TELEGRAM TO THE NIZHNY NOVGOROD GOVERNORATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE *.
J.J. Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Executive Committee, for transmission to the Sormovo military and civilian authorities
8 July 1919
I request that you immediately appoint a rigorous, utterly impartial inquiry—conducted through trusted Communist comrades who are personally known—to examine the attached petition; that you compile an accurate, factual account of how many houses, apartments, and rooms are occupied (and by how many households) by employees and senior technical personnel;
which factory buildings are being requested for use as a children’s home, and which can be made available;
that you precisely ascertain who was originally responsible for this matter, list the names of the accountable individuals, their addresses, as well as those who will carry out the investigation.
Please report back to me forthwith, either by mail or in person, upon completion of these tasks.
Signed: V. B. Ulyanov (Lenin).
1 On 3 July 1919, the Bureau of the Women’s Public Organization in Sormovo addressed N. K. Krupskaya—then visiting Sormovo—with a request to allocate one of the premises at the Sormovo Factory for the use of a children’s home.
Factory premises could be transferred to other institutions only by order of the Council of Defense; accordingly, the petition from the Sormovo Women’s Organization was forwarded to Lenin. Lenin’s directive was considered at a meeting of the Presidium of the Sormovo Soviet on 18 July. The final resolution of this matter was deferred to the Presidium of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Executive Committee, which resolved to grant the request of the Sormovo Women’s Organization.

NIZHNY NOVGOROD COLLECTION