In booklet format measuring 5" x 3 ¾", in leatherette-wrapped hard covers. Printed in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardin ASSR. Only 500 copies printed. The invitation is a 3-part fold-out insert. The central part featuring the habitual Lenin-Stalin profile of the Stalin era, with Stalin in the foreground, quotes his 12 June 1921 letter to the Congress of the Soviets of Kabarda with his well wishes

In booklet format measuring 5" x 3 ¾", in leatherette-wrapped hard covers. Printed in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardin ASSR. Only 500 copies printed. The invitation is a 3-part fold-out insert. The central part featuring the habitual Lenin-Stalin profile of the Stalin era, with Stalin in the foreground, quotes his 12 June 1921 letter to the Congress of the Soviets of Kabarda with his well wishes in their effort to form an autonomous region, subject of the Russian Federation. The left and right parts are the invitation, in Kabardian and Russian, respectively, issued to Comrade Lukozheva.

In excellent, superb condition. Microscopic scuffs at the corners of the cover and a tiny stain next to the RSFSR emblem. The invitation insert is pristine.

This is a very rare and interesting document. On 1 September 1921 the Kabardin-Balkar Autonomous Region was formed, a subject of RSFSR, joining two ethnic groups, Kabardins and Balkars. In 1936, the region was recognized as an autonomous Soviet socialist republic. In 1944, the entire Balkar population was deported to Central Asia for "violations of socialist legality," the term used by Stalin's regime to justify mass deportations. In 1957, part of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign, the republic's original name was returned. However, quite a few ethnic Balkars, several Lukozhevas among them, were rehabilitated only in the late 1990s - early 2000s, posthumously.

Please note that the penny in our photo is for size reference.
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