664. MEMO TO MEMBERS OF THE POLITBUREAU OF THE R.C.P.(B.) C.C.[1]
To Politbureau members
Sokolnikov is missing the mark. What are the guarantees that everything valuable will not be hauled out?
There are none.
Stealing is now going on; it’s true; let’s learn to catch people for stealing, instead of making it easier for rich foreigners to steal.
5/III.
Lenin
Notes
[1] Written on G. Y. Sokolnikov’s letter in reply to Lenin’s note of February 28 (see this volume, Document 662).
In his letter, Sokolnikov suggested that the trusts, co-operatives and others should be allowed to purchase food abroad. In his opinion, the guarantee that an excess of valuables would not be taken out of the country and that food instead of other goods would be imported in return was these organisations’ extreme need of food, and control by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade and the State Bank, through which all operations should be conducted.