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p After the end of the Civil War and suppression of foreign intervention, the country could begin to rebuild its economy. It was crucial to overcome economic dislocation and to reconstruct the transport system so vital to the state’s economic life. Lenin wrote: “We must restore the exchange between agriculture and industry, and we need a material basis to do so. What is it? It is railway and water transport."  [169•1  He also referred to transport as “the most important, or one of the most important sectors of our economy".  [169•2 

p The importance of this link prompted Lenin to suggest and the RCP(B) Central Committee to approve Dzerzhinsky’s appointment to the post of People’s Commissar for Transport. Dzerzhinsky held this position for nearly three years, until February 2, 1924. Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich wrote in his memoirs: “Sometimes better, sometimes worse, in the beginning transport was severely crippled. Extraordinary measures were required to put it into working order. A man was needed who possessed a will of iron, experience in management, prestige among the workers, firmness in implementing measures and decisions, and the ability to combat sabotage and banditry which at that time was common on the railways.”

p Choosing Dzerzhinsky, Lenin and the Central Committee displayed complete confidence in his abilities, and at the same time vested him with the tremendous responsibility of organising the work of the People’s Commissariat for 170 Transport, which at that time was responsible for the normal operation of railways, the merchant navy and river and local transport. In addition to serving as head of this Commissariat, Dzerzhinsky also remained Vecheka Chairman and the People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs. He accepted his new responsibilities having neither special knowledge in the field nor sufficient economic management experience. However, transport workers knew that the new Commissar was Lenin’s closest associate, a staunch Bolshevik, a man of strong will, who placed the interests of the working class, of an the working people and of socialism above all else.

p Dzerzhinsky was knowledgeable about the state of transport affairs: as Vecheka Chairman, he had helped to restore order on the rail- and waterways, and had frequently discussed issues pertaining to the functioning of transport with Lenin. Prior to being transferred to the Commissariat for Transport, Dzerzhinsky had carried out a number of important Central Committee assignments to improve the economy.

p The work of rail and water transport and the industry was directly dependent on the availability of fuel. But in early 1921 the Soviet Republic was in the grip of a severe fuel crisis. The country was depending on the Donets Coal Basin to help solve this problem. Dzerzhinsky requested the Party Central Committee to send him to the Donets Basin, and received permission on January 26, 1921. He left for Kharkov, which at that time was the capital of the Ukraine, determined to see for himself what the situation was. Soon afterwards he made another trip to the Ukraine. Then, on February 19, the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic decided to set up a business fuel commission which would be headed by Dzerzhinsky.

p In seeking to overcome the fuel crisis and economic dislocation, Dzerzhinsky also enlisted the help of local extraordinary commissions.

p Back in Moscow, on March 5, he spoke on the fuel situation in the Ukraine at a Labour and Defence Council fuel commission session. The RCP(B) Central Committee Plenary Meeting held on March 7, 1921 decided to send Dzerzhinsky to the Ukraine once again.

p On his third trip, Dzerzhinsky concentrated his efforts 171 on introducing order into the work conducted at the Donets Basin and on the railways. The proposals he submitted to the Labour and Defence Council aimed at overcoming the fuel crisis were approved on March 23. Dzerzhinsky had suggested the urgent purchase abroad of equipment and machinery for the Donets Basin, organising regular supplies to that area, and recruiting miners to work there. The Labour and Defence Council approved Dzerzhinsky’s candidacy for the post of Chairman of the Provisional Conference for the supervision of the supplies to the Donets Basin.

p With time, the situation in the Donets Basin, the country’s principal source of coal, began to change for the better. Fuel supplies to industry and transport started to improve. The extraordinary body—the Provisional Conference—was no longer necessary. Dzerzhinsky reported on the completion of its work at the Labour ana Defence Council meeting of June 15, 1921.

p At Lenin’s suggestion, the Tenth RCP(B) Congress instructed the Central Committee to establish a special central commission for the purpose of introducing prompt measures to improve the workers’ material conditions. Industrial regions set up their own sub-commissions. On March 20, 1921, the Second Session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee of the eighth convocation approved the Statute on the Central and Local Commissions for the Improvement of the Working Population’s Living Conditions.

p The Commission for the Improvement of Workers’ Living Conditions in Moscow and Moscow Region headed by Dzerzhinsky was formed on March 17, 1921. Speaking at the Moscow Soviet Executive Committee meeting that day Dzerzhinsky said: “We must acknowledge at present that, when after the expenditure of enormous effort by the working class, all foreign fronts have been eliminated, the most important task, whose solution will decide the further development of socialist construction, is improving workers’ living conditions.”

p The Commission supplied workers with housing mostly by evicting persons who were not engaged in physical labour from the commune-houses (workers hostels). While Dzerzhinsky headed the Commission, 3,673 workers were given accommodations. The Commission was also engaged in providing communal services and medical aid to workers, 172 improving the living conditions of children, organising kindergartens, finding accommodations in health-building and holiday homes for workers, and helping solve other problems of daily life. Its resolutions were obligatory to all bodies.

p Dzerzhinsky chaired most of the Commission Presidium’s meetings and frequently made speeches and reports. At his suggestion, on April 29, 1921, the Labour and Defence Council decided to inspect all Moscow storehouses, confiscate all unregistered items and distribute them among workers. Dzerzhinsky also suggested supplying the workers’ organisations of Moscow and Moscow Region with 500 bicycles. The Commission introduced reception hours for workers, and dealt with at least 80 applicants a day. Dzerzhinsky himself had reception hours every day.

p Weighted down with the responsibilities or both Vecheka and the Commissariat for Transport, Dzerzhinsky requested the Moscow Soviet Presidium to relieve him of his duties as Chairman of the Commission for the Improvement of Workers’ Living Conditions. On May 20, 1921, his request was granted after he had served as Chairman for nearly two months. He had contributed to improving the Moscow workers’ living conditions and was well appreciated by them.

p The experience that Dzerzhinsky had accumulated as head of the Provisional Conference on the Donets Basin and the Moscow Soviet Commission, as well as his years at Vecheka, proved extremely useful for his work on transport. The Commissariat for Transport was at the time (since July 1921) divided into four main departments: railway, river, sea and local transport. Each department and section of the Commissariat had a head and a commissar.

p At the country’s outlying regions, the Siberian, Southern, Turkestan, Caucasian (since May 1921) and, somewhat later Petrograd transport districts were set up to organise the work of transport on their territories. In all, the Commissariat was in charge of 30 railways headed by departments. The entire responsibility for the state of the railway and the movement of the trains was vested in its head and commissar. Sea transport was directed locally by the Baltic, Black Sea, Azov, White Sea and Caspian departments.

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p An important document for the nearly two million transport workers was the circular “On the Immediate Tasks of the Republic’s Transport and the Fundamental Principles of the People’s Commissariat for Transport Further Work" signed on May 27, 1921.

p Dzerzhinsky believed that the best way to learn about the transport system and its needs was to visit the localities. His first trip as the Commissar for Transport was to the Ukraine—the Southern Transport District, from May 25 to June 8.

p Leaving Moscow on May 25, Dzerzhinsky held a meeting that same day with the administration of the Kiev-Voronezh railway in Kursk. In his speech, he talked about the ways to improve radically the work on the railway and demanded that transport workers be provided with adequate working conditions, citing this as “a matter of greatest importance”.

p On May 26, Dzerzhinsky arrived in Kharkov. The transport of the Ukraine, which had been liberated from foreign interventionists and the White Guards only a short while before, was in a state of complete dislocation and had to be promptly reconstructed. It was necessary to prepare the railways and waterways, as well as sea transport (above all the ports on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov) to take out large amounts of food and fuel. The work of the transport system was greatly hindered by numerous robberies and acts of banditry. These issues were the subject for a detailed discussion Dzerzhinsky held with Ukrainian Cheka men in the early hours of May 27.

p While in Kharkov, Dzerzhinsky met with the administrative personnel of the Southern Transport District to discuss the work of Ukrainian railways, and outlined the prospects for their development; in Alexandrovsk (now Zaporozhye), he investigated ways to restore navigation on the Dnieper. Dzerzhinsky expressed his interest in Party and political work among the railway cadres, the activities of trade unions, the provision of food and other supplies, and the organisation of retail trade.

p Dzerzhinsky kept a travelogue where he described the work of transport and industry, the political mood of the working people, the training of local personnel, and the campaign against banditry.

p On May 30, Dzerzhinsky arrived in Nikolayev. At a conference on the work of the port and of river transport, 174 he made a number of valuable suggestions concerning oil transportation, repair works on the barges, and hiring personnel. The next stop on the itinerary was Kherson, where questions of organising the work of water transport again came under discussion. Dzerzhinsky gave a critical analysis of the state of reconstruction works on the Dnieper, and proposed measures to speed them up.

p On June 1, Dzerzhinsky arrived in Odessa, where he inspected the work of the Odessa department of the Southwestern railways, the department of Black Sea transport, the seaport, and Odessa Cheka. In the course of three days, he held a number of conferences with Cheka personnel, railway workers and seamen. He was mostly concerned with the work of the seaport, which had been destroyed in the war. When retreating in the spring of 1919, the English and French invaders seized 112 merchant vessels and plundered all depots and bases. Four months later, in August 1919, the city was invaded by Denikin’s troops, who remained for six months and completed the destruction of the port and the fleet. Out of 62 piers, only 29 could still be used, and in the winter of 1920, when the Red Army entered Odessa, only one ship was in working order, and that a crew boat. Dzerzhinsky helped work out steps to restore the port, organise the repair of vessels, more rapidly put the oil barges in working order, strengthen discipline and secure better supplies for the workers. His fiery speeches before dockers and sailors made a great impression on his audiences, and they put their strength into rebuilding the ports and improving the work of the sea transport.

p The last stop on Dzerzhinsky’s tour of the Ukraine was Kiev where he arrived on June 6. There he helped the local authorities to restore the operation of the railways and the river fleet. On June 8, he left for Moscow.

p Dzerzhinsky’s two-week trip to the Ukraine had made an important contribution to the reconstruction of transport in one of the country’s largest republics. Yuli Rudy, who at that time was head of the Southern Transport District, later wrote that the Commissar’s vivid and emotional speeches and heart-to-heart talks injected the people with fresh energy and vigour, and improved their spirits. Dzerzhinsky personally supervised the placement of Party personnel sent to work on transport.

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p Back in Moscow, Dzerzhinsky reported on his trip at a meeting of the top personnel of the People’s Commissariat for Transport. All members of the Commissariat’s Collegium received the minutes of the conferences held during his visit. A synopsis of these minutes included notes on the work accomplished to carry out the proposals that had been made. The materials of Dzerzhinsky trip to the Ukraine were used by the Commissariat’s higher-ranking officials to improve the management of transport throughout the country.

p Dzerzhinsky’s trip was also important for him in that, in the capacity of Commissar for Transport, he got his firsthand experience with railmen, examined the ruined stations and rolling stock, and decided upon measures to improve the situation.

p In his work, Dzerzhinsky could always count on help from Lenin, who was personally involved in dealing with many transport problems. A large number of Lenin’s speeches, articles and reports reflect his ideas in the field, and outline the main issues of its development. From April 1921 to December 1922 alone, Lenin sent Dzerzhinsky and his deputies and the heads of other transport departments over 50 memos dealing with various transport problems. Dzerzhinsky repeatedly appealed to Lenin when the latter’s personal interference as the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars was required. Telegrams from the provinces reporting on the progress of the work to rebuild the transport system were as a rule addressed to both Lenin and Dzerzhinsky.

p Questions concerning the work on transport were regularly discussed at the Council of People’s Commissars and the Labour and Defence Council; their conferences were chaired by Lenin and attended by Dzerzhinsky. Between May and December 1921, about thirty resolutions and decrees concerning transport matters were passed and made public by these two bodies. All of them were signed by Lenin.

p During a six-month period in 1922, Dzerzhinsky took part in 24 sessions of the Council of People’s Commissars and 26 sessions of the Labour and Defence Council where most of the questions considered were about the work of the transport.

p In the summer of 1921, the Party Central Committee set up a commission for the improvement of the work of 176 railways. Dzerzhinsky read a report at the Central Committee Organising Bureau’s meeting which analysed the overall of transport situation, above all the ideological and political work among transport workers, criticised the work of a number of commissars and their biased attitude towards the trained professionals of the tsarist regime, and exposed the shortcomings in the work of some local Party organisations.

p Dzerzhinsky did not try to conceal the fact that the overall condition of transport was grave. A number of his conclusions later entered in the draft resolution of the RCP(B) Central Committee. Among the measures he proposed were reinforcement of the People’s Commissariat for Transport and the transport workers trade union with trained personnel, improving Party work, and organising better fuel and material supplies. On August 8, 1921, the RCP(B) CC Plenary Meeting approved Dzerzhinsky’s conclusions and proposals with a number of corrections suggested by Lenin.

p In the autumn of 1921, transport sub-sections were formed at the Party Central Committee and the local Party committees. Dzerzhinsky’s experience and knowledge helped them considerably in their work.

p After discussing Dzerzhinsky’s report on December 19, the Central Committee Politbureau suggested a number of urgent measures to rebuild the Tashkent Railway, and on December 31, the Central Committee appointed Dzerzhinsky member of the CC Commission for the Supervision of the Transportation of Food and Seeds from Siberia, the Ukraine and Abroad.

p In 1921-23, at Dzerzhinsky’s suggestion, the Central Committee passed a number of important resolutions concerning the work of transport. Dzerzhinsky worked hard to see that they were implemented. In late 1921, he was instructed by the government and the Collegium of the People’s Commissariat for Transport to make a detailed study of the work of the Petrograd port and railway junction, and render assistance in the improvement of the transport workers’ political education. The work of the Petrograd port had more than once been under discussion at the Labour and Defence Council and the Commissariat’s Collegium.

p Dzerzhinsky arrived in Petrograd in the afternoon of 177 December 12, and that evening took part in a conference of representatives of the local transport departments held in the management offices of the Nikolayev Railway. In his speech, he justified the need to form the Petrograd Transport District which was to begin functioning in late January 1922 and to take final shape by the beginning of navigation.

p Next day, Dzerzhinsky made a report on the state and objectives of transport at the meeting of the Petrograd Soviet which was also attended by trade union activists, members of management boards of workers’ cooperatives, and representatives of Red Army and Naval units.

p Dzerzhinsky’s appearance provoked a storm of applause. Petrograd workers knew well what an important contribution he had made to the October 1917 armed uprising in Petrograd and the campaign against counter-revolution conducted by the Vecheka. After describing, in general terms, the transport situation, Dzerzhinsky said that the reconstruction of transport would occur through the efforts and will of the workers, who, he hoped, would work in the economy with the same enthusiasm that they had displayed fighting at the Civil War fronts. He spoke about the international significance of Soviet Russia s economic development, stressing that the country’s economic advances were compelling the capitalists to enter into a business relationship with the state of workers and peasants. “Not a single economic issue”, he stated, “can be settled outside the ... global prospects of the class struggle... We have a great ally—the international proletariat.” Dzerzhinsky’s report outlined the problems of transport at the stage when the country initiated the New Economic Policy. All of his proposals were included in the resolution adopted by the Petrograd Soviet, which had mapped out steps to be taken towards improving the work of transport.

On December 14, 1921, Dzerzhinsky chaired an interdepartmental conference of top Party personnel working on the railways and on water transport of Petrograd. Reports on the transport situation and plans for its 1922 work schedule were made by Dzerzhinsky and his deputy V. Mezhlauk. Dzerzhinsky’s stay in Petrograd boosted the organisational work under way on city transport.

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p One of Dzerzhinsky’s most important contributions to improving the economy was his trip to Siberia in 1922 at Lenin’s request and by decision of the Party Central Committee. The purpose of the trip was to organise the transportation of food and seeds.

p By late 1921, the country had scored its first successes in the reconstruction of the economy, but the overall situation was still serious. The economic dislocation, which was still acutely felt in all fields, was further aggravated by a drought that affected a territory with a population of 30 million. Work was quickly begun to eliminate the effects of the drought and aid the starving people.

p At that time, Siberia had large stores of food and seeds. The task was to organise their delivery to the famine-struck areas and the industrial regions despite harsh winter condition and the still inefficiently working railways. On December 31, 1921, the CC Politbureau decided to send^ Dzerzhinsky to Siberia to supervise the introduction of extraordinary assistance measures. Heading a delegation of 40 people Dzerzhinsky left on January 5 and returned on March 8, 1922.

p Siberia was only beginning to rebuild its railway lines, bridges, stations and rolling stock which had been severely damaged during the Civil War. One hundred and sixty-seven bridges had been destroyed, and freight traffic on the Siberian Railway was only 10 per cent of prewar volume.

p After Kolchak’s troops had been routed, Siberia was still a refuge for about 40,000 White Guard officers and other counter-revolutionary elements, who continued in their attempts to stage revolts, raid railway stations, and conduct subversive activities and sabotage.

p The delegation headed by DzerzhinsKy arrived in Omsk, where the managing offices of the Siberian Transport District were located, some members were sent to inspect railway lines. It was important to promptly organise the transportation of foodstuffs to the famine-struck Volga area and the more industrially developed regions. On the first day of his stay in Omsk, January 10, 1922, Dzerzhinsky addressed the workers and office employees of the Siberian railways: “The life of our major industrial enterprises, our big industry which is financed by the state, 179 depends on the timely deliveries of bread and meat that have been stored in Siberia.”

p Referring to the complexity of the international situation, he stated: “At this perilous time, when Japan in the East is trying to use our weakness and cripple us, ... I appeal to all of you, from the rank-and-file worker to the high-ranking official, and urge that at once and by concerted effort, exemplary revolutionary order be established on the Siberian railways, that the assignments and requests of the republic to reconstruct the railways and rolling stock, and to transport foodstuffs be accomplished without fail.”

p Dzerzhinsky voiced his hope that Party, Komsomol and trade union bodies in the transport system would contribute to the effort, and that Siberian Communists, revolutionary youth and trade union transport workers would meet their commitments.

p Dzerzhinsky believed that success hinged on the improvement of Party and political work, and proposed that experienced Party cadres be sent to Siberia. He requested the Central Committee to allow him to stay in Siberia until the personnel he had requested arrived. “I request you not to recall me from Siberia except in the ir.ost extreme necessity,” he wrote to the Central Committee, which acceded to his request.

p Dzerzhinsky initiated and directly assisted in the publication of the Siberian railwaymen’s newspaper Sibirsky Gudok (Siberian Whistle); his efforts resulted in more efficient work on the part of the transport workers’ trade union and educational and cultural centres at railways.

p Dzerzhinsky realised that in those difficult winter months of 1922, no work on transport would be successful without the wholehearted cooperation of the rank-and-file personnel—engine-drivers, stokers, switchmen, couplers. He managed to secure better conditions for transport workers and miners: he arranged for railway employees to be served hot meals while on the road; supplied winter clothes for railway workers; introduced order into the payment of wages and salaries; organised a campaign against epidemics, and obtained better housing conditions and leisure facilities for many workers. Needless to say, this promoted the efforts of transport workers, helped raise labour productivity, improved the transport efficiency, and, on the whole, helped meet the plan targets.

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p Dzerzhinsky and his delegation took care to adequately provide railway transport with fuel, making sure that the coal and firewood were thriftily used and not plundered. The delegation helped to strengthen the ties between the railways and the other branches of Siberian economy. Dzerzhinsky used to say in this connection that “ transport is the main nerve of the country’s economic life”. He sought to provide the necessary conditions for the efficient transportation of food and seeds from Siberia, considering this a task of state importance. “Siberian grain and seeds for the spring planting—this is our salvation,” he wrote to his wife.

p Dzerzhinsky was always in contact with the RCP(B) Central Committee, the Labour and Defence Council and the People’s Commissariat for Transport. Telegraph offices in Omsk and Novonikolayevsk (now Novosibirsk) frequently transmitted reports, memos and telegrams signed by Dzerzhinsky to Moscow. Day and night, these two Siberian cities and Moscow were in communication about each carload of meat and grain. Despite his illness, Lenin closely followed reports on the deliveries from Siberia. This work had been declared the key sector for all local bodies of Soviet power. Dzerzhinsky often reported on the targets set and measures introduced to speedily deliver foodstuffs at meetings of transport workers and Party personnel. Each railway line and junction sent in regular reports on the progress of the work, the condition of the labour force, and food and fuel reserves. The reports resembled war communiques. And indeed this was a war, a war for food and for the reconstruction of transport.

p Already by late January 1922, food deliveries rose nearly four times as compared to those of December 1921. However, the traffic was hampered by snowdrifts. Dzerzhinsky telegraphed: “The rails are completely snowed over... The local population, army units and workers have been commandered to clear them up... Everything is being done for the railways to resume their work...” To prevent snowstorms from catching the railway workers unprepared, Dzerzhinsky asked the Petrograd Observatory to telephone in weather forecasts. Production of shields to protect against snow was launched. Communist subbotniks  [180•1  were 181 held to clean the rails from snow.

p Thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the commission, Dzerzhinsky personally, the workers and engineering personnel of Siberia, the task set by the Party Central Committee and the Soviet Government was accomplished. As Dzerzhinsky wrote, “Transport met all commitments for deliveries of grain and meat by one hundred per cent and on time." During his stay in Siberia, over 65 million kg of seeds and large quantities of grain, meat and fish were delivered, helping to save hundreds of thousands of people from starvation.

p Under Dzerzhinsky’s guidance, Siberian transport was much improved and reconstruction proceeded apace.

p Dzerzhinsky’s work in Siberia increased his already invaluable experience, which made him such a competent head of the Commissariat for Transport.

p Communist railwaymen and local Party bodies were instrumental in the difficult campaign to reconstruct the country’s transport. “Transport will fail without dedicated Communists,” wrote Dzerzhinsky in 1922. With his assistance, the Party Central Committee and the local Party bodies managed to reinforce the key sectors of railway transport with reliable and competent personnel. Subbotniks, which Lenin had called a great beginning”, were often held and Dzerzhinsky himself took part in them. Guided by Lenin’s advice, he did not rely solely on moral incentives but used material ones as well.

p Another important factor influencing the work of transport was the press, especially the newspapers of transport workers. Dzerzhinsky initiated a number of such publications, and himself contributed to them, urging the workers to do their best to promptly rebuild Soviet transport. The People’s Commissar studied every critical article concerning the work of the People’s Commissariat for Transport or its local branches.

p Reconstruction work on transport, as in all branches of the economy, met with opposition on the part of various opportunistic groups and advocates of capitalism, which were trying to transfer the control over Soviet transport to foreign capital. Dzerzhinsky said in this connection: “Those gentlemen who are trying to channel our thinking into enlisting foreign capital to transport have at heart not the interests of the country’s economic development 182 but political interests, that we are bound to reject.”

p Dzerzhinsky believed that it was both necessary and possible to promptly reconstruct the transport system, and sharply criticised those who dreamed only about attaining the 1913 standard. Defining the objectives of the reconstruction and further development of transport, Dzerzhinsky wrote: “Our programme must proceed from our poverty, dislocation and will for victory, i.e., producing maximum output with a minimum of means.” But he also fought against setting unrealistic goals, and urged “proceeding not from artificially conjured plans but from plans that we are capable of fulfilling.”

He believed that Soviet transport should operate as a single whole, resolutely opposed giving priority to local interests, and advocated a sensible fusion of centralism with local initiative.

p Another field to which Dzerzhinsky made an important contribution as People’s Commissar for Transport was the reconstruction of the merchant fleet. This matter was the subject of many discussions at the meetings of the Labour ana Defence Council which were, as a rule, chaired by Lenin. On May 27, 1921, at Lenin’s suggestion, the Labour and Defence Council decided to organise an expedition of the White Sea flotilla from Archangel through the Kara Sea to the mouths of the Ob and Yenisei, two great Siberian rivers, for the purpose of buying and bringing food and other provisions to industrial centres.

p On June 15, Dzerzhinsky attended a Labour and Defence Council meeting which debated the plan targets in the field of ship-building for 1921-22. The resolution and decree of the Council of People’s Commissars “On the Organisation of the Works to Repair the Ports and to Make Them Usable" were signed by Lenin.

p The Collegium meetings of the People’s Commissariat for Transport, which Dzerzhinsky chaired and in whose work he took an active part, regularly considered the rebuilding and work of sea transport, including work to repair old and build new ships, provide the merchant fleet with skilled specialists and necessary financial means, decrease personnel and introduce cheaper tariffs, increase freight traffic. It was considered most important to improve 183 administrative structures and consolidate links between the merchant fleet and other branches of the economy. Dzerzhinsky personally supervised the work of many ports and steamship lines. He initiated measures to improve and develop the operations of the Black Sea, Baltic, White Sea and Caspian Sea fleets, and to reconstruct and expand the ports or Odessa, Petrograd, Nikolayev, Novorossiisk, Batumi, Poti and Sukhumi.

p Even at that time, in the first years after the revolution, Dzerzhinsky accurately perceived the significance of the merchant fleet for the country. He noted in 1922 that “water transport, particularly the merchant fleet, has become an area with more than a purely Russian significance; it has assumed an international importance”.

p Dzerzhinsky devoted a great deal of effort to rehabilitating the Petrograd seaport. On June 21, 1922, he reported on its condition at a Labour and Defence Council meeting. It was decided to appoint him the Labour and Defence Council’s representative with emergency powers at the Petrograd port, which gave him the authority to control and supervise its operations, take measures to improve work, reduce operational costs, appoint and dismiss personnel. His decisions were to be promptly carried through by all pertinent departments.

p On June 25, Dzerzhinsky arrived in Petrograd and the next day convened a conference to discuss the work of the port. It was found that the number of cargoes brought in had fallen and that the port’s efficiency was hampered due to the fact that the harbour was frozen over for an average of 139 days a year. The conference decided to extend the period of navigation and to accelerate the mechanisation of loading and unloading.

p Back in Moscow, on July 5, Dzerzhinsky spoke at a Labour and Defence Council meeting concerning the measures he had introduced in Petrograd. In the course of the summer and early autumn 1922, the Council regularly discussed the condition of the Petrograd port, and Dzerzhinsky successfully dealt with many of its problems.

p Dzerzhinsky made a large contribution to the work to develop the fundamental principles of the Soviet state’s sea transport policy. In March 1923, at a meeting of the USSR State Planning Committee’s Presidium, he reported on merchant fleet and merchant navigations-substantiating 184 the need for “a comprehensive sea transport policy linked with the country’s overall transport policy”. The theses of his report were made public. Among the targets defined in Dzerzhinsky’s report were improving the work of ports and establishing and developing the country’s merchant fleet. He also suggested sensible ways to expand the merchant fleet, specifically by entering into talks for the return of the ships captured by the enemy during the imperialist and civil wars, purchasing vessels abroad, and building new ships at the country’s shipyards.

p The possession of a merchant fleet was politically significant in that it would ensure the country’s independence in foreign trade operations. Transportation of cargoes by Soviet ships was also economically profitable, since it promoted the growth of the country s national income. Dzerzhinsky believed that to successfully pursue a comprehensive sea transport policy, management had to become centralised.

The persistent efforts of the Communist Party, of Lenin, and Dzerzhinsky towards developing the merchant fleet brought appreciable results at the early stage of the New Economic Policy. In 1921 and 1922, the monthly shipment on the Black Sea rose 2.7 and 3-4 times respectively as compared with 1920. In 1922, the Odessa and Archangel ports, which had grown shallow during the war, were already able to receive ocean liners. As Dzerzhinsky stated at the Sixth Ail-Union Congress of the Water Transport Workers’ Trade Union in January 1924, the merchant fleet had accomplished its main task—the export of grain—in 1923. The ports’ capacity had by that time already reached almost prewar figures, and the tonnage of state steamship lines had increased. Dzerzhinsky of course had contributed greatly to this success.

p Dzerzhinsky’s efforts provided an example of effective transport management which was also meticulous. He closely watched fuel supplies and the campaign to keep railways free of snowdrifts, strengthened discipline, and searched for ways to raise labour productivity. Freight delays were reduced and the rate of turnover accelerated. Dzerzhinsky was kept informed of the condition of rails, security of railway traffic, safety of cargoes, provision of work clothes, payment of wages and availability of schools, clubs, 185 hospitals and spas for railway employees. He made a thorough study of the operation of railways and water transport, often travelled to the provinces to help improve conditions on the spot, and demanded that each high transport official be held fully responsible for his sector. For example, employees of the People’s Commissariat for Transport had prepared a report on the condition and work of the Odessa port for the Labour and Defence Council. After he read it, Dzerzhinsky wrote on July 4, 1922: “According to the report, everything is fine and we are operating smoothly; but still there is no overall picture of the port’s work. The thing to do is to inspect first, and then prepare a report.”

p In order to examine and analyse the work of the transport system and sum up and share valuable experience, in February 1923 at Dzerzhinsky’s suggestion a Standing Conference for the Supervision and Assessment of the Work of Railway, Water and Local Transport was established under the People’s Commissar. It was headed by Dzerzhinsky. Dzerzhinsky’s speeches at its sessions reflected his thorough understanding of the transport system. His personal inspections of railways, junctions and stations served to uncover many instances of squandering, waste of capital, labour and time, and were followed by concrete measures to rectify matters.

p Dzerzhinsky believed that skilled specialists and managers were important in the reconstruction and smooth operation of transport. He highly valued “people who thought, did their best, and were deeply concerned in the success of their work”. He was merciless when it came to deliberate damage and sabotage but did not hesitate to offer work to the skilled professionals of the tsarist regime who had professed loyalty to the Soviet system. Dzerzhinsky also did his best to support the trained personnel from among the working class and peasantry who were dedicated to Party policy. He frequently spoke about the need to train them to operate sophisticated equipment and machinery and fill management jobs.

p Dzerzhinsky opposed frequent and senseless shifts of responsible personnel and specialists, writing that this deprived the cadres of confidence in the stability of their position, introduced unnecessary agitation at work, reduced productivity, sometimes hindered a firm and businesslike approach, and prompted half-measures and compromise 186 decisions. He believed that criticism and a self-critical attitude were the major conditions for combating shortcomings in the work of the transport system and promoting its progress. In a letter to the representatives of the People’s Commissariat for Transport in the transport districts, he remarked: “The sooner and more thoroughly we lay bare all our shortcomings, the most striking facts of mismanagement and absence of a businesslike approach, the sooner we shall be able to eradicate them and achieve positive results in our work.”

p Dzerzhinsky fought against all manifestations of red tape, procrastination ana empty talk. He personally kept a check on the amount of time spent by nis Commissariat’s top officials in meetings and conferences, carefully prepared each such assembly, drafted the agenda, read almost all the minutes, and checked over the implementation of decisions. In a note to the members of the Commissariat’s Collegium, he stated the need to “more economically and efficiently organise the work of the Collegium itself” and recommended that its members write up a short weekly review of their activities and draft a plan for future work.

p Dzerzhinsky insisted that the employees’ business trips should be more effective. When dealing with practical matters, he enlisted the advice and help of a broad range of specialists and factory and office workers, yet at the same time used the power granted by one-man leadership once a collective decision had been reached. He played an important role in the struggle against bribery and plunder in transport, and involved a large number of employees in this campaign.

p Dzerzhinsky was concerned with preventing accidents in transport and ensuring the safety of traffic. “Not a single accident, not a single case of disrepair of rolling stock, not a single crash must remain uninvestigated,” he wrote in a decree. “The culprits must be severely punished.”

p Guided by Lenin’s ideas about the need to improve all aspects of work of the state apparatus, Dzerzhinsky launched a reorganisation campaign in transport to cut down and streamline transport management bodies by reducing the number of personnel in the auxiliary services.

p In 1922, at Dzerzhinsky’s initiative, management boards were set up at rail- and waterways which were responsible for fuel and material supplies to be found locally, the administration of economic and commercial activities, and 187 planned use of transport. This represented the most sensible form of contact between transport and other branches of the economy, and the most efficient way to reconstruct it under the conditions of the New Economic Policy.

p Dzerzhinsky thought it important in the development of transport to introduce modern equipment and methods of work. He wrote that “the collective will, thought and creative endeavour of workers themselves ... can grow into a new factor promoting the unprecedented, gigantic growth of industry and transport”. He urged management bodies to concentrate on developing the creative potential of the masses, and to provide innovators with material and moral incentives for fruitful work. A champion of technological progress, Dzerzhinsky wrote in 1922: “I keep thinking about the need to have an active body for introducing and finding technical improvements... This is the basis of our development and brighter prospects.” A great deal of work in this field was accomplished directly through his efforts.

p Dzerzhinsky assessed highly the brakes designed by Florenty Kazantsev, a worker at the Orenburg Depot’s main workshop. Requesting the All-Russia Central Executive Committee to decorate Kazantsev with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Dzerzhinsky wrote on September 4, 1923: “The brakes invented by Kazantsev are of great practical interest. They are fully capable of replacing Westinghouse’s brakes, and even have a number of advantages.” On November 19, the All-Russia CEC approved Kazantsev’s decoration. Dzerzhinsky also greatly encouraged Alexei Shelest and Yakov Gakkel in their work on the diesel locomotive. The chief targets in this field were defined in the letter “On the Application of Inventions in Transport and Involvement of Workers in This Activity”, which was signed by Dzerzhinsky and the heads of the transport workers’ trade unions and sent to the provinces on January 16, 1924.

p A great deal of work was accomplished by the commission on exemplary railways (set up under the People’s Commissariat for Transport on Dzerzhinsky’s recommendation), and by the Ad Hoc Conference for Combating Mismanagement and Unprofitable Operation of Railways of the USSR. Dzerzhinsky himself directed their work.

p Dzerzhinsky had always displayed an economical attitude when operating with public funds. He personally analysed 188 the Commissariat’s estimates and monthly timetables of the entire transport and individual railways, and verified each item of receipts and expenditures. Wastefulness and deception were severely punished. The campaign against mismanagement and wastefulness brought in tangible results. While in late 1922, 40 per cent of the expenditures on transport were covered through state allocations, in 1923/24, the estimate drawn up by the Commissariat did not mention any such allocations. Transport had become a self- supporting and even profitable branch of the economy.

p With Dzerzhinsky serving as the People’s Commissar for Transport, the material base (railway lines, rolling stock, installations and buildings) of this section of the economy was restored.

p Dzerzhinsky was the first to propose that a railway line be built between Siberia and Turkestan. He personally supervised the construction of the Semirechensk Railway, the first leg of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway. In 1924 Dzerzhinsky had occasion to remark: “Do you remember foreign specialists predicting that our railways would be dead in March? Now everyone who comes here cannot stop talking about the way Russian transport has improved. Foreign prophets do not understand what collective will is, what it means to have the will to stand up for one’s position.”

p Yan Rudzutak, who replaced Dzerzhinsky as People’s Commissar for Transport, noted: “I think that Comrade Dzerzhinsky has attained this success because he was able, in the course of his three years’ work, to concretely apply the methods of our unforgettable teacher, Comrade Lenin, including channeling collective will, collective thought and collective strivings into one focus, one point, one task—the reconstruction of bur transport. This is precisely Comrade Dzerzhinsky’s greatest achievement, that he managed to unite all the creative, collective work of transport employees and the transport proletariat in the effort to attain one common goal.”

Dzerzhinsky’s work as People’s Commissar for Transport terminated in early February 1924. It both promoted the reconstruction of Soviet transport and added to the store of Dzerzhinsky’s experience in the economic and organisational field. Ahead lay even more strenuous work towards rehabilitating and advancing the country’s industry as a whole.