Comrade Smilga, I am sending Comrade Puryshev to you. He is a worker from the Vyborg District, where I became acquainted with him. In my opinion, he is a good organizer. At present he is working in our commissariat, but he is eager for more active work. Unfortunately, he is overly modest. Have a talk with him and assign him to appropriate work. It is a pity for us to lose him, but such times are these that one cannot hold people back.

N. K. Ulyanova

For my part, I join in the request to treat Comrade Puryshev with particular attention—he makes the impression not only of a developed, but of an exceptionally capable worker.

17 April 1919

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

Published for the first time, from the manuscript