TELEGRAM TO PROVINCIAL FOOD COMMISSARS
September 17, 1920
The below-average harvest of grain in most of the territory
of the Republic necessitates, in order to mitigate the food crisis, to maximize the procurement of potatoes, which can replace the lack
of bread in the diet of the population. Therefore, I propose in the order of a combat order: 1) to demand
from the volost executive committees of the Soviets that immediately
after the digging of potatoes, the owners who received an order in the manner
of assessment, hand over the potatoes to state collection points;
2) to give personal assignments to authorized representatives of the provincial food committee,
uezd food committees, and regional food committees for the implementation of specific
percentages of the assessment in the shortest possible specified timeframes;
3) before the onset of frost, the potato assessment must
be completed in the amount of one hundred percent; 4) jointly with the provincial labor committee
to mobilize horse-drawn transport to transport potatoes
to railways and potato storage facilities; 5) the technical
apparatus of food bodies is obliged to complete by October 1
the equipment of potato storage facilities; 6) all provincial councils of national economy to
take all measures to supply food bodies with the necessary
materials for construction; 7) to report daily to the People's Commissariat of Food
via direct line about the quantity of potatoes received.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Lenin