V. I. Lenin

Letter Over the Publication of “Leaflet on the Capture of Riga” {1}

Thisleaflet cannot, of course, be published legally, but
everything must be done to have it published illegally. It would be
extremely stupid of us to jeopardise our legal newspapers (which are so
terribly important for us, and which it has taken such a great effort to
keep going) and fail to do what we had managed to do in 1912–14: to use
our legal possibilities. We should neither print the article (leaflet)
legally nor spoil it by rewriting it for legal publication.

Itwould be not only stupid but base on our part to confine
ourselves to the legal word, when its freedom has so drastically been
curtailed by the government and is being further curtailed from day to day.

Iam aware that the sluggishness of our Bolsheviks is great and that it will take a great deal of effort to secure the
publication of illegal leaflets. But I shall go on insisting because those
are the demands of life, the demands of the movement.

Wemust issue illegally free leaflets and handbills which are not
curtailed and which speak out at the top of their voice. They should be
signed: “A group of persecuted Bolsheviks”. We can confine ourselves to
that signature or add below in small type: “The group of persecuted
Bolsheviks consists of those Bolsheviks whom the government’s persecution
has forced to work illegally.” Or: “The group of persecuted Bolsheviks
consists of Bolsheviks whom the government’s persecution and withdrawal of
press freedom have forced to publish free leaflets illegally, and to act
outside the framework of the legal Bolshevik Party.”

LEAFLET ON THE CAPTURE OF RIGA

Workers,soldiers and all working people!

Theenemy troops have taken Riga. We have suffered another heavy defeat. The incredible calamities inflicted on the people by
the war are being aggravated and dragged out.

Whyis the war being dragged out? The reason is still a division of the spoils between the capitalist brigands, the point at issue
is still whether the German capitalist predators will retain Belgium,
Serbia, Poland, Riga, etc., whether the British capitalist p a ors [predators] will retain Baghdad and the German colonies they have seized, whether the
Russian capitalist predators will retain Armenia, etc. The Kerensky
government, with the participation and support of the Mensheviks and the
S.R.s, has been brazenly cheating the people, lulling them with empty talk
about their desire for peace, talk which is not binding in any way, while
actually dragging out the predatory war, and refusing to publish the secret
treaties which the tsar concluded with the British and French capitalists
for the enrichment of the Russian capitalists who had been promised
Constantinople, Galicia and Armenia.

Evenunder the Republic, the Russian people are shedding
their blood for the fulfilment of the secret treaties, the predatory
treaties between the capitalists.

Formonths, the “republicans”, Kerensky, Skobelev, Chernov & Co., have been cheating the Russian workers and peasants,
instead of abrogating the secret predatory treaties, instead of offering
precise, clear-cut and fair peace terms to all the belligerent nations.

Kerenskytogether with the Mensheviks and the S.R.s has cheated the people. Only a workers’ government can save the country, and
safeguard it from the losses of the war and the plunder of the capitalist
marauders.

Inconnection with the Riga defeat, the bourgeoisie is already anticipating the introduction of new harsh laws and strict
disciplinary measures against soldiers, workers and peasants. Already the
peasants are being deprived of their grain, while, through the blocking of
workers’ control, the capitalists are allowed to retain their outrageously
high profits and to safeguard their sacrosanct “commercial secrets”,
which shield the bankers and millionaires from exposure.

Meanwhile,the Mensheviks and the S.R.s, disgracefully crawling to the bourgeoisie, continue to give it their support and shout
about the need to “leave off” “all party strife”, which means leaving
full power in the hands of the capitalists, and the country’s continued
plunder by them, and leaving them the “freedom” to protract the war....

Tensand hundreds of thousands of people have died in the
offensive, which the Kerensky, Menshevik, and S.R. government started in
June. Tens and hundreds of thousands will die in the protracted war, so
long as the people continue to tolerate such a government.

Onlya workers’ government can save the country. It alone
will not cheat the people, but will immediately offer to all countries
precise, clear-cut and fair peace terms.

Thebourgeoisie has been trying to intimidate the people
and create a panic, in an effort to get the ignorant people to believe that
peace cannot be offered right away, as this would mean “losing Riga” and
so on. That is cheating the people.

Evenif peace were to be negotiated by the governments, i.e., the governments safeguarding the sacred rights of the capitalists to
their plundered wealth and seizures of foreign lands (annexations), even
then the offer of peace would not mean abandonment of Riga. Riga is the
booty of the German capitalist brigands. Armenia is the booty of the
Russian capitalist brigands. When brigands negotiate on peace they either
each keep their own booty or swap pieces of it. That is how all wars have
ended and will end, so long as power remains in the hands of the
capitalists.

Butwe speak of a workers ’ government which alone can offer just peace terms right away, and this has been stated
hundreds of times by workers and peasants throughout Russia in their
countless man dates and resolutions. These terms are: peace without
annexations, i.e., without the seizure of foreign lands. This means:
neither the Germans nor the Russians will be able forcibly, without the
voluntary consent of the Poles, to integrate Poland or the Latvian
Territory; neither the Turks nor the Russians will be able to seize
Armenia, and so on.

Thesejust peace terms will at once be offered by a workers’ government to all the belligerent countries without
exception. Until this has been done, until precise, clear-cut, formal
proposals of peace have been made, until there has been an overthrow of the
total power of the marauding capitalists, who are making hundreds of
millions on war contracts, and so long as the secret predatory treaties
remain intact—all talk of peace comes to nothing but gross and utterly
shameless deception of the people.

Allthe capitalist governments, including the Kerensky,
S. R. and Menshevik government, have been practising this deception of the people. They have all been mouthing phrases of peace, which are not
binding in any way, no one has been offering any precise peace terms, no
one has abrogated the secret treaties, and in fact everyone has continued
to drag out the criminal predatory war over the capitalists’ profits, which
is mining the peoples.

Downwith the war! Down with the Kerensky, Menshevik and
S.R. government, which is cheating the people, protracting the war,
safeguarding the predatory interests of the capitalists, putting off the
elections to the Constituent Assembly!

Onlya workers’ government supported by the poor peasants
will offer peace, putting an end to the capitalist plunder, and give the
working people bread and freedom. Let every worker and soldier explain to
the people the need to overthrow the Kerensky government and set up a
workers’ government.

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Notes:
{1}
The letter was written after the text of the leaflet, and judging by
its content was intended for the Party Central Committee, The leaflet was
not published. Lenin may have been the author of the leaflet.

p. 443