December 16, 1919
Decree on Requisitions and Confiscations: Requisitioned and confiscated items of foodstuffs and other goods of broad consumer demand shall become the property of the RSFSR and, no later than X days from the date of seizure, shall be transferred through the supply agencies; household furnishings and articles of daily use shall be distributed via the distribution organs; monetary assets and valuables shall be handled by the People’s Banks; weapons shall be transferred through the military commissariats; agricultural implements, tools, and the like shall be allocated through the organs of the People’s Commissariat for Agriculture, and so forth.
10. The following shall not be subject to requisition:
Foodstuffs that are monopolized or subject to rationing, in quantities not exceeding the norms established by the People’s Commissariat for Food Supplies; non‑rationed items—regardless of their quantity—unless there is well‑founded suspicion that these products are intended for speculative purposes.
Note: The People’s Commissariat for Food Supplies is hereby charged with publishing the aforementioned norms no later than January 15, 1920.
See the remarks in the text.
Where are these items transferred?
The editing is not entirely satisfactory.
So, what about the rationing system?
Is any surplus subject to requisition if it was not included in the rationing plan??
It would be wise to reconsider, together with the People’s Commissariat for Food Supplies, the question of rationing.
And . Items of broad consumer demand shall not be subject to requisition, such as:
clothing, footwear, furniture, tableware, and the like, provided they have been used;
items that have never been used, as well as the materials necessary for their manufacture, may be retained only in the quantities required
to satisfy the actual needs of family members—provided that, in doing so, the total number of items—both used and unused—does not indicate that they are being stockpiled for speculative gain.
13.
Books and musical scores held by private individuals and public organizations shall not be subject to requisition in quantities exceeding 3,000 book titles or 1,000 musical scores. That is to say, excess holdings can indeed be seized from ordinary citizens? This seems excessive. Something here is expressed incorrectly—far too broadly.
We need to put it differently.
In my view, even here we must introduce certain limitations: special post–
* 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.