Central Committee, Telegram. May 9, 1919

As the Civil War intensified in the spring of 1919, the Party leadership repeatedly treated industrial workers as an emergency reserve for the front. This terse Central Committee telegram, addressed to Kamenev, Ioffe, and Rakovskii, ordered the mobilization of at least 20,000 workers for immediate insertion into veteran units on the Southern Front against Denikin. The demand that Kharkov and Ekaterinoslav be “drafted to a man” signaled both the rhetorical pressure of the moment and the readiness to strip key cities of skilled labor to gain time militarily.

Original Source: Политбюро ЦК РКП(б), «Телеграмма Политбюро ЦК РКП(б) Л.Б. Каменеву, А.А. Иоффе, Х.Г. Раковскому. 8 мая 1919 г.» (подп.: Ленин, Троцкий, Крестинский, Сталин). Опубликовано с купюрами: «Пролетарская революция», 1925, № 6, с. 148.

Telegram

From: Moscow May 9. 1919. No. 101 To: Kiev-Kamenev, Ioffe, Rakovskii.

The CC [Central Committee] considers the most important task for the next two weeks to be the carrying out of the mobilization of not less than 20.000 workers for the purpose, not of forming new units, but of incorporating them into the best cadres on the Southern Front. The workers of Kharkov and Ekaterinoslav must be drafted to a man. Comrades Kamenev and Ioffe must apply all their efforts to this work. It is essential that Comrade Kamenev see to it that this is done in Kharkov and Ekaterinoslav, and Comrade Ioffe likewise from where he is in Kiev. What now matters as a whole is to gain time. The mobilization must be fully completed within 14 days. Party workers must be forcibly inspired with the thought that the fate of the Revolution depends on the successful carrying out of this mobilization. Extensive agitation and energetic and rapid organizational measures are what is needed. The men mobilized must be sent off in company drafts as soon as possible and the necessary number of Communists included in each such draft. A stock of uniforms, even if not of the proper issue, must be laid in beforehand. The dispatch of the company drafts must not meet with delay for want of uniforms. Party Committees and Trade Unions must be brought in on the mobilization and assigned specific tasks. The CC regards the figure of 20.000 as the minimum and the fortnight allowed for this as the maximum for the purpose of rescuing our position on the Southern Front. This task must be performed with exceptional energy. Report without delay all measures taken by you. Telegraph the results achieved to the CC every three days.

Lenin
Trotsky
Krestinskii
Stalin

Source: Leon Trotsky, The Trotsky Papers, 1917-1922 (The Hague: Mouton, 1975), Vol. I, 409-411.