The telegram of the peace delegation printed below was occasioned by the following circumstances. On February 25, the Soviet peace delegation arrived at Novoselye station, where a bridge had been blown up. Having no means of communicating directly with the German government, the delegation telegraphed the Council of People's Commissars, requesting that it inform the German government of the delegation's arrival. Lenin's fears concerning vacillations on the part of the delegation apparently stemmed from the fact that members of the delegation G. Ya. Sokolnikov and A. A. Ioffe refused to participate in the delegation and went only after an appropriate decision by the Central Committee of the party. (See "Protocols of the Central Committee of the R.S.-D.R.P. August 1917 — February 1918," pp. 259 – 264).

• RADIOGRAM OF THE PEACE DELEGATION.
[February 25, 1918 *]
Novoselye Station
Peace delegation
To Chicherin, Ioffe, Kamenev, Sokolnikov.

We do not fully understand your telegram. If you are vacillating, this is inadmissible. Send parliamentarians and endeavor to depart as soon as possible to the Germans.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Lenin *.

* In the manuscript at the bottom of the document there is a note: 25/II 7 p.m. Transmitted by Ershov. Received by Kanoch. Ed.