The Life and Work of V.I. Lenin: 1918

V. I. Lenin

The Life and Work of V.I. Lenin

From Volume 26

1918

January 1 (14)	Lenin speaks at the Mikhailovsky Manège at the send-off of the first troop trains of the socialist army. Lenin is unhurt when his car is shot at by counter-revolutionary terrorists as he is leaving. Lenin reports to the government on the events of the day.
Not later than January 3 (16)	Lenin writes the “Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People”.
January 3 (16)	Lenin writes a letter to the Army Congress on the Demobilisation of the Army. Lenin telegraphs instructions to the Russian delegation at Brest-Litovsk to arrange an adjournment of the peace conference and to return to Petrograd.
January 5 (18)	Lenin attends a sitting of the Constituent Assembly; during a recess he attends a meeting of the Central Committee to discuss tactics in respect of the Constituent Assembly; writes a draft declaration by the Bolsheviks on their withdrawal from the Assembly; talks with Bolshevik deputies; and speaks at a meeting of the Bolshevik group to substantiate the Central Committee’s proposal for a Bolshevik walk-out from the Assembly and their subsequent attitude.
January 6 (19)	Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss his theses on the Constituent Assembly, all of which are adopted. Lenin writes the “Draft Decree on the Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly”. Lenin speaks before the Committee on the dissolution of the Assembly and tables his draft decree which the Committee approves.
January 7 (20)	Lenin writes the “Theses on the Question of the Immediate Conclusion of a Separate and Annexationist Peace”. Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss a report on the course of the peace talks at Brest-Litovsk, etc.
January 8 (21)	Lenin reads his “Theses on the Question of the Immediate Conclusion of a Separate and Annexationist Peace” at a meeting of Petrograd’s leading Party workers. Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss food policy and an All-Russia Food Council under the Supreme Economic Council.
January 9 (22)	Lenin takes part in the proceedings of a plenary meeting of the Central Committee.
January 10 (23)	Lenin attends the opening of the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets, and is elected its honorary chairman.
January 11 (24)	Lenin speaks twice on the question of peace at a meeting of the Bolshevik Party Central Committee. Lenin reports to the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets on the activity of the Council of People’s Commissars.
January 12 (25)	Lenin’s “Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People” is adopted by the Third Congress of Soviets. Lenin delivers the summing-up speech at the Third Congress of Soviets on the report of the Council of People’s Commissars.
January 13 (26)	Lenin reports to the Extraordinary All-Russia Railwaymen’s Congress on the activity of the Council of People’s Commissars, and replies to written questions.
January 14 (27)	Lenin speaks at a conference of the Presidium of the Petrograd Soviet and delegates of food organisations on measures to combat the famine, and tables his draft resolution.
January 15 (28)	Lenin writes a letter to G. K. Orjonikidze, Commissar Extraordinary for the Ukraine, and Commander-in-Chief Antonov-Ovseyenko in Kharkov, demanding that they should take “the most vigorous and revolutionary measures” to dispatch grain to Petrograd. Lenin orders the Revolutionary Naval Committee to send 2,000 sailors for military operations against the Central Rada. Lenin signs a government decree on the organisation of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.
January 16 (29)	Lenin works out a draft government message to the All-Russia Food Congress proposing that experienced workers should be appointed to the top food supply bodies to take resolute steps to overcome the famine. Lenin signs a government decree appropriating 20 million rubles to organise the Red Army.
January 18 (31)	Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss the nationalisation of the merchant marine and inland water transport; a resolution drafted by Lenin is adopted. Lenin writes the “Draft Decree On Expunging References to the Constituent Assembly from Soviet Legislation”. Lenin delivers the summing-up speech at the closing of the Third All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
January 19 (February 1)	Lenin speaks at a meeting of the Central Committee on the conclusion of peace with Germany and the convocation of a Party Congress.
January 21 (February 3)	Lenin speaks at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee and Party workers on the conclusion of peace with Germany. Lenin broadcasts a message to the peace delegation at Brest-Litovsk on the ground gained by Soviet power in the Ukraine, Finland and on the Don.
January 22 (February 4)	Lenin broadcasts on the situation at home. Lenin sends a telegram to Orjonikidze in Kharkov conveying his thanks for the vigorous measures taken to supply food and gives his instructions on further efforts to procure and deliver grain to the centre.
January 23 (February 5)	Lenin signs Broadcast No. 4 on the liquidation of the counter-revolutionary Rada, the proclamation of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of the Ukraine and its People’s Secretariat as the supreme power in the Ukraine; establishment of federal relations between Soviet Russia and the Soviet Ukraine; the defeat of the Dutov revolt in the Urals and the triumph of Soviet power in the Crimea.
January 24 (February 6)	Lenin speaks at a Central Committee meeting on the agenda of the Seventh Party Congress; he proposes the following items: review of the Party programme, the question of peace, and tactical questions. Lenin is elected to a commission to draft the Party programme. Lenin’s speech to propagandists on their way to the provinces is carried by Pravda No. 18.
January 28 (February 10)	Lenin delivers a speech at the closing sitting of the Land Committee Congress and the peasant section of the Third Congress of Soviets. In reply to a question from the chairman of the Russian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace conference, Trotsky, as to the attitude to be taken to the German delegation’s ultimatum, Lenin sends a telegram reaffirming his view that a peace treaty should be signed with Germany. Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss a revolutionary press tribunal, etc.
February 18	Lenin speaks at the morning and evening sittings of the Central Committee on the resumption of peace talks with Germany.
February 18	Lenin sends a government telegram to the German Government protesting against the German offensive and announcing readiness to conclude a peace.
February 19	Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss foreign policy and organise national defence in the face of the German offensive.
February 20	Lenin cables his replies to the Moscow Soviet on the government’s measures in connection with the German offensive. Lenin presides at a government meeting to discuss the nationalisation of oilfields and the situation at the front. Lenin is elected to the Provisional Executive Committee set up to handle current business in between government meetings.

From Volume 27

1918

February 21	Lenin’s article “The Revolutionary Phrase” published in No. 31 of the newspaper Pravda. Lenin holds a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars to discuss the question of accepting military-technical assistance from Britain, France and other countries to resist the German offensive. Lenin writes the C.P.C. draft decree “The Socialist Fatherland Is in Danger!”
February 22	Lenin writes the article “The Itch”, published the same day in Pravda No. 33 (evening edition). Lenin telephones the Commissar for Post and Telegraph Services in Moscow to inform him of the German offensive. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the setting up of an extraordinary commission for evacuating Petrograd, etc.
February 23	Lenin attends a meeting of the Party C.C. and votes for immediate acceptance of the German Government’s peace terms and for preparation of revolutionary war. Lenin’s article “Peace or War?” published in No. 34 of Pravda (evening edition). At a joint meeting of the Bolshevik and Left Socialist-Revolutionary groups in the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin urges acceptance of the German peace terms. Lenin sends a telegram instructing the Command of the Don Front to recapture Rostov immediately.
Night of February 23	Lenin speaks at a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. on the German peace terms.
February 24	Lenin’s “An Unfortunate Peace” and “Theses on the Question of Concluding Immediately a Separate and Annexationist Peace” published in No. 34 of Pravda. At a meeting of the C.C. of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.) Lenin moves a proposal on the composition of the peace delegation to be sent to Brest. Proposal accepted. Lenin writes a “Note on the Necessity of Signing the Peace Treaty”. Lenin and Sverdlov draft the message of the Organising Bureau of the C.C. of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.) to Party members. The message is published under the heading “Position of the C.C. of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.) on the Question of the Separate and Annexationist Peace”.
Night of February 24	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the Soviet Republic’s position in view of the German capture of Pskov.
February 25	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of a treaty between the R.S.F.S.R. and the Finnish Socialist Republic, drafts a decision, and makes amendments to the draft treaty. Lenin’s article “A Painful but Necessary Lesson” published in Pravda No. 35 (evening edition).
February 26	Lenin drafts the C.P.C. decision on the evacuation of the government from Petrograd to Moscow.
February 27	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of a trade treaty between the Russian and Finnish Republics and drafts the decision. Lenin writes a C.P.C. instruction for the RussiaFinland Co-ordinative Commission on arranging full political rights for the citizens of both republics, for Finns in the R.S.F.S.R. and for Soviet citizens in Finland.
February 28	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. The beginning of Lenin’s article “Strange and Monstrous” published in Pravda No. 37.
March 1	Conclusion of Lenin’s article “Strange and Monstrous”, and another article, “On a Businesslike Basis”, published in Pravda No. 38.
March 2	Lenin drafts an order to all Soviets instructing them to prepare for defence in case the Germans break off the peace negotiations.
March 4	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: organisation of the management of water transport (decision written by Lenin); state control; evacuation of government offices.
March 5	Lenin writes the article “A Serious Lesson and a Serious Responsibility”.
March 6-8	Seventh Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Lenin elected to the Congress presidium. He directs the work of the Congress.
March 7	Lenin delivers the Central Committee’s political report (the Report on War and Peace) at the second session of the Congress.
March 8	Lenin gives the reply to the debate on the report on war and peace at the fourth session of the Congress. The Congress approves the C.C. report and the resolution on war and peace moved by Lenin. At the fifth session of the Congress Lenin delivers a report on revision of the Party Programme and changing the name of the Party. The Congress approves Lenin’s resolution on renaming the Party the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks); Lenin elected to the commission for revising the Party Programme. At the fifth session, Lenin elected a member of the C.C. of the R.C.P.(B.).
March, not earlier than March 8	From telegrams received by the Council of People’s Commissars and the C.E.C. in response to the inquiry sent out to all Soviets of Deputies on February 25, 1918, Lenin compiles a “Table of Answers to the Question: Peace or War”.
March 9	“Rough Outline of the Draft Programme”, written by Lenin, published in No. 5 of the newspaper Kommunist. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: evacuation of Petrograd industry; nationalisation of the oil industry.
March 10-11	Lenin and other members of the government move from Petrograd to Moscow.
March 11	Lenin writes the article “The Chief Task of Our Day”.
March 12	Lenin speaks on the current situation at a meeting of the Moscow Soviet and at a meeting in the Alexeyevsky Riding School.
March 13	At a meeting of the Bolshevik group at the Extraordinary Fourth All-Russia Congress of Soviets Lenin speaks on the necessity of ratifying the peace treaty with Germany.
March 14	Lenin speaks at a Moscow meeting of Social-Democrat Internationalists of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia and other countries.
March 14-16	Extraordinary Fourth All-Russia Congress of Soviets. Lenin elected to the presidium and takes a leading part in the work of the Congress.
March 14	The resolution drafted by Lenin concerning President Wilson’s message to the Extraordinary Fourth Congress approved by the Congress. Lenin delivers the report on ratification of the peace treaty at the Fourth Congress.
March 15	Lenin replies to the debate on ratification of the peace treaty; his resolution on ratification approved by the Congress.
March 18	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss replacement of the Left S.R.s and “Left” Communists who have withdrawn from the government, and banning of the Moscow bourgeois press. He also moves a resolution on centralisation of management of the railways.
March 19	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of organising a Supreme Military Council and other matters.
March 23	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss setting up of state control over all forms of insurance (makes notes for a draft decision); centralisation of management of the railways (defends the decree on this subject). The C.P.C. sets up a commission under Lenin’s chairmanship to deal with the problem of building narrow-gauge railways for supplying Moscow with grain.
March 24	Lenin presides at a meeting of the commission set up by the C.P.C. on March 23. Questions discussed include the cotton programme and irrigation works in Turkestan.
March 25	Lenin attends a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council, at which the question of co-operative societies is discussed.
March 26	Lenin reports to a meeting of the Bolshevik group in the Moscow Soviet, on organisational tasks in the current situation. Lenin directs the work of a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: control of expenditure by all departments of the Supreme Economic Council (drafts the decision); the water transport situation (drafts the decision); commodity exchange with the rural areas.
March 27	Lenin attends a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council and speaks in the debate on labour service and labour discipline.
March 28	Lenin dictates to a shorthand typist the original version of the article “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government”.
March 29	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the drafting of a provisional resolution on direction of the Baltic Fleet, and other matters.
March 30	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of revolutionary tribunals; he amends the draft decree and drafts the C.P.C. resolution.
March	Lenin writes the preface to the collected articles Against the Stream.
March-April	Lenin writes the “Theses on Banking Policy”.
April 1	Lenin signs the C.P.C. decision on setting up the Supreme Military Council to direct the country’s defence and organise the armed forces. Lenin takes part in a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council to consider the question of labour discipline.
April 2	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of opening peace negotiations with the Ukrainian Rada in view of the German attack on Kharkov.
April 3	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the proclamation of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic; the radiotelegraph; measures to protect the Black Sea fleet in the event of a further advance by the Germans.
April 5	In view of the Japanese landing in Vladivostok Lenin telegraphs the C.E.C. of the Siberian Soviets to prepare for defence. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the procedure to be adopted by government departments for sending commissars to the provinces, he makes amendments and additions to the draft decision.
April 6	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: appointment of a prisoner-of-war commission (drafts the decision); centralisation of the administration of post and telegraph services.
April 7	Lenin speaks at a meeting in the Alexeyevsky Riding School. Lenin sends a telegram to the Vladivostok Soviet warning it of the inevitability of an attack by the Japanese imperialists and of the necessity for serious defence preparations.
April 8	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: organisation of the army; the state flag of the R.S.F.S.R.
April 9 and 10	At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin speaks of the question of co-operative societies and amends the draft decree on consumers’ co-operative organisations.
April 11	Lenin takes part in a joint meeting of the Supreme Economic Council and representatives of the Central Council of Trade Unions and the Central Council of the Union of Metalworkers, to discuss the question of nationalising the metallurgical industry.
April 12	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: assignment of funds to counteract unemployment; state control; the Academy of Sciences offer to make an assessment of Russia’s natural wealth.
April 13	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of the defence of Murmansk and other matters. Lenin signs a decree of the C.P.C. On Monuments to the Republic, providing for the removal of monuments erected in honour of the tsars and their servants and the design of monuments “to celebrate the great days of the Russian Socialist Revolution”.
April 15	Lenin writes a letter to the People’s Commissariat for Justice inviting all members of the board of the Commissariat to discuss with him the publication of a Collection of Enactments and Instructions and the organisation of a court that would be more rapid and ruthless in its treatment of the bourgeoisie and all embezzlers of state funds.
April 16	At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin edits, amends and signs the C.P.C. decree on administration of post and telegraph services in the Soviet Republic.
April 16 or 17	Lenin receives a delegation from the congress of representatives of the sugar industry in Russia and talks to them about getting the sugar refineries going again.
April 17	At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin signs an order to the Soviets of Kursk, Orel and other gubernias on disarming Ukrainian and German troops who cross over on to Soviet territory; he drafts a decision granting subsidies to peasants who sow beet.
April 18	Lenin speaks on the financial situation at a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: registration of shares, bonds and other interestbearing securities (amends and makes additions to the draft decree); banning of joint-stock companies.
April 19	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: setting up of an All-Russia Evacuation Commission (amends the draft decision); assignment of funds for coal mining, and other matters.
April 20	Lenin telegraphs an inquiry to the Simbirsk Soviet about the election of chairmen of the Chuyash women’s and men’s teachers’ seminaries and asks about I. Y. Yakovlev, an inspector with 50 years’ service to the national development of the Chuyash people to his credit. At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin amends the draft decree on the organisation of the Main Peat Committee. The draft is approved with Lenin’s amendments.
April 22	Lenin signs the C.P.C. decree on the nationalisation of foreign trade. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of electrifying the industry of Moscow and Petrograd by building hydropower stations on the rivers Volkhov and Imatra; makes notes. Lenin writes and signs a telegram of greetings to the Congress of Soviets of the Turkestan Territory. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the defence of the eastern boundary of Kharkov Gubernia from attacks by the Germans and Haidamaks (Ukrainian nationalists).
April 22 or 23	At the Moscow City Conference of Working Women Lenin speaks on the position of the Soviet Republic.
April 23	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of providing agriculture with implements, machinery and metal. He writes an addendum to the draft decree. Lenin addresses the Moscow Soviet on the current situation.
April 24	Lenin receives a delegation of workers of the Tsaritsyn Ordnance Factory who want the factory put under state control; during his discussion with the workers he makes notes on the factory’s needs. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: prisoners-of-war; abolition of inheritance; amendments to the decree on providing agriculture with the means of production and metal.
April 26	At a Party Central Committee meeting Lenin submits his theses on the immediate tasks of the Soviet government. The Central Committee approves the theses and instructs him to make a report on the subject to the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: organisation of assistance for the unemployed; organisation of the Central Board of Archives and Libraries; assistance for disabled soldiers.
April 27	Lenin attends a meeting of a delegation that is to be sent to negotiate a peace treaty with the Ukrai-. nian People’s Republic. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: construction of power stations on the rivers Svir and Volkhov; railway construction.
April 28	Lenin’s article “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government” published in Pravda No. 83 and Izvestia VTsIK No. 85.
April 29	At a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin delivers the report and the reply to the debate on the current tasks of the Soviet government.
April 30	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the position of government institutions in regions occupied by the Germans; the draft decree on the making of gifts; organisation and refitting of the navy.
April	Lenin writes “Basic Propositions on Economic and Especially on Banking Policy”, Lenin discusses theses on banking policy at a meeting with leading personnel from the People’s Commissariat for Finance and the State Bank. Lenin writes the “Draft Plan of Scientific and Technical Work”.
May 1	Lenin speaks at a May Day demonstration in Red Square and at a meeting of Latvian Infantry and Kremlin personnel; he attends a military parade on the Khodynka Field. While Lenin is driving through Moscow, workers in a column of demonstrators from SushchevoMaryino District stop the car and lift him shoulder high. He makes a short speech on the significance of the international celebration of May Day.
May 2	Lenin holds a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars to discuss nationalisation of the sugar industry (amends the draft decree).
May 3	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: assignment of funds for building works on the River Svir; peat extraction in the Northern District, and other matters. The draft resolution of the All-Russia C.E.C. written by Lenin—“Six Theses on the Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government”—is approved by the Party Central Committee.
May 4	Lenin writes a letter to the C.C. of the R.C.P.(B.) demanding that it should consider the question of expelling from the Party the judges who have passed over-lenient sentences in a case of bribery. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the Revolutionary Tribunal’s sentence in the case of bribery; setting up of military districts, and other matters,
May 5	Lenin writes the article “‘Left-Wing’ Childishness and the Petty-Bourgeois Mentality”. Lenin signs a telegram sent to Voronezh (copies were also sent to Orjonikidze in Rostov, and to Bryansk), on the conclusion of an armistice on the German-Ukrainian front.
May 6	Lenin takes part in a meeting of the Party Central Committee to discuss Soviet Russia’s international position and drafts a decision on the international situation. Lenin drafts a radiogram to the peace delegation in Kursk concerning the coup carried out in the Ukraine by Skoropadsky wlth the help of the German army. The message also refers to the German capture of Rostov-on-Don.
May 8	Lenin signs a telegram to the peace delegation in Kursk instructing it to negotiate a cease-fire with the Skoropadsky government. Lenin instructs the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs G. V. Chicherin to send truce envoys to Kiev to negotiate an armistice with the Skoropadsky government. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the food situation (writes the main propositions of a decree on the food dictatorship); bribery (amends the draft decree); declaration of a state of emergency in the Kuban area in connection with the advance of the Germans and Ukrainian nationalists.
May, not later than May 8	Lenin directs the People’s Commissar for Justice to submit to the C.P.C. a law on penalties for bribery.
May 9	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the food dictatorship; the committee of state constructions (makes amendments to both decrees); mobilisation of the workers to aid the rural poor in the struggle against the kulaks (amends the draft decision). Lenin signs a circular telegram to all Gubernia Soviets and Gubernia Food Committees on the catastrophic food situation in Petrograd and on the need to send the city immediate assistance. Lenin takes part in a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C., which discusses and approves the decree submitted by the C.P.C. on the food dictatorship.
May 10	In a conversation with a worker of the Putilov Works Lenin gives instructions on the selection of a reliable workers’ army of 20,000 to deal with the rural bourgeoisie and bribery. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the work of the prisoner-of-war collegium; measures for rehabilitating and developing the economy of Siberia, etc. Lenin approves and signs the C.P.C. decision on the assignment of a lump sum of 100,000 rubles for purchasing seed and agricultural implements for the poor peasants whose homes have been burnt in the village of Rizovatovo, Nizhni-Novgorod Gubernia.
May 11	Lenin writes a protest to the German Government against the occupation of the Crimea. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: organisation of the economy of Siberia; registration of professional people in Moscow, etc. Lenin signs a C.P.C. decision on nationalisation of the Sudzhensk coalfields (Siberia), the Spassk Copper Works, the Biisk Tanneries and other enterprises of the extractive and processing industries. Pravda No. 90 announces the publication of Lenin’s books The State and Revolution and New Data on the Laws Governing the Development of Capitalism in Agriculture.
May 13	Lenin takes part in a meeting of the Party Central Committee which approves Lenin’s “Theses on the Present Political Situation”. At a City Party Conference Lenin delivers a report on the current political situation.
May 14	Lenin writes a preface to his pamphlet Karl Marx. Lenin delivers a report on foreign policy at a joint meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. and the Moscow Soviet. At a meeting of the Bolshevik group in the All-Russia C.E.C. and the Moscow Soviet, Lenin delivers a report on foreign and domestic policy.
May 15	At a Moscow Regional Party Conference Lenin delivers a report on the current situation. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss nationalisation of Russian banks which have foreign creditors; the possibility of concluding treaties with countries that do not recognise the Soviet government, and other matters.
May 16	Lenin instructs the Supreme Military Council to send truce envoys to the South-Eastern (Don) Front to conclude an armistice and agree on a line of demarcation on this front. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the administration of the oil industry, and other matters.
May 17	Lenin signs a C.P.C. decree on the organisation of irrigation works in Turkestan. Lenin writes a preface to the pamphlet The Chief Task of Our Day. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: labour inspection; extra funds for the Vyksa Mining Area; the setting up of the Main Oil Committee.
May 18	At a session of the All-Russia Congress of Representatives of the Financial Departments of Soviets Lenin delivers a report on financial policy aims. Lenin receives representatives of a workers’ delegation elected at a conference of the big metallurgical factories, and writes a letter to the conference on preparation for and carrying out of nationalisation and on how to organise affairs at the factories. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss Soviet auditing, distribution of coal, and other matters.
May 20	At a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin takes part in the debate on Y. M. Sverdlov’s report concerning the tasks of the Soviets in the rural areas. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the convention with Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey on the conditions of the maintenance and exchange of prisoners-of-war; use of the railways to build up fuel stocks, and other matters.
May 21	Lenin edits and amends the draft Appeal of the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars to the Workers of Petrograd on Enrolment in the Food Detachments. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: distribution of coal and coke; organisation of an institute of agricultural science; motor transport.
May 22	Lenin writes a letter to the workers of Petrograd “On the Famine”. At the Second All-Russia Congress of Labour Commissars Lenin speaks of labour discipline and raising the productivity of labour. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the emergency revolutionary tribunal (amends the draft decree); the allotting of 100 million rubles and the dispatch of 10,000 poods of grain to Baku to ensure oil supplies.
May 23	Lenin takes part in a meeting of the Supreme Economic Council on the question of holding the First All-Russia Congress of Economic Councils and moves a proposal on how to administer the nationalised enterprises. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss complaints of bureaucratic handling of affairs in the offices of the People’s Commissariats, and other matters.
May 24	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the fuel problem and drafts a decision on rules for increasing fuel production and economising in its use.
May 25	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss road transport, and the founding of a Socialist Academy of Social Sciences. He drafts decisions on both questions.
May 26	Lenin writes and submits for the Central Committee’s approval the “Theses on the Current Situation”, which deal with the food situation and the campaign against famine. Lenin makes a speech of welcome on behalf of the Council of People’s Commissars at the First All-Russia Congress of Economic Councils.
May 27	Lenin sends a greetings telegram to the Extraordinary Third Congress of Soviets of the Kuban-Black Sea Republic and the Congress of Front Line Soldiers in Ekaterinodar.
May 28	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss urgent measures for keeping the railwaymen supplied with food (drafts a decree on food policy), and the procedure for granting concessions. Lenin instructs the Commander of the Black Sea fleet to destroy all naval and merchant ships in the port of Novorossiisk in view of the Germans’ obvious intention of seizing them.
May 29	Lenin signs the C.P.C. appeal to the workers and peasants to organise armed detachments to fight the enemies of the people and the rural bourgeoisie. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss his draft decision on prohibiting independent procurement of grain. He writes an appeal on the subject to railway and water transport workers and metal workers.
May 30	Lenin signs the C.P.C. appeal to the working Cossacks of the Don and the Kuban. Lenin signs the C.P.C. proclamation “Workers and Peasants!” calling for a struggle for grain against the counter-revolutionary rebels and conspirators. Lenin signs the All-Russia C.E.C. decree on reorganisation of the People’s Commissariat for Food and local food organs. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the procedure for hearing of appeals against the sentences of the revolutionary tribunals; and assignment of funds for the erection of a monument to Karl Marx.
May 31	Lenin holds a C.P.C. meeting at which he proposes publishing a fresh public proclamation in view of the worsening of the Soviet Republic’s international position. The C.P.C. instructs a commission headed by Lenin to draft the proclamation.
End of May	Lenin talks by direct line with V. V. Kuibyshev, Chairman of the Samara Soviet, about Ataman Dutov’s offensive against Orenburg.
June 1	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: ways and means of supplying Siberia with Urals metal and machines; a supplementary decree on the question of independent procurement of food supplies.
Before June 3	In a telephone message to the Petrograd Soviet Lenin demands that the best food workers be sent to Moscow to be enrolled in the food detachments there. Lenin takes a leading part in the work of a commission elected by the First Congress of Economic Councils to work out propositions on administration of the nationalised enterprises. Lenin and Y. M. Sverdlov send out instructions of the C.P.C. and the All-Russia C.E.C. to the local Soviets on how to act in the event of an enemy attack on the Soviet Socialist Republic.
June 2	Lenin goes to see the play Stepanchikovo Village at the Moscow Art Theatre.
June 3	At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin moves draft decisions on financing the construction of agricultural machinery, on independent procurement, and on the adjustment of fixed prices.
June 4	At a joint meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C., the Moscow Soviet and the Trade Unions, Lenin delivers the report and replies to the debate on combating the famine, and moves a resolution he has drafted on the subject.
June 5	Lenin makes a speech of welcome on behalf of the C.P.C. at the All-Russia Congress of Internationalist Teachers. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss centralisation of banking; working out of wage rates and means of counteracting undue increases.
June 6	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss allotment of funds to meet the needs of the mining areas and factories of the Urals, and other matters.
June 7	Lenin receives representatives of the Vyshni Volochok Soviet and talks with them about the grave food crisis in their uyezd, the forming of food detachments and the tasks involved in food work. He instructs the People’s Commissariat for Food to give them emergency assistance. At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin writes the directives of a commission set up by the C.P.C. concerning the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences; he also drafts a C.P.C. decision on correct organisation of library work. In a telegram to the Archangel Soviet Lenin warns of the danger of British military intervention in Murmansk and Archangel.
June 8	At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin moves amendments to and edits the draft decision on organisation of the rural poor and providing them with supplies.
June 10	Lenin makes a report to a meeting of the C.P.C. concerning the publishing of a manifesto on the Czechoslovak mutiny. The meeting also discusses how to draw engineers into economic and administrative work (Lenin drafts a decision on the matter). Lenin receives a delegation of workers of the Maltsev factories (Orel Gubernia) and writes to the People’s Commissariat for Food on the grave food shortage at these factories and demands emergency measures to assist the workers.
June 11	Lenin receives representatives of the Bryansk Factory (Orel Gubernia) concerning the food situation at the factory and sends them to the People’s Commissariat for Food with a request that they be given emergency assistance. Lenin instructs the Petrograd Soviet to speed up the dispatch of food detachments to the Urals via Vyatka. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: abolition of the Czechoslovak National Council in view of the armed mutiny of the Czechoslovak regiments against Soviet power; allotment of funds for the development of stock-raising, and other matters.
June 12	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss a decree on vacations, a decree on the salaries of employees and workers in Soviet institutions, and other matters.
June 14	In a letter to the Petrograd Soviet Lenin gives instructions that more detachments and more workers are to be sent to the Urals for propaganda work. At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin drafts a decree on improving railway transport.
June 15	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the financing of the Central Leather Board (Glavkozha) and the granting of credit to the Central Textiles Board (Tsentrotekstil) for purchasing flax. He drafts decisions on both questions.
June 17	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the raising of Red Army men’s pay, the setting up of a body to deal with questions of trade with the Ukraine, and other matters.
June 18	Lenin telegraphs S. G. Shahumyan in Baku insisting that he must do everything to get oil products sent to the Volga. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the question of funds to pay for work on hydraulic extraction of oil; teachers’ salaries; and the organisation of public education.
June 19	Lenin makes a speech at a meeting of Party groups of factories in Zamoskvorechye District in Moscow concerning the food crisis.
June 20	Lenin speaks at workers’ meetings in Moscow on the food detachments. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the organisation of a supreme transport board (moves amendments to the draft decision); and checking up on the work of the hydrotechnical organisations of the Northern Front; nationalisation of the oil industry.
June 21	Lenin speaks at a meeting in the Sokolniki Club and Presnya District on the campaign against famine and counter-revolution. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: extending the powers of the Commissar Extraordinary for the Murmansk Territory to cover the Belomorsk Territory; allotting funds to the Western Region and establishing it as an economic unit.
June 22	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the Semirechye Railway; rates of pay for teachers; procurement of cloth. The C.P.C. sets up a commission under Lenin’s chairmanship to consider the compilation of a general statement on state income and expenditure. Pravda No. 125 announces publication of Lenin’s books. The Agrarian Question in Russia towards the Close of the Nineteenth Century and Karl Marx (A Biography).
June 26	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: the Black Sea fleet; unification of financial policy.
June 27	In a telegram to the Second Penza Gubernia Congress of Soviets Lenin gives instructions on the organisation of a food army of workers and the rural poor to fight for the consolidation of the grain monopoly and requisitioning of kulak grain. Lenin is elected a delegate to the Fifth Congress of Soviets by the Petrograd Soviet. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: library work; the housing situation in Moscow and its environs; organisation of government statistics.
June 27 and 28	At the Fourth Conference of Trade Unions and Factory Committees of Moscow Lenin makes a report and replies to the debate on the current situation. A resolution drafted by Lenin on support for the Soviet Government’s food policy is approved by the conference.
June 28	Lenin speaks on the Civil War at meetings at the AMO Works (Simonovsky Sub-District), at the former Mikhelson Works (Zamoskvorechye District), and in the Soviet Gardens of Rogozhsky District. Lenin receives the chairman of the Temnikov Soviet, Tambov Gubernia, and discusses the situation in this uyezd. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss measures to expand the work of the Central Textile Board (moves an amendment to the draft decree); the draft Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R. nationalisation of the big industrial enterprises.
June 29	Lenin is elected a delegate to the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets by the Regional Congress of the Soviets of Moscow Region. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: allotment of funds for the erection of temporary monuments to participants in the Russian revolution (Lenin’s motion), the procurement and distribution of cloth, and other matters. Lenin sends a letter of greeting to S. G. Shahumyan in Baku. Lenin writes the article “Prophetic Words”.
July 1	Lenin makes corrections to and signs a telegram to the leaders of the requisitioning detachments on all railways concerning the introduction of strict discipline in the detachments. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: evacuation of industrial plant; the rubber industry, and other matters.
July 2	Lenin addresses a meeting of about 1,500 mobilised men in the Alexeyevsky Riding School. Izvestia VTsIK No. 135 announces the publication of Lenin’s books, The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government and The Fight for Grain. At a meeting of the C.P.C. Lenin introduces an emergency motion on assisting the peasants with agricultural machinery; on Lenin’s suggestion the C.P.C. sets up a commission to find ways of giving the peasants practical assistance.
July 3	At a meeting of the Communist group at the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets Lenin speaks on Soviet Russia’s external and domestic position.
July 5	Lenin delivers the C.P.C. report and reply to the debate at the Fifth All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
July 6	Lenin sends a telephone message to all district Party committees, all district Soviets, and all Red Army headquarters concerning the Left S.R.s provocatory assassination of German Ambassador Mirbach and orders mobilisation of all forces to deal with these criminals.
July 8	Lenin edits and signs a telegram to all uyezd Soviets of Moscow Gubernia insisting that measures be taken to clear the districts of bands, of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Izvestia VTsIK No. 141 publishes an interview with Lenin concerning the Left S.R.s uprising. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the Sormovo-Kolomna factories, the Moscow-motorcar workshops and other matters.
July 11	Lenin telegraphs the Commissar of Voronezh to inform him that the Left S.R. revolt has been crushed, and gives him orders and directives concerning military operations on the Czechoslovak and Kuban fronts. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss endorsement of the statement on state income and expenditure for January-June 1918, the setting up of the People’s Commissariat for Public Health (signs the decree), and other matters.
July 12	Lenin writes a letter “To the Workers of Petrograd”, appealing for a mass campaign in the countryside to organise the poor against the kulaks. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: progress made in investigating the assassination of Mirbach; the organisation of control over water passenger transport, and other matters.
July 13	Lenin writes a note to the People’s Commissariat for Naval Affairs requesting them to speed up the dispatch of warships to the Caspian Sea. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: unification of all forms of protection for the railways; the housing situation in Moscow; allotment of funds for the Volkhov power development.
July 15	At a meeting of the All-Russia C.E.C. Lenin makes a statement on behalf of the Soviet Government, categorically rejecting the German Government’s proposal to send a battalion of German soldiers to Moscow to guard the German Embassy.
July 16	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: means of nationalising all the textiles in the R.S.F.S.R.; raising of salaries of People’s Commissars (both matters raised by Lenin); organisation of an Extraordinary Commission for combating counter-revolution on the Czechoslovak front, and other matters.
July 17	Izvestia VTsIK No. 149 publishes a message, written by Lenin and approved by the All-Russia C.E.C., to workers, peasants and Red Army men concerning the Left S.R. insurrection and the need for triple vigilance, caution and endurance. Lenin telegraphs the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Turkestan Republic informing him of the measures being taken to aid the republic and of energetic action to crush the Czechoslovak mutiny. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: inclusion of Kazan Gubernia as a part of the Volga Military Area (Lenin’s proposal), the erection in Moscow of 50 monuments to great people in the sphere of revolutionary and social work; safeguarding of the libraries and book depositories of the R.S.F.S.R.
July 18	Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C, to discuss: the textiles monopoly (amends the draft decree); allotment of funds for putting the Archangel area and the Arctic flotilla in a state of military preparedness, and other matters.
July 19	Lenin receives a delegation from the Congress of Byelorussian Refugees, who have brought him greetings from the congress and informed him of the condition of the Byelorussian people. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss: centralisation of radio work; manufacture of goods for export; mobilisation on the home front and rules for the registration of non-working elements of society. Lenin speaks on the international and domestic situation at a meeting in Lefortovo District of Moscow.
July 20	In a note to Zinoviev, Lashovich and Stasova Lenin demands the immediate dispatch of hundreds of thousands of workers to the Czechoslovak front and reminds them of their responsibility and of the consequences that failure to carry out this directive may involve.
July 22	Lenin telegraphs S. G. Shahumyan on behalf of the C.P.C. and the All-Russia C.E.C. instructing the Baku Soviet to take resolute action against the agents of foreign capital. Lenin holds a meeting of the C.P.C. to discuss the draft decree on combating profiteering, the annulment of the convention on literature between Russia and Germany, and other matters.
July 23	Lenin delivers a report on the current situation to the Moscow Gubernia Conference of Factory Committees.
July 26	Lenin receives leaders of the Central Consumers’ Co-operative Society and discusses the state of organisation of the consumers’ co-operatives and suggests making maximum use of the co-operative societies in the work of procuring grain. Lenin makes a speech in Khamovniki District. in Moscow on “What Does the Soviet Constitution Give the Working People”. Lenin writes a letter to Clara Zetkin about the fierce struggle with counter-revolution and expresses his firm confidence in the triumph of the revolution.
July 27	In a note transmitted by direct line to the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet Lenin insists categorically that the “opposition on the part of the Petrograd Section of the Central Committee” must stop and that a larger number of workers be sent to the Czech front.

From Volume 28

1918

July 29	Lenin speaks on home and foreign affairs at a joint session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet, factory committees and trade unions of Moscow. Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are discussed: the introduction of military conscription; supplying the Military Department with transport; assigning money for fighting the Czech mutiny and the Anglo-French intervention, etc.
July 30	Lenin speaks about the immediate tasks of the Soviet government’s administrative apparatus at a Congress of Chairmen of Gubernia Soviets. Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are discussed: monuments to great men of socialism, science, literature and the arts, and the creation of a Volga fleet, and makes amendments in the draft decision.
July 31	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars and submits the draft of an appeal from the Council to workers in Entente countries in connection with the hostile actions of their governments against the Soviet state; the meeting also debates the fuel situation, the procurement of grain via the co-operatives, the question of a scientific and technical department of the Supreme Economic Council, etc.
August 2	Lenin speaks at a meeting of propagandists about to leave for the front to work among troops fighting the Czechs. Lenin speaks at meetings in Moscow’s Butyrsky and Zamoskvorechye districts, to the Warsaw Revolutionary Regiment and to Red Army men in Khodynka on the subject “The Soviet Republic Is in Danger”.
August 6	Lenin writes “Letter to Yelets Workers” on Party policy in the countryside.
August 7	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the question of providing for Red Army men and their families is debated.
August 8	An appeal from the Council of People’s Commissars, signed by Lenin and addressed to all working people, “Join the Fight for Bread”, is published in Izvestia.
August 9	Lenin speaks on the subject “The Fifth Year of the World Slaughter” at a meeting in Moscow’s Sokolniki District.
August 9-12	In several telegrams to the Penza Gubernia Executive Committee, Lenin orders the merciless suppression of kulak revolts, the confiscation of the kulaks’ grain and the mass mobilisation of the poor against them.
August 10	Lenin works on the question of nationalising engineering factories and puts forward his proposals for examination by the Council of People’s Commissars. Lenin gives orders to the Supreme War Council to reinforce the Eastern Front.
August 11	Appeals from the Council of People’s Commissars, signed V. Ulyanov (Lenin), are published, they are addressed to “Russian Citizens in France and Britain” and call on them not to fight in the French or British armies.
First half of August	Lenin writes an appeal to the workers: “Comrade Workers, Forward to the Last, Decisive Fight!”
August 16	Lenin speaks at a meeting of the Moscow Party Committee about organising groups of sympathisers. Lenin writes the draft of a telegram to all Soviets of Deputies about a worker-peasant alliance.
August 17	Lenin sends a telegram to the Zadonsk Executive Committee of Voronezh Gubernia with instructions to deal severely with kulaks and “Left” Socialist-Revolutionaries, and to appeal to and organise the poor.
August 19	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: the food policy; unification of all the Republic’s armed forces; nationalisation of industrial undertakings, etc. In a telegram to the Zdorovets Executive Committee of Orel Gubernia, Lenin instructs it severely to put down the kulak and “Left” Socialist-Revolutionary revolt, to confiscate the kulaks’ grain and to distribute part of it free to the poor.
August 20	Lenin writes his “Letter to American Workers”.
August 21	Lenin sends a telegram to the Astrakhan Gubernia Executive Committee demanding their immediate organisation of Astrakhan’s defence against a British attack.
August 23	Lenin speaks at the Alexeyev People’s House and the Polytechnical Museum on the subject “What Communists Are Fighting For”.
August 26	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: establishment of a Moscow Mining Academy; the conscription of workers who had formerly served in artillery, engineer and maintenance units; restoration of the buildings destroyed by whiteguards in Yaroslavl, etc.
August 28	Lenin speaks on current affairs at the First All-Russia Congress on Education.
August 29	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: repudiation by the Bolshevik government of treaties signed between the tsarist government and the governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary; the accounts of the People’s Commissariats. Lenin writes a draft resolution.
August 30	Lenin speaks on the subject “Two Governments (the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie)” at meetings in the Grain Exchange in Moscow’s Basmanny District and at the former Michelson Works in Zamoskvorechye District As Lenin leaves the works he is shot by Fanny Kaplan.
August 30-September 15	Lenin fights for his life.
September 11	In a telegram to the HQ and troops on the Eastern Front, Lenin congratulates them on the capture of Kazan.
September 16	For the first time after his illness Lenin takes part in a meeting of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
September 17	Lenin again presides over a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars. Lenin writes a congratulatory letter to the Presidium of the Conference of Proletarian Cultural and Educational Organisations.
September 18	In a telegram to officer cadets in Petrograd, Lenin greets the workers on graduating and joining the ranks of the Red Army. Lenin adds a postscript to the official bulletin on the state of his health: “On the basis of this bulletin and my general well-being, it is my humble and personal request not to disturb the doctors by telephone calls and questions.”
September 19	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: a ban on the export of objects of artistic and historic value; the further course of nationalisation of the banks, etc.
September 20	Lenin’s article “The Character of Our Newspapers” is published in Pravda No. 202. Lenin writes a letter to V. V. Vorovsky in Stockholm, A. A. Joffe in Berlin and Y. A. Berzin in Berne about the necessity of fighting Kautsky’s vulgarisation of Marxist theory.
September 21	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars which discusses the imposition of a tax in kind on farms (Lenin formulates the principal clauses of the decree), denunciation of treaties signed by the tsarist government, etc.
September 22	On behalf of all working people, Lenin congratulates the First Army of the Eastern Front on the capture of Simbirsk.
September 24 or 25	Lenin leaves to convalesce at Gorki.
September, not later than 27	In a letter to Red Army men who took part in the 7 capture of Kazan, Lenin congratulates them on their victory.
October 2 or 3	In connection with the political crisis in Germany Lenin sends a letter to a joint meeting of the AllRussia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet and representatives of factory committees and trade unions.
October 9	Lenin writes the article “The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky”.
October, not later than 15	Lenin returns to Moscow from Gorki.
October 22	Lenin delivers a report on the international situation to a joint meeting of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet, factory committees and trade unions; Lenin’s resolution is approved. Lenin writes the preface to the second edition of his pamphlet “Political Parties in Russia and the Tasks of the Proletariat”, the first edition of which was published in July 1917.
October 23	On behalf of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, Lenin sends a telegram to A. A. Joffe in Berlin asking him to convey ardent greetings to Karl Liebknecht on his release from prison.
October 29	Lenin gives a talk to delegates at the First Congress of the Russian Young Communist League; writes to Y. M. Sverdlov asking him to support the League financially.
November 2	Lenin drafts theses of the resolution on strict observance of the laws, for the examination of the Extraordinary Sixth All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
November 3	Lenin delivers a speech at a rally to mark the Austro-Hungarian revolution.
November 6-9	Lenin conducts the work of the Extraordinary Sixth All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Peasants’, Cossacks’ and Red Army Deputies.
November 6	Lenin speaks at the first session of the Congress on the anniversary of the October Revolution. Lenin speaks about the anniversary of the October Revolution at the ceremonial meeting of the All-Russia Central and Moscow trade union councils, and at a party organised by the Moscow Proletkult.
November 7	In the afternoon Lenin speaks at the unveiling of a memorial to Marx and Engels on Revolution Square and at the unveiling on Red Square of a memorial plaque to those who fell in the October Revolution. In the evening Lenin delivers a speech at a rally and concert for the All-Russia Extraordinary Commission staff. Lenin sends a congratulatory telegram to troops of the Second Army after the capture of Izhevsk.
November 8	Lenin speaks about the international situation at the second session of the Extraordinary Sixth All-Russia Congress of Soviets. Lenin speaks about organising the village poor at a meeting of delegates from Poor Peasants’ Committees of central gubernias.
November 10	Lenin finishes writing his book The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky. Lenin sends a “Telegram to All Soviets of Deputies, to Everyone” in connection with the commencement of revolution in Germany. Lenin speaks on current affairs at the inauguration of the October Revolution Club in Moscow’s Khamovniki District.
November 11	Lenin speaks about the international situation at a concert for Moscow Communists in the Bolshoi Theatre.
November 13	Lenin sends a telegram with instructions to N. A. Shchors to take urgent steps to liberate the Ukraine from foreign invaders and the whiteguards. In a telegram to the Orel Gubernia Committee of the Party, Lenin replies to greetings sent him by German revolutionary soldiers in the Ukraine and calls on their help to liberate the Ukraine from German occupation.
November 14	Lenin speaks at a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars about the international situation. Pravda No. 246 publishes a decree of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee and Council of People’s Commissars, signed by Lenin and Sverdlov, annulling the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty.
November 19	Lenin speaks at the First All-Russia Congress of Working Women.
November 20	Lenin writes the article “The Valuable Admissions of Pitirim Sorokin”. Lenin speaks at a meeting held in his honour as Party and state leader.
November 23	Lenin receives representatives of Indian peoples who delivered greetings to the Soviet government from the peoples of India.
November 24	Lenin delivers greetings from the Council of People’s Commissars at a meeting held on Red Officers’ Day.
November 26	Lenin speaks on the role of the co-operatives in a socialist state to a meeting of delegates from the Moscow Central Workers’ Co-operative.
November 27	Lenin reports on the attitude of the proletariat; towards petty-bourgeois democrats at a meeting of Party workers in Moscow.
November 29	Lenin signs telegrams to the Nizhni-Novgorod Gubernia Food Department, the Gubernia Military Commissar and the Economic Council on supplying the Nizhni-Novgorod radio laboratory with food and building materials, and a telegram to Commander-in-Chief I. I. Vatsetis on support by Red Army troops to Soviet governments in Latvia, Estonia, the Ukraine and Lithuania.
November 30	Lenin signs the decree of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee on the formation of a Council of Workers’ and Peasants’ Defence.
December 1	Lenin conducts the first session of the Council of Defence; maps out the immediate tasks of the Council and introduces a number of proposals concerning the food, transport, fuel and other questions.
December 1	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence at which the following questions are debated: putting the railways in order; draft decision against parochialism and bureaucracy etc.; writes the draft decision on stepping up food deliveries and increasing their amount.
December 5	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence commission on cartridges; signs decisions in the name of the Council concerning Tula, Podolsk and Simbirsk munition factories.
December 7	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: recognition of the independence of the Estonian Soviet Republic; the railway programme, etc., Lenin makes a proposal to appoint a special correspondent from the Council to report the Council’s activities in the papers.
December 8	Lenin speaks about the home and international situation at the Moscow Gubernia Congress of Soviets. Poor Peasants’ Committees and District Committees of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence, raises the question of taking stock of military materiel; approves and signs a draft decision against parochialism and bureaucracy.
December 9	Lenin speaks at the Third Congress of Workers’ Co-operatives about the economic and political tasks of the co-operatives.
December 11	Lenin speaks about the rural situation at the First All-Russia Congress of Land Departments, Poor Peasants’ Committees and Communes, held in Moscow’s Trade Union House. Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence; approves and signs a draft decision on putting the railways in order; makes a proposal to take urgent steps to improve the food situation.
December 12	Lenin writes “Rough Draft of Rules for the Administration of Soviet Institutions” for discussion by the Council of Defence.
December 13	Lenin and Sverdlov issue instructions to the Revolutionary Military Council to send reinforcements to Perm.
December 14	Lenin speaks about the home and international situation at a workers’ conference at the Alexeyev People’s House in Moscow’s Presnya District.
December 15	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence at which the following questions are discussed: the amount of grain stocks on the railways and in elevators; political agitation in the army and the dispatch of commissars to newly formed divisions.
December 17	Lenin writes the preface to the second edition of his book The State and Revolution.
December 18	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence at which the following questions are discussed: determination of army strength; providing the army with cavalry; providing the army with buildings; the construction of an arms factory in Tsaritsyn, etc.
December 22	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence at which the following questions are discussed: fitting out railway workers; accounts of commissars sent to newly formed divisions; the amount of grain stocks on the railways, etc.
December 23	Lenin writes an article entitled “’Democracy’ and Dictatorship”. Lenin sends a telegram to the Commander-in-Chief requesting information about the reinforcements sent to Perm and the reasons for non-compliance with his orders to take Orenburg.
December 24	Lenin’s article “Heroism of the Presnya Workers” is published in Byednota No. 222.
December 25	Lenin receives a representative from the Melekess Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Samara Gubernia, who reports there are no means of transport in the district for dispatching the grain; in the Council of Defence Lenin raises the question of taking urgent measures to ensure the transport of grain from Samara Gubernia. Lenin speaks on the international situation and economic tasks at the Second All-Russia Congress of Economic Councils held in the Second House of Soviets (the Metropol Hotel).
December 29	Lenin conducts a session of the Council of Defence at which the following questions are discussed: plans for transporting army materiel, personnel, and food; moving reinforcements up to the Eastern Front; the Simbirsk and Izhevsk arms factories, etc.
December 30	Lenin conducts a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars at which the following questions are debated: financial and economic policy; granting loans to the Government of the Estonian Labour Commune and the worker-peasant Government of Latvia.
1918	Lenin gives instructions to the People’s Commissariat of Education about writing and publishing popular books; outlines various subjects.
December 1918-January 1919	Lenin drafts theses for the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), “Tasks of the Trade Unions”.
Late 1918 or early 1919	Lenin begins the article “A Little Picture in Illustration of Big Problems”. It remained unfinished. Lenin conducts a commission for drafting a socialist agricultural policy and measures for the transition to socialist agriculture; he delivers a report to the commission and writes notes to the draft concerning common cultivation of the land.