Source: Tom 17

September 27, 1918

Greetings, dear Ilyich!

I have little time (I spend all my time going from one front to another), so I write directly about the matter at hand.

Things have reached the point where the warehouses in Tsaritsyn have been completely exhausted of all reserves, while Moscow has sent absolutely nothing -- not a single cartridge, not a single shell -- for the past two weeks. This is criminal negligence, outright betrayal. If this continues, we shall certainly lose the war in the south.

Yours,

Stalin.

Source: Bolshevik Leadership. Correspondence. 1912-1927, p. 51. RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 5412. L. 2.