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.

No. 205

S. M. Kirov — G. K. Ordzhonikidze

March 17 [1926]

17/III.

Dear Sergo!

There hasn't been anything from you for a long time. What's the matter? Is ill? You telegraphed from Sukhum that you were feeling well. Although such telegrams cannot be trusted, of course.

I, brother, was lying down for a week because of the flu. Stupid disease, the temperature reached 40.6. Even now, he didn't wake up properly. This is a very fashionable disease here. A week ago I was in Moscow for one day. I found Stalin in bed, he also had the flu. Everything is fine in Moscow. Although soon you yourself will come and check. Stalin spoke about Baku on the basis, obviously, of your reports, asking whom to send there. I said that so far no one, after the end of our contract, the issue will be resolved by itself 1 . He chuckles, says, and Sergo must definitely be taken from the Transcaucasian slum, which, in his opinion, gives nothing to the mind or heart, but damnably shakes a person 2 . I agreed with him that it is really difficult to work in the Caucasus.

We talked a lot about our economy and finances. It expresses a lot of interesting, but rather sad. According to Soso, things are definitely improving and, in his opinion, will undoubtedly improve. Of course, you will have to tinker. Well, this is not the first time for us.

What do you have?

See you soon in Moscow.

Hello to all friends.

Yours S. Kirov.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 85. Op. 25. D. 120. L. 1-2. Autograph.

Notes:

1 We are talking about the appointment of a new secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan to replace Kirov, who was transferred to work in Leningrad. It follows from the letter that initially Kirov (supported by Ordzhonikidze) agreed to move to Leningrad for a certain period, after which he was going to return to Transcaucasia.

2 See Document No. 218.

No. 206

L. P. Serebryakov to I. V. Stalin

March 27, 1926

T. Stalin!

I spoke with several comrades about the desire you expressed on behalf of several members of the Politburo to explain yourself about the situation in the Party and create conditions for more friendly work under the leadership of the Central Committee. This proposal met, of course, with the full sympathy of the few comrades with whom I spoke. But all of them at that time posed the question that [and] I posed to you. If the Central Committee wants to eliminate superfluous and unnecessary hindrances to the work of those who took part in the opposition [19]23, then how can one explain that just in recent weeks the persecution against the former opposition [19]23 has intensified so much, especially in the Moscow organization, and everyone sees that this campaign is being carried out from above, from the Moscow Committee, without any reasons or pretexts, and no one can believe that this is being done without the knowledge of the secretariat of the Central Committee. You spoke several times about the Party's wariness, but this wariness is being created from above, baseless suspicions are being sown from above, and the atmosphere in the Party is deteriorating. All the comrades ask: if the Central Committee wants to facilitate coordinated work, why is it that a campaign that has not been provoked by anything is being aggravated just at this time? Since you want to speak frankly, I considered myself obliged before the congress to tell you frankly my greatest misgivings about the real causes of anxiety and wariness in the Party. I spoke with Trotsky, Pyatakov and Radek. They expressed their full readiness to continue the conversation that Bukharin and you had with Comrade Trotsky and you with me, with the aim of bringing this conversation to positive practical results. It is best to agree on the time and place with Comrade Pyatakov.

With communist greetings Serebryakov.

March 27, 1926

RTSKHIDNI. F. 85. Op. 1/S. D. 171. L. 1. Uncertified typewritten copy.

Notes:

one. After the break with Zinoviev and Kamenev, Stalin began maneuvers to prevent a possible bloc between Zinoviev and Kamenev and Trotsky. Stalin made certain hints about cooperation to Trotsky personally and through Serebryakov. Trotsky, apparently, really counted on a change in his position. On April 2, 1926, he wrote to Serebryakov: “I understood the matter in such a way that a private conversation was aimed at eliminating accusations and insinuations about the stone in the bosom and creating conditions for more friendly work, of course, on the basis of the decisions of the Fourteenth Congress. True, it seemed to me somewhat strange that Stalin, with whom we work together in the Politburo, turns in such a roundabout way after we had a conversation with him on the same topics. But I thought it would be absurd for formal organizational reasons to refuse to talk,

No. 207

F. E. Dzerzhinsky to I. V. Stalin

March 28, 1926

T. Stalin

In the struggle for a regime of economy, for the accumulation and saving of the necessary funds for the fulfillment of the grandiose tasks facing industry and the entire national economy of the USSR, we run into an obstacle that is insurmountable for us (VSNKh), which paralyzes our efforts. Everywhere, almost without exception, in the localities, gubernia committees, district committees, ukoms and the Soviet authorities consider the funds of our economic agencies as a source for covering various expenses that have nothing to do with the work of this economic agency, and which, even under existing laws, they have no right to cover. Local authorities demand "voluntary" contributions for the maintenance of cells, schools, homeless children, newspapers, publications, grain funds, etc. without end. These demands are very often made by the chairmen of the executive committees, the secretaries of party organizations, sometimes even members of the Central Committee of our party. And usually our business executives are willing to meet halfway. This provides a friendly attitude towards them and a cover for their mistakes and independence from the center and the law. One front is created against the center. At the same time, local authorities themselves reveal themselves in front of business executives and must turn a blind eye to their excesses, which flourish everywhere and everywhere. In order to really be able to carry out a regime of economy, it is necessary, first of all, to eradicate this evil - illegal requisitions at the request or with the sanctions of local authorities. Therefore, my request to you is to write a directive letter on behalf of the Central Committee specially on this occasion with your signature, print it in Pravda and instruct the editors of Pravda to pay attention to this phenomenon in a number of articles and correspondence from the localities.

28/II 26

F. Dzerzhinsky.

RTSHIDNI; F. 76. Op. 2. D. 325. L. 25. Autograph.

Notes:

On April 25, 1926, the Appeal of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted to all party organizations, control commissions of the party, to all party members working in economic, cooperative, trade, banking and other institutions, on the struggle for a regime of economy. In the Appeal published in the newspapers, in particular, it was said about the inadmissibility of “direct or indirect material extortions of party organizations from economic agencies; the party organization must fit entirely into its budget, must itself be a model of the greatest economy, for only under this condition can it be the leader of the struggle for a regime of economy ”(CPSU in resolutions ... T. 4. P. 22).