TELEGRAM TO THE REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE EASTERN FRONT  
AND TO THE COMMISSARS OF THE EASTERN RAILWAYS  
December 20, 1919  

The railways of the Republic are suffering from an extreme shortage of locomotives and railcars. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the railways in Ukraine, newly occupied by the Red Army, have absolutely no rolling stock. The most critical fuel, food, and operational shipments are being delayed. The rich military spoils captured by the valiant units of the Red Army on the Siberian railways should facilitate our victorious resolution of the struggle on the Southern Front. I instruct the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front, the Revolutionary Military Council of the 5th Army, as well as all institutions of the Commissariat of Transport to take the most urgent and immediate measures to dispatch no fewer than 200 locomotives to Samara and further to the center, utilizing them for the movement of military and food supply trains. Report the execution of this order to the Council of Defense, with a copy to the People's Commissariat of Transport. Inform all Red Army soldiers, railway workers, and laborers that the swift conquest of a lasting and honorable peace by the Soviet Republic depends on the immediate transfer to the West of the requested 200 locomotives.  

Chairman of the Council of Defense  
Lenin