EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN V. I. LENIN AND
A. I. RYKOV AT A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS
29 MARCH 1921
I.
NOTE
BY LENIN.
Are we going to put the concessions today
1? It seems we have to? Then for how many hours should we call Tomsky
2?
I.
REPLY
BY RYKOV.
It is necessary to put it. Tomsky is clearly sabotaging, Goltsman
didn't come today, although all the invitations were sent to him. Give
me an answer.
A. I. Rykov.
III.
REPLY
BY LENIN.
Call Tomsky and Goltsman: we are waiting for them until [9 o’clock]
81/2 o’clock, and then we put it on without them (concessionary agreements)
1 Report by A.
I. Rykov on the
"Basic principles of concessionary agreements" was heard at the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars on March 29, 1921.
2 Tomsky M. I. (Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions) and Goltsman A. Z. (member of the presidium of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions,
in charge of the Tariff Department) were to be present at
the discussion of the "Basic Principles of Concessionary Agreements". On March 25, a draft "On the Payment of Workers and Specialists at Concessionary Enterprises" was submitted to Lenin under their signature. In the list of those present
at the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars on March 29, M. Tomsky and A. Goltsman
are not listed. It was not possible to establish whether they were at this meeting.
The text of the note on the labor issue when concluding concessionary agreements,
submitted to Lenin by Rykov, underwent editorial corrections
by Lenin. For clarity, the entire document is typeset in body text,
items crossed out by Lenin are in small print, and the amendments
he made are in bold.

AMENDMENTS TO THE "NOTE ON THE LABOR ISSUE
WHEN CONCLUDING CONCESSIONARY AGREEMENTS."
(Draft of the Supreme Council of National Economy from Rykov 25 March)

[March 29, 1921]
. . . 1) Working conditions, the amount of remuneration, housing
and food commas at concessionary enterprises г^егккх
* Lenin made a note at the end of the document. Ed.

workers and employees should by no means be worse than those provided for
in the code of labor laws.
2) Taking into account the difficult conditions of the transitional
moment, the improvement of the living conditions of workers and employees compared to
current rates and norms should be made the responsibility of
concessionaires by special agreement between them and government
authorities when concluding each agreement separately, depending on the specific conditions of each
concession.

[3) Settlements with workers and employees shall be made by the concessionaire
in monetary units, and by agreement it is allowed to make the said settlement in foreign currency (categorically excluding the system)
of so-called credit books).

Settlement in foreign currency is not made directly with the workers, but the amounts due are paid to government agencies,
which settles with the workers in Soviet money.
4) The concessionaire is allowed to set up commodity warehouses on the territory of the concession
from which only workers and employees of the concession are provided with essential items and peasant domestic
household goods.
5) The list of goods in the warehouses is established by the concessionaire only in agreement with government authorities.
6) Goods must be sold at cost,
but not higher than the market prices existing in the main foreign
markets, with the addition of no more than 10°/0 of overhead and organizational
expenses.
7) The concessionaire may be granted the right, by agreement
with government authorities, to arrange catering for employees, workers and their
families no lower than the standards established by the relevant institutions
of the RSFSR (the question is whether it is free of charge and only from foreign products).
8) The concessionaire may be required by contract to
build housing for workers and employees. For concessions in sparsely populated areas (mainly forest concessions), the concessionaire may
be required to build special workers' settlements according to
plans developed by government authorities.]
9) The terms of hiring, material conditions, and
remuneration of foreign qualified workers and employees are subject
to the free agreement between the concessionaire and the specified category
of employees and workers .
Trade unions are not entitled to demand the application of
Russian tariff rates to such workers, as well as Russian hiring rules. [The percentage ratio of foreign
workers and employees in relation, as to their total number so and
to the staffing of individual categories is set at a
°/ 0-tion.]