The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 30, 1926, Page 13

Lenin and Brest-Litovsk VALUABLE HISTORY OF DECISION OF RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY TO SIGN “ROBBER PEACE” WITH GERMAN EMPIRE ye Lenin made his hard fight]!and, but we save the socialist Bs- for the signing of the Brest treaty, he gave his reasons in long theses. He proved that the signing of a peace treaty with the imperial- ists does not mean a betrayal of in- ternational socialism. “Workers who lose a strike and accept terms un- favorable to themselves and favorable to the capitalists, do not betray so- cialism.” - In the collected writings of Lenin there is an appendix by Ovsiannikov on materials in the party archives. It was during the early days of Janu- ary, 1918, some days before the Sov- let congress, that this question came up in the central committee. Lenin was from the first of the opinion that the treaty must be signed. On Janu- ary 9, according to the notes by E D. Stasova, Lenin analyzed the three different opinions on the question: 1. Separate peace with the German annexationists. 2. Revolutionary war. 8. Proclamation of the end of the war and demobilization of the army, but without signing the treaty. The day before the first opinion had fifteen votes, the second thirty-two, and the third sixteen. All are unani- mous that the country of the revolu- tion must be defended. The ques- tion is, how? The army is worn out, there are not horses enough to move the artillery, the Germans can easily take Reval and Petrograd. If under such conditions we continue the war, we will strengthen German imperialism, and will have to sign terms worse than these. Undoubtedly this peace will be a wretched peace, but if the war begins again, our gov- ernment will be overthrown and the peace will be signed with some other government. Our government is bas- ed not only on the proletariat, but also on the poor peasants, who will serve the interests of the French, English: andAmérican imperialists. The staff of Comrade Krylenko has received from the Americans an of- fer of a hundred rubles for every sol- dier—those who support the proposal that revolutionary war must be wag- ed, claim that we are conducting a civil war with German imperialism and that we thus instigate revolution in Germany. But Germany is merely pregnant with revolution and we have already a healthy baby—the socialist republic, which can be killed if we start the war again. We have in our hands ‘a circular from the German so- cial-democrats; there is information of two separate centrist opinions about us, one of them claiming that we are bribed and that there is go- ing on in Brest-Litovsk a comedy with ready-made roles. This group at- tacks us for the armistice. The other group, the Kautskians, declares that the personal honesty of the Bolshe- vik leaders is above suspicion, but the conduct of the Bolsheviks is a psychological puzzle. We do not know the opinion of the left wing social-de- mocrats. The English workers appre- ciate our efforts towards peace. Of course, this will be a shameful treaty. But we badly need a breathing spell to put thru certain social reforms (if only the organization of transporta- tion); we must strengthen our posi- tion and must have time for it. We must break the bourgeoisie complete- ly, but for this we must have both hands free. Then we will be in a position to conduct a revolutionary war with international imperialism. The cadres of the voluntary revolu- tionary army which we create now will become the officers’ cadres for our future army. Comrade Trotzky’s proposal— to end the war, to refuse to sign the peace and to demobilize the army— is intended to be an international de- monstration, But by withdrawing our troops we only relinquish the Es- thonian socialist republic to the mercy of the Germans, It is said that by signing the peace we give a_free hand to Japan and America, who will occupy Vladivostok. But before they reach Irkutsk, we will have time to strengthen the position of our social- ist republic. In signing the peace, we of course, give independence to Po-'uary 18, honian republic and get time to sé- cure our gains. This may be called t step to the right, but we must take it. If the Germans begin to attack us, we will be compelled to sign any treaty whatsoever, and this will of course, be worse. To save our social- ist republic, the contribution ot three billions is not greatly excessive. By signing the peace we will show the broad masses that while the imperial- ists (Germany, England and France), who have seized Riga and Bagdad, continue to fight, we will develop the socialist republic. Bucharin, Trotsky and Uritsky spoke in favor of “neither peace nor war.” Oppokov (Lomov) favored re- volutionary war. Stalin and Zinoviev lined up completely with Lenin. Len- in pointed out that he did not agree with them in all details, for instance, when Zinoviev_ said that this treaity would for a time weaken the move- ment in western Europe. If we be- lieve that the movement in Germany may be delayed by a_ break in the peace negotiations, then we must sac- tifice ourselves, because the revolu- tion in Germany is more important than our revolution. But the fact is that the movement has not yet start- ed there, and we will go under if we do not sign the peace. Djerjinsky and Kassier argued against Lenin, Sergeyev (Artem) and Sokolnikov supported him. Krestin- sky was in favor of the revolutionary war. Votes, 2 for revolutionary war, 11 against, and 1 abstaining. For the formula of Trotsky, 9, and against, 9. The decision: not to eontinue the war; to continue the peace negotiations with Germany; no definite decisions on tactics, At the Soviet congress,.January 10 to 19, Trotsky made. the report on the question, The left socialist-revo- lutionists. supported the, opinion, “not to sign the peace nor to conduct the war.” In the resolution there was no direct prohibition against signing the treaty on January 29, when the armistice was to end. This resolu- tion, as well as the speech of Com- rade Zinoviev to the congress, brot forth protests from the supporters of revolutionary war. The Petrograd committee and a group of comrades (Osinsky, Piatakov, Bucharin and Preobrazhensky, etc) went to the cen- tral committee with a demand for a party conference within a week. The central committee meeting was held on January 19. Lenin said that it was now necessary to get clarity on the question of revolutionary war, because one group of the party sus- pects the other of diplomatic schemes, There are no such schemes; the de- cision is that either country, if it wants to break off negotiations, must aotify the other seven days before beginning hostilities. The best argu- ment to convince the supporters of revolutionary war would be if they would go to the front where they would be convinced of the impossibil- ity of conducting the war. Lenin was against the party confer- ence, but said that if necessary we must have a regular party convention. By dragging out the peace negotia- tions we give the opportunity for con- tinuing the fraternization at the front, he said. And by making peace and exchanging the prisoners of war, Ger- many will get masses of people who have seen the revolution at work. They will work for the revolution in Germany. Now we are not fully in- formed as to what is going on in Ger- many and we ought to send aviators to Berlin. The peace negotiations were brok- en off on February 10, and ~ Trotsky made a statement at Brest-Litovsk that Russia refuses to sign a forced peace, but Russia will not continue the war and will demobilize, On Feb- ruary 17, there came at the front,the finst signs of the beginning of the Merman offensive. The Germans sent to the world a message that they were undertaking the task of saving the world from Bolshevik infection. The central committee met on Jan- Only two speakers from IN 1918. each faction had the floor, each for five minutes. Trotsky and Bucharin spoke against sending a_ telegram with an offer to sign peace, Zinoviev and Lenin in favor of it. Lenin said: We face a situation which demands immediate action. If the offensive of imperialism goes on, we-are all for the defense. Then the. masses will understand. Not a minute to lose now. Hither for revolutionary war or for. peace negotiations. The proposal of Lenin for peace negotiations was lost by a vote of 7 to 6. The next meeting was held the same day. Trotsky reported on the Germans’ seizure of Dwinaburg, and the rumors about their entering the Ukraine. He proposed to ask the Germans and Austrians about their conditions for peace. Ag a matter of fact, Austria did not take part in the offensive. Lenin said: Now we have neither war nor peace, but we cannot play with war. We are losing numbers of railroad cars and this affects our transporta- tion. Now it is impossible to wait any longer. The situation is very clear. The péople will not under- stand our talk of demobilization if war is going on. The Germans will take everything. Comrade Joffe re- ports from the front that there are no signs of revolution in Germany. If the Germans demand the overthrow of Bolshevism, we have to fight. The proposal of Trotsky is only paper, not politics. We can only demand the continuation of negotiations. The Germans are marching while we are writing paper resolutions and are vas- cillating. History will say that we gave up the revolution. We must sign a peace which does not threaten the revolution. We cannot make war, not even blow up anything. We have helped the revolution in Finland, but cannot do more. There is no time to exchange diplomatic notes, to feel out the Germans. Now it is clear that they can attack. “AtterUritsky) Trotsky, Stalin and Bucharin had had the floor, Lenin continued: The peasant does not want the war and will not go out to fight. A permanent peasant war is a utopia. The revolutionary war must not be a phrase. If you demobilize the army, you cannot conduct the war. The revolution in Germany has not begun and you know that our revolution was not victorious from the beginning. The Germans will now take the rest of Latvia and Bsthonia. They demand the evacuation of Fin- land. This does not mean that the revolution is lost. To say that the demobilization has ceased is to fool the people. We must accept the terms. Lenin’s proposal: To immediately approach the German government with an offer of peace was carried by seven votes. (Lenin, Smilga, Stalin. Sverdlov, Sokolnikov, Trotsky, Zino- tiev.) Against 6, (Uritsky, Joffe, Lo- mov, Bucharin, Krestinsky and Djer- jinsky.) ‘Stacova refrained from vot- ng. Then the content of the wire- vess telegram was discussed. It was decided that it should contain: pro- ‘est (all voting for with two abstain- ing); to say that we are forced by the emergency (all voting for with two abstaining); expression of readi- ness to sign the former terms or ethers (seven for, four against, two abstaining). The left socialist revo- lutionists refused to sign the peace, even at the risk of the revolution’s eollapsing. The note of the council of people's commissars to the German govern- ment was sent February 19. There were three painful days until the an- swer of von Kuhlmann arrived. The German offensive went on all the time. The Russian army withdrew without fighting. The goverment ap- pealed to the people to defend the socialist republic but all attempts to organize resistance were fruitless. The Moscow committee met Febru- ary 20, and protested against the cen- tral committee. Certain comrades de- manded release from responsible posts and declared that they would fight for their opinion outside of the party. These declarations were not published in the press. The central committee met February 22. The sup- porters of revolutionary war under- stood now that they could not make a fight outside the party and claimed the right only within the party. Joffe, Krestinsky and Djerjinsky endorsed the protest but refrained from agita- tion which they regarded as a step towards a split. Trotsky referred to a note from the French military commission about the | readiness of France and England to support Russia in a war against Ger- many. He endorsed it upon the con- © dition of full independence for Rus- sian foreign policy, and resigned as conmnissar of foreign affairs. Buchar- in proposed the refusal of the im- perialist offer. The central commit- tee carried the proposal of Trotsky by six votes against five. Lenin was not present and sent a note: “I vote in favor of taking aid and weapons from the bandits of Anglo-French im- perialism,” At last the answer of Germany came, with an offer of still more un- favorable terms. This was considered by the central committee. Trotsky announced that the forty-eight hour ultimatum would end on February 24 at seven o'clock in the morning. Len- in said that the policy of the revolu- tionary phrase was now at dn end. If. this was to continue he would re- sign from the central committee and from the government. ,For.a reyolu- ; tionary war an army is needed. We have none. That means that we must * accept the terms. Trotsky was in favor of accepting the terms on the ground that war. was impossible if the party was split. After speeches by Stalin and Djerjinsky, Lenin spoke again: “I have been reproached for my ul- timatum. I made it in an emergency, If the members of our central com- mittee speak about an international civil war, it is irony. There is civil war raging in Russia, but not in Ger- many. Our agitation will go on; we agitate not with words but with revo- lution, and we will continue with it. These terms must be signed. If we do not sign these terms, we sign the death warrant of the Soviet power within three weeks. These terms do not affect Soviet power. There is not the least shadow of doubt in my mind. I make my ultimatum with no intention of taking it back. I do not like revolutionary phrases. The Ger- man revolution is not yet ripe. It will still take months. We must ac- cept the terms. If there is a new ultimatum, it will be in a new cir- cumstance, a new situation. For a revolutionary war earnest prepara- tions are needed.” The C. C. decided by seven votes out of fifteen, with four abstaining, to accept the German terms. The Brest- Litovsk treaty was ratified by the party convention on March 6-8 and by the Fourth Soviet congress, March 14-16. The November revolution in Germany annulled the Brest treaty and justified the course of Lenin. Can a “working stiff” write? YES you can ir you Try. Much of the best material in Communist newspapers is written by work- ers themselves. The DAILY WORKER is YOUR ‘paper. Make it the megaphone thru which you tell your fellow workers thruout the world what you think and what you experience. Write for the New Magazine Supplement of The DAILY WORKER. Write on one side of the paper only. 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