Letter to L.M. Kaganovich, September 4, 1931

Source: Tom 17

September 4

Greetings, Comrade Kaganovich!

I received your letter.

1) I think that the tractors of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture will have to be utilized to the fullest extent for the timber industry during the winter period. If you have a serious talk with Yakovlev, I think he will not object.

2) I do not understand how the Politburo could have agreed with the Supreme Council of the National Economy's proposals on the additional import of railway car axles and wheels and of high-grade steel. Both proposals represent a direct circumvention of the July CC decision (adopted in the presence of Sergo, Pyatakov, Bron [S.G. Bron, Soviet trade representative in Great Britain -- Ed.], Molotov, and Stalin) on the final program of metal imports for 1931. As far as I can tell, you and Rudzutak were simply deceived. It is ugly and repugnant if we begin deceiving one another. We have already sent the corresponding telegram to the Politburo.

3) I am categorically opposed to the Politburo decision to replace the export of butter and eggs with other types of export products. This is nonsensical from the standpoint of the current market situation. You are pressing hard on grain exports, when grain fetches pennies, and you want to hold back and liquidate the export of butter and eggs, which represent a more profitable export commodity. Where is the sense in that? Would it not be better to hold back grain exports and increase butter exports -- or, at the very least, increase both, if you genuinely want to bring in foreign currency rather than merely playing at exports?

4) The Politburo has decided, as is evident from the protocol, to allocate 18 million poods of grain to strengthen livestock procurement. This is perhaps not bad. But it is strange that of these 18 million poods, 6 million poods (one-third!) are set aside for a "reserve" of the People's Commissariat of Supply. What is this "reserve" of the People's Commissariat of Supply? What is it needed for? Whence this boundless trust in the People's Commissariat of Supply and equally boundless distrust of the state, which is properly the only custodian of such large reserves? What has the state done to deserve such distrust from the People's Commissariat of Supply? How could you have permitted this debauchery? Is it not possible to transfer this "People's Commissariat of Supply reserve" to the state reserve (the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR), so that it may be drawn upon only with the authorization of the Politburo or the Council of People's Commissars?

5) Do not ask about my health. If you wish me well, exercise maximum vigilance and do not let yourselves be led by the nose by the heroes of departmentalism.

All the best.

I. Stalin

6) The Politburo's decision on awarding the Order of Lenin to various persons makes a poor impression. Orders are being given out too easily. If this continues, the Order will be cheapened, and its bestowal will be deprived of all moral force. This must not be permitted under any circumstances! Tell Postyshev not to yield to the pressure of grandee-bureaucrats seeking orders for their crony-bureaucrats.

7) I have not read the resolutions on wages for the metal and coal sectors. Tell Postyshev that I vote for them on trust.

I. St.

P.S.

Comrade Kaganovich!

1) Please wait with the new appointments for Rukhimovich, Kviring, and other People's Commissariat of Transportation officials until my arrival.

Does it not seem to you that Postnikov, Rukhimovich's closest friend and fellow bureaucrat, should also be removed -- or rather, transferred to one of the railways (say, the Moscow-Belorussian-Baltic Railway [MBB -- Ed.], in place of Polyudov)?

2) Sheboldaev came to see me and asked me to give him five workers from outside (the local workers, that is, the old North Caucasus officials, have settled in there and are no longer any good). I think his request should be satisfied. Kviring could be given to him for the regional planning commission, for example.

I. St.

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Source: Stalin and Kaganovich: Correspondence, 1931-1936, pp. 80-81.

RGASPI. F. 81. Op. 3. D. 99. L. 16-19.