Regional, Provincial, and District Party Committees, Provincial and District Executive Committees, Provincial and District Railroad Commissions
and All Railroad Directors

The season for hauling timber from the forests is drawing to a close. In 2-3 weeks, autumn mud and impassable roads will put an end to the transportation of prepared fuel from the forests until the sledge roads are established. Meanwhile, the quantity of firewood currently at the railroad lines and scheduled for transportation according to the plan of the Chief Forestry Committee during the remaining short hauling period is entirely insufficient to ensure normal transport operations. The complete stoppage of the most important railroad lines is threatened.

To prevent a possible transport catastrophe, the Council of Labor and Defense orders the declaration of a three-week mobilization for fuel transportation beginning October 1st. During this period, all forces and resources are to be mobilized for the transportation of fuel to the railroad lines, placing this work on an equal footing of importance with grain tax collection.

Immediately convene a meeting of the economic council with the participation of representatives of the railroads to adopt all measures for achieving maximum fuel hauling in excess of established norms, striving to increase transportation twofold compared to assigned quotas. Food supplies must be distributed strictly according to the directives being simultaneously sent out, and in no case may there be any deviation from these directives. Report immediately to the Council of Labor and Defense on measures adopted.

The railroads in the most catastrophic situation are: Kazan, Northwestern, Southwestern, Kiev-Voronezh, Nikolaev, and the Siberian railroads. Therefore, in the provinces through which these most important railroad lines pass, all energy, all forces and resources must be directed toward achieving maximum results.

Personally responsible for energetic fulfillment are declared: the chair of the provincial executive committee, the chair of the provincial forestry committee, and the chair of the provincial Cheka, in both Soviet and party order.

Chair of the Council of Labor and Defense V. Ulyanov (Lenin)*

I propose coordinating by telephone immediately, so that tomorrow, the 28th, we can manage to carry it through by telephone and through the Politburo and through the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

27/IX.

Lenin

Written September 27, 1921

First published in 1933 in Lenin Miscellany XXIII

Printed from the typewritten text supplemented and signed by V. I. Lenin