V. I.

Lenin

SPEECHES AT A MEETING OF THE C.C. OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.). FEBRUARY 23, 1918 [1]

MINUTES

1

Comrade Lenin believes that the policy of revolutionary
phrases is at an end. If this policy is continued, he will
resign both from the government and from the Central
Committee. An army is needed for a revolutionary war, and it does not exist. That means the terms must be
accepted.

2

Comrade Lenin. Some have reproached me for coming out with an ultimatum. I put it as a last resort. It is a
mockery for our Central Committee members to talk of an international civil war. There is a civil war
in Russia, but not in Germany. Our agitation remains.
We are agitating not by words, but by the revolution.
That too remains. Stalin is wrong when he says that we need not sign. These terms must be signed. If you don’t
sign them, you will sign the Soviet power’s death warrant
within three weeks. These terms do not infringe on the
Soviet power. I have not the slightest hesitation. I put
the ultimatum not in order to withdraw it. I don’t want
revolutionary phrases. The German revolution has not yet
matured. This will take months. The terms must be accepted. If there is another ultimatum later, it will be in a new
situation.

3

Comrade Lenin. I also consider it essential to prepare for a revolutionary war. The treaty can be interpreted,
and we shall interpret it. The demobilisation there is in
a purely military sense. Before the war, we also had an
army. A revolutionary war needs serious preparation. I do not doubt for a second that the masses stand for peace.

4

Lenin proposes the following for voting:
(1) Are the
German proposals to be accepted immediately?
(2) Is a revolutionary war to be prepared for immediately?
(3) Is a poll of Soviet electors in Petrograd and Moscow to be
taken immediately?

5

Comrade Lomov asks whether Vladimir Ilyich allows of silent
or open agitation against signing the peace.

Comrade Lenin replies in the affirmative.

6

In view of the statement by several members of the C.C. that they
are resigning all their responsible Soviet and Party posts, Y. M.
Sverdlov proposes that members of the C.C. remain at their posts until
the Congress, and carry on their agitation within the Party.

Comrade Lenin is in favour of discussing the question raised by Sverdlov as, first, there are three days to go
before the signing and, second, twelve days for ratification.
Consequently, it will be possible to canvass the Party and,
if it comes out against signing, ratification will not follow;
but as time is short today, he suggests postponing the question until tomorrow.

7

Comrade Stalin asks whether resignation from their posts does
not in effect mean withdrawal from the Party.

Comrade Lenin points out that resignation from the C.C.
does not mean withdrawal from the Party.

8

Comrade Lenin suggests that the comrades should leave the sessions during the voting and should not sign any
documents, so as not to bear any responsibility, but should
not give up their work in the Council.

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Notes:
[1]
The meeting of the Party’s Central Committee on February 23,
1918, was called in connection with the even harsher peace terms
which the Germans presented, and the demand that they be
examined within 48 hours. The Left Communists Bukharin, Uritsky,
and Lomov (Oppokov) once again objected to Lenin’s peremptory
demand that the German terms be accepted and peace signed
at once. Trotsky opposed the signing of the peace and declared
that in view of his disagreement with Lenin’s stand he was
resigning from the post of People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
Sverdlov, Zinoviev and Sokolnikov favoured signing the peace.
In his first speech, Stalin proposed that the peace talks should
be resumed and added that “peace does not have to be signed”.
Following Lenin’s criticism of his stand, he spoke out in favour
of signing the peace at once. Lenin, Stasova, Zinoviev, Sverdlov,
Stalin, Sokolnikov and Smilga voted for the immediate signing
of the peace; Bubnov, Uritsky, Bukharin and Lomov (Oppokov)
voted against, and Trotsky, Krestinsky, Dzerzhinsky and Joffe
abstained. After the vote, the group of Left Communists—Bukharin,
Lomov, Bubnov, Pyatakov, Yakovleva and Uritsky—announced
that they were resigning from their responsible Party and
government posts, reserving the right to conduct agitation inside
and outside the Party.