**Appendix**  
**DRAFT DECREE OF THE CC ON THE REPLACEMENT OF THE REQUISITION SYSTEM WITH A NATURAL TAX**  
**February 18, 1921**  

To strengthen the peasant economy, increase sown areas, and raise agricultural productivity, the requisition system, as a method of state procurement of food, raw materials, and fodder, shall be replaced by a natural tax.  

The tax shall be levied as a percentage deduction from the sown land, based on the harvest yield, the number of able-bodied members of the household, and the actual livestock available in the household.  

The tax shall be progressive in nature, meaning lower deductions for weaker households, urban workers' households, etc. The tax rate shall also account for the diligence of the cultivator, reducing the percentage of the tax in proportion to increased diligence.  

The total tax for 1921 shall be calculated at 350 million poods of grain.  

The total tax, the average deduction rate, as well as the tax amount and average deduction rate for each province, shall be announced once a year in such a way that the producing population receives the tax distribution before the start of spring fieldwork.  

The delivery of grain owed under the tax shall be completed by a specified deadline (approximately by December 1 for European Russia).  

Settlements for the quantities of agricultural products surrendered under the tax shall be made at fixed prices established by the People's Commissariat for Food.  

All reserves of food, raw materials, and fodder remaining with the cultivators after fulfilling their tax obligations shall be entirely at their disposal and may be used by them in local economic circulation.  

The People's Commissariat for Food shall establish a special **FUND** of farming tools, equipment, and consumer goods, which shall be used exclusively as payment in kind for food, raw materials, and fodder voluntarily surrendered by the producing population to the state after fulfilling their tax obligations.  

The Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) is tasked with transferring to the People's Commissariat for Food in 1921 such quantities of textiles, salt, kerosene, and farming tools as would compensate for the voluntary delivery of an additional 30 million poods of grain beyond the tax, i.e., incentivizing the expansion of sown areas by 1 million desyatins.  

The Party press is instructed to immediately launch a corresponding campaign, explaining the transition from the requisition system to the tax as an effort to promote agricultural development and accommodate non-Party peasants to strengthen the alliance between peasants and workers against capital. The CC's decision shall be communicated to the Gubernia Committees, which shall present it as a draft resolution of the RCP for discussion at gubernia congresses of Soviets with peasant participation.  

After the Party Congress adopts the theses, a special session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) shall formally enact the corresponding decree in a particularly solemn manner.  

The People's Commissariat for Food, the Central Statistical Administration, and the People's Commissariat for Agriculture are instructed to immediately determine the specific figures to be included in the decree (total tax amount, average deduction rate, etc.).