NOTE TO L. A. FOTIEVA and L. B. KRASIN
October 9, 1918
I gladly sign the telegram about oil, ships, etc.
I disagree with signing about Mukhin:
(1) Krasin writes that Mukhin concealed money from Stalin.
He had no right to do this, even if "on the orders of his (!! ??) superiors,"—because Stalin is also a superior,
and if not "his," then a higher one.
(2) It is formally incorrect and generally inadmissible to decide
this without asking Stalin (and Stalin is in Moscow!!).
Greetings! Lenin
* L. B. Krasin asked V. I. Lenin to sign a telegram addressed
to the Extraordinary Commission in Tsaritsyn regarding the release
from arrest and dispatch to Moscow of N. Mukhin, an employee of Glavkonft.

1917-1918
24267
FROM A LETTER TO THE SOVIET AMBASSADOR IN GERMANY
October 18, 1918
I received your letter of October 13 after sending you a letter.
I am not against continuing "diplomacy." But its significance has diminished. The whole point is whether the Entente will manage to land
in the Black Sea with a large force. I have long been talking about this danger to everyone and everywhere, and clearly stated it in a letter to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee*.
The fundamental difference from February 1918 is that then we had
the opportunity to buy time by giving up land. Now there is no such possibility.
Mit besten Grüssen Ihr Lenin**
35598
DRAFT THESES
OF A RESOLUTION ON THE STRICT OBSERVANCE OF LAWS
November 2, 1918
I. Legality must be increased (or strictly
observed), for the foundations of the laws of the RSFSR have been established.
II. Extraordinary measures of war against counter-revolution should not be limited by laws under the conditions:
(a) an accurate and formal statement by the relevant Soviet
institution or official that extraordinary conditions of civil war and the fight against counter-revolution
require exceeding the limits of the laws; (b) immediate communication of such a statement in written
form to the Council of People's Commissars, with a copy for local and interested
authorities.
* See V. I. Lenin. Works, Volume XXIII, pp. 215-217.
** With best regards, Yours Lenin.