1p., 8vo (229 x 175 mm), in Russian, some losses at edges, toning.

TROTSKY ORDERS MORE RAILCARS AT THE EVE OF THE RED TERROR.

In full: "Due to an acute lack of rail cars on railways, I hereby order you to accept the following as a guideline:
"1. Three saloon cars, three first and second class cars and five third and fourth class cars are to be provided for service to the Army Headquarters by permission of the Army commander and Political Commissar.
"2. Division headquarters is allowed to possess one saloon-car, two first and second class cars, and three third and fourth class cars.
"3. All other cars, except for those mentioned above are to be rescinded immediately to railway authorities.
"4. Department chiefs shall use regular cars on regular trains for their business trips. For this purpose a berth car marked 'Headquarters' shall be towed between Headquarters and Moscow. For trips within the front line cars in headquarter's possession and allocated by a HQ superintendent shall be used.
"5. Any passenger cars to be utilized for living purposes or for permanent passenger travel in excess of the above-mentioned quantity shall be used by permission of a superior officer.
"6. All deviations from the above-mentioned regulations will be subject to severe penalties by me."

In the early spring of 1918 Leon Trotsky resigned his position as Foreign Affairs Commissar in favor of that of the People's Commissar of Army and Navy Affairs, a role which put him at the head of the Red Army. This was controversial, as the Red Army leadership believed that only dedicated revolutionaries should hold this position, and many eventually resigned. His strict adherence to discipline, reflected in his instructions for the proper composition of train cars on Soviet railways, caused further friction.

The Red Terror officially began three days after the present memorandum was sent, during which historians conservatively estimate that 500,000 "enemies of the state" were either executed or died in prison. Trotsky and others defended the campaign as necessary to purge counter-revolutionaries, with Grigory Zinoviev writing, "To dispose of our enemies, we will have to create our own socialist terror. For this we will have to train 90 million of the 100 million Russians and have them all on our side. We having nothing to say to the other 10 million; we'll have to get rid of them." As head of the Red Army, Trotsky directly oversaw this campaign.