Letter to Semyon Sereda, November 6, 1920

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6.XI.1920

Comrade Sereda:

I consider the articles by Michelson, which you have sent me, of exceptional importance.[1]

It is necessary:

1) To send them over at once to Izvestia and Pravda (having corrected the style, put them together into one article and edited).

2) To supply an afterword by you: conclusions (practical conclusions).

3) To send a concise extract to ROSTA[2] for circulation in Russia.

4) To include all this without fail ι) in your printed report to the Congress of Soviets on 20.XII, β) in your oral report (the gist and practical conclusions).

All this should be prepared in advance, and the specialists must be made to perform all the works preparatory to your report in good time.

With communist greetings,

Lenin

  1. ↑ In his articles sent to S. P. Sereda Prof. V. A. Michelson of the Petrovsko-Razumovskaya Agricultural Academy (now the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Moscow), Basing himself on scientific data, wrote about the periodical succession of dry and rainy years. Predicting the advent of an early drought, he said it could be combated by higher labour productivity both in industry and agriculture. On Lenin’s instructions, Michelson’s article was published in Izvestia VTslK No. 258 on November 17, 1920, under the title “Important Warning”, and the following day the paper carried Sereda’s article, “About the Article ‘Important Warning’”, which dealt with the concrete measures necessary to prevent a crop failure.
    On November 25, 1920, Sereda wrote to Lenin: “Vladimir Ilyich, I have carried out your instructions concerning the publication of Prof. Michelson’s article on the coming drought (Izvestia No. 258) and my own item about his article (Izvestia No. 259, which I enclose).
    “I also sent them to Pravda, but they were not published because Izvestia had carried both earlier.” A short note was sent to the Telegraph Agency of Russia (Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU Central Committee).
  2. ↑ Telegraph Agency of Russia.—Ed.