TELEGRAM ON THE GERMAN ADVANCE TOWARD PETROGRAD*
February 27, 1918
The peace treaty has not yet been signed, but the delegation has departed for Brest-Litovsk to sign the terms of peace as adopted by the CEC and the Sovnarkom.
We have received your resolution. German White Guard units—and their combined regular army formations, having joined forces with our own White Guards—are launching a predatory, audaciously aggressive offensive against Petrograd**.
Reports indicate that substantial German forces are advancing in the wake of the vanguard detachments. The majority of our troops are in retreat. The socialist fatherland is in peril. Dvinsk, Reval, Wenden, Wolmar, Minsk, and Pskov have fallen. Nevertheless, morale remains high. Working masses are streaming forth in droves to defend the Soviet Republic. The Bolshevik CEC advocates signing the peace; the “Left” Socialist-Revolutionary CEC, meanwhile, champions a holy war***.
As for gold, we recommend that mining operations be compensated at the cost of production. No special decree on gold has been issued by the Sovnarkom.
Lenin