FROM THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE DEFENSE COUNCIL
December 8, 1918
ON THE UNIFORMING, ARMING, AND SUPPLYING
OF TEN FORMING DIVISIONS AND ON THE DISPATCH OF AGITATORS
a) Comrades Stalin and Podvoisky, with the participation of Comrade Sverdlov, are hereby instructed to do everything in their power regarding political agitation and the deployment of commissars to the divisions currently being formed.
Stalin’s report is to be scheduled for Wednesday, December 11.
b) With regard to the matter of uniforming, the Head of the Central Supply Department is instructed to convene a meeting involving representatives from the Extraordinary Commission for Army Supply, the Military Procurement Department of the Supreme Council of National Economy, and those organizations that maintain warehouses of logistical supplies (the All‑Russian Evacuation Commission, the Military District Administration).
Execution of this task is to be entrusted to Sklyansky. The first report is to be scheduled for Wednesday.
c) The following resolution is adopted:
The Defense Council deems it essential to grant the broadest possible initiative in the procurement and supply efforts at the local level—both to military district and provincial commissariats, as well as to the armies on the fronts, and to the soviet councils. The task of the Extraordinary Commission for Army Supply consists in providing due support to the relevant local authorities and in delivering to them, from the Supreme Council of National Economy, central collegia, and other sources, all the raw materials, means of production, and finished goods required for procurement—and in introducing the necessary oversight and the requisite unity into the process of restoring production to meet the diverse needs of the army.
It would be highly desirable that the ten divisions currently being formed within the Republic should advance to the front in high spirits, so that when they encounter the enemy they may withstand the serious battles that are undoubtedly being prepared for the not‑so‑distant future. I believe it would be imperative to dispatch to each forming division a contingent of well‑known communist political figures, in order to monitor on the ground the conditions under which the disciplinary and political training of our new formations is taking place, and to uplift their morale through agitation. This measure has yielded excellent results on the front… It is essential to find a way, as soon as possible, to equip with uniforms and armaments all ten divisions currently being formed throughout the country; for only under this condition will our fronts receive the support they so urgently need, since at present nearly all available reserves have already been committed to the line of battle.