V. I.

Lenin

65

TELEGRAM TO THE REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE 11TH ARMY [2]

The C.C. is inclined to permit the 11th Army to give active support to the uprising in Georgia and to occupy
Tiflis, provided international rules are observed and all
members of the 11th Army R.M.C. after a serious examination of all the data, vouch for
success. [3] We warn that we have been left without grain because of transport, and
will therefore not give a single train or a single car. We
are forced to carry only grain and oil from the Caucasus. We
demand an immediate reply by direct wire signed by all the 11th Army R.M.C. members and also by Smilga,
Gittis, Trifonov and Frumkin. Until our reply to the telegrams from all these persons, do nothing
drastic. [1]

14. II.

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Notes:
[1]
Lenin then added the following: “On behalf of the C.C.,
Krestinsky.” At the bottom of the telegram Lenin added this note,
apparently addressed to the secretary: “No, better keep this
top-secret for 2–3 months.”— Ed.

[2]
The text of the telegram proposed by Lenin was approved by
the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) Central Committee on
February 14, 1921.

[3]
The working people’s armed uprising, led by the Georgian
Bolsheviks, against the Menshevik government of Georgia began on
the night of February 11, 1921. At the request of the Georgian
working people, Soviet Russia’s Government ordered units of
the 11th Army to support the insurgents. Relying on the support
of those units, the workers and peasants of Georgia fought a heroic
struggle and routed the Menshevik forces, liberating Tiflis, the
capital of Georgia, on February 25, and proclaiming Georgia a
Soviet Socialist Republic. See this volume, Documents 66 and
86.