V. I. Lenin

Re Draft Decree on The Organisation and Supply of the Village Poor {1}

For the purpose of general guidance in the formation, composition and activities of the Committees of Poor Peasants a permanent
council is instituted consisting of two representatives from the
Commissariat for Food and one representative from the Commissariat for
Agriculture.

All local Soviets, food supply agencies and Committees of Poor
Peasants, as well as all other Soviet bodies obey the orders of this
council on pertinent matters.

…shall be enjoyed by all without restriction, both by local
villagers and newcomers, who do not have surpluses of grain or other food
products, do not possess trade, industrial or other establishments and do
not employ farmhands or day-labourers. {2}

Detailed rules on the relations between the Committees of Poor Peasants
and the local Soviets and on the distribution of departmental functions
between the two will be issued specially.

---
Notes:
{1}
These proposals of Lenin’s were written apparently at a meeting of the
Council of People’s Commissars on June 8, 1918, when the draft was under
consideration. The draft decree was adopted with substantial
amendments. The All-Russia Central Executive Committee endorsed the decree
on June 11 and Izvestia published it on June 16, 1918 (see
Decrees of the Soviet Government, Vol. II, Moscow, 1959,
pp. 412-19). The Committees of Poor Peasants were instituted by this
decree. An appraisal of them was given by Lenin in his speech at the First
All-Russia Congress of Land Departments, Poor Peasants’ Committees and
Communes on December 11, 1918 (see present edition, Volume 28, p. 338 ).

{2}
This formulation applies to § 2 of the draft decree. In conformity
with Lenin’s proposal, it was worded as follows: “The right to elect and
be elected to the volost and village Committees of Poor Peasants shall be
enjoyed by all without restriction, both by local villagers and newcomers,
with the exception of avowed kulaks and rich farmers having surpluses of
grain or other food products, having trade or industrial establishments,
and employing farm-hands or hired labour, etc.

“ Note : Those employing hired labour for farm work not
exceeding the subsistence norm may elect and be elected to the Committees
of Poor Peasants” ( Decrees of the Soviet Government , Vol. II,
Moscow, 1959, pp. 416-17.)