With the liberation of the Eastern border regions, it becomes the task of Party and Soviet officials to draw the labouring masses of the nationalities of these regions into the common work of building a socialist state. It is necessary to raise the cultural level of the labouring masses and to educate them in a socialist way, to promote a literature in the local languages, to appoint local people who are most closely connected with the proletariat to the Soviet organizations and draw them into the work of administering the territory. Only in that way can Soviet power become near and dear to the working people of Turkestan. It should be borne in mind that Turkestan, because of its geographical position, is a bridge connecting socialist Russia with the oppressed countries of the East, and that in view of this the consolidation of Soviet power in Turkestan may exert a supreme revolutionizing influence on the entire East. The above-mentioned task is therefore of exceptional importance to Turkestan. The People’s Commissariat for the Affairs of Nationalities draws attention to a series of decisions of the Central Committee of the Party, the All-Russian Central

Executive Committee of Soviets and the Council of People’s Commissars couched in the spirit of the circular letter, and expresses its full conviction that the Party and Soviet officials of Turkestan, and, first and foremost, the national departments of the Soviets, will discharge with credit the task entrusted to them. Member of the Bureau of the Party Central Committee,

People’s Commissar

J. Stalin

Moscow,

February 12, 1919

Zhizn Natsionalnostei, No. 7,

March 2, 1919