V. I. Lenin

Russian Revolutionaries’ Trip Across Germany

COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE GROUP {1}

The Russian revolutionaries who arrived in Stockholm on
Friday morning handed to Politiken for publication the following
official communiqué concerning their trip:

Britain,which officially welcomed the Russian revolution with “joy in
her heart”, at once did everything to nullify one of the results
of the revolution—the political amnesty . The British Government
does not allow transit to Russia for Russian revolutionaries who live
abroad and who oppose the war. When this had been proved beyond
doubt—this fact has been confirmed by numerous documents which will be
made public in the very near future, and Russian socialists of all
trends have stated as much in a unanimous resolution—a section of the
Russian Party comrades decided to try to return from Switzerland to Russia
via Germany and Sweden. Fritz Platten , Secretary of the Swiss
Social-Democratic Party and the leader of its Left wing, a well-known
internationalist and anti-militarist, conducted negotiations with the
German Government. For their trip the Russian Party comrades demanded the
right of extraterritoriality (no inspection of passports or
luggage; no officials allowed into their car). The group of those who
travelled could include anyone, regardless of political views, provided the
Russians themselves approved of his candidature. The Russian Party comrades
declared that in return they would demand the release of Austrian and
German civilians interned in Russia.

The German Government accepted the terms, and 30 Russian Party
comrades, men and women, left Gottmadingen on April 9, including
Lenin and Zinoviev , editors of Sotsial-Demokrat , the Central Organ of Russian Social-Democracy; Mikha Tskhakaya ,
editor of
Nachalo {2} in Paris and a founder of the Caucasian
Social-Democratic organisation, who had earlier brought Chkheidze into the
party, and also several members of the Jewish Workers’ Union. Fritz Platten was in charge of the trip and he alone conducted all the
necessary negotiations with the representatives of the German Government
who accompanied the train.

Duringthe three-day crossing of Germany, the Russian Party comrades
did not leave their car. The agreement was strictly honoured by the German
authorities. On the 12th instant, the Russians arrived in Sweden.

Beforetheir departure from Switzerland, a record was made of all the
preparations for the trip. Having studied this document, Henri Guilbeaux , representing the French Social-Democratic group “Vie
Ouvrière” and editor of
Demain {3} a leader of the radical French opposition in Paris,
whose name cannot now be divulged {4} ; Paul Hartstein , a member of the radical German
opposition; M. Bronski , representing Russian-Polish
Social-Democracy, and Fritz Platten signed a statement voicing
their full approval of the way in which the Russian Party comrades had
acted.

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Notes:
{1}
The communiqué was handed by Lenin to the Editorial Board of the
Swedish Left-wing Social-Democratic newspaper, Politiken , and
through it to the representatives of the press and public, upon his arrival
in Stockholm on March 31 (April 13). The newspapers Rech and
Den , having received the text of the communiqué through the
Petrograd telegraph agency, published it on April 5 (18) without the last
paragraph which contained the testimony of the representatives of international Social-Democracy concerning the
organisation of the trip across Germany.

p. 397

{2}
Nachalo (The Beginning)—a newspaper published in Paris from
September 1916 to March 1917 in place of Nashe Slovo . After the
bourgeois-democratic revolution in February 1917 the paper was published
under the title Novaya Epokha (New Epoch).

p. 397

{3}
Demain (Tomorrow)—a literary, publicistic and political
monthly founded by the French internationalist, writer and journalist
H. Guilbeaux; it was published first in Geneva and then in Moscow from
January 1916 to 1919 (with a break from January to April 1917).

p. 398

{4}
A reference to F. Loriot.

p. 398