only whites (officers), constituting a minority and an insignificant one among the Estonians?
It is necessary to consider ten times, to try it on for size ten times, because a mass
of data indicates the Estonian peasantry's desire for peace.
Lenin

RESOLUTION ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF *
October 22, 1919
To all members of the Politburo for signature.
In my opinion, the petition should be granted and it should be decided: either to summon the Commander-in-Chief personally, or to give him draft directives for
urgent conclusion and to notify the Commander-in-Chief of this in writing.
Lenin
To all members of the Politburo for review and signature**.
in the event that he retreats there. But according to reports in Finnish newspapers, the Estonians
have now driven Yudenich out of Narva and forbade his troops to move
across Estonian territory. This must be secured...
Everything must be done to avoid invasion of Estonia. This would sharply
change the mood in all the small states with which we are conducting or are going to conduct negotiations, and would thwart these agreements,
as everywhere the idea of our alleged "imperialism" would be resurrected.
Peace negotiations played a huge role in convincing the Estonian peasantry
and petty bourgeoisie that we do not want to conquer them... We must not give cause
to the Estonian war party to rekindle these fears again.
Russian White Guard newspapers write: "If the Estonian troops
had taken part in the campaign against Petrograd, it would have succeeded; but they are not participating,
therefore the campaign is hopeless." This is what we have achieved by the mood of the Estonian masses caused by peace negotiations...
In essence, regarding the continuing operations, it was necessary to appeal
to the Estonian masses with leaflets from airplanes, but without threats. The Estonian
war party would have been happy if we gave them a reason to again inflame
the patriotic military ardor of the peasantry and petty bourgeoisie against us.
We must not climb into this trap."
* In his report, the Commander-in-Chief requested that the government's draft
operational directives be given to the
High Command for preliminary conclusion.
** The report has the note: "I agree with the Commander-in-Chief's request. M. Kalinin."

1919

TELEGRAM
TO THE PETROGRAD SOVIET
October 24, 1919
In his telegram, the Commander-in-Chief rejects the request to send
a brigade in addition to the railway regiment and 2 regiments of the VI army,
one of which is already on its way. I think this is correct, because
there is nowhere to take it from, and in the south near Orel extremely
fierce battles are still going on. For the time being, you will be sent one and a half thousand reinforcements.
Measures have been taken to give you Latvians on top of this, if any
are found. It is proposed to give you 600 people from the Soviet school.
Lenin
Printed from a hand- written copy.

TELEGRAM
TO THE MILITARY COMMISSARIAT OF SOVIET LATVIA
October 25, 1919
Report immediately:
1) Have you already sent those mobilized to the reserve
battalion of the Latvian Division? How many have been sent? Has mobilization been carried out energetically enough?
2) Have you completed the task of sending reinforcements
to the Latvian regiment, to the VII army? Both tasks do not tolerate
delay.
Lenin
Printed from a hand- written copy.