V. I.

Lenin

To:   THE EDITORIAL BOARDS OF IZVESTIA , PRAVDA AND TO V. N. IPATIEV

The Editorial Boards of Izvestia and Pravda and Comrade Ipatiev

The newspapers Izvestia and Pravda carried an item a few days ago about the unused resources of
Kara-Bugaz. [1]
May I ask you to tell the author or to let him know through the newspaper, that it is very important for me to have
detailed information both about how well the author is technically prepared for this matter, and about how long
he had studied the question on the spot.

Lenin

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Notes:
[1]
A reference to Goldebayev’s article “Our Resources” ( Pravda
No. 178, August 13, 1921). In a reply letter to Lenin on August
20, 1S21, V. N. Ipatiev, Chief of the S.E.C.’s Chemical Industry
Department, said that despite the vast raw material resources of
the Gulf of Kara-Bugaz, their practical use was being made
difficult because of the lack of water and the shortage of fuel and
transport facilities in the area.

The commercial extraction of sodium sulphate was started in
1924. Today, the area has become a major source of mineral raw
materials required for the chemical industry and other branches
of the national economy. See also this volume, Document 410.