V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:PSS/v52; en:CW/CW35;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

GLAVNEFT

Comrade Gubkin
3. VI. 1921

While looking through the journal *Neftyanoye i Slantsevoye Khozyaistvo* (Oil and Shale Industry), I came across, in No. 1-4 (1921), a note (p. 199) “On the Substitution of Cement Mortar for Metal Pipes in the Drilling of Oil Wells”.

It appears that this is applicable in rotary drilling. And we have such drilling in Baku, as I read in the report of the Baku men.

We are perishing and ruining Baku for lack of drilling.

Iron pipes can be replaced by cement, etc., which is still easier to obtain than iron pipes, and which, according to your journal, costs a “quite insignificant” sum!

And you bury news of this kind in a minor note of a most learned journal, which perhaps one person in 1,000,000 in the R.S.F.S.R. is capable of understanding.

Why was the big drum not beaten? Why was it not brought out into the general press? Why was a commission of practical men not appointed? Why were incentive measures not adopted in the Council of Labour and Defence?

Chairman, Council of Labour and Defence,
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)