TELEGRAMS RELATING TO
THE AGRONOMIC ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE PEOPLE’S COMMISSARIAT FOR COMMUNICATIONS 1
[May 1920, prior to 28]

Copy
Telegram
To all nodal railway consumer societies and to all agricultural departments of the railways—The Sovnarkom, the People’s Commissariat for Agriculture, the People’s Commissariat for Railways, and the Executive Committees of all railway districts under the NKPS.

The Central Committee of Trade Unions and the Railway Department propose that no production-based agricultural enterprises—those equipped with both inventory and staff, whether located within or beyond the expropriation zone—be transferred to the agronomic services. The Sovnarkom has already rejected the NKPS’s proposal to transfer such enterprises, and until the Sovnarkom issues a final decision, the transfer remains unenforceable. Only cultural and educational activities, along with equipment situated within the expropriation zone, as well as staff no longer required for the operation of production farms, may be transferred. Agronomic personnel are permitted to work in agronomic services on a part-time basis.
Signed by Chairman Amosov of the Central Committee of Trade Unions
Responsible Secretary Platonov of the Central Committee of Trade Unions
Chairman of the Supply Council for Railway Workers Kravets
Date?
X What does this mean?
Investigate.

Organizational Bureau of the Central Committee to Comrade Krestinsky, copy to Comrade Lenin
…At the NKPS meeting held on 3/4, under my chairmanship and with the participation of representatives from the Central Committee of Trade Unions, it was resolved that the Central Committee of Trade Unions would issue telegraphic directives the following day regarding the transfer of agricultural enterprises to the agronomic services. This resolution was not implemented. Instead, protracted, sabotage‑ridden negotiations and meetings ensued—and in the end, citing technicalities in the transfer process, the aforementioned comrades at the railway telegraph office issued an order refusing to comply with the Sovnarkom’s resolution…
Date?
To the Organizational Bureau, Price.
1 On 26 February 1920, the Sovnarkom adopted the Regulations Governing the Agronomic Administration under the People’s Commissariat for Railways and Communications. The primary objectives of the Agronomic Administration within the NKPS were: to organize and coordinate agronomic initiatives across the rail network; to support the production of agricultural goods for the needs of railway workers; to promote the overall development of agricultural cultivation within the expropriation zone; to carry out agronomic activities on the railways in full alignment with the state’s overarching land and agricultural policies; and to implement the decree of 15 February 1919 concerning the establishment of Soviet farms by industrial proletarian institutions and organizations. Among the tasks of the Agronomic Administration were to provide material and organizational assistance to railway workers in their agricultural endeavors, to disseminate agricultural knowledge among railway personnel, and to ensure the rational utilization of the expropriation zone and of idle lands in forestry and peat‑extraction operations.
The Sovnarkom’s resolution of 26 February 1920 mandated that the Central Committee of Trade Unions transfer all agronomic enterprises operating on the railways to the jurisdiction of the Agronomic Administration. However, this directive was never fulfilled.

1920

In May 1920, the question of the Central Committee of Trade Unions was brought before the Politburo, where it was decided to refer the matter to the Organizational Bureau for urgent resolution, tasking the Bureau with establishing a corresponding commission should a detailed review become necessary. Should it be determined that the Sovnarkom’s resolution had been deliberately ignored, the punishment must be no less than a reprimand and removal from positions of responsibility.
14159, 14177