NOTES ON THE TELEGRAM FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TULSKY REGIONAL COMMITTEE
G U B M S P O L K O M A .
November 17, 1919
In accordance with the resolution of the provincial Congress of Soviets, the Provincial Executive Committee requests the Sovnarkom to institute free state-provided nutrition for the city of Tula and the entire province. This measure will undoubtedly enhance the productivity of military personnel; in Tula, the Provincial Food Committee currently feeds 8,000 children. During the October celebrations, 29,000 children—workers’ children and Red Army cadets—were provided with meals. In Tula alone, there are 45,000 children.
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FOOD SUPPLY AND PROVISIONING

We must locate the decree on free children’s nutrition¹.
Who is responsible for providing this nourishment?
Not the Food Commissariat—but the Council of People’s Commissars?!
Thus, I instruct the Commissariat for Food Supplies (and hereby assign this task) to respond—
To Tula (a copy to me, A).
1 The Decree of the SNK on Free Children’s Nutrition was published in the “Proceedings of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,” No. 107, dated May 20, 1919. Lenin’s inquiry regarding free nutrition had been forwarded by the Secretariat of the SNK to Svidersky, who replied as follows: “The Commissariat for Food Supplies is responsible for providing food—specifically, the Commissariat allocates foodstuffs free of charge, though not all that is needed; rather, it supplies only those items distributed via ration cards in a given locality. Child nutrition falls under our budgetary allocations. As far as I recall, free children’s nutrition has already been introduced in Tula. There is no need to extend this policy to the entire province.”
Upon receiving Svidersky’s reply, Lenin crossed out the text of his original draft and annotated the document: “To the archives.”
* This directive was issued by Lenin following Svidersky’s response.

ON THE PROCUREMENT OF POTATOES.
RESOLUTION OF THE SNK 1.
[November 18, 1919]
Adopt the draft submitted by the Commissariat for Food Supplies as the basis for further deliberation, along with S 4 of the draft from the All‑Union Central Executive Committee².
Establish a Commission tasked with thoroughly elaborating the entire project—so as to precisely determine, both at the level of individual districts within the SNK’s jurisdiction³ and in terms of specific measures to strengthen food supply in designated locations, to mobilize workers, to assess the necessary and feasible volumes of potato and starch deliveries, and so forth.
The Commission shall clearly
formulate the Commissariat for Food Supplies’ responsibility for implementing all emergency measures—and for carrying them out in a revolutionary manner—so that this responsibility may be duly accounted for in the subsequent political decisions of the SNK.
The Commission comprises 1 Penim anal
[-\-2 comj. irod., Rykov
• Tomskiy
Schmidt
Kamenev
Avanesov (or from the VChK; Markovna [

Grant the Commission two days to complete its work and convene the SNK on [Thursday] or [Friday]³.

The question of measures to improve potato procurement was discussed at the SNK session held on November 15, 1919. The SNK resolved to appoint a commission consisting of: A. L. Sheinman, V. P. Milyutin, L. B. Kamenev, S. D. Markov, A. I. Rykov, and S. S. Bakinsky. Given the critical situation regarding potatoes, the Commission was instructed to deliberate within three days on urgent measures to improve potato procurement and delivery to Moscow—both for food supply and for industrial use. The draft resolution of the SNK, printed above, had been proposed by Lenin and adopted by the SNK during the discussion on November 18, 1919, following the report delivered by the representative of the Commissariat for Food Supplies on potato procurement (Prot. SNK No. 327, dated November 18, 1919;).
At the same time that the Commissariat for Food Supplies’ draft was under consideration by the Sovnarkom, the All‑Union Central Executive Committee also debated a draft on the same issue. The proposal put forward by the All‑Union Central Executive Committee in paragraph 4 of its draft was formulated as follows: “Authorize starch and potato‑processing plants to conclude contracts with peasants for the supply of potatoes, on the condition that, for every pud of potatoes processed, one pound of starch-based products may be produced.” Below the text of paragraph 4 of the All‑Union Central Executive Committee’s draft, in the right-hand corner of the document—marked off in pencil—Lenin inscribed the note: “Milyutin, Kamenev, Rykov, Badaev.” This annotation appears to represent Lenin’s initial draft for the composition of the Commission.

The draft decree on potato procurement, prepared by the Commission, was heard and approved by the SNK—with amendments introduced during the session—on Friday, November 22, 1919, as Lenin had originally planned (Prot. SNK No. 329, dated November 22, 1919).