Letter to the Emelyanovskiy Village Soviet (1930)

Source: Tom 17

To the village soviet of the village of Emelyanovskiy, Krasnoyarsk district and region.

I know Mikhail Merzlyakov from my place of exile in the village of Kureika (Turukhansk region), where he served as a guard in 1914-1916. At that time he had one single assignment from the constable -- to keep watch over me (there were no other exiles in Kureika at the time). It is therefore understandable that I could not have been on "friendly" terms with Mikhail Merzlyakov. Nevertheless, I must attest that while my relations with him were not "friendly," neither were they hostile, as relations between exiles and guards usually were. This is explained, it seems to me, by the fact that Mikhail Merzlyakov carried out the constable's assignment in a formal manner, without the usual police zeal -- he did not spy on me, did not persecute me, did not find fault with me, turned a blind eye to my frequent absences, and not infrequently cursed the constable for his tiresome "instructions" and "directives." All this I consider it my duty to attest before you.

That was how matters stood in 1914-1916, when M. Merzlyakov, while serving as a guard, compared favorably with other police officers.

Source: Moskalev M. I.V. Stalin in Siberian Exile. Krasnoyarsk, 1942. Pp. 144-145.