(Comrade Lenin's appearance at the tribune was greeted with a thunder of applause.) Comrades, we are living through a very important moment right now—the conclusion of the imperialist war. After victory over Germany, from November 1918 onwards, all the allies have been occupied with working out the conditions of peace, saying at the same time that German imperialism has died and the peoples have been liberated. The National Assembly has ratified the peace—confirmed the peace after a war in which 10 million people have been killed and 20 million maimed for the sake of bandit objectives, for the sake of plunder.

Now that the Versailles peace has been signed, the Bolsheviks have proven to be right: this peace is worse than the Brest peace, which we concluded at that time with the dying German imperialism. Now it is becoming ever clearer and clearer that this day of the Versailles peace will be a defeat for English, American, and other imperialism. Immediately after the conclusion of peace, the imperialists set about dividing the colonies: England seized Persia, Syria and Turkey are being divided—now the workers of the capitalist countries have had their eyes opened that this was a war of predators. And however curious it may be, reports have been received that Prince Lvov, who still pretends to the role of head of "All-Russian Government," now in Paris, has demanded from the Entente for Russia Constantinople and the straits, justifying this by saying that Russia fought only for their sake—but to his naive demand, of course, they answered that this would only be given to an old, strong Russia.

On July 14th, the day of the storming of the Bastille{34}, French imperialists, in order to deceive the people, appointed a holiday celebrating victory over Germany. But French workers did not fall for this trick, and on July 14th a strike of cafe and restaurant workers was declared—and on this day, when ordinarily all public would be walking about and dancing in the streets, cafes and restaurants were closed, and thus the holiday was spoiled. On July 21st, workers of England, France, and Italy declared a general strike{35}—and one can say that just as the Brest peace for Germany, so the Versailles peace for France and England will end in defeat for the capitalists and victory for the proletariat. The very same movement of the Western proletariat is indicated also by the failures of the first Entente invasion of southern Russia and the second invasion of Siberia. These failures have shown that the Western proletariat is with us.

Indeed, even the peasantry of Siberia and Ukraine itself, which previously championed Kolchak and Denikin, after requisitions, wholesale robbery, and violence, has turned against them. Now it is clear that Kolchak has perished and that victory over Denikin is near; this victory will be completed also by the victory of the proletariat in the West, for in the West the workers' movement everywhere assumes a Bolshevik character, and if Russia with her Soviet power was at first in solitude, then subsequently Soviet Hungary{36} joined her, matters are moving toward the transfer of power to the Soviets in Germany, and the day is not far off when all of Europe will unite into a single Soviet republic, which will destroy the dominion of capitalists throughout the entire world. (Prolonged applause.)

Published July 17, 1919 in the newspaper "Vechernie Izvestiya Moskovskogo Soveta" [Evening News of the Moscow Soviet] No. 293

Printed from the newspaper text, collated with a typewritten copy of the protocol record