TELEGRAM TO YU. V. LOMONOSOV 1
11920, May, no earlier than the 4th]
To Lomonosov
By code: The CEC cannot accept your resignation; all of this is nothing more than a misunderstanding that will be dispelled upon our meeting.
Lenin
1 The telegram was sent in response to Yu. V. Lomonosov’s request for his resignation and permission to return immediately to Moscow from a mission whose purpose was to oversee the overhaul of rolling stock and to organize local railway administrations in the South. Lomonosov had pointed out that, during his illness, the work that had been accomplished had been half‑abandoned.
V. I. Lenin turned to the People’s Commissariat for Railways for an explanation. In a note prepared by the People’s Commissariat, it was stated that Lomonosov had written to them about certain ill‑conceived changes. As for the organization of local administrations, Lomonosov “was reshaping railway lines according to local meetings and deliberations, without coordinating with the central authorities”—a practice that had already been brought to his attention. Below the text of this request, Lenin wrote: “Your draft reply.”