Letter to L.M. Kaganovich, September 19, 1931

Source: Tom 17

Greetings, Comrade Kaganovich!

I consider the most important question of the coming months to be transport, and above all railway transport.

The principal threat to the national economy now comes from transport, and it is precisely transport that must be treated first.

The CC cannot save the situation by decree-style resolutions, although such resolutions are of no small significance. Why? Because so long as a gang of self-satisfied and self-admiring bureaucrats of the Rukhimovich type sits in transport -- people who mock CC decisions in Menshevik fashion and sow corrosive skepticism all around -- the CC's resolutions will be shelved.

This gang must be smashed in order to save railway transport. If you need my help in this matter, say the word. If you can manage without my help -- smash this gang before it is too late. New people who believe in our cause and are capable of successfully replacing the bureaucrats can always be found in our Party, if one searches seriously.

Regards.

I. Stalin

19/IX.31

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Source: Stalin and Kaganovich. Correspondence. 1931-1936, pp. 109-110.

RGASPI F. 81. Op. 3. D. 99. L. 35-36.