V. I. Lenin

Instructions To The Red Guard H.Q.

January 12, 1918.

In view of the looming danger of famine in Petrograd, and in
accordance with the Council of People's Commissars decision on the
inspection of railways in Petrograd and its vicinity to discover any
possible carloads of grain in the yards, the Red Guard H.Q. is hereby
ordered to help carry out such inspection and apprehend profiteers and
saboteurs.

With this aim in view, the required number of detachments must be
immediately formed and dispatched tomorrow morning, January 13, to Comrade
Nevsky or his Deputy at the Commissariat for Railway Affairs, to conduct
the following joint operations with him:

(1) make a round of the stations and get their chiefs and other
administrative personnel to sign written statements that there is not a
single carload of grain or foodstuffs (at the station or on the railway
tracks); (2) to verify that there are actually no carloads of grain, etc.; the
check-up to be conducted jointly with railwaymen; (3) in the event of false evidence or misleading reports, administrative
personnel (by agreement with railwaymen's committees) should be arrested
and handed over to revolutionary tribunals.

V. Ulyanov (Lenin),
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars