16 September 1918

Atkarsk
To Commissar of Internal Affairs Smirnov

Regarding the railcars, I have already informed the Railway Commissar. Please coordinate further with Nevsky in Saratov.

I am utterly astonished by the extreme vagueness of your telegram. You write that there is an abundance of grain,
yet you fail to specify in which volosts all surplus grain has been cleared and how much remains; you do not indicate which elevators and storage depots have received the grain, nor how much has actually been stored there. Remember that without such precise data, all your statements amount to nothing more than empty rhetoric—so please provide accurate information.

Chairman of the Sovnarkom, Lenin

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First published in 1931 in Lenin’s Collection, Volume XVIII

Printed from the manuscript