[November 2, 1918]

November 2, 1918.
In view of several instances of [constant]* interference by local authorities in the economic and administrative functions of the factory managements of nationalized enterprises and observed cases of alienation of national property of individual enterprises for the satisfaction of local needs, which disorganizes their economy and deprives factory managements of the possibility to conduct work systematically, [the Council of People's Commissars has decreed:] I insistently reiterate, with a warning regarding the strictest accountability in case of non-compliance: nationalized enterprises are the common property of the Soviet Republic, and responsibility for their economic management rests with the factory managements, and therefore local authorities have no right (unless specifically granted by special decrees of the Central authority) to interfere with their directives or to alienate any property of nationalized enterprises without the permission of the higher bodies of administration of the given branch of production.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)