V. I.

Lenin

Draft Decision of the Politbureau of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) [1]

The Commissariat for Food to be directed, as a most important political and economic task, to regularly supply Baku with food
to the extent of one hundred per cent of its requirements.

The food policy in Azerbaijan to be relaxed, namely, no grain at all to
be taken from the peasants of Azerbaijan outside Mugan, and in Mugan itself
with great care.

Frumkin to be directed immediately to report strict and punctilious
execution of these directives twice a month to the Central Committee and
the Council of

Defence. [2]

A policy of utmost conciliation to be adopted towards Georgia, Armenia,
Turkey and Persia, i.e., one directed most of all towards avoiding
war.

We must not set ourselves the task of conducting any campaign against
Georgia, or Armenia, or Persia.

The main task is to be that of guarding Azerbaijan and securing
possession of the whole Caspian.

For this purpose the transference to Azerbaijan of no less than 7
divisions is to be speeded up in every possible way.

Propaganda, agitation, the development of the Committees of Poor

Peasants, [3] and general Soviet activities in Azerbaijan to be stepped
up in every way; for this purpose Comrade Stalin to be directed through the
Orgbureau to dig up from everywhere he can the greatest possible number of
Moslem Communists for work in Azerbaijan.

The Commissariat for Railways and the

S.C.T. [4] to be directed to find means of transporting no less than 8
troop trains daily to Baku without affecting the supply of food to Russia,

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Notes:
[1]
This draft, with slight amendments, was adopted at the meeting of the
Politbureau on November 27, 1920.

[2]
This refers to the Council of Labour and Defence. The Council of
Workers’ and Peasants’ Defence was reorganised at the beginning of April
1920 and renamed the Council of Labour and Defence. Under a decision of the
Eighth All-Russia Congress of Soviets in December 1920 the Council began to
operate as a C.P.C. commission responsible for co-ordinating the work of
all economic departments. It was abolished in. 1937.

[3]
The Committees of Poor Peasants came into being in the
Azerbaijan countryside after the proclamation of the Azerbaijan Soviet
Socialist Republic. The decision calling for their organisation was adopted
by the Politbureau of the CC. of the Azerbaijan Communist Party
(Bolsheviks) in August 1920.

[4]
S.C.T.-Supreme Council for Transport.