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. 210

F. E. Dzerzhinsky — G. G. Yagoda

May 4, 1926

Comrade Yagoda.

S. secret.

G. G.

Tomorrow I am already ending my vacation and going to Kharkov and other places for a month. I ask you to keep me informed of the most important affairs in you and in the country. I am disturbed by the plans of Guchkov. We need to deploy our networks in such a way as to capture his agents and frustrate his plans. If this fails, then it may even be necessary to sacrifice someone. Of course, it is better to do without it, but Guchkov is such a strong personality that he can carry his plan through to the end.

Further, the question of "speculation" and the fight against it are of great importance now. Is anything being done to define and implement, where appropriate, the very concept of "speculation". We cannot do without the use of a private trader, but this is possible only in the fight against speculation, i.e., in determining the permitted and prohibited trade. What have you done along this line?

In connection with this, it is necessary to deal with the cleansing of Moscow from the parasitic and speculative element (primarily the city of Moscow). I instructed Pauker to collect material on the distribution of the population of Moscow according to this criterion. So far I haven't received anything from him. Wouldn’t it be worthwhile in our OGPU to create a colonization department or some kind of cell for this purpose and get a special fund for this, at least from the confiscated funds and your construction residues. It is necessary to populate the sparsely populated areas with the parasitic element (with families and all their belongings) in our cities according to a plan specially worked out and approved by the Council of People's Commissars. We must at all costs free our cities from hundreds of thousands of parasitic speculative elements. The work of Ekonupr must follow this path, but this is possible only after the preparation and approval of a large plan, after it has been determined what a parasite speculator is, as opposed to an honest and permitted private trader. This question must be coordinated with the Moscow Soviet] and its Komvnutorg and MSPO, as well as with the Supreme Council of National Economy - in the absence of Mantsev and Quiring. We are being eaten by these parasites. Hence there are no goods for the peasants, hence the rise in prices and the fall of our chervonets. The OGPU must deal with this question with all its energy.

What do you hear about Vyach[eslav] Rud[ol'fovich]? 1 Have you recovered and what mood.

Hello. Yours F. Dzerzhinsky.

4/V-26 Mukhalatka.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 16. Op. 3. D. 390. L. 3-4. Autograph.

Notes:

1 Menzhinsky.

No. 211

F. E. Dzerzhinsky to A. I. Rykov, V. M. Molotov

June 1, 1926

T. Rykov and Comrade Molotov.

T. Pyatakov, by a resolution appointing him a deputy member of the STO instead of a member, was disorganized 1. He told me that he took it very painfully, that he decided during my stay in Moscow, after my final return from Ukraine (I will have to leave there for 10 -15 days), not to go to the STO at all, etc. It seems to me that it would be expedient to reconsider the decision and include Comrade Pyatakov in the STO as a member. Motives: Undoubtedly, Comrade Pyatakov, as one of our few economists, in practice is an independent value, no matter how many and no matter what deviations he has, both in the past and in the present. In this respect, he is undoubtedly more valuable than I am to SRT. Its slopes are in no way dangerous for SRT. They could be more dangerous for the Supreme Council of National Economy - under his deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Council - if he led in practice, under the leadership of our industry, your line; but this, fortunately, is not the case. In the Supreme Economic Council, Comrade Pyatakov, in his practical work, is undoubtedly loyal both to the directives of the Party and to the resolutions of the STO and the Council of People's Commissars. T. Pyatakov displays his Trotskyist or independent or bloc bias in his political activity outside of his work in the Supreme Council of National Economy. I know about this not only from the statements of Comrade Pyatakov himself, but also from my own (and other comrades') direct observations.

Further, it is absolutely unthinkable for me alone in our entire state industry to work out all the issues of SRT. In financial matters, I still do not understand enough. I won't be able to manage in the SRT without Pyatakov, who should not replace me, but represent himself.

Finally, my trip to the Ukraine convinced me that, as an organizer (and not a specialist), I should especially often go to places, to factories - to get to know people, to help them organizationally. And it's not my job to sit in the service station. Therefore, I ask, without excluding me from the members of the SRT, to bring before the P / Bureau the question of appointing Comrade Pyatakov a member of the SRT (instead of a deputy member of the SRT ) .

1/VI 26

F. Dzerzhinsky.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 76. On. 2. D. 168. L. 12. Autograph.

Notes:

1 Pyatakov had been a member of the STO of the USSR since the establishment of this body in 1923. In May 1926 he was appointed deputy member of the STO Dzerzhinsky.

2 Dzerzhinsky's proposal was not accepted. After moving to work as deputy chairman of the State Bank of the USSR, Pyatakov in November 1928 was appointed deputy chairman of the State Bank Sheinman in the STO.

No. 212

G. K. Ordzhonikidze to S. M. Kirov

June 22, 1926

Bitch you are a son, my dear Mironych! Shame on you, you still haven’t written a word, or you are waiting for me to be the first to write. Let's say you have every right to do so. The ruler of the city of Peter and Lenin, of course, is not up to the Asians, but still you should not be too “conceited”. Well, well, so be it, I will write first, and you, hopefully, will answer sometime. How are you? How are you? When are you thinking of resting?

We have nothing to do - like soot is white, as our Eterka puts it. Amayak is on vacation, I am in Tiflis. After the Plenum of the Central Committee 1 I will go to Sochi. I hope you will go there too, they say Matsesta helps a lot. Days 13 Soso was with us. The time was not spent very badly, only they harassed him by pestering him to speak. Once it was possible to formally rape him and force him to perform in the railway workshops. There were no less than 6-7 thousand people. They met him superbly. I didn’t manage to drag him to Baku - I was afraid of the performance, but I should have. He remembered Ivanyan here, and as a result, the ZKKK expelled Ivanyan from the party. This Iv[anyan] turned out to be very thick-skinned.

Things are generally going well for us, only in Baku there is considerable discontent on the basis of wages. How are you on this part?

Karaev, Bagirov and Y. Kasymov left for the Crimea, Leon, Mamiya and Lavrenty will go with us. In Baku, except for Bagirov, everyone behaves pretty decently. And they are working. 1 1/2 * ago we had a Legislative Conference, which went very well. The Azerbaijanis really distinguished themselves at the meeting. The village, apparently, will be greatly stirred up. Undoubtedly, compared to last year, we have moved forward. True, Larin decently disgraced us, but there's nothing to be done. Much of what he writes is correct, but it was possible to do without that flashy article 2 , especially since, in general, his breed cannot complain that they were oppressed under Soviet rule. Musabekov sent the article to Pravda, but so far nothing has been seen.

Well, more, perhaps, is not worth it, and that's a lot for you.

Warm fraternal greetings to Maria Lvovna.

Kiss you hard, kiss you hard

Your Sergo

Greetings from Zina to you and M[aria] Lv[ovna]. Hello from Eterka. The plaster has already been removed, and the job was successful. She has grown up to be such a brat.

Jim bows low to you.

Your Sergo 3 .

22/VI 26

RTSHIDNI; F. 80. Op. 10. D. 43. L. 1-5. Autograph.

Notes:

1 The next joint plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was held on July 14-23, 1926.

On May 20, 1926, Pravda published an article by Y. Larin “On Cuban brides”, which spoke about the facts of discrimination by the authorities of the Azerbaijani city of Cuba of townspeople - Mountain Jews.

3 The letter is written on a letterhead: “RSFSR. MEMBER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY COUNCIL of the Separate Caucasian Army.

No. 213

F. E. Dzerzhinsky - V. V. Kuibyshev

June 23, 1926

Tov. Kuibyshev.

One of our non-Party specialists who visited Paris, who was completely devoted to the Soviet authorities, today shared with me his impressions of our Trade Representative Offices there; he told me that these impressions of his were confirmed by the opinions he heard from the French. We pay huge sums of money in dollars, salaries exceeding all rates and salaries of the French. The states are huge - not corresponding to the work. The French say that these staffs and such salaries can only be explained by the fact that, obviously, this apparatus is engaged in another risky job - propaganda. The workers in the trade mission do not speak French. Transactions are made not directly with the French, but through intermediaries, Russian emigrants - speculators.

They publish unnecessary, expensively paid publications.

I think that since Com. Roisemann is testing our apparatus abroad and it would be worthwhile for him to send these impressions for verification .

23/VI-26.

F. Dzerzhinsky.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 76. Op. 2. D. 416. L. 10. Certified typewritten copy.

Notes:

1 . On June 28, 1926, Kuibyshev's secretary wrote to Dzerzhinsky: “[...] I am reporting for your information the resolution on your note dated 23/VI regarding high salaries and large staffs in our foreign representations: “i.e. Roizeman. I agree with com. Dzerzhinsky. At all costs, achieve the maximum results in reducing staff and reducing salaries” [...]” (RTSKHIDNI. F. 76. Op. 2. D. 416. L. 11). On August 9, 1926, the Secretariat of the Central Control Commission considered the question of the composition of Soviet institutions in France. The essence of the decision is not clear from the protocol (Ibid. F. 613. On. 1. D. 46. L. 169).