Appendix.
ON THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN PEASANTS AND WORKERS.
To All Provincial Soviet Executive Committees and Food Commissions /
August 17, 1918
From reports coming in from localities regarding the organization of Committees of Rural Poor, it is evident that, all too often, in the process of organizing the poor, the interests of the middle‑income peasantry are being neglected. In many areas, the slogan of “organizing the poor” has been misinterpreted to mean that the poor must be set against the entire rest of the rural population—against both the notorious kulaks and the wealthy landowners, as well as against the large middle stratum of peasants who, only yesterday, were starving and who, it is only under Soviet power that they have finally breathed freely.
Soviet power has never waged a struggle against the middle peasantry. On the contrary, Soviet power has always sought to unite the urban proletariat with the rural proletariat and semi‑proletariat—and also with the hard‑working middle‑income peasantry that does not exploit the labor of others. Accordingly, in its activities, Soviet power has striven, and continues to strive, to meet the needs of the middle peasantry alongside the needs of urban workers and rural poor. It is precisely this intent that underlies the law on the socialization of land, which has been implemented by the Bolshevik Communist Party—the leading political party—with strict regard for the interests of the middle peasant. The subsequent measures taken by the worker‑peasant government bear the same significance. Through decrees increasing fixed prices threefold*
In the printed text: “A telegram of the following content has been dispatched to all provincial Soviet Executive Committees and Food Commissions:”
The original text bears the marginal note: “food supply.” Ed.

L.K.N. SH.S.K.I.I COLLECTION
in bread and in the organization of harvest teams, as well as through the dispatch of agronomists and agricultural implements to the producing provinces, Soviet power is responding to the interests of, above all, the middle peasantry—peasants who have only now gained the opportunity to develop freely and no longer suffer from hunger after centuries of slavery and oppression.
In meeting the needs of the middle peasantry alongside those of the rural poor, Soviet power also pursues its objectives in the realm of commodity exchange. As for the decree of June 1st concerning the organization of supplies for the rural poor, certain paragraphs of this decree explicitly address the middle stratum of the peasantry. For example, the note appended to paragraph two stipulates that, in addition to the truly impoverished, committees of the poor should also include peasants who employ wage labor but do not keep their fellow villagers in bondage; moreover, the distribution of grain and essential commodities, as prescribed in paragraphs four, five, six, seven, and eight [to be carried out], must be conducted * among all peasants in need of such supplies—not merely among rural proletarians and semi‑proletarians alone. Paragraphs nine, ten, and eleven, which provide for the supply of agricultural implements to peasants on preferential terms, are intended for both the poor and the middle peasantry—for it is self‑evident that the latter, more than the former, stand in dire need of agricultural tools.
The measures currently being prepared by the worker‑peasant government are likewise permeated by a concern for meeting the needs of the rural poor and the middle peasantry.
All Provincial Soviet Executive Committees and Provincial Food Commissions are hereby strictly instructed to align their activities in every respect with the overarching policies of the central authorities and to resolutely strive toward the unification of the rural poor and the middle peasantry—by safeguarding the interests of both groups.
The Committees of the Poor must be revolutionary organs representing the entire peasantry, standing in opposition to the former landlords, kulaks, merchants, and priests—not merely organs of rural proletarians, directed against the rest of the rural population.
The alliance between workers and peasants triumphed over the landlords and the bourgeoisie last October. It is this alliance—and none other—that will secure the land for the peasants, place the factories and plants in the hands of the workers, and consolidate the worker‑peasant state.
The alliance between workers and peasants will ultimately lead to the triumph of socialism. This telegram is to be immediately brought to the attention of all district and volost Soviet Executive Committees and Food Commissions.**
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars: V. Ulyanov–Lenin.
People’s Commissar for Food Supply: A. Tsyurupa.
* “Must be carried out”—written by A. D. Tsyurupa. Ed.
** From the words “This telegram…” onward, the text was written in A. D. Tsyurupa’s own hand; Lenin’s signature is his own autograph. Ed.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN A. D. TSYURUPA AND V. I. LENIN

EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN A. D. TSYURUPA AND
V. I. LENIN REGARDING THE ISSUE OF TAKING
HOSTAGES
August 10, 1918
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