Vikzhedor

(All-Russian Executive Committee of Railroad Workers), central organ of the railroad workers’ union. Elected at the Extraordinary All-Russian Railroad Convention, which took place in Petrograd Jan. 5-30 (Jan. 18-Feb. 12), 1918. Vikzhedor was the highest elective Soviet body for the administration of transportation. A majority of votes favored the Bolsheviks. Left Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats-Internationalists were also members.

Vikzhedor struggled against sabotage by higher railroad officials, worked to win the main mass of railroad workers to the side of Soviet power, and assisted in putting railroad transportation in order. Vikzhedor elected the collegium of the People’s Commissariat of Transportation Routes. In the spring of 1918, the administration of the railroads was reorganized according to a proposal by V. I. Lenin. By the terms of the decree of Mar. 23, 1918, of the Council of People’s Commissars, the People’s Commissar of Transportation Routes received full powers to administer transportation. Vikzhedor became the highest controlling professional or ganization without administrative functions. By a decision of the Council of People’s Commissars on Nov. 30, 1918, the railroads were converted to military use and an institute of military commissars was introduced. At the first All-Russian Convention of Railroad Unions, which took place in Moscow from Feb. 21 through Mar. 1, 1919, a united central committee of the railroad workers’ and officials’ union (Tsekprofsozh) was created; after its election, Vikzhedor ceased its activities.