Iskra
The original Iskra newspaper (1900–1905) was established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and originally managed by V. I. Lenin. It was printed in several European cities, changing locations as Lenin himself moved, beginning with Leipzig, where the first issue was printed in December 1900.
Subsequent early issues were printed in Munich from 1900 to 1902. Printing and editing support took place in London starting around 1902, and production moved to Geneva beginning in 1903.
Once printed in Europe, the paper was smuggled into Russia and sometimes clandestinely reprinted on secret local presses in places like Kishinev and the Caucasus.
Marty Goodman, of the Riazanov Library digital archive project, endeavored to gather scans of all existing issues of Iskra. Invaluable assistance was provided by Richard Tan, who acquired originals of the five reprinted volumes of Iskra 1900 - 1903, printed in the USSR between 1925 and 1929. Additional assistance and consultation were provided by Tim Davenport and John Holmes.
From those scans Richard Tan produced translations of the first eight issues of Iskra, which we present here.
Aside from those, and articles known to be by Lenin, which have been translated to other languages and made widely available in the Collected Works of Lenin and other tomes, the rest of Iskra is not, to our knowledge, available in translation.
Scans of the newspaper in the original Russian language may be viewed in our Russian-language section, HERE.
It is the hope of all of us involved with this project that making easily available as high-as-possible quality digital images of that material, freely to all, will facilitate efforts to translate all of Iskra into English and other languages, and make such translations widely available.
October 2026
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Declaration of the Editorial Board of Iskra, by V. I. Lenin, September 1900
1900
1901
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Articles by V. I. Lenin published in Iskra
The Urgent Tasks of
Our Movement, issue № 1 (December 1900)
The War in China,
issue № 1 (December 1900)
The Drafting of
183 Students Into the Army, issue № 2 (February 1901)
The Workers'
Party and the Peasantry, issue № 3 (April 1901)
Where to Begin?,
issue № 4 (May 1901)
Secret Document from
Witte, issue № 5 (June 1901)
Another Massacre,
issue № 5 (June 1901)
A Valuable Admission,
issue № 6 (July 1901)
The Lessons of the
Crisis, issue № 7 (August 1901)
The Serf-Owners at
Work, issue № 8 (September 1901)
A Zemstvo Congress,
issue № 8 (September 1901)
Party Affairs Abroad,
issue № 9 (October 1901)
A Reply to the St.
Petersburg Committee, issue № 9 (October 1901)
Fighting the
Famine-Stricken, issue № 9 (October 1901)
Penal Servitude
Regulations and Penal Servitude Sentences, issue № 10 (November 1901)
The Protest of the
Finnish People, issue № 11 (20 November 1901)
A Talk With Defenders
of Economism, issue № 12 (6 December 1901)
Demonstrations Have
Begun, issue № 13 (20 December 1901)
On a Letter from
"Southern Workers", issue № 13 (20 December 1901)
Concerning the State
Budget, issue № 14 (15 January 1902)
Political Agitation
and "The Class Point of View", issue № 16 (1 February 1902)
A Reply to "A Reader", issue № 16 (1
February 1902)
Signs of Bankruptcy, issue № 17 (15
February 1902)
From the Economic
Life of Russia, issue № 17 (15 February 1902)
On the Borba Group, issue № 18 (10
March 1902)
A Letter to the
Zemstvoists, issue № 18 (10 March 1902)
Revolutionary
Adeventurism, issues № 23 (1 August 1902) and № 24 (1 September 1902)
The Draft of a New
Law on Strikes, issue № 24 (1 September 1902)
Political Struggle and
Political Chicanery, issue № 26 (15 October 1902)
Vulgar Socialism and
Narodism as Resurrected by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, issue № 27 (1
November 1902)
New Events and Old
Questions, issue № 29 (1 December 1902)
To Secondary School
Students, issue № 29 (1 December 1902)
Preface to the
Speeches of Nizhni-Novgorod Workers in Court, issue № 29 (1 December 1902)
On the Svoboda Group, issue
№ 30 (15 December 1902)
Introduction to the
Leaflet "To the Citizens of All Russia", issue № 31 (1 January 1903)
Moscow Zubatovists in
St. Petersburg, issue № 31 (1 January 1903)
Announcement of the
Formation of an Organising Committee, issue № 32 (15 January 1903)
Concerning the
Statement of the Bund, issue № 33 (1 February 1903)
On the Manifesto of
the Armenian Social-Democrats, issue № 33 (1 February 1903)
Does the Jewish
Proletariat Need an "Independent Political Party"?, issue № 34 (15
February 1903)
The Autocracy is
Wavering, issue № 35 (1 March 1903)
Mr. Struve Exposed by
His Colleague, issue № 37 (1 April 1903)
Les Beaux Esprits Se
Rencontrent, issue № 38 (15 April 1903)
The National Question
in Our Program, issue № 44 (15 July 1903)
An Era of Reforms, issue
№ 46 (15 August 1903)
The Latest Word in
Bundist Nationalism, issue № 46 (15 August 1903)
The Law on
Compensation Payable to Workers Injured in Accidents, issue № 47 (1
September 1903)
Foiled!, issue
№ 48 (15 September 1903)
Maximum Brazenness
and Minimum Logic, issue № 49 (15 October 1903)
The Position of the
Bund in the Party, issue № 51 (22 October 1903)
Letter to Iskra, issue
№ 53 (25 November 1903)
The Narodnik-Like
Bourgeoisie and Distraught Narodism, issue № 54 (1 December 1903)
An Article by Rosa Luxemburg published in Iskra
Organizational Questions of the Russian Social-Democracy, issue № 69
(July 1904)
An Article by Leon Trotsky published in Iskra
Political Letter II, issue
№ 93 (17 March 1905)
