AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT DECREE ON RAILROAD TRANSPORT

11272
AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT DECREE
ON RAILROAD TRANSPORT¹.
21/III 1918.

In view of the obvious necessity to put an end to the further
destruction of railroads, especially threatening in its consequences
precisely now, at the moment of universal movement of military
echelons and the presence of famine in a number of regions; in view
of the fact that a number of local, regional and central organizations,
attempting to improve the situation, are independently interfering
in the technical management of the railroad apparatus and thereby
finally destroying it, The Council of People's Commissars decrees:

§ 1. At the head of the Commissariat of Ways of Communication is placed a
commissar of ways of communication, responsible on equal terms with the other
People's Commissars solely before the All-Russian Workers' and Peasants'
Congress, and not before individual professional organizations, however powerful,
such as "Vikzhedar," which was granted the right to nominate a candidate for the
post of Commissar of Ways of Communication.

§ 2. The Collegium, elected by the Extraordinary All-Russian Congress of
Railroads for the management of the Commissariat of Ways of Communication,
recognizes itself as an organization subordinate to the supreme Collegium of the
Russian Federative Soviet Republic, the Council of People's Commissars, in the
person of the Commissar of Ways of Communication, while retaining for itself the
right, in case of disagreement within the Collegium, to appeal through the All-
Russian Railroad Congress to the All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Peasants'
Deputies.

2. The Collegium of Ways of Communication consists of a People's
Commissar, who serves as its chairman, and [comrade] members of the
Collegium, elected by the All-Russian Railroad Congress and approved by the
Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee.

In case of disagreement between the Collegium and the Commissar, it
has the right to appeal to the S[oviet of] P[eople's] Commissars and to the
Central Committee.

§ 3. The Collegium for the management of the Commissariat of Ways of
Communication does not interfere in the direct orders of the Commissar of Ways
of Communication, who is vested with dictatorial powers in the sphere of
transport.

§ 4. The complex network of organizations dealing with transport, on the
proposal of the Commissariat of Ways of Communication, is simplified, with
redundant organizations abolished. A list of such organizations will follow
additionally in the form of an order by the Commissar of Ways of Communication.

§ 5. All Federative, regional and other local Soviet organizations have no
right to interfere in matters of transport, in view of the fact that railroads,
although passing through a defined territory, are by their very nature
extraterritorial, since they serve the needs of the entire republic. All Federative,
regional and other local Soviet organizations shall in every way render
assistance to railroad workers, including the provision of armed assistance, in
case of attempts by any organizations to disobey the present decree.

§ 6. Each local district or regional railroad center elects from its midst the
most active worker, devoted to Soviet power, knowledgeable in railroad affairs,
and places him at the head of its center, as a responsible executive answerable to
the Commissar of Ways of Communication; in this person is embodied the entire
fullness of the dictatorial power of the proletariat in the given railroad center.
Such a person is confirmed by the Commissar of Ways of Communication.

§ 7. From the moment of issuance of the present decree, which enters into
force upon transmission by telegraph, all Commissars, emissaries and agents
appointed to railroads by departments other than the Commissariat of Ways of
Communication are abolished. Henceforth the appointment of such Commissars
shall bear only a supervisory character, and they shall not exercise the right of
disposition in railroad matters.

§ 8. Parallel with the centralization of the management of the network of Ways
of Communication of the Russian Soviet Federative Republic, there must be
unfailingly carried out further decentralization of the work of railroad
administrations, as provided for by the Extraordinary Railroad Congress, in order
to relieve the Central Administration of petty questions and to transfer such work
to district and local railroad Committees, Soviets or Commissariats.

§ 9. On those railroads or in those places where the main Railroad
Committees or other elected railroad organizations refuse to adopt the standpoint
of Soviet power and conduct concealed sabotage, the most active revolutionary
railroad workers are obliged to organize military-revolutionary railroad
Committees and, upon consultation and confirmation by the Commissar of Ways
of Communication, assume the fullness of dictatorial power [including the
application of armed force], appointing for this purpose one definite responsible
person.

§ 10. Vikzhedar intensifies agitation and propaganda among railroad workers,
for which purpose members of Vikzhedar are urgently sent to the lines.

§ 11. Military protection of the railroads is established, consisting of detachments
organized chiefly from railroad workers, both locally and at the center; all these
military protection detachments are subordinate to responsible persons appointed
or confirmed by the Commissar of Ways of Communication and constituting a
Special Collegium attached to the Commissariat of Ways of Communication. The
Extraordinary All-Russian Interdepartmental Commission for the protection of
railroads is transferred to the jurisdiction of the Commissar of Ways of
Communication.

§ 12. [This same collegium] These same military protection detachments of the
railroads select from their midst [and perform the duties of] [supervisory
detachments] PERFORM the duties of supervisory detachments both in combating
ticketless travel and disorderly transport of cargo, and in combating the idling of
cars and locomotives caused by unconscious or mercenary action of individual
agents of the railroad service. Such mobile supervisory detachments are provided
each time with definite written instructions and powers by the corresponding
authorized agents of railroad authority and have no right to exceed these powers.

§ 13. In accordance with the resolutions of the Extraordinary Railroad
Congress, in the center and locally, from the best specialists in railroad affairs,
Technical-Instructional Departments are immediately organized as technical
apparatuses, which responsible leaders must utilize, for the purpose of
strengthening operating rules, eliminating unnecessary formalities, changing the
system of reporting, [introduction of a cardbased system] replacing some
materials with others suitable and available on hand, replacing one type of fuel
with another, in view of the possibility of complete cessation of coal supply from
the Donets Basin, and so forth.

§ 14. Noncompliance with the present decree is punishable by immediate arrest;
in case of resistance, armed force is applied; those guilty are brought before a
revolutionary tribunal.

21/III 1918.
Approved. Lenin²

___________________

¹ In connection with the severe destruction of railroad transport, the People's Commissar of Ways of Communication A. Rogov presented for approval to the Council of People's Commissars on 18 March 1918 a draft decree "on the centralization of management, protection of railroads and the increase of their carrying capacity." Having discussed the draft, the Council of People's Commissars resolved "to submit the draft decree to a Commission composed of representatives of the Commissariats of Military Affairs and Ways of Communication for presentation in revised form at tomorrow's session of the Council of People's Commissars." The Commission was instructed to be guided in its review of the draft by the following positions introduced by Lenin:

"1) Greater centralization. 2) Appointment of responsible persons — executors in each local center by selection of railroad organizations. 3) Unquestioning execution of their orders. 4) Dictatorial rights of military protection detachments for ensuring order. 5) Measures for immediate accounting of rolling stock and its disposition. 6) Measures for the creation of a technical department. 7) Fuel." (Minutes of Council of People's Commissars, No. 77, 18 March 1918.)

In editing the commission's draft, Lenin crossed out points 1 and 2, replacing the content of point 2 with his own text written on a separate sheet. Points 8 and 10 were also crossed out by Lenin. With the amendments introduced by Lenin, the draft was approved by the Council of People's Commissars on 21 March 1918. (Minutes of Council of People's Commissars, No. 79, 21 March 1918.)

The Left Social Revolutionaries, who were abettors and ideologists of petty-bourgeois laxity and slackness, conducted a fierce struggle against the introduction of firm proletarian discipline in the activity of railroad transport. The All-Russian Executive Committee of Railroad Workers ("Vikzhedar"), which was under strong influence of the Left Social Revolutionaries, received this decree with extreme hostility, "in view of the elimination of Vikzhedar's role and its replacement by the sole authority of the commissar." In connection with this circumstance, at the session of the Council of People's Commissars on 23 March, A. Rogov raised the question of modifying the decree. The decree was subjected to fierce attacks by the delegation of Vikzhedar present at the Council of People's Commissars session. Lenin spoke in defense of the decree, pointing to the necessity of adopting the most stringent measures to eliminate laxity, sabotage and bribery on the railroads. ("On the Decree on the Centralization of Management of Railroads," *Banner of Labor*, No. 165, 28 March 1918.) Approved by the Council of People's Commissars on 23 March 1918, this decree without modifications was published in *News of the Central Executive Committee*, No. 57, 26 March 1918. A political evaluation of this decree was given by Lenin in the article "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government" (Works, vol. XXII, pp. 460–463.)

² Followed by: "V. Nevsky, A. Rogov." – Ed.