For the purpose of clarifying the state of affairs in Petrograd, the Council of Defense proposes that a comprehensive answer be provided to the following questions: on what grounds was the decision made to evacuate certain factories in Petrograd and its environs; by whom and why was the order given to sink vessels; the total number of mobilized workers and those remaining at the factories; whether all the mobilized are actually being utilized for defense needs; what prompted the appointment of commissars to state factories; whether there was indiscriminate conscription of citizens or whether it was carried out in accordance with decrees of the central authorities. The Council of Defense, while maintaining for now the state of siege in Petrograd, hereby notifies that the measures undertaken by the Petrograd Defense Committee must be implemented with the knowledge of, and in appropriate cases with the consent of, the central authorities 429.

Chairman of the Council of Defense, Lenin

*Pravda* No. 155

Written May 13, 1919

First published incompletely

June 16, 1939 in the newspaper

Moscow

Printed from the typewritten text

Signed by V. I. Lenin (Complete publication: 1941 in the book "Documents on the Heroic Defense of Petrograd in 1919")