601. TO L. D. TROTSKY (original) (raw)

V. I. Lenin

601

To: L. D. TROTSKY[2]

Written: Written on June 3, 1920
Published: First published in part in 1960 in the book: Istoria grazhdanskoi voiny v SSSR. 1917–1922, Vol. 5. Published in full in 196i in Collected Works, Fifth Ed., Vol. 51. Printed from the typewritten copy.
Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers,1975, Moscow,Volume 44, page 381c.
Translated: Clemens Dutt
Transcription\Markup: R. Cymbala
Public Domain: Lenin Internet Archive. You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source. • README

This is sheer Utopia. Won’t it cost too many lives? We will be sacrificing a host of our soldiers. We must think this over and weigh it up ten times. I suggest replying to Stalin: “Your proposal for an offensive against the Crimea is so serious that we should make inquiries and give it most careful consideration, Wait for our reply. Lenin,Trotsky.”[1]

Notes

[1] In the typewritten copy there follow the words: “In Lenin’s handwriting.”—Ed.

[2] Written on Stalin’s telegram to Lenin dated June 3, 1920, proposing either to sign a truce with Wrangel and enable one or two divisions to be taken from the Crimean Front, or to abandon all talks with Wrangel, strike a blow at him and, by routing him, release forces for the Polish front.