LETTER TO A. P. SMIRNOV 1
31 July 1918
Moscow   To T. Smirnov, Member of the Collegium of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs
T. Smirnov! I am sending this letter to you accompanied by comrades who are seeing off the railway food train.
We must procure bread for the railway workers who are starving—

we must obtain it at all costs. You, of course, know, comrade,
that we attach immense importance to a steadfast proletarian line in the matter of food supplies. Yet there are circumstances in which military exigencies compel us to act in a strictly military manner. We must secure the bread at all costs—
even if we have to purchase it at the highest prices—while, of course, maintaining the necessary military discipline—to help those who are suffering from hunger. We will account for our actions here, in the Sovnarkom, taking into consideration the prevailing military conditions.
I trust that you will fully understand the urgency of the situation and will make it clear to the railway workers as they arrive that we do not hesitate to spend whatever is needed to aid them.
1 A. P. Smirnov had been a party member since 1896. Following the October Revolution, he served as Deputy People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs. From 1919 to 1922, he held the position of Deputy People’s Commissar for Trade.
In subsequent years, he served as Deputy People’s Commissar for Land Affairs, People’s Commissar for Land Affairs, Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), and held other positions of great responsibility.
With the intention of submitting to the Council of People’s Commissars the appointment of Comrade D. M. Solov’yev as a member of the Collegium of the People’s Commissariat for Agriculture,
I respectfully request that you respond without delay as to whether the Central Committee of the RCP(b) has any objections to the appointment of D. M. Solov’yev.
Yours, Lenin
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON D. M. SOLOV’YEV 1
[6 or 7 August 1918]
Added
To the Secretariat of the Central Committee
To Comrade Y. M. Sverdlov
Markovich
People’s Commissar for Agriculture
S. Sereda 2
Known to:
Vl. Dm. Bonch-Bruevich
Yak. M. Sverdlov
Meshcheryakov L (from agriculture)
He worked in the trade union of transport workers (from March–April 1917)
to October 1917