TO G. Y. ZINOVIEV (June 14, 1918)
June 14, 1918
Comrade Zinoviev,
Every effort must be made to send hundreds of agitators to the countryside from Petrograd immediately. This is particularly important now, on the eve of the Congress of Soviets,[1] and the whole military and food situation demands it even more insistently. We shall find the money, don’t spare the cost. We have talked about this in detail with Svidersky (and Tsyurupa). Concentrate on this.
Greetings,
Lenin
[1] A reference to the forthcoming Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets, which opened in Moscow on July 4, 1918. Y. M. Sverdlov reported on the activity of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, and Lenin, on the work of the Council of People’s Commissars. On these reports the Congress adopted a resolution motioned by the Communist group, expressing “complete approval of the foreign and domestic policy of the Soviet Government”. It rejected a resolution motioned by the Left S.R.s voicing no confidence in the Soviet Government and proposing to scrap the Brest Peace Treaty and to change the Soviet Government’s foreign and domestic policies. The Congress adjourned in view of the counter-revolutionary revolt started by the Left S.R.s in Moscow on July 6 and re-assembled on July 9. Having heard the government’s report on the events of July 6 and 7, the Congress fully approved its resolute action in stamping out the criminal venture of the Left S.R.s.
The Congress discussed the reports on the food question and the organisation of the Red Army, and concluded its work by adopting the first Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R. which gave legislative form to the gains of the Soviet working people.