Thus
did the petty-bourgeois democracy of the Ukraine, in its struggle
against the working class and the destitute peasants, voluntarily open
the gates to foreign invasion.
At the same time, the Svinhufvud government was seeking the aid of
German bayonets against the Finnish proletariat. German militarism,
openly and before the whole world, assumed the role of executioner of
the peasant and proletarian revolution in Russia.
In the ranks of our party hot debates were being carried on as to
whether or not we should, under these circumstances, yield to the German
ultimatum and sign a new treaty, which--and this no one doubted--would
include conditions incomparably more onerous than those announced at
Brest-Litovsk. The representatives of the one view held that just now,
with the German intervention in the internal war of the Russian
Republic, it was impossible to establish peace for one part of Russia
and remain passive, while in the South and in the North, German forces
would be establishing a regime of bourgeois dictatorship. Another
view, championed chiefly by Lenin, was that every delay, even the
briefest breathing spell, would greatly help the internal stabilization
and increase the Russian powers of resistance. After the whole country
and the whole world had come to know of our absolute helplessness
against foreign invasion at this time, the conclusion of peace would
everywhere be understood as an act forced upon us by the cruel law of
disproportionate forces.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145