir Ilyich could check everything he had written. And so I didn’t want to bother him during these hours of deep thought with everyday work, with that necessary, important and necessary prose of life, which was concentrated at that time in the Administration of the Council of People’s Commissars.

When Vladimir Ilyich began to write, he wrote voraciously, almost without blots, apparently barely having time to write down with his hand what he had previously thought through to the smallest detail, what he had done during the writing process itself. And when he was especially passionate about work, as, for example, when writing his famous pamphlet “The Renegade Kautsky and the Proletarian Revolution,” when he was literally burning with anger, then Vladimir Ilyich stopped all work at the Council of People’s Commissars, locked himself in his office and spent whole days until late nights he wrote this amazingly powerful work of the last years of his literary activity.

It is difficult for us, ordinary workers, to imagine all the strength and power of brilliant perceptions, to understand all the deep and scrupulous laboratory work that is carried out by such rarely encountered comprehensive minds, to which the mind of Vladimir Ilyich belonged. And we, who want to know everything from the life and work of our truly unforgettable leader, have to collect, drop by drop, absolutely everything that characterizes the spiritual appearance of the great thinker, fighter and revolutionary of thought and deed.

In June 1919, while searching for an indication of all the public literature published in 1918 and 1919, which I needed for some of my works, I came across the “Book Chronicle” in the publication of the “Book Chamber”, which continued to be published in connected numbers and in these difficult years. In them I found much that I was looking for. I immediately purchased issues of this magazine for Vladimir Ilyich and gave them to him. Vladimir Ilyich immediately began looking at them and expressed surprise that despite the devastation that reigned everywhere, which had a particularly hard impact on the stationery and printing industries, so many diverse and good books had been published.

Looking through the issues of the Book Chronicle, Vladimir Ilyich noted in the margins everything that interested him and, as always, here too he showed his penchant for systematization and order. In addition to the fact that he marked in the margins with a line and notabens with a chemical pencil all the books that interested him, emphasizing their titles, and in some places the contents, he wrote “N and further N” under this inscription in the right corner of the first page of each issue of the magazine, in a column in numerical ascending order, he wrote out, large and clearly, all the numbers of the books that he wanted to read. In some places, those numbers that especially interested him, he - having written them in a column - took them out in a particularly large field to the left, underlining them several times, sometimes circling them in circles, and wrote the word “especially”.

In only one place, namely in NN 21-23, June 1918, when writing out NN, he made a mistake, writing first 1886 and then 1879. Everything is clear, distinct, systematic, as he always did everything from small to great. Those issues that obviously occupied the middle place in terms of interest, he also emphasized in the text with one line. He not only noted the magazines that interested him on the first page of the “Book Chronicle” issue, which page this magazine was listed on, but also wrote down its name, for example, “On the Eve”, “Womb”.

I believe that it will be interesting for all of us to know what exactly Vladimir Ilyich was interested in from all the literature in Russian that was published in the turbulent years of 1918 and 1919, having looked through all the issues of the Book Chronicle for 1918 for the entire year , and 1919 from the January issue (N 1) to N 17 on May 7, 1919 - inclusive.

Vladimir Ilyich first made all his notes with a pencil (chemical), with which he made marks on all issues of 1918. In the issues of 1919, he began making notes with a blue pencil and then switched from N 10 (March 10, 1919) to an ordinary pencil, least well preserved.

Counting everything that Vladimir Ilyich became interested in in the Book Chronicle, we see that out of all 5326 books and brochures registered in the Chronicle in 1918, Vladimir Ilyich settled on 56 books, i.e. by 1% of the total volume of books published that year. And in the same “Chronicle” for 1919 (through May) a list of 3415 books was published, of which Vladimir Ilyich was interested in only 22 books, i.e. 3/4% of all printed book material during this time.

Of course, an amendment must be made to this that he received quite a lot of books directly from their authors, but still this number is significant. In addition, it should be taken into account that Vladimir Ilyich read a lot of foreign books, which he received in a different order. It is absolutely clear that Vladimir Ilyich, possessing enormous knowledge, read books with a large selection, only for his intended purpose, which is clearly evident from further analysis of all this material.

Of the magazines, only two interested him - "On the Eve" and "Womb". If we look at the noted books, which make up 80 titles (56+22+2=80), and distribute them by department, we will see that he was most interested in the books during these years:

1) Journalism related to the revolutions of 1917 and 1818... ..31 books

2) The agrarian question................................... ……………… …7"

3) Fiction......................................... …………… ……...7 "

4) Question sociology and history........................ ……………6 "

5) Questions of religion........................................……………… …4 "

6) Activities of parties................................... ………………..3 "

7) Stories of revolutions in other countries.................... ……….3 "

8) Anarchism................................................... ……………………...3 "

9) Issues of capitalism................................... ……………….3 "

10) Documents of tsarism...................................... ………………2 "

11) Work question.................................... …………… …….2"

12) Bibliography................................................... ………… ………..2"

13) Magazines........................................................ . ……………………..2 "

14) International......................................... …………… …….1 "

15) Cooperation......................................... …… ……………….1 "

16) Statistics........................................ …… ………………..1 "

17) Issues of art.................................... …………………1 "

18) Life on the outskirts........................................ ……… ……………1 "

19) Produces. Russian forces........................ …………...…1 "

Total................................................... ................................80 books

From a quick review of this table, we see that Vladimir Ilyich was most interested in journalism related to the revolutions of 1917 and 1918. More than one third (31) of all books noted by him fall in this department. If we combine: “journalism related to the revolutions of 1917 and 1918, together with the department characterizing the “activities of parties,” and also, if we add “anarchism,” “documents of tsarism,” “magazines,” for Vladimir Ilyich was interested here in the journals of those social groups that were in opposition to the Soviet regime, and if we add books on “issues of religion”, then we get extremely interesting figures. It turns out that out of the 80 books noted by Vladimir Ilyich in the year and a half of the “Book Chronicle” , these departments make up a respectable number of 45 publications, i.e., more than half of the books belong to issues of practical politics of that time, politics related to the activities of our enemies.Literature of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Cadets of all shades, priests , anarchists, Mensheviks of all formations, White Guards, monarchists, the literature of all who thought differently, all who acted differently, one way or another, willingly or unwillingly, directed their criticism, their writings, their appeals, their thoughts - against the workers' and peasants' government, against Communist Party, and therefore objectively (and often subjectively) turned into obvious counter-revolutionary literature, Vladimir Ilyich studied this literature in the most careful, detailed manner. Vladimir Ilyich always wanted to know the enemy in every detail and, like a true strategist, did not spare time to study all the enemy’s positions. If we take a closer look at all the underlining of individual places in the lists of “contents” of various collections and books noted by him, then here we will be even more convinced with what acuity and versatility Vladimir Ilyich studied all the big and small, theoretical and practical positions of those who fought against proletarian dictatorship.

Thus, Vladimir Ilyich emphasized No. 986. “The Year of the Russian Revolution (1917-1918)”, where all the outstanding writers and practical figures of the Socialist Republics were concentrated, who attacked the Bolsheviks under the flag of democracy.

He is especially interested in No. 1444, “The Socialization of Women,” where V.I. emphasizes the entire content of this ridiculous book, which caused so much noise abroad. His attention is drawn to No. 1712 “For the Motherland,” “Magazine-collection” of the right-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries, where Breshkovskaya, Argunov, Stalinsky, Oganovsky and others like them howled “patriotically”; These “saviors” of their beloved fatherland, as we know, quickly betrayed the Russian people, becoming the heralds and assistants of foreign capitalist intervention.

In the social-democratic collection "Our Voice" he emphasizes the articles of Valentinov, who fits next to Kuskova, Lvov-Rokievsky, who takes refuge under the same cover with Malyantovich and the same Kuskova. His attention was especially drawn to the piquant collection "The People and the Army", where, as in Noah's Ark, Potresov with Gots, Rozanov with Verkhovsky, Stankevich with Boldyrev and Poradelov gathered.

No. 2551, under the tempting title “Revolutionary Technology,” is completely covered with notes from Vladimir Ilyich. The insolent Socialist-Revolutionary adventurers here released for public information everything they knew, how to organize secret illegal printing houses, the rules of secrecy, etc.

The Socialist-Revolutionaries worked here entirely for the monarchists, for the members of the union of the Russian people, who were seething with hatred towards us.

Anger and hatred for the party of the proletariat united everyone on the other side of the barricades.

Vladimir Ilyich also punctuates No. 4073, Aikhenvald’s book “Our Revolution, Its Leaders and Followers,” where there are chapters such as “On the Bolsheviks,” “The Suicide of Russia,” “Hohenzollern and Bronstein,” “Revolutionary Craftsmen,” “The End.” revolutionary romance", pay special attention to him.

In NN 5-8 for February 1918, Vladimir Ilyich especially noted N 364: Bogdanov. Questions of socialism. 1) Collectivist system. 2) Is it tomorrow? 3) Culture program. 4) War communism and state capitalism. 5) State-commune. 6) Ideal and path. M. 1918. Book publishing house of Writers in Moscow.

This book, which Vladimir Ilyich was “especially interested in,” is marked in the text of the list not only with a notation and not only with the author and title of the book underlined, as everywhere else, but also with two large perpendicular lines in the margins. This is explained by the fact that Vladimir Ilyich especially closely followed the literary activities of A. A. Bogdanov, whose philosophical point of view he not only did not share, but cruelly refuted in his book “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism.” Earlier, back in 1907, Vladimir Ilyich considered it necessary to pay attention to the philosophical works of A. A. Bogdanov, when he analyzed his works “Empiriomonism”. L. B. Kamenev also mentions this in his “preface to the second edition” of the collected works of V. I. Lenin. He says: “suffice it to say that such valuable works of Vladimir Ilyich as his handwritten analysis of A. Bogdanov’s “Empiriomonism” (1907) have not yet been found (See page IX of the preface). When at one time the propaganda of Bogdanov’s views, to which he had a completely negative attitude intensified again, Vladimir Ilyich immediately told me that he would like his book on empirio-criticism to be immediately repeated in publication, which was done.

Noted V.I. N 1014, Kropotkin P. Collected Works vol. II. The Great French Revolution 1789-1793. Translation from French, edited by the author.

Vladimir Ilyich had a very special attitude towards this work of the great anarchist. He told me more than once that he considered the history of the French Revolution, written by P. A. Kropotkin, the best of all the histories of the French Revolution written to this day. He repeatedly expressed the wish that it be printed in at least one hundred thousand copies and placed by our government in all libraries of our union, starting with volosts, reading rooms, in factories, factories, in all military and naval libraries, in a word, absolutely everywhere in as many copies as possible. At the request of Vladimir Ilyich, I drew up an estimate for printing this work by P. A. Kropotkin in one hundred thousand copies “in a clear and clear font, on good paper, well sewn, bound,” as Vladimir Ilyich set the task for me. Unfortunately, in 1919, for technical reasons, this task could not be accomplished. Vladimir Ilyich again returned to this thought during his meeting with P. A. Kropotkin, which took place in my apartment in my work room, and which I soon plan to describe in detail. Here Vladimir Ilyich invited Pyotr Alekseevich to publish his work, describing it in the best terms and especially emphasizing that the role of workers and artisans was highlighted by the author of the work. P. A. Kropotkin not only did not object to such a widespread publication, but, apparently, was very happy, without failing to say that he set only one condition, as an anarchist - that the book should appear not in a state publishing house, but in any another, best of all in a cooperative one. Vladimir Ilyich smiled and said:

Of course, this desire of yours may well be fulfilled, since you want it, we will publish it in a form completely convenient for you.

Who are we? Government? - Pyotr Alekseevich became worried.

No, no!.. - Vladimir Ilyich hastened to reassure the elderly man, laughing good-naturedly and looking affectionately at Pyotr Alekseevich, - the government has nothing to do with it, we have free publishing houses, just groups of writers, cultural workers engaged in educating the masses.

This is another matter! - Pyotr Alekseevich rejoiced, not wanting in his old age to fall into sin as a statesman who had any connection with any government.

Then, under such conditions, I will, of course, agree to publish it.

Unfortunately, this work has not yet been done, but it should have been done according to the behest of Vladimir Ilyich and given to the broadest working-peasant masses, in honor and glory of the great rebel P. A. Kropotkin, the book that he valued so highly, stingy with praise and recommendation, Vladimir Ilyich.

Vladimir Ilyich, while leading the civil war on all fronts in this era, studied our class enemies and their works on the literary front, directing all his concentrated will towards a single goal.

When Vladimir Ilyich finished reading the Book Chronicle, he sent me a note with the following content:

L. B. Kamenev just came to Vladimir Ilyich when he was reading “The Book Chronicle” as a novel, became very interested in the magazine and immediately asked to get this magazine for him too.

A few days later, books began to arrive for Vladimir Ilyich, which I gave to him. Here the question arose about Vladimir Ilyich’s desire to have at hand the collected works of the classics and Dahl’s explanatory dictionary. Among the classics were brought: Dostoevsky, Gogol, Goncharov, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Tolstoy L.N., Griboedov, Turgenev, Pushkin. In addition, Vladimir Ilyich wanted to have a collection of works by Merezhkovsky, Korolenko, Radishchev, Prutkov, Maykov, Nadson, Leskov, G. Uspensky, Aksakov, S.T., Pisarev, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Levitov, Koltsov, Tyutchev, Grigorovich, Dobrolyubov, Pomyalovsky, Fet, Apukhtin, Tolstoy A.K., Chekhov, Zlatovratsky. All these books were delivered from the central book warehouse of the Moscow Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. In Vladimir Ilyich’s office there was a cabinet where all these bound books were placed.

In addition, later, the collected works of N.G. Chernyshevsky, Belinsky, Plekhanov, Zasulich were added here.

Vladimir Ilyich placed Dahl's dictionary on a rotating wardrobe and looked through it very often.

Vladimir Ilyich did not give me any peace as to why there was no bill for books. At that time it was very difficult to extract a bill for the allotment from our institutions. I had to conduct official correspondence through the Administrative Office of the Council of People's Commissars, trying to receive invoices. Finally, an attitude came from the press department of the Moscow Council, and with it bill No. 917 of November 22, 1919, on the classics. The invoice and attitude were addressed to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.I. Lenin.

The Printing Department of M.S.R. and K.D. had to explain the reason for the delay in the invoice and wrote: “The Printing Department of M.S.R. and K.D. informs that the delay in submitting the invoice occurred due to the general revaluation of books and with the emerging need to coordinate the prices of Petrograd publications with Moscow ones." Vladimir Ilyich, I remember, was very grumbling at this diplomatic explanation and was very dissatisfied with the order in our book distribution apparatus.

At the same time, an invoice (invoice No. 120) dated December 18, 1919 was received for Dahl’s explanatory dictionary and an invoice from Tsentropechat, which was headed by Comrade. B. F. Malkin. Vladimir Ilyich told me to pay for all this from his salary. V.I. received an extremely small salary.

I began to prove to him that this was wrong, that the classics were in his office, as the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, that these books were the inventory of the office, which is why they should be paid for at the government expense. When I tried to prove that the books from the “Book Chronicle” also should not be paid for by him personally, he did not want to listen to it and began jokingly reproaching me that I wanted to rob the treasury in his favor. Finally, we found a compromise: he, Vladimir Ilyich, pays for the books received according to the marks of the Book Chronicle. He also pays for Dahl’s dictionary, and he allowed the classics, which “should immediately go into public use of all people’s commissars,” to be paid for from the funds of the Council of People’s Commissars allocated for the library of the Council of People’s Commissars. On the account of the dictionary, Dahl made two notes: “To V.D. Bonch-Bruevich - to the archive”; the last word is underlined four times. This was a conventional sign that this document should be kept by me personally. Further, in a large circle, Vladimir Ilyich noted: “I remember that 500 rubles.” It was he who earlier inquired about the price of Dahl’s dictionary, and he was told this price, but the price was not indicated on the invoice. Vladimir Ilyich immediately restored it. In relation to the press department about the classics, I immediately had to make an inscription: “Comrade Markelov, to the accounting department. Pay this invoice from the funds for the library of the Council of People's Commissars. V. Bonch-Bruevich.”

Then I got sick and couldn’t pay the bills right away. On January 4, 1920, I received a note from Vladimir Ilyich with the following content:

Dear V.D.!

I pay for my library personally.

I ask you, when you recover, pay everything.

+ 500 (Dal)

Your Lenin.

I am enclosing 4000 rubles.

Moscow Kremlin.

Having recovered, I, of course, did everything as Vladimir Ilyich wanted.

He paid everything, received receipts everywhere, showed them to him and carefully preserved them until now in order to transfer them now to the V.I. Lenin Institute.

The classics were left in the office of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and Vladimir Ilyich took the books received according to marks from the Book Chronicle to his apartment.

Thus ended this issue with the books, where once again all the amazing scrupulousness of Vladimir Ilyich in financial matters, which did not leave him either in the difficult days of his emigrant life or when he stood at the pinnacle of power, was so clearly revealed.

I was lucky enough to find in my unassembled archive almost all the issues of the journal “Book Chronicle” for 1917, which were reviewed by Vladimir Ilyich at the same time as all the other issues of this magazine for 1918 and 1919, and which I wrote about in the previous issue of the magazine “At the Literary Post”*.

Also, in the same order and with the same care, in these NN Vladimir Ilyich made notes of those NN books that interested him and which he wanted to read. And here he most of all pays attention to the study of literature that came from the pen of our class enemies, who wanted at all costs to cause significant harm to the Social Democratic Party of the Bolsheviks. In 1917, when the February revolution took place, and when our party took a definite and irreconcilable position towards all compromising parties, but when we were not yet strong enough, it goes without saying that blows rained down on us from all sides, we had to fight back, and that’s all this is reflected quite clearly in the literature.

We have at our disposal NN of the Book Chronicle, starting from April 18 (NN 13 and 14) and up to N 50, published on December 31, 1917, i.e. just during the time when Vladimir Ilyich had just arrived from abroad, he launched his passionate propaganda against the imperialist war for peace, propaganda for bread and land for the peasants and for the entire structure of the new socialist state, right up to the October Revolution and its first stormy months.

During this period, Vladimir Ilyich was interested in books that explored our land relations, and he requested the work of A.M. Brain, Peasant Economy of the Ufa Province. (According to the 1915 house-to-house census). Ufa, 1916. He was also interested in the book by Drozdov I.R. The fate of noble land ownership in Russia and the trends towards its mobilization. With a foreword by P. G. Maslov, 1917

The book by V. Bankowski, Agrarian Evolution and Polish Land Tenure in the Western Region, belongs to the same series of works. Towards the abolition of restrictions on Polish land ownership and the agrarian question. P.G. 1917

He notes with special note the book by Falkner M. (Smith). Food question in England. P.G. 1917

And further, everything that was just being published then on the burning issue of food, when there were queues everywhere in the cities, the card system was being introduced, etc., Vladimir Ilyich demanded to read. So the collective work of Bobynin N.N. - Bunin I.I., - Grinkova S.S., - Pankratov K.A., - Semashko V.F. and Yakovlev K.A., published under the title "Organization of grain procurement in Tambov province. Materials on the organization of the food business. Under the general editorship of A. Chayanov. Issue III. M. 1916, Vladimir Ilyich notes especially strongly by repeatedly crossing out in the margins and marking with notabene.

Another similar study, published by the economic department of the Main Committee of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, entitled “Materials on the food business, distributed by the food department to the localities,” was crossed out by Vladimir Ilyich many times.

The national question, posed head-on in our political life, and reflected in literature, keenly interests Vladimir Ilyich, and he strongly emphasizes, for example, the book by P. Krasin. The National Question (Essays). National awakening of Russian society and national ideas of its history. Kharkov, 1917.

His attention is also drawn to P. Bezobrazov’s book, Partition of Turkey P.G. 1917.

V. Chernov's books on the topic of imperialism: "Imperialist Dreams and Reality" and "Through the Fog of the Future", published by the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, each 100,000 copies, are strongly marked by Vladimir Ilyich.

The ideas of militarism and imperialism, which so worried everyone then against the backdrop of the enormous imperialist carnage, were also reflected in our literature. Vladimir Ilyich strongly emphasizes, noting, the book by Ishkhanyan B. The Development of Militarism and Imperialism in Germany. Historical and economic research. With a foreword by Prof. M. N. Tugan-Baranovsky. P.G. 1917

Reisner's brochure M. War and Democracy, P.G. 1917, also noted by Vladimir Ilyich.

But what interests him especially keenly, with heavy emphasis and markings, are books and reports that speak about the mood of the masses in matters of war. Thus, in No. 20-21 of May 27, 1917, the magazine “Book Chronicle”, under No. 5011, 5012, 5013 and 5014, verbatim reports of front delegates were published. Moreover, these reports were published by day for April 24, 25, 26, 28 and 30, 1917 and were printed in the state printing house in Petrograd. Vladimir Ilyich, both in the text, and in the margins, and at the beginning of the issue, everywhere especially strongly emphasizes these reports, writes out their numbers, emphasizes what was written down - in a word, he shows a particularly strong desire to have them in his possession.

The books that came from the pens of our Social Democrats, the Mensheviks and Plekhanovites, as well as other “extreme” parties, who were completely immersed in jingoistic moods, also interested Vladimir Ilyich very much, and he demanded all the literature of this kind. So he noted the books: Vera Zasulich. Loyalty to the Allies P.G. 1917, publication of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. Victor Chernov. War and the "third force". Collection of articles by P. G. 1917, ed. Socialist Revolutionary Party.

His particular attention is drawn to the collective work of such a completely unexpected conglomerate of collaborators, old and inveterate ideological enemies, as V. Korolenko, P. Kropotkin, G. Plekhanov, Bernard Shaw, who jointly published a book under the seductive title “Is War Necessary?” in the publishing house "Narodopravo" in Moscow (1917) and printed it in the amount of 25,000 copies, i.e. for the widest distribution.

This curious document attracted the special attention of Vladimir Ilyich, and he underlined this significant book twice. Vladimir Ilyich noted seven lines in the margins of G. V. Plekhanov’s book “War and Peace,” published by the Edinstvo publishing house in the amount of 250,000 copies.

N.V. Vasilyev’s book “Pravda” against the truth received three features and a notabena. Soldiers to the front and barracks, workers to factories. No offense to either, but for serious consideration. P.G. 1917. This work of an old Social-Democratic emigrant, who lived for a long time in Switzerland (in Bern) and occupied a responsible post in the local labor movement, greatly interested Vladimir Ilyich.

A certain Eug. The Highlander burst out with the brochure “Treasoners, Traitors to Russia,” in the role of which, of course, we, the Bolsheviks, were portrayed, also crossed out by Vladimir Ilyich. Guryev A. wrote "Utopia of the Bolsheviks" M. 1917, (Volya publishing house). And Vladimir Ilyich wanted to see it. The same publishing house "Volya" published 26,000 copies of I. A. Rtishchev's book "Which of us is a bourgeois?" and Vladimir Ilyich especially energetically demanded it.

B. N. Voronov's book "Bolsheviks" published by the "Union of Republican Soldiers" attracted the special attention of Vladimir Ilyich.

The unexpected speech of Valery Bryusov as a politician, who for his part gave the recipe “How to end the war” - of course, was immediately marked by Vladimir Ilyich for reading.

The work of the slanderer of Vladimir Ilyich G. Aleksinsky, who returned from emigration and was rejected even by the Menshevik Council of Workers' Deputies - "War and Revolution" - was also requested by Vladimir Ilyich.

After the July speech, the persecution of the Bolsheviks intensified decisively by all parties, and this persecution was immediately reflected in literature. Books appear that blaspheme the Bolsheviks in general and Vladimir Ilyich in particular. Vladimir Ilyich studies the literature of these immediate enemies especially carefully.

Books tagged:

Gorev B.I. Who are the Leninists and what do they want? P.G., 1917

Markin A., Bolsheviks and Mensheviks and what is the difference between them, M. 1917, and many others, in addition to those previously indicated, on the same topics.

Memoirs of public figures of this era are noted everywhere by Vladimir Ilyich.

Kautsky's book K. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and German Social Democracy has been noted many times. M. 1917

A book by another prominent Social-Democratic worker and politician. Italian party F. Turati "Modern class struggle and socialism" - was strongly noted by Vladimir Ilyich, and the colorful content of this book is emphasized.

And this “table of contents” is dotted with Vladimir Ilyich’s underlinings. Already from this short list of books requested by Vladimir Ilyich from the “Book Chronicle” of 1917, shows us the same persistence and systematicity in the study of the most important works and our party enemies and large studies of the economic, social and everyday side of life of the broad masses of the population, and pure theory of economics, everything, everything interests him, attracts him, he works hard on everything.

In these issues of the Book Chronicle, Vladimir Ilyich noted a total of one hundred and forty-two book titles, which are distributed by department as follows:

1. Questions of sociology and history…………….. 38

2. Activities of parties. . . . . …………………..29

3. Issues of war. . . . . . . . …………………….22

4. Journalism. . . . . . . . . ……………………..15

5. Agrarian question. . . . . . . ……………………eleven

6. Issues of militarism and imperialism. . . 8

7. Food issue. . . ………………..3

8. History of revolutions in other countries…………….4

9. Documents of tsarism. . . . . . …………………………2

10. Cooperation. . . . . . . . . . ……………………….2

11. Natural science. . . . . . . . ……………………...2

12. National question. . . . . …………………2