V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v34;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

NOTES ON A. PYSHKOV’S (MAXIM GORKY’S) LETTER

October 21, 1920

In February 1919, on the proposal of People’s Commissar Krasin, A. Pyshkov organised in Petrograd an “Expert Commission”, whose purpose was: to select and appraise articles of artistic value in 33 nationalised warehouses in Petrograd, ownerless flats, pawnshops and antique shops.
Only 8 out of 33 warehouses examined.
These articles were selected with a view to creating an antique export fund in the Soviet Republic.
Up to October 1, 1920, the “Expert Commission”, working with a staff of 80 under the chairmanship of A. Pyshkov, formed two warehouses of the articles selected by it, numbering up to 120,000 various items, such as: artistic antique furniture, paintings of various epochs, countries and schools, Russian, Sèvres, Saxon, etc., porcelain, bronzes, artistic glassware, ceramics, antique weapons, objects of oriental art, etc.
* Soviet plenipotentiary representative in Estonia.
LENIN MISCELLANY
According to the 1915 valuation, the value of these articles exceeds one thousand million. Besides, the commission’s warehouses contain carpets selected from ownerless flats to the value of several hundred million (also according to the 1915 valuation)...
Gorky

To the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade and M. N. Pokrovsky

I insist on the extreme acceleration of this matter and on the introduction on Tuesday (October 26) in the Council of People’s Commissars of a draft decision:
1) to decide to sell these articles abroad as quickly as possible;
2) to demand from the People’s Commissariat for Education an official reply by Tuesday, October 26, as to whether it objects (it is said that they have already selected articles for our museums: I agree to give them only the strictly necessary minimum);
3) to send immediately a special commission of experts and traders abroad, promising them a good bonus for quick and advantageous sale;
4) considering the work excessively slow (8 out of 33), I consider it absolutely necessary to strengthen the staff of the expert commission (Gorky indicates up to 200 persons) and to give them a ration on condition of speedy completion of the work.

Lenin