V. I.

Lenin

Proposals on Military Questions [1]

It having been certified that there remain (with Budyonny)
not <10,000,

1) I vote for taking the 6th Cavalry Division from Budyonny
for the Wrangel front;

2) for reinforcing Budyonny’s Mounted Army with those 3-4
thousand sabres which the Commander-in-Chief promises the South
( urgent ); +4) more horses to be taken from the Byelorussian peasants
to reinforce Budyonny’s cavalry;

5) for replacing Gittis by Comrade Frunze
immediately (see opinion of Commander-in-Chief and
Tukhachevsky).

Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
The situation on the Polish and Wrangel fronts was discussed at a
meeting of the Politbureau on. August 19, 1920. The Wrangel front was found
to be the main front, and the Politbureau out-lined a number of measures
aimed at strengthening it, speci-fically, it passed a decision to transfer
the 6th Division of the First Mounted Army to the Wrangel front.

On August 20, 1920, the Commander-in-Chief forwarded a memorandum to the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic objecting
to this transfer on the grounds that the 6th Division formed the core of
the First Mounted Army and in quality was equal to the three remaining
divisions. The memorandum bears I. V. Stalin’s superscription: “This
information is incorrect: the remaining three divisions have
no less than 10,000 sabres, and the 4th Cavalry Division remaining
in the Mounted Army is older and more indigenous than the 6th”. On
reading this memorandum Lenin wrote his proposals. Lenin made the following
notes, apparently during the discussion of these proposals: under points I
and 2 “Krestinsky against”, under point 4 “Krestinsky abstained”, and
under point 5 “Krestinsky is for”. The numeration of the points has been
retained as given in the manuscript.