12 January 1921

In my opinion, the reply should be given on behalf of the Administrative Department.

To the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Comrade Lenin

... Correspondence containing personal requests and statements addressed to you is opened in the Council of People's Commissars chancellery, and replies are given not in your name... I would consider it necessary that replies to all such letters be written not on behalf of the secretariat or the Administrative Department, but in your name or on your instructions...

For your information, I report that about 70 such documents arrive daily.