Politburo And The Church, Kremlin Archives

N. Petrovsky, S.G. Petrov

On confiscation of church valuables

Cipher telegram from the Chairman of the Smolensk Provincial Executive Committee DA Bulatov to the GPU and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee about resistance to the confiscation of church valuables in the city of Smolensk. March 17, 1922

No. 23-11 ^{*, 14}

IN CODE.

MOSCOW GPU from SMOLENSK 17/3 17 35.

All-Russian Central Executive Committee comrade KALININ [.] An attempt to begin the actual confiscation of the valuables of the Smolensk Cathedral was unsuccessful [.] The crowd of believers ¹ * is in the cathedral day and night and does not allow the commission to work. All negotiations by elective believers ² * did not lead to anything. We talked on this issue with TROTSKIM and received guidelines from him, which we are carrying out. Tell me if you need to act decisively. To transfer the decoder to the destination.

17 / 3-22 g.

Presmol Executive Committee of BULATOV

- L. 21. Certified typewritten copy of that time from a copy. At the top is the typewritten incoming number of the GPU with the date "20 / III".

- RCKHIDNI, f. 5, op. 2, d.48, l. 34. Another copy of the same typewritten bookmark with the same attesting signature, made for V. I. Lenin. Below is the stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archives" with the handwritten date "23.III.22" and the entry number.

- CA FSB, f. 1, op. 6, d.11, l. 39. Typewritten copy of that time, made at the GPU and certified by L. N. Volkov. At the top of the droppings by the hand of the head of the Secret Department of the GPU TP Samsonov: “In [tremendous] urgent. S. Secret [tno]. t. Unshlikht. The decryption has been sent to comrade Kalinin's order. Vladimir Ilyich is interested in this question, obviously, he needs to be sent too. 20 / III.22. Samsonov. 21h 30m ". At the bottom of the litter by the hand of the Deputy Chairman of the GPU I. S. Unshlikht: “3 ³ * copies to Molotov, Lenin, Trotsky. 21 / 3.22. Unshlikht ". Stamp of the Secretariat of the Presidium of the Cheka with handwritten date "22 / III-1922" and the incoming number.

- RCKHIDNI, f. 5, op. 2, d.48, l. 21. Typewritten copy of that time, certified by V. S. Dauber and made for V. I. Lenin. Below is a typewritten note: "Printed] in 2 copies]". Stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive" with handwritten date "31 / III-22" and the incoming number.

- Ibid, l. 31. Certified by V. S. Dauber, a typewritten copy of that time from a copy made for V. I. Lenin. Above the text of the telegram is the mailing address: “TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE POLITBURO FOR INFORMATION: Com. LENIN, TROTSKY, ZINOVIEV,

KAMENEV, MOLOTOV, STALIN ". Below is the stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive" with the handwritten date "23 / IIІ.22" and the incoming number. Above is the handwritten incoming number of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with the date "22 / III.22".

Notes and Comments:

The file contains a cover letter on the GPU letterhead sent on March 21, 1922 on behalf of I.S.Unshlikht to VM Molotov, signed by the assistant secretary of the GPU presidium with a round official seal of the GPU. On the letter of the record: 1) “Copies of the members of the pb. V. Molotov. 21 / III ", 2)" Fulfilled ". Incoming number of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with the date: "22 / III 22". (L. 26).

With a copy of RTSKHIDNI, f. 5, op. 2, d.48, l. 34 contains a cover letter of the same content with the same date and signature, sent to V.I.Lenin. The letter bears the stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive" with the handwritten date "26.III.22" and the entry number. (L. 33).

¹* Fixed in the document and all four copies of the leading.

²* Fixed in the document and all four copies of the leading.

³* Corrected by hand by I.S.Unshlikht from originally written 2.

¹⁴ On the riots and bloodshed during the seizure of church valuables in Smolensk on March 28, 1922, see No. P-69, P-70, P-77 and comm. 61, 68 to the appendix.

In the "Daily summary of the information department of the GPU on the work of the commission for the confiscation of church valuables for April 3 [1922] No. 12", the events in Smolensk on March 28 during the confiscation of church valuables are described in this way (based on the state information report PP GPU No. 6130 of March 30 and the TO GPU of March 29):

“The mood of the Smolensk population is agitated in connection with the confiscation of valuables. 28 / IIІ during the arrival at the cathedral of the CICC from the bell tower there was a ringing to which people came running. Under pressure from the crowd, the commission and the cadets who arrived with it had to leave the cathedral. The crowd beat several cadets. A military force was called in to fire on the crowd. There are killed and wounded. There were cases of shooting at cadets from balconies and from windows of buildings. At the City Bazaar, pogrom anti-Semitic agitation was carried out, there were isolated cases of beating of Jews. The excitement partially spread to the railway: workers who stopped work for 1 ½ hour. Cadets and rifle units are quite reliable in terms of combat and stand for the need to confiscate church valuables. UKTsTs in Demidov, Yelnitsky, Mstislavsky, Yartsevsky and Dukhovshchinsky districts have not yet begun work. The mood of the believing peasants is agitated, the attitude towards the communists is extremely hostile. At a meeting of believers in the Mstislavsky district, it was decided: not to surrender valuables, but to donate in kind for the benefit of the starving "- Central Asia FSB, f. 1, op. 6, d.497, l. 26.