Document 34

Petition from F. G. Kolgushkin for reinstatement in party, 4 October 1930

RGAE, f. 8043, op. 11, d. 11, ll. 13-14. Typed copy.

Respected Comrades:

In March 1928 by decision of the TsKK's Presidium I was expelled from the ranks of the VKP(b) because I had concealed from the party, specifically when I was chosen at the Fifteenth Congress of VKP(b) to be an associate member of the TsK VKP(b), the fact that in 1911 after being convicted by the St. Petersburg Law Court under Article 102 for belonging to the RSDRP(b) (Rossiiskaia Sotsialisticheskaia Demokraticheskaia Rabochaia Partiia [bolshevikov] [Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (Bolshevik)]) I had submitted an appeal addressed to the Tsar and been pardoned.

As was the case in my previous appeals (of 1928 and 1929), I continue to consider this act of mine to be a most serious crime against the party, a base act, verily that of a renegade.I also consider that the punishment meted out to me in 1928 was correct and deserved.I swear to you that during the two and a half years I have borne this punishment, burdensome and horrible for a Bolshevik, I have not ceased to be a Bolshevik in all of my actions nor will I cease to be one, because I am a Bolshevik and because I must atone for my guilt in the eyes of the party.

I simply cannot remain longer in this position; it will be unbearable for me.

How can I remain outside the party when a concentrated, all-out effort is required for the great feat of building socialism as it keeps developing.

I beg the Presidium of TsKK VKP(b) to return me to the ranks of the VKP(b). This will enable me to participate with even greater strength in the building of socialism, in the party's struggle to surmount problems, and to atone for my guilt.

Until May 1929 I worked in Novosibirsk as Deputy Chairman of Sibkraisovnarkhoz (Sibirsky kraevoi sovet narodnogo khozaistva [The Siberian Krai Economic Council]). On 15 May 1929 the TsKK in accordance with a request by the Siberian Regional Party Committee passed a resolution entertaining the possibility of my returning to the party, but asking the worker cell for comments. Following this, in May 1929, I was appointed Chief of Kuznetskstroi (Kuznetsk Construction Project). Organizing construction at a new location absorbed all my time. I had to move from Novosibirsk and was, successively, at the construction site in Tomsk and in Moscow. I was subsequently sent on an official trip to America to negotiate a contract with an engineering firm for building the Kuznetsk plant and to place orders for equipment. I spent eight months altogether in America and Germany. All this prevented me from formally rejoining the party in accordance with the TsKK's resolution of 15 May 1929. Now that I have returned from abroad I am scheduled to go to the Urals, to Uralmet (Ural'skaia metallurgiia [Ural Metal Production Project]). It is clear that my work there will from the very beginning entail prolonged and frequent trips to plants where I will be asked to report on the functioning and organization of American plants. This will again encumber and drag out my rejoining the party and will also prevent me from working as effectively as I could as a party member.

I am unable to live and work merely as a specialist, and once again ask TsKK to return me to the party. I spring from landless peasants and since childhood I have worked as a hired person, starting out as a shepherd.