To Comrade Lenin,

Chairman of the Council of Defence.

The investigation has begun. We shall keep you regularly informed of its progress. Meanwhile we consider it necessary to bring one urgent need of the Third Army to your attention. The fact is that of the Third Army (more than 30,000 men), there remain only about 11,000 weary and battered soldiers who can scarcely contain the enemy’s onslaught. The units sent by the Commander-in-Chief are unreliable, in part even hostile and require thorough sifting. To save the remnants of the Third Army and to prevent a swift enemy advance on Vyatka (according to all reports from the command of the front and the Third Army, this is a very real danger it is absolutely essential urgently to transfer at least three thoroughly reliable regiments from Russia and place them at the disposal of the army commander. We urgently request you to exert pressure on the appropriate

MANUSCRIPT OF THE LETTER OF J. V. STALIN

(Reduced)

(Reduced)
military authorities to this end. We repeat, unless this is done Vyatka runs the risk of suffering the same fate as Perm. Such is the general opinion of the comrades concerned, and all the facts at our disposal lead us to
endorse it. Stalin F. Dzerzhinsky Vyatka,

January 5, 1919,

8 p. m.

First published
in Pravda, No. 301,

December 21, 1929