V. I.

Lenin

111

To:   N. P. GORBUNOV

Gorbunov

Tell Minkin that Syzran has been taken by the
Czechs. [1]
But we must not give way to panic. Our forces are preparing to hit back. The Penza people, too, should prepare
firmly and energetically. Our success is assured if we do
not remain inactive.

---
Notes:
[1]
This refers to the capture of Syzran by units of the
Czechoslovak Army Corps.

This Corps was formed in Russia before the October
Revolution from among Czechs and Slovaks who were taken prisoner
as soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army. By the agreement of
March 26, 1918, the Soviet Government gave the Corps the
opportunity of leaving Russia via Vladivostok on condition that it
surrender its weapons and remove its Russian commanders.
But on the orders and with the support of the imperialists of
the U.S.A., Britain and France, the counter-revolutionary
commanders of the Corps engineered an armed revolt by the Corps
against the Soviet government at the end of May. Acting
in close contact with the whiteguards and kulaks, the White
Czechoslovak Corps occupied a considerable part of the Urals,
the Volga area and Siberia.

In the districts occupied by the Czechoslovak mutineers,
whiteguard governments were formed with the participation of
the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.

Many soldiers in the Corps, seeing how they had been betrayed
by their counter-revolutionary command, refused to fight against

16—2075

Soviet Russia and deserted from the Corps. About 12,000 Czechs
and Slovaks fought in the ranks of the Red Army.

The Volga area was liberated by the Red Army in the autumn of 1918. The White Czechoslovak Corps was completely
routed simultaneously with the wiping out of Kolchak’s forces.