We, the social-democrats standing on the ground of international socialism, are accused of having traveled to Russia through Germany, that we are traitors to the people's cause, to freedom, and that we have been bribed by the Germans.

Who says this? Who spreads this slander and lies?

Comrade soldiers and workers, those who read the workers' newspapers, know that in No. 32 of the *Izvestia of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies* dated April 5, 1917, a resolution of the Council was published, which was adopted after hearing the report of Comrades Zinoviev and Zurabov on how they managed to get through Germany.

Was any censure passed upon us by the Council? No. What did the Council say? It responded, it demanded from the Provisional Government the adoption of urgent measures for the unimpeded passage of all Russian political émigrés living abroad into Russia.

Then Comrade Lenin pointed out that the Provisional Government had not taken any measures up to the present time, and our comrades, socialists living abroad, could not enter Russia. Why? Simply because England, interested in this fratricidal slaughter, does not want to let our socialist comrades, those socialists who have declared war on war and demand peace, pass through. The English hold their own English socialist{127} in prison, as well as our comrade Khrotsky, who was the chairman of the Council of Workers' Deputies in 1905, and they have arrested and imprisoned him.

But all the governments of capitalists and landowners, who desire this war—French, German, Italian—have acted and continue to act in the same way: all socialists who oppose the war are thrown into prisons and kept there.

Could we, then, travel through England? No. This is why we had to turn to the Swiss socialist Platten, who also advocates for peace.

What came of this?

Lenin and those traveling with him were allowed to pass, but our witness, Comrade Platten, who could have confirmed that we had not entered into any dealings with the Germans, was not allowed to enter Russia.

What is the matter here?

The matter is that the war, which now claims hundreds of thousands of lives per month, is being waged by the capitalists—it is profitable for them, it brings them profit, and therefore, all those who want and strive for peace, the capitalists of all countries, including the robber and plunderer Wilhelm, imprison and spread lies and slander about the socialists.

Further, Comrade Lenin explains in detail the causes and purposes of the war. He shows that the working class and the poor peasants did not want and do not want this or any other war. He elaborates on what the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is and what the Provisional Government, in which sit the manufacturer Guchkov and the landowners, is.

It is necessary to support and assist not the Provisional Government, but the only legitimate government—the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which alone expresses the interests of the people.

*Soldiers' Truth* No. 2, April 18 (May 1) 1917

Printed from the text of the *Soldiers' Truth* newspaper