"It is probably no secret to you that research into the grandfather’s origins showed that he came from a poor Jewish family, was, as it is stated in the document of his baptism, the son of the Zhytomir townsman Moyshka (Moyshe) Blank. This fact, which has important significance for the scientific biography of Vladimir Ilyich, for the study of his brain, was then judged, upon the discovery of these documents, inconvenient to disclose. At the Institute it was decided not to publish and generally to keep this fact secret. As a result of that decision I did not tell anyone about it, not even my closest comrades.
But in recent years, hearing that anti-Semitism is manifesting itself again among us, even among communists, and having reviewed the survey carried out on this matter in 1929 by the MTSPS, I have come to the conviction that it is hardly correct to hide this fact from the masses, which, owing to the respect in which Vladimir Ilyich is held among them, can render great service in the struggle against anti-Semitism, and, in my opinion, cannot harm anything. And I think that, in addition to scientific work on this material, on its basis one should now compose a popular article for a newspaper.
I believe that Vladimir Ilyich would also approve. After all, we cannot have any reason to hide this fact, and it is an additional confirmation of the data about the exceptional abilities of the Semitic peoples — a view which Ilyich always shared — and of the benefit to offspring from the mixing of peoples. [Ilyich] always held Jews in high esteem."
Excerpt from Lenin's sister's letter to Stalin:
"It is probably no secret to you that research into the grandfather’s origins showed that he came from a poor Jewish family, was, as it is stated in the document of his baptism, the son of the Zhytomir townsman Moyshka (Moyshe) Blank. This fact, which has important significance for the scientific biography of Vladimir Ilyich, for the study of his brain, was then judged, upon the discovery of these documents, inconvenient to disclose. At the Institute it was decided not to publish and generally to keep this fact secret. As a result of that decision I did not tell anyone about it, not even my closest comrades.
But in recent years, hearing that anti-Semitism is manifesting itself again among us, even among communists, and having reviewed the survey carried out on this matter in 1929 by the MTSPS, I have come to the conviction that it is hardly correct to hide this fact from the masses, which, owing to the respect in which Vladimir Ilyich is held among them, can render great service in the struggle against anti-Semitism, and, in my opinion, cannot harm anything. And I think that, in addition to scientific work on this material, on its basis one should now compose a popular article for a newspaper.
I believe that Vladimir Ilyich would also approve. After all, we cannot have any reason to hide this fact, and it is an additional confirmation of the data about the exceptional abilities of the Semitic peoples — a view which Ilyich always shared — and of the benefit to offspring from the mixing of peoples. [Ilyich] always held Jews in high esteem."