# Date: 1921-03

The censuses were to be conducted throughout the entire territory of the country and represented a single statistical operation carried out simultaneously, according to a unified plan and under unified direction. However, in certain localities it proved impossible to conduct the census, as military operations were still taking place, and the struggle against interventionists and White Guards continued. A vast mass of population remained uncounted, located in the territory of Byelorussia, parts of Ukraine, the Caucasus, Dagestan, part of Turkestan, Kirghizia, and the Far East. By this time Crimea too remained in a state of civil war. At the end of October 1920, the troops of the Southern Front launched an offensive in Crimea and routed Wrangel's main forces. In November 1920 the liberation of Crimea was completed. Only after liberation was it possible to conduct a census of the population there.

It was extraordinarily difficult to ensure the preparation, organization, and conduct of the census, since it took place under conditions of civil war and economic devastation. Many factories and plants did not work at all or operated intermittently, transport was in very dire condition, and there was a shortage of the most essential materials, including paper, fuel, and so forth.

V. I. Lenin, attaching great importance to this census, provided constant assistance in the work of the Central Statistical Administration (see Complete Collected Works, vol. 51, pp. 339–340, 345–346, 351–352; vol. 52, pp. 304–305, 328–329; vol. 53, pp. 241, 276).

P. I. Popov, the Director of the Central Statistical Administration and Chairman of the Census Commission, assessed Lenin's role in preparing and conducting this census as follows: "... at Vladimir Ilyich's proposal, the Council of People's Commissars created a commission under my chairmanship, which was given the right to demand from all institutions what was necessary for the work of the factories, and the institutions were obliged to immediately fulfill the commission's demands. Only with Vladimir Ilyich's help was I able to win over teachers from the People's Commissariat of Education for conducting the census. Yes, the 1920 census owes its realization entirely to him."

NOTE TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL BUREAU OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b)¹

Krzhizhanovsky does not know him.

Request that the Organizational Bureau consider and investigate the matter.

27/III [1921] Lenin

¹ Written on a letter from V. A. Lopato, former head of the Tambov Provincial Department for Work in the Countryside, dated 9 February 1921, who had approached G. M. Krzhizhanovsky with a request to assist, through the Party Central Committee, in obtaining an opportunity for him to receive technical education. In his letter Lopato reported that he had applied to the provincial party committee with this request for a transfer to study in Moscow, but had not received permission. Now he is applying a second time with this request to the provincial committee and simultaneously writes to Krzhizhanovsky.

This matter was considered at a session of the Organizational Bureau on 4 April 1921. Lopato's request was granted.

G. M. Krzhizhanovsky — a party member since 1893; in 1920 he headed the Commission for the Electrification of Russia. In 1921–1930 he directed Gosplan.

NOTE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE RCP(b)
V. M. MOLOTOV¹

[1921, March 29]

To all members of the Central Committee

I propose to collect votes

Proposal
For Sokolnikov² | Against | For special discussion

Lenin*

¹ Written in connection with a letter from G. Ya. Sokolnikov, in which he proposed certain changes in the composition of the Turkestan Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP(b).

² G. Ya. Sokolnikov — a party member since 1905. After the October Socialist Revolution he worked in diplomatic, military, and financial posts. From August 1920 to March 1921 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Turkestan Front and Chairman of the Turkestan Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. He repeatedly spoke out against the Leninist policy of the party. For anti-party activity he was expelled from the party's ranks.

NOTE ON THE RECEPTION OF E. S. VARGA
[1921, March]

Comrade Varga

Tell Glisser to write down his telephone number and address and remind me of it.

I will try to expedite the reception¹.

* The document bears the signatures of other Central Committee members regarding their votes.