[First section - preceding memorandum]

...credibly. Yuryev is a loyal person; diligent and dedicated to the cause, a reliable worker. From a political standpoint he is more disciplined, steadfast, and consistent than some of those who have made it onto the list. His exclusion from the list now, when people who have permitted disorganizing statements are included, will only cause offense and deprive Komprod* of a dedicated worker. I do not exaggerate his abilities. He does not pluck the stars from the sky. But truthfully: which of us Komprod people plucks them? The wave of revolution lifted us high, but in ourselves we are small people. Could the question not be reconsidered?**

18/II
A. Tsyurupa

I am in favor of retaining Yuryev.²
Lenin

¹ A. D. Tsyurupa — member of the RSDLP from 1898. From the beginning of 1918 — Commissar of Food. From the end of 1921 — Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and Council of Labor and Defense.

² A. A. Yuryev was included in the collegium of the People's Commissariat of Food, confirmed on February 24, 1920 at a session of the Council of People's Commissars.

# TO THE AVIATOR OF THE "GERMAN AVIATION SOCIETY"
FEBRUARY 26, 1920

*To Aviator Polte¹ "German Aviation Society"
Berlin

Since the Tsentrosoyuz has authorized you to return to Germany, and your aeroplane carries neither passengers nor any cargo, the undersigned requests that you transport on your aeroplane to Berlin our trade representative for Switzerland, Frederick Platten,² together with his wife. The appropriate payment to the "German Aviation Society" for the transport of this passenger will be made by Mr. Platten directly to that society.³

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

Printed from typescript text signed by V. I. Lenin

¹ Willi Polte — in 1920 worked as an aviator for the "German Aviation Society"; came to Soviet Russia with representatives of the German-Austrian commission on prisoners of war matters.

* Underlined by V. I. Lenin.
Lenin Collected Works XXXVIII

² Frederick (Fritz) Platten — professional revolutionary, Swiss communist. Was one of the organizers of V. I. Lenin's passage from Switzerland to Russia in April 1917. In 1920–1923 was in Switzerland; subsequently lived and worked in the USSR.

³ On March 18, 1920, V. Polte flew from Smolensk carrying Soviet trade representative F. Platten with his wife, as well as mail.

In 1956 Polte published his memoirs in Bonn, "The Sky Belongs to Us," in which, in particular, he describes his flight to Soviet Russia in 1920 and mentions the letter he received from V. I. Lenin (Willi Polte. Uns aber gehörte der Himmel. Bonn, 1956, p. 92).

# RESOLUTION ON A TELEGRAM FROM SARATOV
[February 26, 1920]

To Sklyansky and Krasin, so that they provide a copy of their reply and report on 27/II to the Council of Defense.

On December 24, 1919, the Council of Defense adopted a resolution recognizing as urgent operational tasks the construction of the Aleksandrov-Gay–Emba railroad and oil pipeline, as well as the conversion to broad gauge of the section of the railway line Krasnyi Kut–Aleksandrov-Gay. The People's Commissariat of Military Affairs was assigned the task of directing two railroad divisions to Saratov for the dismantling of the narrow-gauge line Krasnyi Kut–Aleksandrov-Gay. In a telegram of February 25 addressed to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. I. Lenin, the chief engineer of Aleksandrov-Gay–Emba A. V. Budassi reported that the railroad divisions designated for dismantling the tracks, despite numerous urgent demands, remain in their previous locations, and requested that an order be given to the People's Commissariat of Railways and the Central Administration of Military Communications for the urgent dispatch of both railroad divisions (see also V. I. Lenin. Complete Works, vol. 51, p. 121 and Lenin Collected Works XXXIV, pp. 266–267).

# TELEGRAM TO THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF MILITARY AFFAIRS
[March 13, 1920]

Operational

Telegram to Narkomvoyen
Copy: Moscow Glavkomgosoor
         Saratov Algembra

A question has been raised regarding an order to the Turk Front and Caucasus Front to render the most effective assistance in organizing a supply train of up to two thousand horses, partly camels, mobilizing transport means in the Pugachev and Uralsk districts, supplying the train with forage, for the urgent construction of Aleksandrov-Gay–Emba, at the disposal of Chief Engineer Budassi, Saratov. Urgently provide your opinion.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin

Printed from typescript text signed by V. I. Lenin

# TELEGRAM TO THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF HEALTH
[March 3, 1920]

Operational

Telegram
Narkomzdrav
Copy: Moscow Glavkomgosoor
       Saratov Algembra

A question has been raised regarding the immediate dispatch to the operational line Algembra at the disposal of Chief Engineer Budassi: Saratov, Moskovskaya St., 30 — fifteen doctors, thirty paramedics, twenty nurses with all necessary equipment, medicines, disinfection chambers owing to the complete absence of medicines at the location and severe typhus epidemic. Urgently provide your opinion.*

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin

Printed from typescript text signed by V. I. Lenin

By the beginning of April 1920, two epidemic squads, two bath squads, 15 doctors, 100 medical assistants and nurses had arrived at the construction of Aleksandrov-Gay–Emba. Responsibility for all sanitary measures was borne by the head of the medical section of the 4th Army.

# INSCRIPTION ON A TELEGRAM FROM L. D. TROTSKY
[1920, March, no earlier than 4]

I have no objection if we retain for Shorin¹ the rank of "assistant commander-in-chief."

Suspicious is the absence of news about Budyonny and the 10th and 11th armies???²

¹ In his telegram to the Deputy Commissar of Military Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic E. M. Sklyansky, L. D. Trotsky reported that the commander-in-chief had proposed summoning V. I. Shorin for work in Siberia. Trotsky asked that this question be discussed in the Organizational Bureau and inquired in what capacity Shorin might be introduced to the Siberian Revolutionary Committee perhaps as a representative of the Revolutionary Military Council and placed over the district and command to establish order.

² V. I. Shorin in 1920–1921 was commander-in-chief of forces in Siberia.

³ Below this text by V. I. Lenin are notes by E. M. Sklyansky. Regarding S. M. Budyonny and the 10th Army, Sklyansky wrote: "They were, but apparently advancing weakly"; regarding the 11th Army it was written: "They were, it advanced."

S. M. Budyonny — member of the RCP(b) from 1919. During the years of foreign military intervention and civil war he commanded a cavalry corps, then the 1st Cavalry Army.

# MEMORANDUM TO N. N. KRESTINSKY¹
MARCH 10 [1920]

Comrade Krestinsky!

A most urgent matter — the death sentence on Kiselev. I saw him in 1910–1914 in Zurich, where he was a Plekhanovist and was accused of a number of vile acts (I don't know the details). I saw Kiselev in 1918 or 1919 here in Moscow, in passing. Kiselev worked in *Izvestia* and told me he was becoming a Bolshevik. I don't know the facts.

Get in touch with Kamenev.²

Lenin

¹ The memorandum was written regarding a death sentence passed on I. Kiselev in Kiev. Kiselev was accused of remaining in Kiev during its occupation without party permission and of collaborating with the occupation authorities.

² In a reply memorandum, the secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) N. N. Krestinsky informed V. I. Lenin that L. B. Kamenev was in favor of suspending the sentence and demanding the case file. Krestinsky himself refrained from any decision since he did not personally know Kiselev. If a decision is made to suspend carrying out the sentence, wrote Krestinsky, then immediately a telegram must be sent to Kiev, through F. E. Dzerzhinsky.

In response to this memorandum from N. N. Krestinsky, V. I. Lenin wrote: "I did not finish reading Bergman's report and therefore cannot vote. Let comrade Dzerzhinsky decide, having consulted with Krestinsky."

F. E. Dzerzhinsky wrote in the margins of this text: "I am against interference. F. Dzerzhinsky."

# REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION OF RUSSIA TO THE SEVENTEENTH MOSCOW PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE¹
MARCH 13, 1920

The international position of our Republic has never been as good as it is at the present time — strange as it may seem to say to an assembly of people who know perfectly well and feel the entire weight of the current situation, especially when the end of winter has brought an unprecedented aggravation of cold and all manner of hardship. Strange as it may seem, the fact testifies completely objectively that we have won the most serious victory over the entire Entente — that is, over all the richest capitalist countries. And the more often one has to read the reviews of the bourgeois press, Western European and American, especially the reviews of the capitalist press and that part of it which is most hostile to the Soviet Republic, the clearer the tremendous victory that we have won... When they decided to help with all their might Yudenich, Kolchak, and Denikin, they were giving themselves an account that they were fighting against revolution at home, fighting against world revolution. During two years of struggle they threw hundreds of millions in gold to help the Russian White Guards, organized schools for Russian officers and threw thousands of their own people into the White Guard armies and sent thousands of Russian prisoners there. The White Guards received support from all the most powerful states that dominate the entire earth. There is no corner where America's power does not extend — power both financial, the power of the bank, and military power. The German fleet was the only rival of America, but now, when America is building an enormous quantity of ships and when England is in alliance with it, no struggle [against them] at sea would be possible for any state. From the point of view of military force the struggle seemed hopeless, for these powers are many times stronger than us even now. If they had...