From a letter by G.I. Myasnikov to N.V. Kuznetsov

September 21, 1923

Nikolay1 , I’m amazed at how you’ve managed to stay silent for so long. I sent you two articles and have absolutely no idea whether you received them or not. They were sent by airmail in your name, to the address of Glavmetall. A telegram was also sent in your name asking, “Have you received the article or not?”—and there’s been no response to that either. What’s wrong with you? It seems you’ve either been taken out of circulation, or those overly zealous fools intercepted both the articles and the telegram.

In those two articles, I wrote about what we need to do: 1) Win over the factory committees, not abandon the trade unions; 2) It’s essential to participate in the elections to the Soviets; if it’s impossible to act openly, then conduct underground agitation for our lists and, at the official election meeting, quietly, without debates or fuss, sabotage the lists of the ruling group while pushing through our own. I’d be very pleased to see you, Demidov2 , Berzina, and other comrades as members of the Moscow Soviet—I wouldn’t mind getting in there myself, if only to spoil the mood of that bunch by the very fact of my election and thereby force them to bring me back to Russia. 3) It’s necessary to take part, in one way or another, in the celebration of the October Revolution with slogans like these: a) Long live the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies of factories and plants. State control to the trade unions. Long live proletarian democracy. Freedom of speech and press for the working class. Amnesty for all workers arrested and exiled for freedom of speech. Not a single arrest or dismissal without the knowledge of the factory committee. The liberation of workers is the task of the workers themselves. Long live the gains of October. Long live the world October.

Next, I think it’s essential for our group to immediately start a campaign to prepare for the 5th Congress of the Comintern. /.../

Publishing the “Manifesto” in Russian cost me about 100 dollars—send the money, I’m in debt. Five thousand copies were printed. Arrange for its shipment as soon as possible. I have all sorts of opportunities to send one or two copies at a time. Set it up with Bulkin in Petrograd, at the port. /.../

It would be great if, in case you can’t get me out of here, you could arrange for me to be some sort of representative or deputy for Glavelektro or someone similar. I’d have more freedom of action—I could go wherever I needed to.

Oh, my dear comrades, you can’t even imagine how much I long to be with you all.

My proletarian communist greetings to everyone, everyone, everyone.

I shake your hand /.../

Vol. 48, Pg. 28-29

• 1Kuznetsov, Nikolai Vladimirovich (1882–1937) — a lathe operator, member of the Communist Party from 1904 to 1921. During the First World War, he was in exile. In 1917, he was a member of the Constituent Assembly from Oryol Province (elected on the Bolshevik list). In 1921, he was a supporter of the Workers’ Opposition. He was expelled from the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) at the XI Congress in 1922. An ally of Myasnikov in the Workers’ Group. After his arrest in September 1923 in the Workers’ Group case, he was sentenced to 3 years in a labor camp. From 1925, he was exiled to Ust-Kamenogorsk. Released in 1927 with the right to live freely in any city in the USSR. In 1929, he was convicted under Article 58-10 and sentenced to three years. From 1930, he was exiled in Kazakhstan. Released in 1934. His final arrest was in 1936. He was executed.
• 2Demidov, Vladimir Potapovich (1884–1937) — a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) since 1907. During the Civil War, he served as a division commander on the Eastern Front. In 1921, he was a supporter of the Workers’ Opposition. In 1923, he was expelled from the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). After his arrest in September 1923 in the Workers’ Group case, he was exiled to the Solovetsky Islands. After “acknowledging his mistakes,” he was released and reinstated in the party. He was arrested again in 1935 and executed.