citizens of the USA help those in need with food, clothing and medication. But this is only a "smoke screen" used to solve much more important tasks conveniently. Exactly on the eve of the October Revolution, the Red Cross mission was giving money to Bolsheviks. Naturally, to be used for the "humanitarian" purposes. In December 1917, these noble Messers handed over to Lenin one million US dollars. Of course, to fight havoc and famine. While nobody has ever given to the White Guard a kopeck either to help the starving people or to restore something. That's why a miracle took place in the citadel of the new revolutionary power: the storm of the universal Bolshevik nationalization didn't touch the Americans. The Petrograd branch of the National City Bank, where the Red Cross mission had its accounts, was the only bank, which had not been subjected to the nationalization in accordance with the respective Decree…[38]
The unofficial emissaries of the British, French and American governments helped Bolsheviks to keep the power, at the same time trying to drag the situation, when the Russian soldiers would be dying for the interests of their Entente "allies" as much as possible. The Bolsheviks used to talk a lot about the working people's interests. It's allegedly for this reason that they have taken the power. And the first step in the working people's interests should be to conclude a Peace Treaty with Germany. But it was not in the interests of the working people and peasants in Russia that they were going to conclude it…
March 1918 is the month when the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. The bloody threads of the Russian strife are so tangled with each other that it's almost impossible to untwine them. If we understand who forced Lenin to conduct the negotiations with the German command in such a strange manner, it will become absolutely clear for us who wanted the representatives of the tsar dynasty to die.
Our way goes in the direction of Brest-Litovsk…
The most difficult thing was not to hurry. To do what he had conceived long ago and what he had decided. To do it in a dignified manner and without haste. To become a part of history in a solid and firm way. Because it was without any doubt a moment in history, which had never been documented before. Nobody has done this before, nobody before him has ever conceived and tried to solve so many questions that impressively and simultaneously without having suggested any decision at all!
Trotsky glanced at those who were present, sighed deeply and started to read up. He was eager to say all of it at once, not giving anybody time to come to their senses. He started quite successfully, having found the right mode and feeling instinctively that he had chosen the right form. He told about soldier-plowmen who had to return to their fields, about soldier-workers and their workshops waiting for them. Then, not having taken a breath, he went over to the main issue:
– In the name of the Sovnarkom, the government of the RSFSR hereby brings to the attention of the governments of the "allied" and neutral countries fighting with us that Russia by waiving the subscription of the annexationist agreement, for its own part, declares belligerency with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria ended.
That was a bomb! The diplomats are taught to maintain composure from the very beginning of mastering this very arduous profession. Then they polish the required skills in the numerous wars of words, thus reaching a total control of their facial expression. Here in Brest the best of the best diplomats were present.
– The Russian troops on all the fronts at the same time are given an order about the total demobilization, – Trotsky gasped and looked at the leaders of the German and Austrian delegations. Richard von Kuhlmann stared at him blankly and one could almost read on his soigne face the request to repeat all that had been said. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria-Hungary Ottokar von Czernin lost self-control for a moment and started to pull his collar.
That's it – the bomb has exploded. Let them sort out the intricacies of the current situation and rack their brains over it.
Our task now is to drag it out to the utterance and not to sign any treaty. To arrange a real political demonstration and to put all the responsibility on the Germans.
We stop the war, demobilize the army, but don't sign any peace treaty – this is the key to success. Nobody has ever done it this way. On the other hand, nobody has ever needed to calm down the population of their own country, to arouse the workers in Germany and Austria, to drag out the signing of the treaty with the Germans and to show their manageability and agreeableness to the OTHER side.
This invention was really ingenious. The Germans would lose anyway. Lenin got it at once.
– That would be the best, – he said, looking thoughtfully sidewards, – if General Hofmann was unable to move his troops against us.
– Then we would win a giant victory with immense consequences, – Trotsky was developing his idea, – If Hohenzollern is able to inflict a blow against us, we will manage to capitulate early enough.
– This is interesting, devilishly interesting, – Ilyich said, narrowing his eyelids, which was always a sign of a powerful thinking process. – Well, we have refused to sign the treaty, and the Germans will undertake an offensive. What will you do then?
– We shall sign the Peace Treaty under the threat of bayonet-points. The whole world will see them "at their best."
– And you will not support the revolutionary war slogan, will you? – Ilyich has narrowed his eyelids again.
– By no means!
– Under these conditions, the experiment might be not that dangerous. But we risk losing Estonia or Latvia.
Lenin made a step aside, and after having thought something over for a moment, added with a sly little laugh:
– A good peace with Trotsky is worth losing Latvia and Estonia! Lenin was repeating this phrase for several days. And his mood was improving. We have found the way out of the deadlock – and that's him, Trotsky, who has found it…
…Somebody in the German delegation coughed loudly. Von Kuhlmann was muttering something unclear. Count von Czernin, who was the first to recollect himself after Trotsky's announcement, suggested calling a meeting in order to discuss the proposal of the Soviet delegation.
But Trotsky was not listening to him. The fat is in the fire. There is nothing to discuss. Nothing to wait for. He could go back to Moscow now…
Chapter 3
Who Lenin and Trotsky Concluded the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk For
Now, by hindsight, I can confirm that our defeat started with the Russian Revolution.
Having received the money from the Germans, Lenin promised them to take Russia out of the war. And then Lenin concluded a peace treaty, which was advantageous for Germany. This is the logic of those who "reckon" our revolution to be the credit of the German intelligence. In fact, nothing could dispel this myth about Bolsheviks, who allegedly were German spies, easier than the main proof, the main accusation against Lenin – the predatory Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. We need to take a closer look at the sequence of events during the negotiations in order to understand whose tunes the leaders of the Russian Revolution were dancing to. Then a lot will be clearer and more understandable…
Which were the outside forces that were playing their game on the territory of the Russian Republic swept over by chaos?[39] These were Germany and the Entente. The historical pulse rate was twice as high as usual at that time. The terrible World War 1 was approaching its end, while nobody wanted to lose. The Entente was ready to put its last but strongest trump card on the table – the military involvement of the USA. The history gave the last chance to Germany too. It was a long chance, but it did exist. This chance supposed immediate peace treaty with Russia, withdrawal of all the troops from the occupied territories, and the speediest troop projection to the west, the main strike against the British and the French forces, before the American forces appeared in the theatre of operation. This was the most important condition of World War 1 ending in a draw for Germany. Germany could not win.
The novelty of the Bolsheviks' peace proposal