RESOLUTION IN RESPONSE TO A LETTER FROM V. N. PODBELSKY
November 23, 1918
TO THE SOVNARKOM
It is imperative that we establish a central authority within the Sovnarkom today. Please submit your candidates without delay.
Lenin
To the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars
I deem it essential to bring before you, in the most urgent manner, the question of the state of telegraphic communications along our fronts—communications that bear such immense significance in the unfolding course of the Civil War.
All my efforts to restore order in this sphere have come to naught. I am still forced to contend with the utter chaos that reigns in the realm of telegraphy within the Military Department. To continue operating in this way is simply untenable…
I draw your attention to the root cause of the prevailing chaos: the Military Department utterly lacks a competent body—or a designated official—who possesses full authority and bears ultimate responsibility for the state of telegraphic, telephone, and postal communications on the fronts.
I am obliged to deal with dozens, even hundreds, of institutions and individual officials, none of whom possess clearly defined powers in this domain, nor do they bear any specific accountability for their actions.
Every day, vast numbers of telegraph operators, mechanics, supervisors, equipment, wires, batteries, and the like are requisitioned from us. We are woefully deficient—not only in technical personnel skilled in telegraphy and telephony, but also in essential materials… The moment is fast approaching when we will lack both one and the other. Meanwhile, these resources are being squandered with appalling recklessness, exploited in ways that are utterly counterproductive.
We witness the chaos and the criminal neglect that pervade this field—but we do not know to whom we should turn to rectify the situation. The military authorities do not answer to me, and within the department itself there is no single person or institution empowered—and duty-bound—to bring order to this critical area.
The Postal and Telegraph Administration of the Military Department has proven utterly inadequate. By the time the Civil War erupted, it had neither wire, nor equipment, nor sufficient technical personnel at its disposal. I have no doubt that sabotage and treason were at play here. The Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs began supplying all materials and manpower. Yet now, these precious resources are being wasted by the Military Department without the slightest system or plan. It is quite possible that a criminal strategy is being pursued: to exhaust our telegraphic technical capabilities, then leave the front lines completely cut off from communication.
To prevent further instances of sabotage within our own ranks, I have, until now, supplied the front with whatever was needed—while simultaneously making heroic efforts to establish order in the Military Department’s telegraphy sector…
The only viable solution is to immediately create a fully empowered body, one that possesses the authority to exercise dictatorial control over telegraphic, telephone, and postal communications on the fronts. It is imperative that we convene, without delay, a meeting of those representatives within the Military Department who are authorized to form such a powerful, decisive body.
I request that you issue an order to convene such a meeting and invite representatives from the Post and Telegraph Administration to attend.
*
By decision of the Sovnarkom, on November 26, 1918, the Supreme Commission for Telegraphic Communications was established (Minutes No. 226, Clause 2).

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