Telegram to Nikolai Kuzmin, March 5, 1920

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In code

By direct line

Comrade Kuzmin, member of R.M.C. 6

Re No. 95.

Exercise the utmost caution and distrust in this matter.[1] Mind you are not fooled by officers who want to infiltrate among us in order to demoralise the army. Make thorough inquiries about everyone wishing to return and if you are convinced that his return will be useful, inform Moscow to obtain permission. Discuss this question with Lomov’s commission,[2] which has gone to Archangel. Report the views expressed in the discussion.

Re No. 82.

Chicherin’s statement about leaving the country stipulated the surrender of the White government, but it has fled. For the time being, do not permit anyone to go abroad. Employ the arrested officers on work. Use those who have remained at liberty for the same purpose. Sklyansky’s telegram No. 49/III about sending some of them to the centre holds good. Discuss the question with Lomov’s commission.

Lenin

  1. N. N. Kuzmin, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 6th Army, asked Lenin about the attitude to be adopted towards whiteguard officers who had laid down their arms and declared their readiness to work in Soviet Russia.
  2. This refers to a commission of the CPC headed by G. I. Oppokov (A. Lomov) which was sent to Archangel to take measures to restore economic and political life in the northern areas of Soviet Russia that had been liberated from the whiteguards and interventionists, and to register and distribute the property seized there.