The quantity of land to be distributed to the laborer was determined by the needs and conditions of the community. Such land could not be alienated, leased, or mortgaged. It was public property for the benefit of those working on it. The right to use land was granted to all citizens (without regard to sex) capable of cultivating it by personal or family labor. Hired labor was not allowed. In case of incapacity due to accident to a member of a rural community, the community must cultivate his land for two years. Farmers who, due to old age or inability, lose forever the possibilities of cultivating the land personally, lose the right of property. Instead, they receive pensional help from the state. The decree provided relief for those who suffered distress due to the confiscation of land. Such relief was difficult to give because of the poverty-stricken condition of the country, and to the owners from whom the land was taken any relief short of actual payment for the land (which the peasants would not even consider) seemed inadequate. All mineral wealth of the lands, the forests, and the waterways became the property of the state. Estates in intensive culture, such as nurseries, greenhouses, breeding farms, were not subject for distribution, but were to be used for exhibitional and educational purposes. The nearest thing to a property interest in land was the provision that, while the land of a “quitting member” must be turned back to the land fund, “the right of preference for receiving the estate of the retiring members belongs to the nearest relative, or to persons indicated by the retiring member.” The form of the cultivation of the land was left to the decision of the village. The land could be cultivated by the community, by the individual, or by the banding together of any number of farmers. In case of land shortage, the decree provided for re-distribution of the population by induced emigration. A later land decree created a body known as a Conciliatory Chamber to deal with all disputes, and also enumerated in detail rules governing the conservation of natural resources. Personal property on the estates was not subject to distribution, but the land committees were ordered to inventory and hold it for the benefit of the community. Three weeks after the Soviet government took the power, it completed its second most important step in its attempt to create a socialist commonwealth. What the land decree was to the peasant, the labor control decree was to the worker. It applied to all industries employing labor, and provided for control by committees, representing laborers and employers, called “organs of labor control.” The control was not confined to a regulation of hours and wages, but extended to all branches of the industry, including the financial phase.