NOTE TO L. B. KAMENEV
[November 21, 1922]
We must allocate more funds to the Mari people. Otherwise, it amounts to a cruel mockery that has persisted for many years.¹
The note was apparently drafted on November 21, 1922, during a meeting of the SNK devoted to the issue of developing the burned-over forest area in the Mari Oblast—land that had been devastated by a catastrophic wildfire in 1921, coupled with the Main Forest Administration’s neglectful and irresponsible management of the region’s forests.
The impetus for drafting this note stemmed from repeated deliberations on this matter across various government departments, as well as from delays in implementing the SNK’s resolutions calling for the allocation of funds to clear the burned-over area and to safeguard the region’s forests. The SNK had resolved: “To establish a single managing authority” for the development of the Mari burn site, to be entrusted to a special administration under the NKZ.
With regard to the necessary appropriations for this endeavor, the NKZ was instructed to “submit a proposal to the SNK in accordance with established procedures.”
In compliance with the SNK’s resolutions dated November 21 and December 12, as well as with the STO’s resolution of December 15, 1922, the Council of Labor and Defense, on December 20, 1922, decided: “With respect to measures for the protection of the Mari forest burns, it is deemed advisable to allocate 200,000,000 rubles from state funds to the NKZ (from the 1922 budget), releasing 50% of this sum in January 1923, and the remaining 50% at the beginning of the second and third quarters of 1923, taking into account the seasonal nature of the work.”
* The transcript ends abruptly here.