V. I.

Lenin

336

TELEGRAM TO THE ODESSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

24/V—19

Executive Committee
Odessa
Copy to Rakovsky, Council of People’s Commissars, Kiev

Allowing foreigners to leave on their own is criminal.
To let Russians out under the guise of foreigners is a counter-revolutionary act, tantamount to treason. Foreigners
in general should not be allowed out without compensation
which can only be ordered by the central government.
Citizens of the Entente countries should not be allowed to
go, other than by way of exchange carried out by the central government. Not a single Frenchman should be allowed
to go out until the return of the soldiers from France, among
whom there are many Ukrainians. Those guilty of violating
this should be held strictly responsible. Bear in mind that
the Finnish Government, obviously at the instigation of
the Entente, is hindering the release to Russia of Russian
soldiers; therefore do not allow a single bourgeois, a single
person, to leave Odessa and the Ukraine. Exceptions— Chinese workers, Persians, by orders from the
centre. [1]

Lenin
Chairman, Council of People’s Commissars