To the Communists of Turkestan

Published 7 November 1919

Editor’s note: A Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic was established in April 1918, covering the territory of present day Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, taking into account the powerful pan-Turkic national sentiment. Lenin considered that this, as part of the general struggle against Great-Russian chauvinism, would have an impact in the struggle against imperialism in the East.

This letter was written by Lenin in connection with the dispatch to Turkestan of a commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars.

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Comrades, permit me to address you not as Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars and the Council of Defence, but as a member of the party.

It is no exaggeration to say that the establishment of proper relations with the peoples of Turkestan is now of immense, epochal importance for the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.

The attitude of the Soviet Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic to the weak and hitherto oppressed nations is of very practical significance for the whole of Asia and for all the colonies of the world, for thousands and millions of people.

I earnestly urge you to devote the closest attention to this question, to exert every effort to set an effective example of comradely relations with the peoples of Turkestan, to demonstrate to them by your actions that we are sincere in our desire to wipe out all traces of Great-Russian imperialism and wage an implacable struggle against world imperialism, headed by British imperialism. You should show the greatest confidence in our Turkestan Commission and adhere strictly to its directives, which have been framed precisely in this spirit by the All-Russia Central Executive Committee.

I would very much appreciate a reply to this letter indicating your attitude.

With communist greetings,

V Ulyanov (Lenin)