Text preparation, introductory article and commentary by V. M. ALPATOV This letter, written in 1925 (there is no exact date), is kept in the Central Archive of the Ministry of National Security in Baku in the case of Ruhulla Akhundov (case No. Pr 16229. Vol. 5. L. 64-66; further references to the case are given only the numbers of volumes and sheets). It was written by party worker Gabib Jabiyev to his friend Ruhulla Akhundov, then second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. G. Jabiyev and R. Akhundov were close friends from the time of joint underground activities during the Musavatist period of power in Azerbaijan (1918-1920); both were initially left-wing social revolutionaries, but later became Bolsheviks. After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan in April 1920. they were in high positions: Jabiyev was a commissar of the Azerbaijani division, and later was in the leading party work; Akhundov was the secretary of the Baku City Committee, and in 1924 became the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan (the first secretary was then S. M. Kirov). Relations between the two young Azerbaijani communists were initially very close, and for the first time after the victory of the Soviet regime, they even lived in the same apartment. Soon, the struggle for the first place in the Azerbaijani leadership, which lasted for many years, began. Jabiyev and Akhundov held similar positions in 1921-1923, but since 1924 they have diverged. Jabiyev was among the Communists who were declared "hidden Musavatists". His views in those years had a pronounced nationalist tinge. There is evidence in the case file that in 1923 or 1924 he managed to get only Azerbaijani workers elected to the governing body at one of the party meetings; he considered the outcome of the elections a victory (vol. 2, p. 434). Akhundov, along with Kirov, held internationalist positions, as the old communist O. G. Shatunovskaya, w ... Читать далее