*LENIN COLLECTED WORKS*

[Editorial note regarding the Russian icebreaker rescue in the Kara Sea; the telegram reported that an agreement had been concluded between the governments of England and Norway.

Note: "NB" and underlinings were made by V. I. Lenin.]

13839

TELEGRAM TO YU. V. LOMONOSOV¹

[May 1920, not earlier than 4]

To Lomonosov

By cipher: Cannot accept resignation from Tseka, all this is merely a misunderstanding which will be cleared up at our meeting.

Lenin

¹ The telegram was sent in reply to Yu. V. Lomonosov's request for resignation and permission to return immediately to Moscow from his assignment, which had as its objective the supervision of repairs to rolling stock and the organization of local railway administrations in the South. Lomonosov referred to the fact that during his illness, what had been accomplished was half dismantled.

V. I. Lenin addressed an inquiry to the NKPS [People's Commissariat of Railways]. In a note prepared by the NKPS, it was reported that Lomonosov had written them about certain inexpedient changes. As for the organization of local administrations, Lomonosov "was redrawing the railways based on local meetings and considerations, without consulting the center," to which he had been pointed out. Under the text of this note Lenin wrote: "Your draft response."

13933

NOTE TO G. V. CHICHERIN

[May 11 or 12, 1920]

Here one must decide: either release him or arrest him on the charge of e s p i o n a g e. Contact the VChK or Stalin in order to decide immediately. S t a l i n, p r o b a b l y, i s i n t h e O r g b u r o¹.

Forward to Stalin: he corresponds on all Georgian matters².

G. V. Chicherin informed V. I. Lenin in a letter about the departure abroad of the American mechanical engineer R. Kiley, who had come to Moscow in 1919 and worked at the VSNKh [Supreme Soviet of the National Economy]. Suspected of espionage, Kiley was detained on the border on May 12, 1920 by the Special Department of the 7th Army and sent to the Special Department of the VChK [Extraordinary Commission].

On June 25, V. I. Lenin inquired of V. R. Menzhinsky, head of the Special Department of the VChK, concerning the facts that had served as the basis for Kiley's arrest. Menzhinsky confirmed Kiley's espionage activities.

In July 1920, the Kiley case was transferred to the Supreme Tribunal at the VTsIK [All-Russian Central Executive Committee], which found him guilty of illegally transmitting to the USA malicious and slanderous information about Soviet Russia and the Communist Party; on April 24, 1921, Kiley was sentenced to deprivation of freedom for 2 years. On August 4, 1921, the Presidium of the VTsIK satisfied Kiley's petition for release, and he was permitted to depart for the USA.

In the second part of his letter, G. V. Chicherin reported on a telegram received from G. K. Ordzhonikidze regarding Georgian affairs.

14102

NOTE TO V. A. AVANESOV

May 26, 1920

Comrade Avanesov! I am informed that automobiles are not being provided contrary to the order of comrade Milyutin (VSNKh) and even for foreigners, owing to certain disorders in the automobile section (of the VSNKh; the manager is Bondarenko). I ask you most earnestly to check into this matter more strictly¹.

Your Lenin

¹ V. A. Avanesov, member of the collegium of the People's Commissariat of RKI [Workers' and Peasants' Inspection], on May 28, 1920 issued an order: "Most urgent. Follow up on the execution of this matter — I agree that serviceable machines cannot be provided in view of mobilization — but some can be taken from repairs, and therefore accelerate the transfer of machines which the auto base will repair with its own means."

14103

NOTATIONS, MARKINGS, AND UNDERLININGS ON TELEGRAMS REGARDING THE AGRONOMIC ADMINISTRATION AT THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF RAILWAYS¹

[May 1920, before the 28th]

Copy

Telegram

To all railway junction consumer cooperatives and food organizations of railway lines. Council of People's Commissars, People's Commissariat of Labor, People's Commissariat of Railways, and executive committee of all railway lines. Agronomic Administration at the NKPS.

The Tsekprofsozh [All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions] and Prodput propose that all productive agricultural enterprises with inventory and staffing, located within and outside the zone of alienation, not be transferred to the agro-service. The permission to the agronomic administrations of the NKPS regarding transfer has been protested by the Council of People's Commissars and is not subject to execution pending the decision of the latter. Only cultural-educational measures and equipment located within the zone of alienation are subject to transfer, as well as staffing unnecessary for servicing productive enterprises. The agronomic personnel are permitted to work in agro-services on a part-time basis.

For the chairman of Tsekprofsozh Amosov
Responsible secretary of Tsekprofsozh Platonov
Chairman of the Supply Council for Railwaymen Kravets

Date?

X What does this mean?

Check.

To the Orgburo of the Central Committee, comrade Kresty­nsky, copy to comrade Lenin.

...At the conference of the NKPS of the 3rd/4th under my chairmanship with the participation of representatives of Tsekprofsozh, it was decided that Tsekprofsozh on the following day would issue telegraph instructions regarding the transfer of agricultural enterprises to the agro-service. This was not executed. Long drawn-out sabotaging negotiations, conferences began and, in the end, seizing upon the technique of transfer, the aforementioned comrades via railway telegraph issued an order for non-execution of the Council of People's Commissars' decision...

Date?

To the Orgburo of the Central Committee.

¹ On February 26, 1920, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a Regulation on the Agronomic Administration at the People's Commissariat of Railways. The purpose of the agronomic administration at the NKPS was: the organization and coordination of agronomic measures on railways; the promotion of agricultural production for the needs of railwaymen; the general advancement of agricultural culture within the zone of alienation; the carrying out of agronomic measures on railways in full accord with the general state land and agricultural policy; the implementation of the decree of February 15, 1919 regarding the organization of Soviet enterprises by institutions and associations of the industrial proletariat. The tasks of the agronomic administration included material and organizational assistance to railwaymen in their agricultural initiatives, the dissemination of agricultural knowledge among railwaymen, and the rational utilization of the zone of alienation and free areas in forest and peat workings.

The Council of People's Commissars' decision of February 26, 1920 obligated Tsekprofsozh to transfer all agronomic enterprises on the railways to the jurisdiction of the agronomic administration. However, this was not done.

In May 1920, the question of Tsekprofsozh was heard at the Politburo and a decision was adopted to transfer the question for urgent resolution to the Orgburo, entrusting it with forming an appropriate commission if detailed examination proved necessary. In the event that deliberate non-execution of the Council of People's Commissars' decision should be established, punishment should be no less than a reprimand and removal from responsible posts.

14159, 14177

NOTES TO M. N. POKROVSKY¹

[May 1920, not earlier than the 29th]

To comrade M. N. Pokrovsky

1) Have you seen Balkashina and, if so, what is the result?
2) Tomorrow I would like to telephone you in the daytime (11—4). Where will you be?

Lenin

Comrade Pokrovsky!

If you are not in a hurry to leave, perhaps after the session we could talk for 5 minutes about Balkashina?

Lenin

¹ A. F. Balkashina headed the experimental school of the People's Commissariat of Education. V. I. Lenin was interested in the results of the work of the commission investigating the school and its conclusions.

Balkashina addressed a letter to Lenin in which she reported that the commission's general impression of the work of the experimental school was satisfactory, however, the conclusions were unclear to her; she asked Lenin whether she should continue her work in this school.

On Balkashina's letter, Lenin made a notation:

"To the archives
Received 29/V 1920 (from Balkashina)."

LENIN COLLECTED WORKS

14198

TELEGRAM TO I. V. STALIN

[June 2, 1920]

Kremenchug
To Member of the Council of Defense S t a l i n

Kazakov wants to give me an answer based on facts already in hand, not on promises, only on the seventh — ninth of June¹

Lenin

¹ See the following document.

14216

NOTATION AND UNDERLININGS ON A TELEGRAM FROM I. V. STALIN¹

[June 3, 1920] x This amounts to a transfer of the question to the Politburo. It is necessary to question all its members.

S. [Secret]

Telegram (by cipher)

From Kremenchug. Received 3/VI, 0 hours 50 minutes.

Moscow, Kremlin. To Lenin.

Kremenchug 2/VI.

I received your cipher. I see that you have not read my cipher of yesterday addressed to Sklyansky. I understand your telegram to mean that the TsEKA [Revolutionary Military Council] refuses two divisions despite my warnings, and thereby relieves me of responsibility for probable undesirable consequences at the front. Let it be so. I remember the decision of the Politburo, but since Wrangel does not reckon with this decision and, on the contrary, is preparing for an offensive, with the quite possible result that he will break through our front, I deemed it my duty to take measures of a military-administrative and military-operational character for precaution. That is all.

Stalin

¹ See also V. I. Lenin. Complete Collected Works, vol. 51, pp. 205, 208—209.