V. I.

Lenin

218

To:   A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

12. XII. 1918

Dear Comrade Shlyapnikov, I am taking this opportunity to send you greetings and
materials for the investigation. [2] Think it over thoroughly
in advance and discuss it with 2 or 3 of the most reliable
members of the Cheka, and catch the scoundrels named here without fail. Spare no effort to catch and shoot the

Astrakhan profiteers and bribe-takers. This riffraff must be
dealt with in such a way that everyone will remember it for years to come .

The materials, I have been told, come from an honest tradesman who has remained here.

Regarding your requests and commissions, I have phoned, asked and repeated
them. [1]

I hope that part—and the most substantial part—will be met. The whole, of
course, is beyond our resources.

Telegraph what items among those outstanding are most urgently required.

Do your utmost to carry out repairs and increase the carrying capacity of the Astrakhan railway line.

What success has been achieved at sea? With our fleet?
With the base near
Kizlyar? [3]

Write!

Greetings, Yours, Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
This refers to the speeding up of deliveries of arms and
munitions to Astrakhan.— Ed .

[2]
This refers to materials concerning a gang of profiteers and
bribe-takers, who had wormed their way into Soviet bodies in
Astrakhan and disrupted the work of supplying the Soviet troops.

[3]
This apparently refers to the operation of a squadron of ships of
the Astrakhan-Caspian Naval Flotilla for landing troops at
Staroterechnaya in the Kizlyar sector of the Caspian-Caucasian
Front.