# 8: Speculators explained — Ten Days That Shook the World

> Chapter companion for Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed.

## What happens

The chapter presents two official decrees from the Council of People's Commissars and the Military Revolutionary Committee targeting speculators, marauders, and those hoarding or sabotaging food supplies. The decrees declare such individuals enemies of the people, authorize immediate arrest and confinement in Cronstadt pending revolutionary tribunal, and call on all honest citizens and popular organizations to cooperate in the struggle against speculation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Workers' Control and Economic Transformation

The decrees aim to combat speculation and hoarding, asserting state control over food distribution and punishing those who disrupt the economy for private gain.

### Struggle for Legitimacy and Power

By declaring speculators 'enemies of the People' and calling on citizens to inform on them, the Bolsheviks seek to consolidate authority and enforce their economic policies through popular mobilization.

## Character check-ins

### Vladimir Lenin

As President of the Council of People's Commissars, Lenin signs the order directing the Military Revolutionary Committee to take decisive measures against speculation and sabotage.

## Key lines

> The disorganisation of the food supply created by the war, and the lack of system, is becoming to the last degree acute, thanks to the speculators, marauders and their followers on the railways, in the steamship offices, forwarding offices, etc.

The war has caused severe food supply disorganization, now made critical by speculators and profiteers operating in transport and shipping.

_Lenin's decree blames speculators for exacerbating the food crisis._

> All persons guilty of such actions shall be subject, by special orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee, to immediate arrest and confinement in the prisons of Cronstadt, pending their arraignment before the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Those found guilty of speculation or sabotage will be arrested and held in Kronstadt prisons until they can be tried by a revolutionary court.

_The decree establishes harsh penalties and pre-trial detention for economic crimes._

> Spoliators, marauders, speculators, are declared to be enemies of the People.

The Military Revolutionary Committee officially labels those who hoard or profiteer as public enemies.

_This declaration frames economic crimes as treason against the people._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/8-speculators
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters