Politburo And The Church, Kremlin Archives

N. Petrovsky, S.G. Petrov

On confiscation of church valuables

Cipher telegram of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) to the provincial committees, regional committees and regional bureau of the RCP (b) on the temporary suspension of the seizure of church valuables. March 19, 1922

No. 23-15 ¹⁷

March 19, 1922 VERY SECRET.

cipher

On a straight wire.

TO ALL GUBKOMS, OBKOMA AND OBBURO RCP.

19 / III-22 g. In view of the complications that have taken place on the basis of the confiscation of church valuables, the Central Committee proposes, until special messages from the Central Committee, to suspend the seizure of church valuables. At the present time, to concentrate all forces in this matter on preparatory and explanatory propaganda work. The Central Committee will give additional directives on the 20th of March.

P.P. Secretary of the MOLOTOV Central Committee.

- L. 19. Typewritten copy of that time, certified by the deputy head of the cipher bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) S.F. Chechulin. Stamp of the Secret Archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Secrecy formula stamped.

- RCKHIDNI, f. 5, op. 2, d.48, l. 81. A typewritten copy of that time with the same certified signature, made for V. I. Lenin. Stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive" with handwritten date "25.IV.22" and the entry number. There is no secrecy formula.

- Ibid, l. 82. Typewritten copy of that time with the same certified signature, made for V. I. Lenin. The address of the cipher telegram: "SMOLENSK TO THE SPONGE RKP". At the end of the text, a sentence has been added: "This telegram [a] does not override what you established together with TROTSKY point." Stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive" with handwritten date "25.IV.22" and the entry number. The secrecy formula is typed: "TOP-SECRET".

- Ibid, l. 83. Typewritten copy of that time with the same certification signature, made for V. I. Lenin. The address of the cipher telegram: "VITEBSK TO SPONGE RKP". The same sentence is added at the end of the text. Stamp "Comrade Lenin's Archive". The typewritten secrecy formula is the same.

- Published without semantic discrepancies: Badelin

B. I. Gold of the Church. Historical sketches and modernity. Ivanovo, 1993.S. 133; Russian history. 1917-1940. Reader. Yekaterinburg, 1993.S. 226; Also. Chelyabinsk, 1994.

C. 226; The chosen vessel: Collection of documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. 1888-1932. SPb., 1994.S. 308.

Notes and Comments:

¹⁷ As the information reports of the GPU show, this cipher telegram was accepted with ease on the ground for execution; she was invoked to justify the delay in the campaign.