each other, and
it is quite clear that Trotsky himself had no very definite plan in his
head. But his notes annoyed and stimulated so many other people that
they did perhaps precisely the work they were intended to do. Pravada
printed them with a note from the editor inviting discussion. The
Ekonomitcheskaya Jizn printed letter after letter from workmen,
officials and others, attacking, approving and bringing new suggestions.
Larin, Semashko, Pyatakov, Bucharin all took a hand in the discussion.
Larin saw in the proposals the beginning of the end of the revolution,
being convinced that authority would pass from the democracy of the
workers into the hands of the specialists. Rykov fell upon them with
sturdy blows on behalf of the Trades Unions. All, however, agreed on the
one point--that something of the sort was necessary. On December 27th
a Commission for studying the question of industrial conscription was
formed under the presidency of Trotsky. This Commission included the
People's Commissars, or Ministers, of Labor, Ways of Communication,
Supply, Agriculture, War, and the Presidents of the Central Council of
the Trades Unions and of the Supreme Council of Public Economy. They
compiled a list of the principal questions before them, and invited
anybody interested to bring them suggestions and material for
discussion.

But the discussion was not limited to the newspapers or to this
Commission. The question was discussed in Soviets and Conferences of
every kind all over the country. Thus, on January 1st an All-Russian
Conference of local "departments for the registration and distribution
of labor," after prolonged argument, contributed their views. They
pointed out (1) the need of bringing to work numbers of persons who
instead of doing the skilled labor for which they were qualified were
engaged in petty profiteering, etc.; (2) that there evaporation of
skilled labor into unproductive speculation could at least be checked
by the introduction of labor books, which would give some sort of
registration of each citizen's work; (3) that workmen can be brought
back from the villages only for enterprises which are supplied with
provisions or are situated in districts where there is plenty. ("The
opinion that, in the absence of these preliminary conditions, it will be
possible to draw workmen from the villages by measures of compulsion or
mobilization is profoundly mistaken.") (4) that there should be a census
of labor and