346. TELEGRAM TO V. I. MEZHLAUK AND K. Y. VOROSHILOV

Written on June 1, 1919 · First published in part in 1942 in Lenin Miscellany XXXIV. Published in full in 1965 in Collected Works, Firth Ed., Vol. 50. Printed from the original. · page 241

Mezhlauk, Voroshilov
Kharkov
Copy to Melnichansky, Artyom, Kaminsky

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee met on June 1. In full agreement with Trotsky,, it firmly rejects the plan of the Ukrainians to unite the 2nd, 8th and 13th armies, and to create a special Donets unity.^[1]

We demand that Voroshilov and Mezhlauk fulfil their direct task—that of building a strong Ukrainian army. Tomorrow or the day after, Trotsky will summon you to Izyum and give orders in more detail. Report more exactly, more frequently and in a strictly factual way what you have done and, in particular, how much army property Voroshilov captured from Grigoriev and in other places.

On behalf of the Political Bureau of the C.C.,
Lenin

Notes

[1] This refers to the plan of the Ukraine’s army men to set up a Revolutionary Military Council of the Donets Basin Front subordinated to the Southern Front and consisting of the 2nd Ukrainian, the 8th and the 13th armies. The plan was communicated to Lenin from Kharkov on May 31 by a telegram from the authorised agent of the Council of Defence.