Date: 1921-01-27
Source: ru:ND

Comrade Krasikov! This request was conveyed to me by A.M. Gorky. Is it advisable—even under special circumstances—to convert a church into a club? Are there, in fact, any such special circumstances? Wouldn’t it be better to simply abolish the arrangement and restore the church to its rightful status?

Please look into this matter carefully and investigate thoroughly; then send me a brief report on the outcome.

January 27, 1921.

Lenin.

Published in: Izvestia of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Moscow, 1989, No. 1, p. 214.

Fund 2, Inventory 1, File 16995 — autograph.

1The note was written by V.I. Lenin in response to a petition submitted by the parishioners of the church attached to the Military Medical Academy to the People’s Commissariat of Justice: “We, the parishioners of the church at the Military Medical Academy, earnestly request that you rescind the order to liquidate our church with the aim of converting it into a club. Having existed since the very founding of the Academy, this church holds historical significance; its walls are adorned with plaques bearing the names of physicians who perished while fulfilling their duty over nearly two centuries. A suitable space for a club could easily be found elsewhere—but we implore you to spare our church, for it is here that we have buried our loved ones, and countless other cherished memories are bound up with it. Petrograd, January 21, 1921.”