Source: Tom 17

September 4, 1926

September 4.

Molotovich!

Sergo was here the other day. He is furious about the wording of the CC resolution on his recall. The wording about a recall is being interpreted by him as a punishment, a slap given by the CC for no apparent reason. The phrase that Sergo is being transferred to Rostov "in place of Mikoyan" is being interpreted by him as a hint that Mikoyan is above Sergo, that Sergo is only fit to be Mikoyan's deputy, and so on. He understands that the CC had no intention and could not have had the intention of offending Sergo, giving him a slap, placing him under Mikoyan, and so on, but he considers that those who received the extract of the CC resolution may understand it precisely as an attack against Sergo, that the wording should have been better, more precise. I think that Sergo must be satisfied, since he has been placed objectively, owing to an accidental error in the wording, in the position of an aggrieved person. The wording could be corrected approximately as follows:

1) To honor Comrade Ordzhonikidze's request for release from his duties as First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee, rejecting the demand of the Transcaucasian organizations (national Central Committees and the Transcaucasian Regional Committee) that Comrade Ordzhonikidze be retained in his former post;

2) In view of Comrade Ordzhonikidze's decisive refusal to transfer immediately to work in Moscow, to postpone the question of appointing Comrade Ordzhonikidze as People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection of the USSR and Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars for several months;

3) To accept the proposal of the North Caucasus Regional Committee to approve Comrade Ordzhonikidze as First Secretary of the North Caucasus Regional Committee (agreed upon with Comrade Ordzhonikidze). The sooner you do this, the better, and the new extract will have to be sent to everyone who received the old extract.

You may say that all this is nonsense. Perhaps. But I must tell you that this nonsense can seriously harm the cause if we do not correct it.

Nazaretyan is playing an extremely ugly role in this affair, inflaming Sergo's pride and inciting him — I do not know — for what concrete purpose.

Well, all the best.

J. St.

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Source: Letters of J.V. Stalin to V.M. Molotov. 1925–1936. P. 80–82.

RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 5388.