The Proletarian Revolution in Russia/Part 6/Introduction
INTRODUCTION
In the problem of peace the Soviet Government met a crucial test. As this problem had been a vital issue in the struggle against the Provisional Government, it was now a vital issue in the activity of the Workers' and Peasants' Government. The great masses of the people yearned for peace; and yet the problem was not as simple as all that. Peace had to be considered in relation to the Revolution, and the struggle for peace must be in accord with the policy of the Revolution.
The first move toward the conclusion of peace was the offer of the Soviet Government to all belligerents to declare an armistice on all fronts and open general peace negotiations. A day or two after this offer was made, Leon Trotzky, Commissaire of Foreign Affairs, delivered an address in Petrograd, to an audience of 12,000 people, in which he said:
"In this building on November 5 I spoke to a popular meeting at which the question of an All-Russian Congress was being discussed, and all voices were raised in favor of Soviet power. The question which has been most emphatically before the people in all the eight months of the Revolution is the question of war and peace, and we maintained that only a power basing its authority directly on the people could put an end to die slaughter. We maintained that the secret treaties must be published, and declared that the Russian people, not having made these treaties, could not be bound to carry out the conquests agreed upon therein. Our enemies answered that this was demagogy. You would never dare, if you were in power, they said, to do this, for then the Allies would oppose us. But we maintained that the salvation of Russia was in peace. We pointed out that the prolonged character of the war was destroying the Revolution, was exhausting and destroying the country, and that the longer we should fight the more complete the slavish position we should then occupy, so that at last we should merely be left the choice of picking a master.
"We desire to live and develop as a free nation; but, for the conclusion of peace, we had to overthrow the power of the bourgeoisie and of Kerensky. They told us we would be left without any supporters. But on November 7 the local Soviet of Petrograd took the initiative upon itself, as well as the responsibility; and, with the aid of the garrison and the workers, accomplished the coup d'etat, appeared before the Congress of Soviets then in session, and said: 'The old power in the country is broken, there is no authority anywhere, and we are obliged to take it into our own hands.' We have said that the first obligation devolving upon the new power is the offering of peace parleys on all fronts, for the conclusion of a peace without annexations or indemnities on the basis of self-determination of peoples, that is, each people, through popular elections, must speak for itself the decisive word: Do they wish to enter into a confederation with their present sovereign state, enjoying full autonomy under it. or do they wish to separate themselves from it and have full independence? We must put a stop to a condition in which the strong can, by force of arms, compel the weak to assume what conditions of life the strong may desire: every people, be it great or small, must be the master of its own fate. Now, this is the program not of a party, not of a Soviet, but of the whole people, excepting the predatory party which dares call itself the Party of Popular Liberty, but which in reality is an enemy of popular liberty, fighting against peace with all its might, and against which we have declared our implacable hostility—with the exception of this party, the whole Russian people has declared that it will not tolerate the use of force. And this is the spirit in which we issue our peace decree.
"On the day on which we passed this decree, Krasnov's Cossacks rebelled and danger threatened the very existence of the Soviet power. Yet, hardly had they been defeated and the Soviet authority strengthened, than our first act was to turn to the Allied and German authorities, simultaneously, with a proposition for peace parleys on all fronts. Our enemies, the Cadets and their appendages, said that Germany would ignore us—but it has turned out otherwise, and we already have the assent of Germany and Austria-Hungary to the holding of peace parleys and preliminary peace on the Soviet formula. And even before that, as soon as we obtained the keys to the case of secret diplomatic correspondence, we published the secret treaties, thus fulfilling an obligation that we had assumed toward the people when we were still an insignificant opposition party. We said then, and we say now, that a people cannot shed their blood and that of their brothers for treaties that they have not themselves concluded, have never read or even seen. To these words of mine the adherents of coalition made reply: Do not speak to us in this tongue: this is not the Modern Circus [a large hall for mass-meetings in Petrograd, where this particular address of Trotzky was delivered]. And I answered them, that I have only one tongue, the tongue of a Socialist, and I shall speak in this tongue to the country and to you, to the Allies and the Germans.
"To the adherents of coalition, having the souls of hares, it seemed that to public the secret treaties was equivalent to forcing England and France to declare war on us. But they did not understand that their ruling circles throughout the duration of the war have been talking the people into the idea that the treacherous, cruel enemy is Germany, and that Russia is a noble land; and it is impossible within twenty-four hours to teach them the opposite. By publishing the secret treaties we have incurred the enmity of the governing classes in those countries, but their peoples we have won to our support. We shall not make a diplomatic peace; it will be a people's peace, a soldiers' peace, a real peace. And the outcome of our open policy was clear: Judson appeared at the Smolny Institute, and declared, in the name of America, tint the protest to the Dukhonin staff against the new power was a misunderstanding, and that America had no desire to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia; and, consequently, the American question is disposed of.
"But there is another conflict that is not yet settled I must tell you about it. Because of their fight for peace, the English Government has arrested and is now detaining in concentration camp George Tchicherin, [who was released, and subsequently became Commissaire of Foreign Affairs in the Soviet Government] who has devoted his wealth and his knowledge to the peoples of Russia, England, Germany and France, and the courageous agitator of the English workers, the emigrant Petroff. I communicated in writing with the English Embassy, saying that Russia was now permitting the presence within her borders of many wealthy Englishmen, who are engaged in counter-revolutionary conspiracies with the Russian bourgeoisie, and that we were therefore all the more disinclined to permit Russian citizens to be thrown into English prisons; that, consequently, all those against whom there were no criminal charges should be liberated at once. Failure to comply with this request will mean that we shall refuse passports to English subjects desiring to leave Russia. The People's Soviet Power is responsible for the well-being of the entire people; wherever its citizens may be, they shall enjoy its protection. If Kerensky spoke to the Allies like a shop-attendant to his boss, we are prepared to show that we shall live with them only on terms of equality. We have more than once said that anyone who counts on the support and friendship of the free and independent Russian people must approach them with respect for them and for their human dignity.
"As soon as the Soviets found themselves with power in their hands, we proposed peace parleys in the name of the Russian people. We had a right to speak in the name of the people, for everything that we proposed, as well as the whole program of the People's Commissaires, consists of doctrines and propositions voted on and passed in hundreds and thousands of Soviets, factories and works, that is, by the entire people. Our delegation will speak an open and courageous language: do you agree to the holding of an immediate peace conference on all the fronts? And if they say. Yes, we shall ask them to invite their governments and allies to send their delegates. Our second question will be: Do you mean to conclude peace on a democratic foundation? If we are forced to make peace alone, we shall declare to Germany that it is inadmissible to withdraw their troops from the Russian front to some other front, since we are offering an honorable peace and cannot permit England and France to be crushed by reason of it.
"Secret diplomacy shall not be tolerated for a single moment during the negotiations. Our flyers and our radio-service will keep all the nations informed of every proposition we make, and of the answers they elict from Germany. We shall be sitting in a glass house, as it were, and the German soldiers, through thousands of newspapers, in German, which we shall distribute to them, will be informed of every step we take and of every German answer.
"We say that Lithuania and Courland must themselves decide the question, with whom they will join forces, and that Germany must, not in words only, but in deeds, heed the free expression of the will of the peoples. And if, after these frank and honorable declarations, the Kaiser refuses to make peace, if the banks and exchanges, which profit by the war, destroy our peace, the nations will see on whose side is the right, and we shall come out the stronger, the Kaiser and the financiers the weaker. We shall feel ourselves to be not the vanquished, but the victors, for peace hath its victories no less renowned than war. For a nation that has assumed power after having cast out its enemies, such a nation is victorious. We know no other interests than those of the people, but these interests are identical with the interests of the peoples of all nations. We declare war upon war. The Czars are afraid of the conclusion of peace, are afraid that the peoples will ask for an accounting for all the great sacrifices they have made and the blood they have shed. Germany, in agreeing to peace negotiations, is heeding the will of her people; she knows that they want her to answer, and that if she does not answer the Russian Revolution will become the ally of the German people. France and England ought to come to the discussion on the conclusion of peace, but If they do not, their own peoples, who will know of the course of the transactions, will cast them out with rods. The Russian representatives at the peace table will be transformed into plaintiffs; the peoples will sit in judgment on their rulers. Our experience of the manner in which the rulers have treated their peoples in the forty months of the war has not been wasted. In your name we shall say to our brothers: Understand that in the moment you turn your revolutionary strength against your bourgeoisie, not one Russian soldier will shoot! This promise will be given in your name, and you will keep it."
The war was destroying the Revolution. Peace was a central problem of the Revolution. The moderates' policy of trying through diplomacy to influence the Entente governments collapsed, and collapsed miserably. The collapse was inevitable, and it did not even develop revolutionary reserves for action in the days to come; the class struggle method would, at least, develop these reserves. As a realistic necessity alone, peace was indispensable.The country was disorganized industrially; and should all energies be concentrated upon war, internal reconstruction could not be put through, the disorganization would become worse. Considering that war to-day is more a matter of the internal front than of actual fighting, less a military problem than a problem of intensive production, the economic disintegration prevailing in Russia was the decisive factor in war and peace. The Russian army was bled white, having had 8,000,000 casualties due to the criminal corruption of the Czar's regime. The disintegration of the army and the disorganization of industry were produced by the autocratic regime, and completed by the regime of Kerensky. When the Bolsheviki assumed power, virtual chaos was their inheritance.
In spite of all these disadvantageous conditions, the Bolsheviki made a bold and magnificent attempt to secure a general peace, in accord with Socialist policy. The policy of the Bolsheviki on peace may be summarized as follows:
The slogan of a "democratic peace" is a mockery, if the peace is to be concluded by bourgeois governments; a peace concluded in this way, on no matter what terms (even on terms of no annexations and r.o indemnities,) is in fact an imperialistic peace fundamentally, if it is not accompanied by the overthrow of Imperialism. A "democratic peace" means a peace largely on the status quo ante, an imperialistic status. Moreover, the prolongation of the war, and its sacrifices, compelled each government to strain for annexations and indemnities; only proletarian pressure could secure even an ordinary "democratic peace." All nations have imperialistic objectives of one sort or another, and military victory will reveal these objectives. Socialism, accordingly, aims at a revolutionary peace, a peace concluded by the revolutionary proletariat through its overthrow of Imperialism in all belligerent nations, or through the acquisition of revolutionary reserves for action in the days to come. A peace of this character means the revolutionary waging of the international proletarian class struggle, the incessant fight for the proletarian revolution, which was given impetus by the proletarian revolution in Russia. The Bolsheviki, accordingly, determined to use their struggle for peace to develop the action of the proletariat in all belligerent nations, to appeal to the proletariat, particularly the proletariat of Germany, to act against their imperialistic governments for the Social Revolution. The struggle for peace was a means to an end: the proletarian revolution in Europe. The proposal for an armistice on all fronts was a means of developing proletarian action, by placing the question of peace before the people, getting the soldiers out of the trendies, encouraging fraternizing, and giving the soldiers opportunity to discuss and act on the problem of peace.
A revolutionary peace was an indispensable condition for the proletarian revolution in Russia. The moderates in the Soviets sensed this fact, hence the appeals to the German proletariat to revolt; but their policy, in accord with the Socialist moderates in the other belligerent nations, directly hampered the revolutionary action of the proletariat by arousing faith in diplomacy and in pro-government, imperialistic conferences at Stockholm and Paris. How could the proletariat of Germany be expected to revolt against its government, when rveolotionary Russia was directed by a bourgeois government that could not conceal its imperialistic bias? That secretly plotted war and conspired against the Revolution? It was a psychological and political contradiction. In Germany, where bourgeoisie and autocracy are one, a revolution would from the start have to be a proletarian revolution. The first requisite for a real appeal to the proletariat to revolt was the complete succss of the proletarian revolution in Russia. This was a crucial problem of revolutionary Russia: either the proletarian revolution in Europe, or the acute danger of a collape of revolutionary hopes in Russia,—at the least, immensely complicating its problems of reconstruction and existence. The war was precipitated by Imperialism—it must be converted into a struggle against Imperialism; the war was directed against the proletariat, the proletariat must transform it into the Social Revolution.
Throughout the course of the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, Trotzky and the Bolsheviki acted in accord with their revolutionary policy; they used Brest-Litovsk as a forum from which to address the proletariat and the Socialism of the world, particularly the Socialism and the proletariat of Germany. It was clear, from the start, that revolutionary Russia could not secure a just peace without the action of the belligerent proletariat.
But the proletariat did not immediately respond. And the proletariat did not respond largely because moderate Socialism, which dominated the stage, refused to accept the policy of revolutionary Russia, was part and parcel of the nationalistic and imperialistic forces of its own national bourgeoisie. Instead of developing proletarian action, moderate Socialism held the proletariat in leash—acted with imperialistic governments against the proletariat.
Austria and Germany accepted the proposal for an armistice, but the Allies refused, not even answering. This was a fatal error, which was intensified by the subsequent refusal to enter the general peace ngotiations, thereby permitting Germany to wreak her brutal purposes upon Russia. Nor did the Socialist movement respond to the opportunity of the armistice: on the whole, international Socialism, corrupt, hesitant, bourgeois, committed to a government policy, did nothing while revolutionary Russia in isolation struggled against desperate odds for a workers' peace.[1]
The Soviet proposal was that general peace negotiations would be opened on the basis of an acceptance of the formula "no annexations and no indemnities." Austria and Germany accepted, but it was soon made clear by their plenipotentiaries that they were determined to interpret the formula to promote their imperialistic interests. The German proposal intensely brutal and hypocritical, was that self-determination had been already accomplished in the Russian territory occupied by Germany and Austria, by means of governments—set up by Germany and completely under German domination! Trotzky exposed the hypocricy of this contention, and insisted that all German troops should evacuate the occupied provinces while a plebiscite was taken. The Austro-German diplomats refused. The Bolshevik representatives carried on a brilliant struggle, but the Austro-Germans were obdurate. The negotiations were temporarily broken off, while the armistice was extended for another period.
During this time, when the Bolsheviki at Brest-Litovsk were making it amply clear that they were straggling for a rust international peace, the Allied governments did nothing to support their efforts. The imperialistic policy of the bourgeois governments clashed with the revolutionary policy of the proletarian government.
In the meanwhile, the Bolsheviki were carrying on an intensive revolutionary propaganda in the armies of Germany and Austria, and in Germany and Austria itself. Through their bureau of International Propaganda, they printed millions of copies of newspapers in the German and Austrian language, which were circulated by means of aeroplanes, etc. This propaganda asumed enormous proportions, and seriously affected the morale of the Central Powers' troops,—how seriously only time can tell. At one of the sessions of the peace congress General Hoffman protested against the propaganda of the Bolsheviki, to which Trotzky retorted that neither the conditions of the armistice nor the character of the peace negotiations limited freedom of speech or press! An intensive propaganda was also carried on among the Austro-German war prisoners in Russia, resolutions were adopted repudiating the policy of their governments, and pledges made to fight in the cause of revolutionary Russia.
Upon the resumption of negotiations, Germany and Austria insisted upon their proposals, which amounted to annexations of the most brutal sort. A great strike movement, verging almost on a revolution, broke loose in Austria during the middle of January. In one district alone 90,000 workers went on strike, and the total must have been near a million. It was a spontaneous mass movement of a revolutionary character,—the dynamic mass action out of which revolutions arise. But the reactionary administrations of the imperialistic unions and of the government Social Democratic Party acted against the strikes. When the news of the strikes reached Trotzky, he badgered the Teuton diplomats into an adjournment of the sessions for a week, hoping that time would deepen the scope of the strikes. The great strike movement broke loose against the Socialist Party leaders, who were taken by surprise, but who immediately placed themselves at its head and led it astray. The movement spread to Germany, where hundreds of thousands of workers were involved, but where the unions acted against the strike; as the Berlin Vorwaerts pleaded, "we don't want a revolution, we simply want the government to mediate its differences with the strikers."
The Scheidemann faction preached incessantly against a revolution, using the Russian situation to promote an imperialistic German peace. Moderate Socialism again betrayed the proletariat and the revolution, openly and shamelessly doing the vile counter-revolutionary work of their imperialistic governments. The unions refused to pay strike benefits and ordered the strikers back to work; the dominat moderate Socialism used its moral influence to terrorize the strikers and potential rebels into submission. he workers, betrayed and maligned by the very movement that should have directed them to victory, were beaten sullenly back.[2]
The success of the Soviet peace policy did not depend alone upon the response of the German proletariat, but of all the belligerent proletariat, an international response. The Soviet's appeal to the Entente proletariat may be characterized by the following quotation from a declaration to British Labor issued by Maxim Litvinoff, Soviet Ambassador to Great Britain:
"Our revolutionary propaganda among the German soldiers on the western front and among the prisoners of war is undermining the strength of German autocracy and militarism more effectively than military victories could, and has already provoked a strong peace movement in Germany and Austria. But these endeavors meet with opposition not only from the capitalists in Russia, but from capitalists all the world over. The Russian Revolution, with its dash and vigor, has become the focus of the hatred of international Capitalism, and now the prolongation of the war, in addition to its former imperialistic aims, has another aim—to crush the Soviets and the Revolution.
"Realize this! The further prolongation of the war must lead to the defeat of the Russian Revolution and to the triumph of militarism and reaction everywhere. An immediate, just, democratic peace on its principle of no annexations, no indemnities, will spell the downfall of militarism in all countries. This peace can be achieved if only labor will speak in full voice and act with all its might. Workers of Britain, peace is in the balance! The Russian workers appeal to you to join them in their efforts to turn the scale. Labor—speak!"
But British labor did not speak. Socialism in Italy made a moral response, Deputy Morgari declaring in the Chamber that Italian Socialists favored an immediate general peace not only on the Bolshevist terms, but by Bolshevist methods. The French Soicalists responded by ignoring the determined efforts of the Soviets for a general peace and covertly hurling slanders at the Bolsheviki. The Socialist group in the Chamber of Deputies issued a resolution addressed to the Russian Socialists, bearing twenty-eight signatures, among them Albert Thomas, Jules Guesde, Jean Longuet, Marcel Cachin, Compere-Morel and Sembat, from "which we quote:
"To-day it is with deep pain that we have seen some of you enter upon pour-parlers which may lead to a separate peace. Such a consummation would not only permit the Central Empires to prepare for, or to actually achieve, a military victory and finally to dictate their conditions in the name of force, it would even serve—it already serves—the machinations of all the enemies of democracy and Socialism in the world by permitting them to invoke the Russian Revolution as an example of disintegration and of demoralization.
"Has not Germany, followed by her allies, until now declined to make known her war aims? There is in war a terrible logic. The Soviets realize this, for, while affirming their desire for a general peace, they said: 'Let us ask Germany to make known her war aims and the German Socialists to have a revolution, just as we have.'
"The Soviets obtained neither one answer nor the other. Nevertheless, peace can be nothing but just, nothing but lasting. It can be both only by the democratic will of the people. A separate peace cannot be that. … It would be a moral disaster the burden of which would be borne everywhere by international Socialism as a perfectly natural consequence.
"But most of all, Russia should find at the earliest possible moment a stable government whence shall arise the new life. A Constituent Assembly alone can furnish it; it alone can end the conflicts which unseat dictators without giving them authority and security for the morrow; it alone can say that it governs for the people by the people. …
"And we French Socialists who find in the seriousness of events and in the consciousness of our responsibilities the inspiration for these friendly declarations, we do not hesitate to say to you: We also realize the extent of our duties. French Socialists will do nothing to weaken the resistance of the army and people of France, but rather strengthen the morale of both, and forcefully implore the allied governments that they clearly indicate by their actions their oft-repeated declarations that they are fighting because they are attacked and that they would obtain no peace other than that of right. Thus would a promise of revision of the aim of war be imposed upon the governments."
But the French Socialists did not "impose" a revision of the aims of the war upon the governments. They promised revolutionary Russia the same illusory hope against which the masses had revoked, and in the accomplishment of which Kerensky has egregiously failed. Moreover, it wasn't a matter of "revision of aims" or of government promises, each of which are inconsequential; the character of the peace will be determined by class power, by the relations of classes. The attitude of the French Socialists strengthened the power of the imperialistic bourgeoisie and weakened the revolutionary power of the proletariat. The proletarian class struggle alone, waged aggressively against all Imperialism, is the instrument with which to secure a peace of understanding between the workers. "It is with deep pain," says the French Socialist resolution, "that we have seen some of you enter upon pour-parlers that may lead to a separate peace." The resolution has the grace of not accusing the Bolsheviki of desiring or planning a separate peace. The offer for an armistice was on all fronts; the invitation to a peace conference was for general peace negotiations; the Soviet delegation at Brest-Litovsk submitted proposals as a basis for a general peace; it was largely the refusal of the Entente governments to participate, an abstention justified by the moderate Socialists, which provided Germany its opportunity to convert the conference into one for a separate peace. And all through the conference, even after it had become one for a sparate peace, the Bolsheviki emphasized the necessity for a general peace, appealed to the Socialist conscience in all the belligerent nations for revolutionary action, and did not even receive moral support; aye, were reviled and slandered unmercifully by moderate Socialism.[3]
In their isolation, abandoned equally by the Entente governments and by the Socialist proletariat, the Bolshevik: at Brest-Litovsk were overwhelmed. They still presented a united front, attacking bitterly the demands of the imperialistic Austro-German representatives, when their front was morally broken by the treachery of the Ukrainian delegation. The governing body of the Ukraine, the Rada, bourgeois in spirit and personnel, and composed largely of moderate Socialists, afraid of the spread of the proletarian revolution, secretly agreed to accept Germany's terms in return for Germany's offer to assist the Rada with troops in retaining control of the country. The Ukrainian issue was a crucial one, and the Soviet Government poured Red Guards into the Ukraine which, in co-operation with the local Red Guards, fought gallantly to overthrow the bourgeois, pro-German Rada. A similar situation prevailed in Finland, where the Workers' Government used all its resources to defeat the bourgeoisie under General Mannerheim. In both the Ukraine and Finland the Bolsheviki were defeated, due to the intervention of Austro-German troops called for by the bourgeoisie. Finland and the Ukraine accepted German tutelage, betrayed the peace struggle of revolutionary Russia, because the bourgeoisie considered the defense of its private property and class interests the supreme consideration. While the depised proletariat refused to accept Germany's terms, the bourgeoisie accepted enthusiastically.—Treason has a fatal logic. The Ukrainian bourgeois-"Socialist" Rada was finally dispersed by German bayonets, and a dictatorship established, Finland became a colony of Germany, and in both states the revolutionary proletariat waged a relentless struggle against its own bourgeoisie and German Imperialism.
The sessions of the Brest-Litovsk Conference reveal clearly the imperialistic duplicity of Germany, as they equally reveal the lofty principles and international spirit of the Bolsheviki. The correspondent of the London Daily News described one of the sessions as follows:
"The Russian delegation, acting on unequivocal instructions from the Bolshevik authorities, took up an uncompromising attitude. They said self-definition of nationalities in Poland, Courland, Esthonia and Lithuania was impossible until the last German soldier had left the country. Further, they jeered the Germans, asking whether they intended to take Petrograd and feed 3,000,000 starving folk or to disarm a revolutionary country in which every workman had a rifle. They also asked what the Germans proposed to say to their own democracy, which protested a couple of months ago against the proposed annexation of Poland and Lithuania."
The Central Committee of the All-Russia Soviets, after hearing Trotzky's repudiation of "Germany's hypocritical peace proposals," and his declaration that it might be necessary to defend the Revolution, adopted a resolution denouncing "the dominant parties in Germany," which "compelled by a popular movement to grant concessions to the principles of a democratic peace, nevertheless are trying to distort this 1dea in the sense of their own annexationist policy." The resolution further said:
"We now declare that the Russian Revolution remains faithful to the policy of internationalism.
"We say to the people of Germay, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
"Under your pressure your Governments have been obliged to accept the motto of no annexations and no indemnities, but recently they have been trying to carry on their old policy of evasions. Remember that the conclusion of an immediate democratic peace will depend actually and above all on you. All the peoples of Europe look to you, exhausted and bled by such a war as there never was before, that you will not permit the Austro-German imperialists to make war against revolutionary Russia, for the subjection of Poland, Lithuania, Courland and Armenia."
No one may accuse the Bolshevik: of insincerity, their defeat was due to the inaction and treason of others "The Bolshevik," declared the German press in surprise, "talk like conquerors." And well they might history will be their justification they will yet conquer! The Germans wanted peace on the basis of the war map, the Bolsheviki, peace in accord with the general principles of international democratic reconstruction,—which the Allies accepted "in words," but did not act to establish in deeds. They exposed the Germans, they appealed to Socialism and the proletariat, and there being no response the hopeless struggle was doomed to defeat. Trotzky refused to sign the infamous peace, his attitude being this "We announce the terminatron of the war and demobilization without signing any peace. We declare we cannot participate in the looting war of the Allies nor can we sign a looting peace. The fate of Poland, Lithuania and Courland we place upon the responsibility of the German working people." This expedient of a “"declared peace" for a time puzzled the Germans. It was an opportunity for the Socialists of Germany to act but the opportunity was not used. In answer to a question, "What will you do if we do not sign your peace?" General Hoffman replied “The German troops will advance and immediately take Reval." Now came the most infamous action of Germany, the march of her troops into a country which was defenseless and wanted peace, a crime acquiesced in by the German majority Socialists and the proletariat. This invasion aroused Russia, which mobilized its soldiers, workers and Red Guards against the invaders.
The supreme decision of war and peace was up to the All-Russian Soviet Congress, which convened in Moscow on March 12. More than half of the 1,765 delegates were against ratification of the peace treaty, and in favor of a "holy war," a revolutionary war against Germany, including many prominent members of the Bolsheviki, who in January had organized independently as the Communist Party. Lenin, however, was in favor of accepting the treaty, in spite of its onerous terms, on the ground that Russia needed a respite for the work of reconstruction, during which preparations could be made for resuming the war against German Imperialism on terms that were not hopeless, and acting to develop the proletarian revolution in Germany.
The discussion of the treaty in the Congress was extraordinarily violent, but Lenin's dominating personality and relentless logic carried conviction, and the treaty was ratified by an overwhelming majority. Germany imposed upon Russia an indemnity of 6,000,000,000 rubles, and virtually annexed 780,000 square kilometres of former Russian territory, including 56,000,000 inhabitants.
During the course of the peace negotiations, the German majority Socialists declared they would break with the Government should it impose an annexationist peace; and after such a peace was imposed, by means extraordinarily brutal and infamous, these "Socialists" did not break with the Government; indeed, they did not even vote against ratification in the Reichstag, abstaining from voting. On February 26, in a Reichstag address, Scheidemann had said: "Within a few days the curtain will fall upon the fifth act of that great tragedy, the Russian Revolution. What has happened was not the intention of the Social Democracy. Before the whole world we declare that the policies that were used against Russia were not our policies." Answering this hypocrisy, Dr. Hans Block, Independent Socialist, in an article Pontius Pilate Scheidemann, said: "There is something in the bitter tears of the Apostle Peter, in the repentance and suicide of the traitor Judas, that appeals to us. But in this great human tragedy of the past, neither the cowardly St. Peter, nor even the faithless Judas Iscariot are as contemptible as that great Pontius Pilate, the original cold 'politican,' who 'washed his hands in innocence.' Human repentance and human grief awaken sympathy, even for the faithless. But cold, self-satisfied self-justification can arouse only hatred and disgust. 'Before the whole world we declare that the policies that were used against Russia were not our policies.' They have voted for war loans, and will continue to vote for them; they have supported the government, and will continue to support it; they have sworn allegiance to the annexationist majority bloc,—but they wash their hands in innocence and declare, 'What has happened in Russia was not the intention of the German Social Democracy.'"
After this acceptance of an infamous peace, the revolutionary Soviet Government set itself to the task of reconstruction, industrial, political and military. Earnest efforts were made to organize a new army; Trotzky accepted the post of Commissaire of War; and the All-Russian Congress in July decided to introduce conscription, the unanimous opinion being that, considering the international situation, an active, efficient army was necessary to preserve the Revolution against any and all aggression. Imperialistic Germany and revolutionary Russia each realized that the "peace" was temporary, and each awaited the ultimate decision that was pending. Germany assumed that she could hold on the west, convince the Allies of the futility of Victory over the Central Powers, and thus be able to retain the conquests in the East. Revolutionary Russia assumed that during the period of the prolongation of war, she would recuperate, economically and militarily, and then strike a blow against Imperialism either at the moment of a German Revolution, or independently when Germany was exhausted by the sanguinary struggle on the western front.
In accepting the German peace, revolutionary Russia met its first defeat,—a defeat for the cause of the proletariat throughout the world, a defeat in the great struggle for the only just peace that can end the war—a general peace of understanding by the workers, a democratic peace made and enforced by the proletariat in all belligerent nations. Not one title of the blame for this defeat, however, lies with the revolutionary proletariat of Russia. The bulk of the blame for the temporary defeat of the peace policy of revolutionary Russia lies with the Socialism and the proletariat of Germany and Austria, and the rest lies with the Socialism and the proletariat of France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States,—for nowhere was there an adequate response to the appeal of revolutionary Russia to the proletariat of the world.
But the struggle is not at an end. The Revolution is supreme, the power of the Soviets intact. Should the Soviets retain supremacy, the struggle will break out anew between the Revolution and all Imperialism, between the Revolution and German Imperialism in particular. The international revolution of the proletariat is a process in which temporary defeat simply paves the way for ultimate victory. In ending the military war against German Imperialism, the Soviet Republic started a new war—a class war, a war of propaganda to bring the proletarian revolution in Germany and Austria.
Should the Soviets have co-operated with the Allies in an imperialistic war upon Germany? But this was a political and psychological impossibility. The Allies flirted all along, and still flirt, with the counter-revolutionary forces in Russia; they supported Kerensky, sympathized with Kornilov, and refused to recognize the Soviet Government. They refused to participate in general peace negotiations. When Germany was ruthlessly invading Russia, after Trotzky had refused to sign the peace treaty, did the Allies offer aid to the Soviets? No! Great Britain, France and Italy agreed that Japan should "intervene" in Russia to "restore order"—the identical pretext used by Germany to justify its infamous invasion. This attitude of the Allies morally strengthened Germany in its aggression. "Why," said the German imperialists to the workers, "even our enemies refuse to recognize the Soviet Government and the Bolsheviki, even they are considering the necessity of intervening in anarchic Russia. Our invasion is not an invasion, it is a necessary measure in the interest of civilization." The proletarian revolution must expect bitter opposition from international Imperialism; and the history of revolutionary Russia's struggle for peace clearly illustrates that the proletariat must rely upon itself alone, that all non-proletarian forces are arrayed against it. Only through uncompromising class struggle can the proletariat conquer. True enough, this class struggle temporarily weakened Russia as against Germany, but this was unavoidable in order to crush the imperialists and counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie; and it must always be borne in mind that the overwhelming bulk of the territory annexed by Germany was conquered during the regime of the Czar. Revolutionary Russia will yet, through the class struggle conquer imperialistic Germany; the international proletariat will yet, through the class struggle, conquer all Imperialism.
The material comprised in Part Six consists of a pamphlet by Trotzky on Peace (Chapters I to V), a speech by Trotzky in February, Lenin's "theses" on peace read to the March All-Russian Soviet Congress, and an article by Lenin appearing in Pravda in April.
- ↑
Not even the Socialist Party of the United States, which declared against the war, acted upon the armistice proposal. The Socialist Propaganda League alone in this country approved the armistice: at a mass meeting held in New York City December 20. it adopted the following resolution, which had been preceded for a month by a leaflet agitation:
"The workers of the world demand an immediate general peace, a peace that shall alter the imperialistic status quo ante in accord with the international aspirations of the revolutionary proletariat of Russia.
"The governments of the imperialistic belligerents are determined upon a continuation of the war in the interest of their particular Imperialism; the proletariat alone as a class is interested in and can hasten an immediate peace that shall promote civilization and progress.
"The class interests of the American proletariat make necessary the adoption of an immediate program of action:
"1.—We demand that the government accept the proposal of the de facto government of Russia for the immediate conclusion of an armistice on all belligerent fronts.
"2.—We demand that the government insist that Great Britain, France and Italy shall equally accept this armistice.
"3.—We demand that the negotiations for an armistice shall not include the discussion of peace terms, the discussion and formulation of those terms being left to the peoples of each belligerent nation.
"4.—We call upon the class conscious workers to prepare the organization of a proletarian peace congress, which shall discuss our action in co-operation with the international proletariat and in accord with the peace principles of revolutionary Socialism.
"The proletariat must organize as an independent factor in the process of securing peace, separate and distinct from all other groups. The proletariat alone is international in its interests, and it alone can determine the conclusion of an international peace upon the formula of revolutionary Russia.
"We affirm our solidarity with the proletariat of Russia, and express our fraternal appreciation of its intrepid class conscious activity."
- ↑ After the strike movement was destroyed. Dr. Drews. Prussian Minister of the Interior, said the strikes served Germany's enemies, and accused the Social Democratic Party of encouraging the strikers. To this the Berlin "Vorwaerts," organ of the government Socialists, answered by quoting Prime Minister von Dandle of Bavaria as having thanked the Social Democratic leaders in a speech in the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies for "assuring control of the strike movement, as thereby the strike would be forced into normal channels."
On the other hand, revolutionary Socialism in Germany distributed secretly many revolutionary appeals, of which this is one:
"The German government has demonstrated by means of the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, that it wishes to throw dust in the eyes of the masses and to aggravate the death struggles of the warring peoples. Its pretended love for peace is merely a mask. Its statement that a partial peace would bring us nearer to a general peace, is a lie and an imposture.
"A separate peace with Russia would increase the fury of the war on the other fronts and, consequently, increase the slaughter. The sufferings of the German people would not be abated.
"It becomes the duty of the German working class to battle unceasingly for a general peace.
"There is only one means of putting an end to the present butchery and misery of the workers—the overthrow of the government and the bourgeois class, in the way that this was done in Russia, It is solely by mass effort, by the revolt of the masses, by a mass strike, paralyzing all economic activity and all war industries; it is solely by a revolution and the setting up of a people's republic in Germany by and for the working class, that an end may be put to the murder of the toilers of all lands, that a general peace can be achieved."
- ↑ Trotzky, answering the French Socialists, declared: "Experience has shown that the war cannot be solved by force of arms. On the military field we are now as far from a decision as we were in the first days of the war. Notwithstanding French Socialists having voted all war credits, the government never showed any consideration. A well-defined Statement of war aims has been denied, and they were refused passports to international conferences. The attitude of French Socialism is contrary to Socialist principles. After having passed through the degradations the French Socialists have submitted to, they fall to have the right to judge Russian Bolshevism.—We have done our share to prepare a general peace, and by no means a peace at any price. Our preparations are based on a democratic foundation on which all Socialist countries can unite—What have you done in Paris? Paris has answered with a Clemenceau cabinet. The methods of Clemenceau do not lead towards peace. This certainly must be clear, after all, to the French proletariat. The French proletariat has to demand from its government participation in the peace negotiations—There certainly is some difference in the attitude of one capitalist country and that of another towards the Russian revolutionary government. Some want to crush the Revolution right away, others want to use the Revolution for their own damnable purposes and then stab it in the back."