Date: 1921
Source: ru:LS/v20

LETTERS CONCERNING THE PROGRAM

MAY — 1
JUNE

G.
I.

Photieva.

[May 20, 1921]*
1) Please review the attached document.
2) Arrange a phone call with Belenkiy.
3) Forward the attached—|—amendment to Comrade Osinsky at this very moment.
 3.
4) At 4 o’clock, send him one copy of the draft program.
5) Distribute one copy each to the members of the STO Commission, along with the resolutions and the draft program.
6) I need one (if there are any left, then two) copies.
I.

20/V |"19]21
Comrade Osinsky *.
You have been appointed Chairman of the Commission on the Program. Having received the resolution of the STO,
4.
I am sending the Program (draft) at 4 o’clock. I wrote it in haste, exhausted—and much still requires revision and supplementation.
I ask that you review it once within the Commission and submit it for typesetting (I have already arranged with the VChK printing house: they will print it quickly, sheet by sheet). The sheet, as a draft, should be distributed at the congresses of the SNKh and the Trade Unions. Let them discuss it in their respective sections and elect Commissions.
After discussing it with them, we will submit it to the STO on Wednesday or Friday—“to be considered.”
Once it is submitted, arrange with Photieva regarding the VChK printing house; she will, in turn, contact Vesel’skii.
I*, S. Each question will have to be sent for review to the relevant NKomTn.
Lenin.
* Copies are made on a typewriter, our usual practice. Ed.

LETTERS CONCERNING THE PROGRAM

111.
25/V
[1921] Comrade Krzhizhanovsky!
You were supposed to receive the draft “Program of the STO.” Consider it yourself—and also the Presidium—though you must involve all members of the Gosplan in the deliberations—from two perspectives:
a) There are questions within your “area of responsibility”: electrification and the local organs of the Gosplan. Here, a detailed analysis and thorough study by all of you are essential, so that you may refine and expand (or, where appropriate, modify) the list of specific questions.
b) The remaining issues fall outside the direct purview of the Gosplan—but many of them, in essence, concern the Gosplan itself. It would be desirable (though not strictly necessary) to involve the Gosplan in these matters. Lenin.
P.S. Don’t you think that, in order to study the district reports and all economic reports in general, we ought to assign a group of Gosplan members to this task? Or perhaps distribute several reports to each member of the Gosplan, obliging them to read and analyze them?
By the way: the study of current economic plans (for 1921) must be thoroughly individualized. Each member of the Gosplan is responsible for a particular aspect—or part—of this work.
Conversely, for every aspect or segment of the 1921 economic plan, from the perspective of the upcoming plan, a designated name is assigned to oversee its study.
Please be sure to send me this information**.
IV,
C7G:
25/V
[1921] Comrade Vladimirs’ky
6!
I ask you to read the “Draft Program of the STO” and to share your opinion with me—whether it would be advisable to circulate the reports to all People’s Commissariats (from
the SNK, we will proceed later—not from
the STO)—printing 100–300 copies of the report for each district (in brief form, with concise summaries)***.
With best regards, Lenin.
* Accordingly. Ed.
'* The final sentence was added in the margins next to the last paragraph!•«), A similar letter was sent to M.K. Vetoshkin. Ed.

V.
6iw
To all People’s Commissars and Heads of Departments
Central Statistical Office
To the Administration
Copies to the Chairman and Secretary of the VTsIK
28/V

G.
All People’s Commissars must possess, both in printed form and in distributed copies, the draft Program of the STO, signed by Leppil and by the Chairman of the STO Commission, Comrade Obolensky (Osinsky).
This draft will be submitted to the session of the VTsIK, which opens on May 30, 1921, at 1 p.m.
All People’s Commissars are obligated to
1) By Monday, May 30, 1921, by 2 p.m., prepare written amendments and additions to the Program, addressing all items, questions, sub-questions—directly or indirectly pertaining to the respective People’s Commissariat;
2) By the same deadline, compile an initial draft of questions (for reporting purposes) and sub-questions (that is, a more detailed list of specific questions for reporting) for every People’s Commissariat without exception—each Commissar, according to his own jurisdiction.
This is imperative, for the VTsIK will approve a comprehensive Program, which will consist of
two parts: a)
The Program of the STO, accompanied by the reporting requirements of the economic People’s Commissariats; b)
The Program of the Sovnarkom, establishing reporting obligations for all People’s Commissariats without exception—not only the economic ones, but also the non-economic ones.
These latter reports will constitute the final, supplementary “fifth group of questions.” For each People’s Commissariat, the most important questions for reporting must be formulated, following the model of Questions No. 1–N? 27, as found in the draft Program of the STO.
The reports will be printed in quantities of approximately 1,000 copies by each regional executive committee and each district executive committee (the technical capacity for printing—at least one printed sheet per month per district—has been confirmed through discussions with Glipbum). The frequency of printing and submitting reports is expected to range from three to four times per year. Ultimately, this schedule will be finalized simultaneously with the approval of the entire Program, during the session of the VTsIK.*

LETTERS CONCERNING THE PROGRAM

Each People’s Commissar is obligated, by the aforementioned deadline (May 30, 1921, 2 p.m.), to submit, in 3–5 copies, a concise list of the most important questions that ought to be included in the report for the corresponding People’s Commissariat.
Comrade V. Ulyanov (Leppil), SNK.
Please notify us immediately—both in writing and over the telephone, with a signature from each People’s Commissar; if no such person is available, then from the deputy, the rapporteur, or a member of the collegial body.
June 1 [1921], Comrade Avans Sov!
You must draft a circular addressed to all local bodies of the RAKrinn, concerning local economic conferences.
1) Demand that you personally receive a complete list of all representatives of the RAKrinn attending all Economic Conferences.
2) Be promptly notified of any changes to the list.
3) Insist that the participants be either Communists or non-party members—especially those who have been specifically recommended for their integrity and honesty.
4) Demand strict accountability from them,
and particularly regarding the recruitment of non-party members and the reports they deliver—non-party members—on the work of the Economic Councils.
Ensure that all of this is carried out, with due regard for local deliberations, through the Presidium of the VTsIK.
Lenin.
Photieva L.A.—Secretary of the Sovnarkom. Belenkiy A.Ya. worked at the VChK; through him, Lenin maintained contact with the VChK printing house, where the “Program of the STO” was being printed!
• The date is determined by the letter to N. Osinsky—see the following document.
* Obolensky V.V.—Deputy People’s Commissar for Agriculture.
* On May 20, the STO established a commission composed of V.P. Milyutin and P. Popov, under the chairmanship of N. Osinsky, with the participation of M.F. Vladimirs’ky, G.I. Krumina, V.A. Smolyaninov, local workers who had come to the SNKh congresses and the trade unions, as well as representatives of the interested departments; the commission was tasked with reviewing the draft resolution on local economic conferences, on reporting requirements, and on the guidance provided by the Program of the Council of Labor and Defense.
On May 25, 1921, at the IV Congress of the SNKh, the Program of the Council of Labor and Defense was discussed on the basis of a report delivered by V.P. Milyutin. Having adopted it as a foundation, the Congress…