Published:
Published in Izvestia No. 223, October 13, 1918.
Printed from the typewritten original signed by V. I. Lenin, collated with the newspaper text.
Source:
Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
[1976],
Moscow,
Volume 35,
pages 366-367.
Translated: Andrew Rothstein
Transcription\Markup:
R. Cymbala
Public Domain:
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Samara has been captured. The Volga is free. It would be criminal not to make use of the few days remaining before navigation closes. It is essential to strain every effort to deliver the maximum quantity of oil and food cargoes to the upper reaches of the Volga. This task cannot be performed without the strictest centralisation of all measures, and the precise fulfilment in the localities of orders from the centre. Taking this into account, the Council of People’s Commissars resolves, and orders the fulfilment without fail:
(1) All vessels, rafts, etc., commandeered by various organisations shall be returned immediately to the Central Inland Waterways Board and the Central Oil Board respectively. (This does not apply to the vessels and floating transport already included in the Volga Military Flotilla.)
(2) The right of requisitioning vessels, rafts, etc., on the Volga, previously granted to various organisations, institutions and individuals, is annulled. The requisitioning of floating moans of transport required for military purposes shall henceforth take place on each occasion only by special permission of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
(3) All Commanders of Fronts, Extraordinary Commissions and Soviets shall immediately take the most stringent measures to ensure the unhindered movement of vessels and the protection of cargoes against any seizures and delays whatsoever.
(4) The control of the entire Volga tanker fleet and all oil cargoes on the Volga is vested exclusively in the Central Oil Board. (Telegraphic address: Glavkoneft, Moscow.) All authorities, including the military and Front Commanders, are instructed to carry out without question all decisions of the Central Oil Board concerning the movement of oil cargoes, and decisions of the Central Inland Waterways Board concerning vessels.
(5) The direct control of oil cargoes along the whole Volga is vested in Comrade Tarvid, member of the Collegium of the Central Oil Board. All his instructions, and likewise those of his agents, regarding oil are absolutely binding on all authorities.
(6) All decisions as to requisitioning or prohibition of dispatch of oil, etc., published up to this day, remain in force only insofar as they do not contradict the instructions of the Central Oil Board.
(7) Most strictly confirming the aforesaid, the Council of People’s Commissars has decided to prosecute before military-revolutionary courts all who infringe the present decision, without regard to their posts or their Party membership. Agents of the Central Oil Board, the Central Inland Waterways Board and the Commissariat of food in the localities are instructed to report to Moscow urgently all actions by local authorities which interfere with the planned work of these centres. Extraordinary Commissions will be dispatched immediately to try the guilty and carry out the sentences.
(8) The content of the present decision of the Council of People’s Commissars is to be made known to all local executive bodies and persons in official positions.
Lenin
Chairman, Council of People’s Commissars
Kremlin, Moscow
October 9, 1918
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