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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.

Stalin Correspondences

Telegram to G. K. Ordzhonikidze V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin

November 29, 1920

Moscow - the Kremlin to Lenin. Stalin.

Baku 29/XI 20 14:00 30 minutes.

The decision of the Central Committee has just received 1 . The Armenian Revolutionary Committee, sent to the Kazakh region for preparatory work, having received a lot of sentences from the peasants of the Caravan Saray region, Dilijan, indicating that there was no power, the army fled, asking them to come, crossed the border on their own at night and continues to move to Delizhan, where the Soviet Union will probably be proclaimed. Armenia. In connection with [the] decision of the Central Committee, I don't know what to do, I'm afraid that Soviet power has already been declared 2 . I think that everything will pass without much difficulty 3 .

Ordzhonikidze.

RTSKHIDNI. F. 85. Op. 14. D. 33. L. 2. Autograph.

Notes:

On November 27, 1920, the Politburo adopted a resolution on the report of Stalin, the draft of which was prepared by Lenin. In particular, it said: “[...] Adopt the most conciliatory policy towards Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Persia, i.e., aimed more at avoiding war. Do not set as your task a campaign either against Georgia, or against Armenia, or against Persia. The main task is to recognize the protection of Azerbaijan and the firm possession of the entire Caspian Sea [...]”. Ordzhonikidze was ordered to stay in Baku and take over the political leadership of the Azrevkom. Stalin was charged with the duty to negotiate with Chicherin and Ordzhonikidze on appropriate adjustments in foreign policy in the states bordering on the Caucasus (Izvestia of the Central Committee of the CPSU, 1991, No. 8, p. 161).

2Relying on the support of Stalin in Moscow, Ordzhonikidze took the initiative in the forceful sovietization of Armenia. Simultaneously with the Armenian Revolutionary Committee formed by him, an “Armenian” regiment from units of the 11th Army was sent to Armenia. On November 29, 1920, having learned from Legrand's telegram about the capture of Caravanserai by the regiment, Ordzhonikidze telegraphed Legrand and Mdivani about the need to intensify negotiations with a group of Dashnaks who agreed to the Sovietization of the country if they were included in the Revolutionary Committee (RTsKhIDNI. F. 85. Op. 14. D. 33. L. 3). On the same day, in a conversation with a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Caucasian Front, Trifonov, Ordzhonikidze announced the advancement of the "Armenian" regiment and asked to take into account that there would be no information about the regiment in the official reports. Having also informed about the presence of the Revolutionary Committee in Alexandropol, Ordzhonikidze ended the conversation quite definitely: “[...

3 The phrase crossed out by Ordzhonikidze is highlighted.