TELEGRAM FROM G.K. ORDJONIKIDZE
Astrakhan
Front Headquarters, for Transmission via Radio to Vladikavkaz
Ordjonikidze
January 9, 1919
I have received your telegram for the first time. I thank you and send my greetings. Please keep me informed more frequently.
Chairman of the Sovnarkom
Lenin

ORDER FOR THE INSPECTION OF POSTAL AND TELEGRAPH COMMUNICATIONS
January 9, 1919
The Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Defense hereby orders a special commission—comprising Comrades Podbelsky, Bakinsky, and Khalepsky—to thoroughly review the state of postal and telegraph communications in institutions and offices of military communications, both at the central level and in the field, as well as within the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
In the event that criminal negligence or inaction is discovered among officials responsible for military postal and telegraph communications, the special commission is instructed to take all necessary measures to curb such criminal activity—up to and including the removal of the guilty parties from their posts and their personal detention pending further directives from the Chairman of the Council of Defense.
Chairman of the Council of Defense
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)