ORGANIZATION OF THE RED CROSS.
THE SMALL SOVIET COUNCIL IN
The Small Council.
January 21, 1918.
With regard to the reorganization of the Red Cross—now widely known through V. M. Bonch-Bruyevich—I strongly recommend
1. To demand written explanations
(a) from all members of the Committee (Section 3, Division 1)
(b) from all departments that were required to send representatives
—
explanations concerning when the Committee convened, where its minutes are kept, and so forth.
It is not enough merely to summon these individuals for questioning; a number of those responsible must be brought to justice—for failing to implement the decree.
Lenin.

Lenin’s letter was prompted by the following circumstances: on January 9, 1918, a decree was published (“Gazeta Vremennogo Rabochego i Krest’yanskogo Pravitel’stva,” No. 5, January 9, 1918) on the reorganization of the Red Cross, based on the liquidation of the “Main Administration of the Russian Red Cross Society” that had existed under the tsarist regime. The reorganization of Red Cross institutions was entrusted to a committee, which was to include representatives from a range of Soviet, military, and public organizations. The committee was required to submit its work plan to the Council of Medical Colleges for approval by the Sovnarkom. It was envisaged that the committee would assume leadership over all Red Cross organizations then existing within the RSFSR. Moreover, it was assigned the task of fulfilling all obligations and exercising all rights derived from the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements. Despite the significant political impor-
*
At the top of the telegram, Lenin wrote: “Please send me personally the bill for this telegram.” Pcd.

AMENDMENT TO THE DECREE ON THE COMMITTEE FOR STATE CONSTRUCTION
In the wake of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, which had intensified efforts to provide aid to prisoners of war, the reorganization committee—notably since March 1918—had shown no signs whatsoever of activity, as V. M. Bonch-Bruyevich, a member of the Red Cross Committee, had brought to Lenin’s attention.