CENTRAL STATISTICAL ADMINISTRATION

The resolutions of the last Congress of Soviets unconditionally obligate
the C.S.A. to undertake a statistical study of the work
of our Soviet institutions, the number of employees, etc.
7.
Sampling, for study, a small number of typical enterprises (Factories, state farms) and institutions (a) the best—
exemplary; (β) medium, and (γ) the worst.
Cut everything else, except these 7 §§.
Please inform me of your conclusion both on the substance
and on the deadline for developing a work program.
Chairman Lenin.

NOTE OF THE SECRETARIES.
Fotieva or Gliasser.
19/VIII [1921]
Please send the original, having made a 4th copy and returning it
to me together with a copy of my letter to Popov from 16(?)/VIII1.
Lenin.
1 Lenin is referring to P. I. Popov's letter of August 19, in which Popov
announced his resignation (see below), and to his letter to P. I. Popov of
August 16 (see p. 216 of the Collection). Lenin instructed that Popov's letter
be forwarded to G. M. Krzhizhanovsky (see p. 224 of the Collection).
LETTERS, NOTES TO P. I. POPOV.
*
I

August 20 [1921]
_
»
Comrade Popov, Г *— ^ '
-> — -
V » •
V. чУ
*
I cannot accept your resignation.
My instructions, as you, of course, know, can be appealed by you, but the appeal does not suspend the necessity •
of execution. Please send me a brief list
* Printed from a typewritten copy. Ed.

of what is being undertaken by you, according to my instructions, with an indication
of deadlines (of course, approximately, from — to).
Chairman of the C.P.C. V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
P. S. Sick leave, of course, can and should be taken in order to
recover. But then (write to me separately or), if you want
to speed things up, to Fotieva, she will read to me over the phone (about
the leave and about the «deputy»). It is necessary to formally appoint a temporary «deputy».
P. P. S. I would add that your letter is too polemical. I am not
against polemics, but it must be singled out separately. You argue against
what I did not say and do not think. You argue as if I deny the benefits of what has been done, etc. But I did not say this and do not
think so.
«у
About what you are undertaking, please inform me item by item
of my letters of June 4 and August 16 (for example: "short monthly reports
on industry will be delivered from such and such a date, on the distribution of food products someday and so on).
II.

5. IX [1921]
Agreed. Remind me!.
1 Lenin's response was given to P. I. Popov in connection with the latter's request
to receive him for a discussion about the work of the CSA under the conditions of the new economic
policy.
III \

Central Statistical Administration
[October 4, 1921]
Comrade Popov!
Wouldn't it be possible to publish in your bulletin (or separately in 4 pages)
for wide dissemination the preliminary results of the population census of the RSFSR in comparison with pre-war Russia?
(What you sent me on the slip).
This is always necessary for reference, especially if you could also
add the area and number of governorates and districts.
With communist greetings Lenin.
* Printed from a typewritten copy. Ed.

CENTRAL STATISTICAL ADMINISTRATION

I V \

[October 17, 1921]
Comrade Popov, л ' | фшг:: ’
Received statistical tables of the population by administrative
divisions of the RSFSR.
1) Please clarify in print (it is not said, for example, that according to
the census of August 28, 1920).
2) Autonomous regions in the republic (Karelian labor
commune, Bashkir, Tatar, etc.) separate from the list of governorates and place them separately, coordinating (in case of
doubt) with the NKVD and NKJustice.
3) In the end, summarize the large divisions together, repeating them
approximately as follows: European Russia, properly the RSFSR;
autonomous republics: Ukrainian SSR, Turkestan, Caucasus
Republic, Far Eastern, etc.
4) Check again whether the same territories were taken for 1914 and 1897,
for example, the Bashkir Republic

1.268.132

357.700 (7? obvious mistake)
5) Add a short text (in agreement with the NKVD brochure)
on changes (in the composition of districts and *volosts*) [in] governorates and
regions.
Chairman V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
P. S. It would be desirable to add also: separated from the RSFSR,
states that were part of the former Russian Empire, area,
population 1897 and 1914 (if available), if this does not make it difficult.
Chairman V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
P. P. S. Couldn't you also add the number of districts, *volosts*,
cities, villages (like the 1914-1915 yearbook).
Chairman V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
* Printed from a typewritten copy. Ed.