[20 May 1919]

Tambov, urgent

Report immediately how many communists you have sent to the Southern Front. Any delay will be regarded as a crime against the Republic. Reply immediately.

Chairman of the Council of Defence, Lenin*

1 The Tambov Provincial Military Commissar reported that 679 communists had been sent to the Southern Front, and that up to 200 more would be sent additionally on 22 May.

Having received this report, V. I. Lenin again telegraphed the Voronezh and Tambov Provincial Military Commissars on 24 May (see Complete Collected Works, Vol. 50, p. 322).

*
The telegram was also signed by the head of the Political Department of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, I. T. Smilga.