V. I.

Lenin

39

To:   N. P. GORBUNOV

Comrade Gorbunov :

All of this is from the village of Modenovo (p.t.o.).
Examine this and help them . They are asking for a reduction of their surplus-products deliveries (p.t.o.). Inquire at
the People’s Commissariat for Food and let me know. [2]

{

The comrade with whom I spoke is a member of the Volost Labour Committee , Pyotr Kozlov [1]

Modenovo

The village of Modenovo , Bogorodsk Volost, Vereya Uyezd,
Moscow Gubernia.

They have fulfilled these surplus-products deliveries:

hay
2000–200 straw

200—200

spring straw

110——

corn

244–43
Delivered voluntarily...

oats

540–19

potatoes

115 (circ.)—115 poultry in full eggs in full meat

78 poods—78 poods

Request: reduce the obligatory deliveries of hay and corn
(fearful of detachments).

---
Notes:
[1]
Lenin wrote the whole note on the envelope of the letter he
received. The text that follows is written on the other side of the
envelope.— Ed .

[2]
At the invitation of peasants from the village of Modenovo,
Bogorodsk Volost, Vereya Uyezd, Moscow Gubernia, Lenin gave
a report on the current situation at a meeting of the inhabitants
of the villages of Modenovo, Shalikovo and others, on December
15, 1920. At their request, Lenin signed a record of the minutes.
When the peasants complained about their excessive quotas in
the delivery of surplus corn and hay, Lenin said that he was
unable to decide the matter on the spot and asked them to send
a representative to Moscow.

In fulfilment, of an assignment from Lenin, N. P. Gorbunov
got the actual condition of the peasants in the village of
Modenovo thoroughly verified, and on March 5, 1921, their deliveries
were cancelled. Before this decision had been taken, a general
meeting of Modenovo peasants on January 29, 1921, discussed
the matter of surplus deliveries and decided that the quotas
could not be met in full. They added: “Realising the critical state
of the country, however, we have decided to help with food and
fodder, reducing our own stocks to the bare minimum. In addition to our earlier fulfilled quotas, we have decided to add 3 poods
of rye, 10 poods of oats, 31 poods of potatoes and 24 poods of
hay” (Central Party Archives of the Institute of
Marxism-Leninism of the C.P.S.U. Central Committee).