443. TELEGRAM TO L. D. TROTSKY

Written on October 18, 1919 · First published on February 23, 1938, in Pravda No. 53. Printed from the original. · page 296

In code
18/X.

Trotsky 

I think that agreement with Estonia against Yudenich is impossible, for she is powerless to do anything even if she wanted to. Moreover, Yudenich’s base is probably not in Estonia, but outside it, on the sea coast covered by the British fleet. We have sent you many troops, everything depends on the speed of the offensive against Yudenich and on encircling him. Strain all efforts to hasten matters. The huge revolt in Denikin’s rear in the Caucasus^[1] and our successes in Siberia raise hopes of complete victory, if we immensely hasten the liquidation of Yudenich.

Lenin

Notes

[1] In the spring of 1919 Denikin seized Daghestan, Chechen, Ossetia and other national areas of the Northern Caucasus. The mountain peoples responded with a holy war against the whiteguards. Bourgeois-nationalist elements tried to take the leadership of this insurrectionary movement into their hands. However, they   did not succeed in winning over the main mass of the mountain people. Under the leadership of the Caucasian Regional Committee of the R.C.P.(B.), explanatory work was carried out among the insurgents on a large scale and Communist organisations were formed among the partisan forces. The insurrectionary movement rapidly assumed a Bolshevik character.