V. I.

Lenin

395

To:   V. V. KUIBYSHEV

19.IX.1921

Comrade Kuibyshev:

I have just had a visit from

Rutgers, Calvert and Heywood representing the American workers’ colony group who
wish to take the Nadezhdinsk Works and several enterprises in the Kuznetsk
basin. [1]

They want their representative (with an interpreter) to
attend the Council of Labour and Defence on Friday. I think
we should let them come.

I also draw your attention to and request you to inform
all members of the commission and subcommissions of the
following:

(1) The Nadezhdinsk Works, in their opinion, is both economically and technically connected with a group of
enterprises in Kuzbas, for it will provide tractors for their
farms; tractors and all oilier farming implements for the
peasants; repair of machinery for their group’s enterprises
in Kuzbas; equipment for water transport communications
with Siberia, etc.

(2) In Kuznetsk basin they are taking 12,000 dessiatines
of land and several enterprises, wishing to set up a large
arid complete economic whole.

(3) They want only 300,000 dollars in cash. It would be wrong to think otherwise.

(4) In addition, they want grain and clothing, in order
to start the necessary building operations at once . They
say work should be started this very winter to have time
to finish it by the spring of 1922.

(5) They stress that they will have a firm administrative set-up for their workers’ group; and the whole group
(3,000–6,000 workers) selected from among the best workers,
mostly young and unmarried men, who have had practical experience in their line, and have lived in a climate
similar to that of Russia (Canada and the Northern United
States).

(6) They want to be directly subordinate to the Council of Labour and Defence . Something like an autonomous
state trust consisting of a workers’ association.

They say, by the way, that 200 American lumberjacks arc living here in the “émigré house”. Most of them are
without work. They are itching to get to work. They say
that if you send about 30 of them to the Nadezhdinsk Works
and 15 to Kuznetsk basin at once —with full equipment and food, they will start building log cabins immediately .
(The rest of the 200 will go there later.) They want us to
hurry up with sending them off.

They say that Gerbek (? I did not quite catch the English pronunciation of the name) from the Urals Industrial Bureau had agreed to their plan verbally, and the Siberians
(the Siberian Industrial Bureau), in writing.

They intend to take along 10–15 per cent of
Russian-speaking workers. They could take more.

Please take all this into account.

V. Ulyanov (Lenin )

Chairman, Council of Labour and Defence