Leon Trotsky: Letter to Lenin

[Copy. By direct line. True Copy (From files: “Outgoing papers of the Field Chancery No. 1 for 1919, part 2”) The Trotsky Papers 1917-1922, edited and annotated by Jan M. Meijer, The Hague. 1964, Vol. 2., p. 231, 233]

From: Voronezh

January 2, 1919. No. 35

To: Kremlin, Moscow - Lenin.

According to the reports of the Kursk Ukrainians our position in the Ukraine is favourable. Petlyura’s prospects are close to being non-existent. Such an appreciation might be regarded as over-optimistic and, coming from the insurgents, this would be wholly understandable. But there is an intercepted telegraphic report which gives an adequately objective portrayal of the position in the Ukraine. Herewith its text: “From: Konotop. 24/XII. No. 1589. To: Kiev - General Staff, Colonel Tyutyunik. Copied to: Kremenchug - Colonel Balbochan. In reply to No. 229. The position in the area of the troops under my command, in the Chernigov and Poltava guberniya’s, is alarming, especially in the frontline zones of Gomel, Novgorod-Seversk, Krolevets, Glukhov, Putivl, Romny and Lokhvitsa. The number of Bolshevik agitators increases daily, and the anarchist element of the young people among the local population, workers in their majority, sides with them. In the Korop area, which is occupied by the Bolsheviks, these bands are proceeding in the direction of Konotop, robbing the population as they go. Krolevets is for the moment still in our hands but cut off. The commander of the rifle regiment has reported by telegraph that there are up to 600 men in his garrison but that they do not want to engage the Bolsheviks in action. Such is also the attitude of the men in other units, who refuse to march against their own, as they put it, brothers. In Konotop itself the position is also unstable and alarming. A strike of the workers at the railway depot is now already in its second day. No trains at all are operating from Vorozhba or Bakhmach. Are there no reliable units available at this moment for putting matters right? The strike started over the arrest of four Bolsheviks who called themselves anarchists and threatened to destroy headquarters with bombs. Many prisoners and other anarchist elements have now assembled at Konotop Station as a result of the strike; several thousand persons together with the workers on strike are roaming around the station and want to go to the prison to release the inmates. The town garrison of Konotop, made up of troops from the republic, refuses to proceed to disperse the crowd. Measures have been taken by me to provide for the Germans to act in protection of the authorities in Konotop. If this attitude continues to persist it is possible that within the next day or so the Bolsheviks will turn up from their Land of Soviets and, in conjunction with the locals, restore the Soviet authorities to power, after arresting all staff and regimental officers. It is not possible to avert all this with our forces in the republic, recruited from the local population. It is essential that measures be taken at the centre, since the occupation of the Chernigov and Poltava guberniyas by the Bolsheviks threatens both Kiev and the right bank of the Ukraine. Military revolutionary committees with a Bolshevik Soviet programme have already been organised in the Romny uezd. The local inhabitants also refuse to take the side of law and order and track down the bands. The attitude roundabout is yust the same. In reporting all this, I ask that the Commander-in-Chief, Ataman Petlyura, be informed and such units be dispatched here as quickly as possible as will engage the Bolshevik brigands in action. Immediate assistance is needed.

Commander of the troops of the Republic for the Chernigov and Poltava districts, Colonel Paliy. Chief of Staff of the Army, Kalyuzhny”. From the above arises the need for a determined attack which may result in obtaining success while committing only small forces. I ask for appropriate government decisions to this effect in the form of a directive to the Military Revolutionary Council and the Commander-in-Chief.

Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Council, Trotsky