17231
TELEGRAM TO ALL DISTRICT MILITARY COMMISSARS
December 4, 1918
Until further notice, the conscription into the Red Army and reserve worker units is suspended for those currently employed: lumberjacks, timber carriers, peat carriers, and coal miners.
All specialists and responsible employees engaged in firewood procurement are exempted from conscription upon the request of the Forestry Board and its local bodies, provided they started work before December 1. Further details will be provided additionally.
Lenin
Printed from a typewritten copy.
14508
DECISIONS OF THE DEFENSE COUNCIL COMMISSION ON CARTRIDGES*
December 1918
ON THE TULA CARTRIDGE FACTORY
a) The Defense Council deems it necessary to introduce a system of bonuses at the Tula Cartridge Factory for increased productivity compared to what has already been achieved. The factory management is to develop the details.
b) The Defense Council approves the agreement reached between the Tula Cartridge Factory management and the local labor exchange, under which the factory management is given the opportunity to replenish the composition of necessary skilled workers, bypassing the labor exchange.
c) The Defense Council orders the use of all available premises of the Tula factories for the installation of machines.
d) While retaining the factory board in its previous composition (trio), add one representative from the Extraordinary Commission for Army Supply and one from the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs.
e) Inform the public as widely as possible that those working in cartridge and arms factories are exempt from conscription into the army.
ON THE PODOLSK FACTORY
a) Establish the same methods of labor intensification at the Podolsk Factory as have been established at the Tula Cartridge and Arms Factories. The Extraordinary Commission for Army Supply is to take all measures to ensure the implementation of this decision.
* The Workers' and Peasants' Defense Council was formed on November 30, 1918. In the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on this issue, it was stated: "By the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of September 2, the Soviet Republic was proclaimed a military camp. This decision must now be implemented in all areas of economic activity and state administration. It is necessary to ensure the supply of the army and for this purpose, to increase labor productivity. It is necessary to provide food for the army and navy, as well as Moscow, Petrograd, and all other centers of formation and labor. For this, all food and railway authorities in the center and in the regions must work with the highest intensity and efficiency. Not only in the army and navy, but also in food and transport matters, as well as in the field of military industry, a military regime must be established, i.e., a regime of strict labor discipline, corresponding to the situation of a country that the bandits of imperialism have forced to turn into a military camp. To implement these measures, the closest unification of the military department, the Extraordinary Commission for Production, the transport and food departments, in common work for the sake of common practical tasks, is necessary. For this purpose, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets decides to establish the Workers' and Peasants' Defense Council, chaired by Comrade Lenin, as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars." Comrade Stalin entered the Defense Council as a representative of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. The Defense Council was granted "full authority in mobilizing the forces and resources of the country in the interests of defense. For all,"