Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 26 - From Marx to Mao

320FROM THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’S COMMISSARSTO THE REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY COMMITTEEThe disruption of the food supply caused by war andmismanagement is being aggravated to the extreme byprofiteers, marauders and their accomplices on the railways,on steamship lines, in transport offices, etc.At a time of great national hardship, criminal plunderersare jeopardising the health and lives of millions of soldiersand workers for their own gain.Such a state of affairs cannot be tolerated for a singleday longer.The Council of People’s Commissars orders the RevolutionaryMilitary Committee to adopt the most vigorousmeasures to eradicate profiteering and sabotage, concealmentof supplies, the malicious delay of freight, etc.All persons guilty of such actions are liable, by specialdecision of the Revolutionary Military Committee, toimmediate arrest and custody in the prisons of Kronstadt,pending their trial by revolutionary court martial.All public organisations must be drawn into the fightagainst the food plunderers.V. Ulyanov (Lenin),Chairman of the Council of People’s CommissarsWritten not later than November10 (23), 1917Published on November 12 (25),Published according1917 in Izvestia No. 223 to the newspaper text