February 19, 1919

At present one of the urgent questions of the Soviet Republic is the question of fuel, due to the absence of which railways are stopping, factories and plants are shutting down, and the production of the most necessary items for agriculture ceases; the food crisis is becoming more and more acute, and this at a time when in the south lie millions of puds of unexported grain due to the railways, and the latter cannot work and are stopping for lack of fuel. At such a moment there should not be a single citizen who would not exert every effort to get out of this situation, if he is not an enemy of the Republic.

Such circumstances force us to resort to more decisive measures in order to save the population from hunger, and therefore: from March 1 of this year all local peasant population of villages, hamlets and separate farmsteads, located in a 25-verst strip on both sides of the Northern, Nikolaevsk, Murmansk, North-Western, Irinovo, Vindavo-Rybinsk railways and 25 versts from the procurement point along the line — from 18 to 50 years of age are attracted to universal labor duty for the procurement and delivery of firewood at the rate established to date in the localities.

Within fourteen days from March 1 to 15 of this year all horses from 4 years of age must daily carry out the transportation of firewood, and each horse and one person with it is obliged to transport from the place of procurement to the indicated place of storage on the railway line not less than two cubic meters.

At the same time, all the rest of the population is obliged to saw down, saw up, split and stack in woodpiles two cubic meters of firewood per person.

Payment for labor must be made by the same agencies that have made payment up to this time. These agencies are obliged to have by this time a sufficient amount of money on hand for payment.

The commissars of the administration of the above-listed railways and agents of the departments of Glavleskom on the spot are obliged to send their agents for acceptance at stations and delivery from procurement points of firewood.

Authority in the forest and near the places of firewood storage at the railway lines is assigned to the corresponding agents of the railways and agents of Glavleskom.

This order does not apply to persons engaged in loading and unloading firewood on the railways.

On provincial executive committees, district executive committees are imposed control and revision functions for the fulfillment, conscientious implementation of this duty.

All those who evade the fulfillment of this duty will be held responsible from 500 rubles fine to one month of confinement in a concentration camp and trial under the laws of wartime. For mismanagement, obstruction on the part of railway agents and Glavleskom, these agents will also be held responsible to the same extent through the organs of the militia, provincial emergency committees and housing emergency commissions.

This circular, provincial executive committees, provincial councils of national economy, district executive committees, volost and village Soviets must accept for execution without discussion.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Lenin

* The address of the telegram indicates: "Urgent — military. To provincial executive committees, provincial councils of national economy — Vyatka, Kostroma, North Dvina, Vologda, Cherepovets, Olonets, Petrograd, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Yaroslavl. To railway commissars: Northern, Nikolaevsk, Murmansk, North-Western, Irinovo, Vindavo-Rybinsk (Petrograd network)."