[January 1 (14), 1918]

As soon as revolutionary tribunals can be established, they shall immediately examine each case of assignment to forced labor and either determine the term of stay at work or release the arrested.
1 The Council of People's Commissars on January 1 (14), 1918, adopted a decree on the struggle against Kaledin on the Don. The decree indicated that against capitalist saboteurs threatening to cause unemployment and hunger, the commander of the troops has the right to apply repressions, up to and including sending the guilty to forced labor in the mines (see Leninsky Sbornik XXXIV, p. 11). In addition to the decree, V. I. Lenin's published proposal was adopted at the same meeting of the Council of People's Commissars.