## 1919

## NOTE TO A. D. TSYURUPA

[Not earlier than 31 December 1919]

Reported to the Politburo. Rattel is not a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, and he should have been entered into the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and henceforth should be entered into the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic. Trotsky will speak with you.

Lenin

¹ The note was written by V. I. Lenin on a written explanation from the People's Commissar of Food A. D. Tsyurupa to V. I. Lenin regarding the fact that N. I. Rattel, Chief of the All-Russian General Staff, had issued an order granting military organs the right to procure hay at free-market prices. After the People's Commissariat of Food pointed out to Rattel the illegality of such an order, he revoked it, but only for the Moscow Military District. In other districts and provinces the revocation did not take place. On this account, A. D. Tsyurupa was compelled to issue his own order No. 386 of 27 December revoking all orders concerning the procurement of fodder by military units. Tsyurupa's explanation was occasioned by the fact that at a session of the Politburo on 31 December 1919, during discussion of a statement by L. D. Trotsky concerning Tsyurupa's order, a decision was taken to propose that V. I. Lenin speak with Tsyurupa about establishing a more coordinated procedure for eliminating violations of food supply regulations permitted by the Military Department.

## EXCHANGE OF NOTES WITH E. M. SKLYANSKY

[1919-1920]

Rakovsky¹ demands a submarine. We must give [him] 2, appointing a responsible person, a naval officer, and telling him: we will shoot [you] if you don't deliver [them] soon. The only route for dispatch is the railway. Large boats are unsuitable. Small ready-made ones don't exist and, it seems, there aren't any at all. At one time the dispatch of the Saratov boat was contemplated, but it is for Astrakhan. Tomorrow I will gather precise information and do everything possible.

¹ Kh. G. Rakovsky — Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar for Military Affairs of Ukraine.

## 1920

## NOTE TO G. V. CHICHERIN

[2 January 1920]

Comrade Chicherin! What is your opinion? In my view, 8–10 hours they can wait. There are no locomotives. A crisis.¹

Com. Chairman Lenin

¹ Written in connection with a report from Deputy Commissar of Railways S. D. Markov to the effect that couriers of the peace delegation traveling from Pskov to Moscow and back were categorically demanding that separate locomotives be provided to them. Taking into account the acute shortage of locomotives, he wrote, it was possible to satisfy the couriers' demands only by order of V. I. Lenin. In response to V. I. Lenin's resolution, Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs L. M. Karakhan replied that S. D. Markov was informed: categorical demands by members of the peace delegation for the provision of separate locomotives should be rejected.

## NOTES ON THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMISSION ON THE QUESTION OF REORGANIZATION OF THE COMMITTEE OF COMMUNICATIONS

[10 January 1920]

TO AN UNIDENTIFIED ADDRESSEE

It is necessary to supplement yesterday's commission by:

1) Rosengolts
2) a representative of Tsektrosoyuz.¹

## LENIN COLLECTION

## TO A. P. ROSENGOLTS

But what about including a representative of Tsektrosoyuz?¹

¹ The question of the activity of the Committee of Communications was discussed repeatedly at sessions of the Council of Worker-Peasant Defense. Thus, on 26 November and 24 December 1919, the agenda of the Defense Council included reports on the activity of the Special Committee for the implementation of martial law on the railways. On 9 January 1920, at a session of the Council of Defense, a decision was taken to form a commission to carry out the reorganization of the Committee of Communications, to merge it with the Commissariat of Communications. The commission included: F. E. Dzerzhinsky, E. M. Sklyansky, L. B. Krasin, S. T. Kovylkin, M. I. Vasiliev (from the Commissariat of Internal Affairs), A. I. Sviderskiy. The following day, 10 January, at a session of the Council of People's Commissars, the decision of the Council of Defense of 9 January on the reorganization of the Committee of Communications was approved, and the commission appointed on this question was supplemented by A. P. Rosengolts and a representative of Tsektrosoyuz. The notes published here were apparently written by V. I. Lenin at a session of the Council of People's Commissars. There is a reply from Rosengolts: "I have no objections to my inclusion in this commission." To Lenin's question regarding the inclusion of a representative of Tsektrosoyuz, Rosengolts replied: "I likewise consider it expedient." On 16 January 1920, the Council of Defense, having heard a report from the commission appointed by the Council of Defense on 9 January concerning the reorganization of the Special Committee of Communications, resolved to approve the decision concerning the liquidation of this Committee.

## NOTE TO S. D. MARKOV

[12 January 1920]

To Markov:

1) Have [they] been brought to trial?
2) Send to the Council of People's Commissars a paper with precise indication: who (name, position) have been brought to trial?¹

¹ Written on the reverse of a telephonogram to the Commissariat of Railways requesting that those responsible be brought to account for systematically failing to provide information on the loading of firewood on the Tula–Likhvinnsk, Ryazan–Vladimir, Podolsk, South-Eastern, Windau–Rybinsk railways. On the text of the telephonogram Lenin gave the secretary an instruction: "Remind me when Markov [arrives]."

## 1920

## TELEGRAM TO I. N. SMIRNOV

[12 January 1920]

I will immediately transmit your telegram to Trotsky and Krestinsky.² A reply will be sent by separate telegram. Inform [us] where to address it for you.

Direct enhanced attention to the accelerated movement toward us of the maximum number of locomotives and take revolutionary measures.

Lenin

Printed from a telegraph blank written in the hand of an unknown person.

¹ The telegram was written in reply to a report from I. N. Smirnov concerning the use of the III Army on economic work; the dispatch of 100 locomotives from Siberia to Moscow; a request concerning the possibility of forming German-Hungarian divisions; a request to send not less than 3 billion rubles in currency notes. On the telegram V. I. Lenin wrote the following text: "Replied that I will request [the opinion of] Trotsky and Krestinsky, [and] will reply by separate telegram. Lenin." See also Collected Works, vol. 51, p. 116. In Smirnov's telegram the words concerning the formation of German-Hungarian divisions are underlined and below them is Lenin's note at this place: "In my opinion, [it is] necessary" (Central Party Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee CPSU). On 13 January a telegram was sent to Omsk in the name of the Chairman of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee Smirnov over the signatures of Lenin and Trotsky, stating the expediency of forming a German-Hungarian division from steadfast and disciplined elements. The telegram reported on the dispatch of currency notes.

² N. N. Krestinsky — Secretary of the Central Committee of the RKP(b).

## INSTRUCTION TO SECRETARY

Send a copy to Sviderskiy² with a request that he inform me what measures he has taken.

12/1 [1920]

Lenin

¹ The instruction was written on a telegram from Yekaterinburg addressed to the Metals Department of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, a copy to Lenin. The telegram sets forth the difficult situation at the Urals plants and mines. On the telegram there are a number of Lenin's notations. "The Kizilov mines warn of the threatening possibility of a stoppage of work due to the instability of the electrical station." This text Lenin underlined with two vertical lines in the margin and marked "NB." And further: "Work everywhere [is] in sharp decline..."