Date: 1921-09-03
Source: ru:LS/v23

Sent to the central office: 557,000; the remainder was disbursed according to the requisitions of the People’s Commissariat for Food Supply—
for the months of June, July, and August. I am submitting the foregoing in advance; upon my return from Kokchetav, I will send a formal written report to the People’s Commissariat for Food Supply via courier.
Deputy People’s Commissar for Labor and Defense, Ponomarenko
31/8 [1921] – To Smolyaninov!
“
We must carefully examine this telegram. What, exactly, is this ‘compulsory] commodity exchange’? What is its actual equivalent? Please inquire with A. I. Smirnov. Send a dispatch to Ponomarenko and follow up closely on his response *.
Lepin.
t g
TELEGRAMS TO THE UKRAINIAN SOVNARKOM.
1 **•
Kharkiv to Rakovsky, with a copy to Vladimirov.
[Early September 1921]
The People’s Commissariat for Food Supply of the RSFSR has transferred 20 billion rubles to you in banknotes, of which 10 billion are destined for Kyiv and 10 billion for Kharkiv, to be used for the purchase of grain and livestock. In the near future, it is planned to systematically send you monetary funds—up to 50 billion per month—with a specific allocation earmarked exclusively for the purchase of grain. The Central Committee
of the RCP proposes to you:
1. Firmly reserve these allocated sums for the designated purpose, placing personal responsibility for this task squarely on the shoulders of all organizational units within the People’s Commissariat for Finance; 2. Obligate the food supply organs—under the responsibility of the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for Food Supply and the provincial food commissars—to expend the funds sent solely on the purchase of grain and livestock. The Central Committee of the RCP further proposes that you officially register the Decree of the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR dated August 23, supplementing it with the All‑Soviet Decree on the Monopoly of Salt *. [01149]
To be continued—Lenin.
1. For the Decree of the Sovnarkom on the Salt Monopoly, see “Izvestia,” No. 194, dated September 2, 1921.
* The note was penned by Lenin at the end of Ponomarenko’s telegram, on page three. On page one of the telegram, Lenin had made the following annotations: “s-peshpo
To Smolyaninov. Important: See page 3.”
** Printed from a typewritten copy; signature handwritten. Ed.

GRAIN PROCUREMENT

II *.
16877
Kharkiv, to Rakovsky.
September 3, 1921
To ensure the success of the food procurement campaign in Ukraine, the Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies resolved:
“1. Direct the Revolutionary Military Council to recruit, within a two‑week period, 20,000 volunteers—drawn from among former Red Army soldiers and young peasants hailing from famine‑stricken guberniyas—in order to reinforce the Ukrainian food militia. 2. Establish a term of service of five months for volunteers recruited pursuant to this resolution; upon expiration of this term, volunteers shall be discharged and returned to their permanent places of residence, provided they so express a desire. 3. The recruitment of volunteers shall be carried out by the military authorities, in accordance with instructions that the Revolutionary Military Council, in agreement with the People’s Commissariat for Labor, is to issue as a development of this resolution. 4. The recruited volunteers are to be transported to Ukraine by order of the Revolutionary Military Council; upon their arrival at their destination, they are to be handed over to the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for Food Supply. Further deployment of the volunteers—and their subsequent maintenance—are to be entrusted to the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for Food Supply, in accordance with an agreement* [with] the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for Public Health. 5. The People’s Commissariat for Food Supply is to provide the military authorities, in accordance with their requests, with an adequate supply of provisions—according to the standard ration for rear‑area Red Army soldiers—for the sustenance of volunteers at assembly points and along their routes of march, in addition to the current food allotment granted to the military authorities. 6. The Higher Council for Transportation** and the People’s Commissariat for Railways are to arrange for the transportation of volunteers to their designated destinations. 7. The People’s Commissariat for Public Security is to take measures to ensure, in practice, that the families of volunteers are provided with supplies according to established norms—on an equal footing with the families of Red Army soldiers currently serving in the military. 8. Volunteers recruited pursuant to this resolution are to be granted the right to ship their personal belongings—on account of the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat for Food Supply—according to the standards set by the People’s Commissariat for Food Supply, with a total limit of no more than two poods per volunteer per month. 9.
The relevant people’s commissariats are to issue appropriate instructions to local authorities in furtherance of this resolution.
10. Put this resolution into effect as of the first day of the next telegraphic transmission.” [01067]
Chairman of the Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
* Printed from a typewritten copy. Ed.
** Higher Council for Transportation. Ed.