March 1, 1921

I saw Ivan Afanasyevich Chekunov yesterday. It turned out 
he had already visited me in 1919 on the question of a congress of 
toiling peasants. Now he says: it is better to start with regional ones.
He sympathises with the Communists, but does not join the Party, because 
he goes to church, 
a Christian 
(I reject, 
he says, the rituals, but 
I am a believer).
He is improving his farm. He travelled around Nizhny Novgorod and Simbirsk 
provinces. The peasants, he says, have lost confidence in the Soviet 
government. Can it be remedied, I ask, by a tax? He thinks 
it can. In his own district, with the help of workers, he achieved the replacement 
of a bad Soviet government with a good one.
We must cling with all our might to people like this 
in order to restore the confidence of the mass of peasants. This is the 
basic political task, and moreover one that brooks no delay. I earnestly request: do not get too carried away with the "apparatus" 
point 
of 
view, 
do not worry too much about it. Pay 
more attention to the political attitude towards the peasantry.
In my opinion, it is necessary immediately to "capture", i.e., to draw 
Chekunov into our work. How is this to be done? We must think it over. 
Perhaps, immediately create (or rather, begin to create) 
a "council of the toiling peasantry" or a "council of non-party 
peasants" (perhaps the latter name is more cautious, to prevent 
the admission of those whom Chekunov calls "hissers", i.e., outright 
kulaks and enemies of Soviet power). Immediately appoint Chekunov—
1921
as plenipotentiary of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture for the organisation (or preparation) 
of an institution of this kind. Immediately instruct him to make a hasty trip 
to Simbirsk province (we need an adviser and intermediary 
from a province with grain surpluses, better two intermediaries) 
and give him the assignment: bring back here from Simbirsk 
province (he has acquaintances there) a non-party 
peasant, elderly, Russian, a tiller of the soil, a supporter of the toiling 
peasants and workers, not a "hisser". Find one more. Better 
a trio: Chekunov + a Simbirsk man + another from a non-grain province. 
This trio of "old men" (it would be very good if all were 
both non-party and Christians) we will immediately turn either into members of the collegium with a consultative 
voice, or into the 
nucleus 
of a "council 
of non-party 
peasants", 
or into a 
similar 
corporation.
This must be done quickly, immediately (he wants to leave the day after tomorrow).
Strike while the iron is hot. Reply to me.

With communist greetings,
Lenin