Inasmuch as I am calling on all Russian people to fight against Stalin and his clique, to build a ‘New Russia’ without Bolsheviks and Capitalists, I consider it my duty to explain my own actions.

The Soviet authorities have not harmed me personally in any way. I am the son of a peasant, and was born in the province of Nizhni Novgorod. I studied in conditions of great poverty and achieved higher education. I accepted the national (narodnuyu) revolution, and enlisted in the Red Army in order to fight for land for the peasants, for a better life for the workers, and for a brighter future for the Russian people. Since that time my life has been inextricably linked with the life of the Red Army. I served in its ranks without a break for 24 years. I rose from the ranks to command an army and to be deputy commander of a front. I have commanded a company, battalion, regiment, division and corps. I was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, and decorated with the medal for 20 years’ service in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. I have been a member of the Communist Party since 1930.

And now I am fighting Bolshevism and asking the people, whose son I am, to follow me.

Why? Anyone who reads my appeal will ask this question and I am bound to provide an honest answer.

During the Civil War I fought with the Red Army because I believed that the Revolution would give the Russian people land, freedom and happiness.