Politburo And The Church, Kremlin Archives

N. Petrovsky, S.G. Petrov

Letter from the USSR People's Commissariat of Finance to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) regarding the implementation of the values found in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. 7 February 1925

No. 23-52 ⁴⁶

7 February 1925

IN THE POLITBURO of the Central Committee of the RCP (b)

By decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine ¹ * various metal and currency values found in the former. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are transferred to strengthen the funds of the Ukrainian Central Commission for Assistance to Children.

The NKF of the USSR, which has set itself the task of accumulating the largest possible gold reserve of the USSR, as an instrument for regulating the country's monetary circulation and as a necessary foundation for restoring the exchange of chervonets, upon the occurrence of the appropriate conditions, cannot agree with the aforementioned resolution.

Found values in b. The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is not the property of the Lavra, but is the property of the bourgeoisie who fled from the USSR and hid it in the Lavra. Therefore, the aforementioned property, whatever it may be, is subject to turning into the ownership of the Union, in accordance with clause 1 of the Decree] SNK of 19 / XI-20 (Collection [of] Legislation] 1921, No. 18, Art. III). Regardless of this, the disposal of the aforementioned values, without agreement with the NKF of the USSR, would not comply with paragraph 1 of Art. 5 Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of October 29, 1924 on the budgetary rights of the USSR and its constituent union republics, according to which all non-tax revenues are included in the revenue side of the all-union budget; the values found in the Lavra are random incomes of the united department of the USSR-NKF-in. -

On the basis of the above considerations, the NKF asks the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) to enter into the consideration of the aforementioned issue and cancel the decision of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine with a proposal to urgently send all these values with a detailed description of them to the center. (USSR Gokhran. Nastasinsky lane [eulok] 3) .-

Considering the existence of this resolution [,] the NKF of the USSR recognizes it possible, upon the final assessment of metal and other property valuables in Gokhran, to allocate 25% of their estimated value to the CEC of Ukraine for the transfer of the Ukrainian Central Commission for Assistance to Children. -

DEPUTY] NARKOMFIN OF THE USSR N. Bryukhanov DEPUTY] HEAD OF EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT R. Karklin

7 / II-25 g.

- L. 80 — rev. Typewritten original on the letterhead of the USSR People's Commissariat of Finance Currency Department, signatures - autographs. Date on the form "February 9, 1925": date - by hand, month and the last digit of the year - typed. In the upper left corner there is a handwritten note: "Size [knife] S. Ch [echulin]". In the upper right corner there is a stamp stating that the document belongs to the proceedings of the Politburo meeting, minutes No. 48, item 12 of February 12, 1925 (No. 23-53). Below is a stamp of the Bureau of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) with a handwritten date "11/13/25" and an incoming number. On the left there is a calendar-hour stamp: RECEIVED. 9.I.1925. Secretariat Bureau] Ts.K. R.K.P. (b) ". There is also a mailing stamp with a handwritten date “7.II. 1925 " and outgoing number.

Notes and Comments:

¹* Further crossed out by hand (see appendix).

⁴⁶O. Yu. Vasilieva and PN Knyshevsky, relying on the publication in the émigré newspaper Dni (Berlin) of January 6, 1925, interpret the

“repeated 'cleaning' of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra" as follows. in its basements, several pounds of gold and 110 pounds of silver artwork were found, sheltered from the evil eyes of property managers in 1922. Church jewelry with 360 diamonds, several bags of old interest-bearing papers worth several million rubles and "counterrevolutionary" correspondence of Tikhonov's persuasion were also found ". See: Vasilyeva O. Yu., Knyshevsky P. N. Red conquistadors. S. 191-192. Apparently, the source of information for the émigré newspaper was the Soviet press, which was quite actively discussing this story. So, for example, in the newspaper "Izvestia" (1925 January 6), a note was published, aimed at discrediting Patriarch Tikhon, who, in the opinion of its author, not only concealed the discovered values, but also sent "intelligence information" abroad through the "monastic agents". On this occasion, Patriarch Tikhon was forced to contact the editorial office of the newspaper on January 10, 1925, with a request to publish his refutation (Izvestia. 1925, January 18). In his letter, the head of the Russian Church announced that he took over the management of the monastery at the beginning of 1924 after the Soviet regime deprived the Ukrainian archpastors of the “actual opportunity to govern”. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). in the opinion of its author, he not only concealed the discovered values, but also sent “intelligence information” abroad through the “monastic agents”. On this occasion, Patriarch Tikhon was forced to contact the editorial office of the newspaper on January 10, 1925, with a request to publish his refutation (Izvestia. 1925, January 18). In his letter, the head of the Russian Church announced that he took over the management of the monastery at the beginning of 1924 after the Soviet regime deprived the Ukrainian archpastors of the “actual opportunity to govern”. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). in the opinion of its author, he not only concealed the discovered values, but also sent “intelligence information” abroad through the “monastic agents”. On this occasion, Patriarch Tikhon was forced to contact the editorial office of the newspaper on January 10, 1925, with a request to publish his refutation

(Izvestia. 1925, January 18). In his letter, the head of the Russian Church announced that he took over the management of the monastery at the beginning of 1924 after the Soviet regime deprived the Ukrainian archpastors of the “actual opportunity to govern”. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). On this occasion, Patriarch Tikhon was forced to contact the editorial office of the newspaper on January 10, 1925, with a request to publish his refutation (Izvestia. 1925, January 18). In his letter, the head of the Russian Church announced that he took over the management of the monastery at the beginning of 1924 after the Soviet regime deprived the Ukrainian archpastors of the “actual opportunity to govern”. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). On this occasion, Patriarch Tikhon was forced to contact the editorial office of the newspaper on January 10, 1925, with a request to publish his refutation (Izvestia. 1925, January 18). In his letter, the head of the Russian Church announced that he took over the management of the monastery at the beginning of 1924 after the Soviet regime deprived the Ukrainian archpastors of the “actual opportunity to govern”. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). after the Soviet regime deprived the "de facto possibility of government" of the Ukrainian archpastors. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counterrevolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350). after the Soviet regime deprived the "de facto possibility of government" of the Ukrainian archpastors. Therefore, he could not make an order to conceal valuables in the Lavra, and even more so to communicate through monks with "foreign counter-revolution" and with "counter-revolutionary groups within the USSR." (See: Acts of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon ... p. 350).

[1] Trotsky's proposals - see No. 23-29.

[2] In the draft minutes of this Politburo meeting (APRF, f. 3, op. 1, d. 275, l. 30) there is a sheet with a record of the results of the poll. Above, by the hand of JV Stalin, the wording of the resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) is given: “The proposal of Comrade. Trotsky to accept, entrusting the execution of the Chief] Rosta comrade. Daletsky. Stalin ". Below in

[3] See # 23-48.

[4] * So in the document instead of a weight measure.

[5] * The measure of weight is not indicated in the document, it follows, apparently, poods.