330. TELEGRAM TO L. D. TROTSKY

Written on May 20, 1919 · First published in 1965 in Collected Works, Fifth Ed., Vol. 50. Printed from the original. · page 231

20/V.

Trotsky

In connection with the coded telegram from the three commanders of the Eastern Front, I propose that Kamenev be appointed commander of the front, that Kostyaev be replaced, and Lashevich appointed instead of Aralov.^[1] Reply about the plenum. I’m afraid Stalin and Zinoviev will not be able to attend on the 25th, and to tear you away too is harmful. Therefore I propose that the plenum be postponed and that we come to an agreement by telegram.

Lenin

Notes

[1] In a telegram to the Central Committee of the R.C.P.(B.), S. I. Gusev, M. M. Lashevich and K. K. Yurenev, members of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front, objected to   S. S. Kamenev being replaced by A. A. Samoilo as commander of the Eastern Front. The telegram stated that F. V. Kostyaev, Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, was making unwarranted replacements of army commanders, and that S. I. Aralov, a member of the R. M. C. of the Republic, endorsed these orders of Kostyaev’s by his signature. On May 25, 1919, S. S. Kamenev was reappointed commander of the Eastern Front.