V. I.

Lenin

556

To:   AN UNIDENTIFIED ADDRESSEE

There is something we failed to do as regards locomotive
repairs.

What about a commission of Central Committee men to hustle things and check up?

Or reports once a week?

Or something else?

Who is keeping an eye on this? Who is pushing things?
No one.

Who has selected the best repair-shops? What results are there from the 200-pood bonus per locomotive?

What about putting Rozengolts personally in charge of this, perhaps plus someone else?

We’ve passed a decree and gone to sleep.... [1]

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Notes:
[1]
Lenin urged the need for intensified and uninterrupted work on
locomotive repairs in view of the catastrophic state of railway
transport, and this problem was repeatedly discussed by the
Council of People’s Commissars and the Council of Defence. Thus,
on February 5, 1920, the C.P.C. heard a report by Krasin on
special privileges for workers engaged in locomotive repairs and
the production of spare parts for transport. On February 27, the
Council of Defence discussed non-fulfilment by the People’s
Commissariat for Food of the decree granting bonuses to workers who
repaired trains in their spare time. On March 16, following a report by G. N. Melnichansky (Chairman of the Moscow Gubernia
Council of Trade Unions), the C.P.C. adopted a decision to
organise locomotive repair in the best workshops, where work would
be carried on in three shifts round the clock. At the same meeting
the Council discussed a number of other measures for improving
the state of the railway transport.