Document 46

Kalinin's reply to Onishchenko, 10 January 1934

RGASPI, f. 78, op. 1, d. 524, ll. 1-1 (verso). Typed copy, corrected.

10 January 1934

Dear Comrade Onishchenko:

Please forgive me for taking so long to respond to your letter of 15 October 1933.

It is really and truly difficult to reply to your letter since there are no specific, practical, or fundamental questions raised in it. To tell the truth, I don't understand how my reply will identify a possible tactic for you to employ in the future.

Judging by your letter, your understanding of the rural soviet chairman's responsibilities is correct. And the Raikom did not err in sending you to the rural soviet. I think you will be able to cope with this work and cope adequately. Evidently, you are already coping with it. I don't agree with your assessment that the chairman of a rural soviet cannot avoid transgressing party and Soviet rules and regulations. Indeed, the facts you cite are not at all persuasive. To put it bluntly, problems surrounding the execution of a financial plan in reality are the ones least likely to lead to a trial. At any rate, this is the first letter I've received of this sort. Look, according to your letter your predecessors were tried for misappropriation--that is, for actions that have to be brought to trial, for actions like that must be fought in the most decisive way possible.

That the post of rural soviet chairman is difficult cannot be denied. And it isn't difficult because you don't know the laws. That you'll overcome before long. The regulations concerning rural soviets are not all that difficult, and the main thing is that you understand party policy and know how to make it work. Now that's not so easy. The most important thing is not to let this predicament lead you astray and to find the proper way to proceed. And in the countryside the proper way to proceed is to strengthen collective agriculture, raise collective farm workers' material level by improving kolkhoz management, using fully, or in a maximally efficient way, resources at hand, both natural resources and manpower. Practical work is inseparable from the state's interests which, in turn, represent the general interests of both workers and peasants.

The lot of rural soviet chairman has improved significantly this year. One shouldn't view the pay increase only in a material sense. This was the way the highest Soviet institutions emphasized the importance of rural soviets in the overall structure of the Soviet system, and it will certainly have the effect of strengthening the authority of the rural soviet.

My sympathetic attitude toward your letter is to a significant degree determined by your poor state of health which makes the situation you find yourself in seem bleaker than is actually the case. Obviously, you do not consider your appointment as rural soviet chairman right or just. From my vantage point I cannot decide how appropriate the appointment is. To do this I'd have to know the specific details. You are obviously a good chairman, however, which means that the raion had serious grounds for sending you to do this work.

Don't talk about sacrifices. That's not serious and is unfounded. There's no reason for this. If you have reached the point that you don't have the physical endurance to continue the work, then go and have a heart to heart talk with the secretary of the party and the RIK chairman: Say "I'm not good at this, I can't do it any longer, give me a job that's small and peaceful." But then don't claim to be a party activist, for you'll be joining the rank and file.

With Communist greetings,

M. Kalinin