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Bolshevik leadership Correspondence. 1912-1927
Collection of documents 1996.
Compiled by: A.V.Kvashonkin, L.P.Kosheleva, L.A.Rogovaya, O.V.Khlevnyuk.J. V. Stalin - V. I. Lenin
December 27 [1917]
27/XII, 5 p.m.
T[ovari] Ilyich!
I beg you to immediately move to St. Petersburg in order to be at Smolny at noon on the 28th . The fact is that:
1) Received an answer from the Rada, evasive, but still quite compromising (our answer is needed) 2 ;
2) Today I had delegates from the Kalinin military circle with the question on what conditions we (the Council of People's Commissars]) could stop hostilities and send punitive expeditions against Kal[edi]n (our answer is needed) 3 .
3) I had a meeting with Proshyan and his Armenians, who gave a general decree (your signature is needed) 4 .
Come, then go back.
The attack on Dutov is underway. Dutov retreats, blowing up bridges. The attack on the Rada (from the West on the orders of the Headquarters) went more successfully (there is a report from Ter-Harutyunyants). Trotsky reports from Brest that on the question of the place of negotiations we will probably take 5 .
I shake hands and wait for you tomorrow.
We issued a decree on the obligatory work of telegraph operators with a number of threats of reprisals (this is in anticipation of a strike of telegraph operators (in connection with the Constituent Assembly)), which we decided to prevent.
Stalin
RTSKHIDNI. F. 558. On. 1. D. 5397. L. 2. Autograph.
Notes:
1 . At this time, Lenin was undergoing treatment in Finland.
2. On December 4 (17), 1917, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a manifesto to the Ukrainian people (authored by Lenin) and an ultimatum to the Rada (authored by Trotsky). While recognizing the people's Ukrainian Republic, the Council of People's Commissars did not recognize the Rada and made a number of accusations (non-recognition of the Ukrainian councils; destruction of the common anti-German front, disarmament of Soviet troops in Ukraine, support for Kaledin). Failure to receive a satisfactory answer within 48 hours was declared a sign of a state of open war on the part of the Rada against Soviet power in Russia and Ukraine. In the first response note, the General Secretariat of Ukraine, without responding to the ultimatum on the merits, reproached the Council of People's Commissars of Russia for not recognizing the Ukrainian Republic and for wanting to fight the Ukrainian people. In an effort to deprive the Rada of the opportunity to play the national card, The Council of People's Commissars made an attempt to get the support of the Ukrainian population through the mediation of the Left SRs of the II All-Russian Congress of Peasants' Deputies. After an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate with representatives of the Rada by direct wire, a congress delegation led by Proshyan left for Ukraine. On December 19, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars heard Proshyan's report on the negotiations in Kyiv and, at the insistence of the latter, adopted a resolution on the terms of peace negotiations with the Rada. Having received the approval of the resolution by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee of Soviets (Kharkov), on December 20, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars sent it to the Rada. The Rada refused to start peace negotiations on the proposed terms. The Council of People's Commissars listened to Proshyan's report on the negotiations in Kyiv and, at the insistence of the latter, adopted a resolution on the terms of peace negotiations with the Rada. Having received the approval of the resolution by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee of Soviets (Kharkov), on December 20, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars sent it to the Rada. The Rada refused to start peace negotiations on the proposed terms.
3. We are talking about the negotiations of a delegation of representatives of the Cossack Military Circle and soldiers of the Minsk detachment, sent after the conclusion of a temporary truce on the Don to the Council of People's Commissars. Due to the absence of Lenin and Trotsky in Petrograd (the latter was in Brest-Litovsk), the delegation was received by Stalin, who served as deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars as commissar for national affairs. To the delegates' first questions: "What caused the declaration of war on the Don...?" and “What exactly do you blame Kaledin for?” Stalin replied that “Kaledin organizes counter-revolutionary forces [...] does not allow grain and coal to pass through and thus brings disorder into the economic life of the country, i.e. causes the most sensitive blow of the revolution” (RTSKHIDNI. F. 558. On. 1. D. 5398. L. 2-3). Delegate Kolychev drew attention to the fact that that Kaledin was elected ataman “not by the bourgeoisie and world-eaters, but precisely by the labor Cossacks” and declaring war on him is tantamount to declaring war on the labor Cossacks. Stalin: “We are trying to explain to the working Cossacks where Kaledin is leading them. But history knows that sometimes you convince, you convince friends, but they don’t understand [...] Thus, we have to beat Kaledin, and the labor Cossacks also rebound.” To Kolychev’s remark that the invasion of punitive detachments and the ruin of the region would rally the entire Cossacks around Kaledin, Stalin replied that he shared this idea, but added that “we cannot wait for the Cossacks to understand everything [...]” (Ibid. L. 3-4). Further, the Cossacks drew Stalin's attention to the fact that most of the allegations of the Soviet government were unfounded, that truthful and up-to-date information was needed to reorient the Cossacks, exact facts about Kaledin's violation of the economic life of the country. Stalin acknowledged "mistakes in the past" and called for turning "to the present and the future." “Tell me,” Kolychev asked him, “if we were to convene a regional constituent assembly in our region and establish power on a completely democratic basis, would you then stop the war with us?” “Of course,” Stalin replied. "Even if this power did not recognize the power of the Council of People's Commissars?" - said one of the deputies. “I find it difficult to answer,” Stalin said. We are opposed to the forcible retention of peoples. And if the will of the working people is expressed definitely, then of course ... ". To Kolychev's question whether this meant that the struggle against the Cossacks would be stopped, even if the population of the region legally established their own government with Kaledin's participation, Stalin did not give a direct answer. "In Finland, - he noted - the government includes both representatives of the proletariat and representatives of the bourgeoisie, and we, nevertheless, found it possible to recognize Finland's right to self-determination. It would be possible, perhaps, to take the same point of view with regard to the Don region. But, on the other hand, Finland has strictly defined borders, and where are your borders. After all, it is impossible now to leave the former borders of provinces and regions - borders based on the administrative division of Russia. I am decisively at a loss to answer the proposed question” (Ibid., L. 5).
Then the discussion turned to the Constituent Assembly.
Delegate Semyonov: "What will you do if the Constituent Assembly does not recognize the decrees on peace, on land and on the nationalization of banks?"
Stalin: "Let's dissolve the Constituent Assembly and call new elections."
Kolychev: "Will the Council of People's Commissars remain with the Constituent Assembly?"
Stalin: "Of course."
Kolychev: "What will be the relationship between the Constituent Assembly and the Council of People's Commissars?"
Stalin: “The real master of the country is not the Constituent Assembly, but the people; The Constituent Assembly is only a bailiff.”
Kolychev: “Well, and the Council of People's Commissars, I hope, is also a clerk. So I ask, which of the two clerks will be the eldest and which the youngest?
Stalin: “We received power directly from the people, in a revolutionary way; the people entrusted us with their fate and we have no right to step aside from power and transfer the protection of the interests and the very fate of the people to someone else” (Ibid. L. 6).
Delegate Kolychev again returned to the question of the need to end the civil war. Stalin evasively replied that Soviet Russia could have agreements only with the labor Cossacks and in no case with the government of Kaledin. On the offer of the Cossacks on their own, without the punitive detachments of Moscow, to restore order in the region, Stalin firmly stated: “You, gentlemen, do not represent any force; therefore, there are no guarantees that your promise to eliminate the counter-revolutionary nest on the Don will be fulfilled. That is why we cannot withdraw the troops sent against the Don and stop the fight we have begun. The only thing I can promise is that we will take all measures to ensure that not a single extra drop of people's blood is shed. And the troops, as they were sent, will continue to be sent to the Don to threaten and to propagate our ideas ”(Ibid. L. 7).
4 . Apparently, we are talking about the decree of the Council of People's Commissars on "Turkish Armenia". The question of Armenia was for the first time on the agenda of the Council of People's Commissars on December 20 (January 2, 1918). At a meeting on December 23 (January 5, 1918), a draft decree was discussed, but the decision was postponed. At a meeting on December 29 (January 11, 1918), the decree was adopted and signed by Lenin and Stalin. The decree spoke of supporting the right of the Armenians of the Russian-occupied "Turkish Armenia" to free self-determination up to complete independence (Decrees of the Soviet Power. Vol. 1. October 25, 1917 - March 16, 1918, M., 1957. S. 298-299 ).
5 . Trotsky was in Brest-Litovsk for negotiations with representatives of the Quadruple Alliance on the issue of working out conditions for concluding peace. The proposal of the Soviet delegation to move the peace talks from Brest-Litovsk to Stockholm was rejected.
6 . On the letterhead: "People's Commissar for the Ministry of Finance."