Published:
First published in 1965 in Collected Works, Fifth Ed., Vol. 51.
Printed from the original.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1975,
Moscow,
Volume 44,
page 384a.
Translated: Clemens Dutt
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
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4/VI. 1920
Comrade Botin,
You told Comrade Belenky that the experiments could be made on Friday (i.e., today).[1] A special military– political circumstance has arisen, which may mean our losing many extra thousands of Red Army men within the next few days. It is therefore my absolute duty to request insistently that you hasten the experiment and carry it out today without fail, if there is the slightest possibility (all the manual work, such as regulating the engine, you should assign to others, not occupying yourself with trifles).
Will you please answer me at once by the messenger, as fully and exactly as possible. I would not be hurrying you if an immediate political-strategic decision of great importance were not called for.
Answer in detail
(1) Can you speed things up to the maximum extent?
(2) When will you carry out the first experiment and when (approximately) will you complete it?
Greetings,
Lenin
[1] Lenin is referring to the experiments of S. I. Botin, who was working on the problem of induced detonation by electromagnetic waves. In October 1921 a commission of experts recommended that the experiments should be discontinued owing to their insufficient preparation.
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