December 11, 1919

## LENIN COLLECTION
TO THE VII ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS*

24842

### ANNOUNCEMENT TO CONGRESS DELEGATES
December 4, 1919

Comrades, I request that all documents and statements during the Congress sessions be submitted through Comrade Brichkina**, to prevent loss.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

*Printed from the original signed by V. I. Lenin.*

4674

### NOTE ON A PACKET WITH RESOLUTIONS OF WORKERS 
TO THE VII CONGRESS OF SOVIETS
December 1919 (To my desk):

Resolutions of workers (December 1919).

24751

### TELEGRAM TO THE ORLOV PROVINCIAL FOOD COMMISSAR
December 11, 1919

The peasants of Lavrovskaya volost are complaining of an excessively high grain requisition quota. They point to the possibility of a grain shortage for personal consumption by Christmas. Carefully investigate the substantiality of the complaint. In case of confirmation, eliminate the injustice.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Lenin

*Printed from the original signed by V. I. Lenin.*

* The VII All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place December 5–9, 1919. V. I. Lenin delivered a report at the Congress on the activities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars and made speeches in the organizational section and at the closing of the Congress (see Works, Vol. XXIV, pp. 587–628).

** Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars.

## YEAR 1919

### REMARKS ON THE DRAFT DECREE
ON REQUISITIONS AND CONFISCATIONS*
December 16, 1919

Decree on requisitions and confiscations requisitioned and confiscated articles of foodstuffs and other items of mass consumption become the property of the RSFSR and no later than 9 days from the moment of seizure are to be transferred through food organs; items of furnishings and domestic use through distribution organs; money and valuables through People's Banks; weapons through military commissariats; agricultural implements, inventory, etc. through the organs of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, etc.

10. Not subject to seizure: monopolized and rationed foodstuff articles in quantities not exceeding the norms established by the Commissariat of Food; non-rationed items—regardless of their quantity, if there does not arise substantive suspicion that these products are intended for speculation.

Note: The Commissariat of Food is charged with the obligation to publish the aforementioned norms no later than January 15, 1920.

*See remarks in the text.*

Where are they transferred? The editing is not entirely good.

And what of the quota apportionment? Is the surplus subject to seizure if it was not included in the apportionment?? Better to think through, together with the Commissariat of Food, the question of apportionment.

11. Not subject to requisition are articles of mass consumption, such as: clothing, footwear, furniture, dishes, etc., that have been in use; things that have not been in use, as well as materials necessary for their manufacture, are retained only in the quantity necessary for satisfying the actual needs of family members, provided that the quantity of articles, both those in use and not in use, does not suggest they are being stored for speculative purposes.

13. Not subject to seizure are books and sheet music from private persons and societies in quantities not exceeding 3,000 titles of books or 1,000 titles of sheet music.

*Not the right word. So can unnecessary trousers be taken from an ordinary citizen? This is excessive. Something is expressed incorrectly here, too broadly. It must be said differently somehow.*

*In my opinion, restrictions are needed here too: special posts—*

* The Decree on Requisitions and Confiscations was adopted by the Council of People's Commissars on April 16, 1920 and published in "Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee" on April 22, 1920.