Bolshevik Leaders correspondence

Bolshevik leadership Correspondence. 1912-1927
Collection of documents 1996.
Compiled by: A.V.Kvashonkin, L.P.Kosheleva, L.A.Rogovaya, O.V.Khlevnyuk.

G. V. Chicherin to V. M. Molotov

August 27, 1921

Tov. MOLOTOV.

Dear Comrade.

It is necessary to immediately decide whether the Politburo agrees to mention in the agreement with Nansen 1 the Committee of Public Figures 2. The question was posed as an ultimatum both with respect to receiving assistance in general and with respect to a loan. The question is about the composition of the Executive Organ of the Nansen organization, that is, the organization created at the Geneva Conference. This Executive Body should consist on an equal basis of one representative of Nansen and one of our representatives. The last concession of Nansen and his associates is that this second member of the Executive Organ will be appointed by the Soviet Government, but from the Committee of Public Figures. We can thus appoint a communist, comrade. Kamenev or Semashko, or another of our comrades, but certainly from the Committee of Public Figures. Nansen says that he knows enough the mood of Western European circles and is sure that without this mention of the Committee of Public Figures, nothing will come of his enterprise. Let us appoint one of our comrades, but the firm of the Committee of Public Figures must appear here. Without this, the business is doomed to failure, and Nansen and his comrades will tear it apart and leave. As regards the loan of £10,000,000, both British experts declared that without this mention of the Committee of Public Men England would by no means grant a loan, and without England's participation the loan would not succeed at all.

We argued for hours. Nansen and his associates declared, however, that further concessions were absolutely impossible for them. In the course of the discussion, Schlesinger suggested that the Committee of Public Figures should only be mentioned in a footnote as one of the affiliated organizations. But others found it insufficient. Frick suggested that the whole structure be different and follow the model of the Hoover Society 3, i.e., that there should not be a parity Executive Body, but that the entire organization should be entirely in the hands of Nansen and his society without interference from our side and only with the representation of the Soviet power. However, Nansen himself admitted that such a completely separate organization may be acceptable for the narrow task of feeding children, like Hoover's, but will create an extremely uncomfortable position in relation to the Soviet authorities when it comes to a huge organization covering all famine relief. Moreover, this would not resolve the question of the loan, for which it would still be necessary to create an organization with the participation of the Soviet government, and would still raise the question of the need to mention the Committee of Public Figures. After all the other points were worked out and agreement on them took place, at the end.

They must all leave tonight. Nansen must arrive in Geneva by a certain date for the meeting, and on the way he must stop by London, so today is the deadline for his departure. Either they leave, breaking with us, or we must agree to their demand and, in this case, immediately sign the contract. The decision, therefore, must be taken immediately, and in the event of a positive decision, the treaty will be immediately signed by Nansen and myself.

An agreement was reached on the remaining points. Initially, Nansen demanded that all aid sent from abroad, with the exception of Hoover's, go through this Executive Organ, but then he and his associates agreed that the Executive Organ should only be informed for the purpose of coordination about aid sent by other routes and from other sources. . To control the use of the loan of £1,000,000, the Executive Body is joined, but not as members, by several representatives of the principal governments. Their task is only control. To determine the rights of personnel, a number of articles from the Hoover Treaty were simply borrowed and rewritten. With the loan we receive, goods will be purchased with the help of experts for a cheaper purchase by Nansen or this government, but this will take place in contact with us.

The whole question of assistance and loans thus boils down to whether the Politburo agrees to mention the Committee of Public Figures in the above context. I add that on the same day I was at Erkarth 4 and spoke about the proposed loan of 25,000,000 pounds sterling in goods, and one of the conditions is also some participation in this matter of the Committee of Public Figures along with representatives of the Soviet government.

The position is as follows: either renunciation of loans and assistance, or mention of the Committee within the specified limits 5 .

With communist greetings

Chicherin.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 5. Op. 2. D. 315. L. 142-144. Typewritten text. The signature is an autograph.

Notes:

1 We are talking about the signing of an agreement on the status, composition and principles of action created at the Geneva (1921) conference and headed by Nansen, the Committee for International Assistance to the Starving in Russia. Conducting preliminary negotiations with Nansen during his stay in Moscow, the Politburo on August 25, 1921 instructed a commission consisting of Chicherin, Krasin and Krestinsky.

2We are talking about the All-Russian Committee for Assistance to the Starving (VKPG). In June 1921, at the VII All-Russian Congress on Agricultural Experimental Business, held in Moscow, Professor Prokopovich took the initiative to create a public committee to combat hunger. Through the mediation of Gorky and L. B. Kamenev, the issue was raised before the Central Committee of the RCP(b) in order to obtain international assistance. On June 29, 1921, the Politburo decided to create, in accordance with Gorky's note, a single committee to help the starving (Kondakova I. "So successful rubbing points around the world" // Source. 1995. No. 3. P. 53-54). As a result of a long discussion, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on July 21, 1921 approved a decree on the composition of the committee. For political reasons, the Communists receded into the background. Formally, the AUCP was headed by Prokopovich, Kuskova and Kishkin (all three were opposed to the Bolsheviks). In words, the committee was endowed with broad powers to collect and distribute food within the country and abroad. In fact, he did not even have a clearly organized apparatus for making and implementing practical decisions. In accordance with the decision of the Politburo of July 15, 1921, the VKPG was placed under the complete control of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (Ibid., p. 54). This situation was the result of the fact that part of the party leadership was afraid of the growth of the international authority of the CPSU and its transformation into the center of the organization of the anti-Bolshevik opposition. “Having become acquainted with what is being done abroad in workers’ and government circles in terms of helping the starving,” Kamenev wrote to Lenin on July 30, 1921, “I come to the conclusion that sending a public delegation alone would be a major mistake. It will inevitably become a center of help not only for bourgeois circles, but also for trade unions, etc. I see the way out in having a delegation from our Trade Unions and Cooperatives go abroad before it [...]” (RTsKhIDNI. F. 5. Op. 1. D. 1041. L. 1). On August 3, 1921, the General Secretary of the Profintern Lozovsky, calling the delegation of the AUCPG an anti-Soviet, anti-communist bloc, in his letter to the Politburo also insisted on preempting her trip by sending delegations through the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (Kondakova I. “Such a successful rubbing of points around the world” // Source. 1995. No. 3. S. 54). Despite the more "flexible" position of Chicherin and Krasin, on August 25, 1921, the Politburo decided not to let the AUCP delegation go abroad (Ibid., pp. 55-59). in his letter to the Politburo, he also insisted on preempting her trip by sending delegations through the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (Kondakova I. “So successful rubbing points around the world” // Source. 1995. No. 3. P. 54).

3 This is the American Famine Relief Administration (ARA). In 1921, Hoover offered help for a million children and disabled people in Russia (For details about this organization, see: "The ARA comes to us without ulterior motives, but there will be a lot of fuss with it." Activities of the American Relief Administration in Russia. 1921-1923. // Historical Archive, 1995, No. 6, pp. 76-96).

4 In 1921-1922. English industrialist and financier Urquhart negotiated with the Soviet government to obtain concessions for his former possessions in Russia.

5 On the same day (August 27, 1921), Nansen and Chicherin signed an agreement and an additional agreement (Documents of Foreign Policy. Vol. 4. P. 294-298).