V. I. Lenin

Source: ru:LS/v37;es:MT
Translated: machine translation (DeepSeek) from the Russian; AI-translated.

I AM STALIN

Serious events are taking place in the Ukraine. On April 28, during a session of the Rada, a German lieutenant with German units, on the orders of Eichhorn, occupied the Rada premises, broke up the session, arrested some of the ministers, and placed Grushevsky under house arrest. The pretext: stormy debates during the session on Eichhorn’s order prohibiting meetings and rallies and placing the Council of People’s Ministers under control. In addition, the disarming of several Ukrainian regiments, which was the subject of debates and protests, expressed in a demand to the German Government to recall the German generals. The next day the Rada did not meet, although some of the arrested ministers were released. On the other hand, a congress of landowners, who call themselves tillers of the soil, met in complete freedom, declared war on the Socialists and the Rada, expelled the democratic section of the delegates from their midst, and the same day the Germans arrested them. Such is the absolutely accurate and verified information, taken from *Kievskaya Mysl*.

2. There is information, as yet unverified, that a new bourgeois-landowner authority, under the name of the Hetmanate, has been formed. It follows from this, among other things, that the peace conference will not yet have the opportunity, if indeed it ever will have the opportunity, to be constituted. Another, no less important, event: the Germans have occupied Feodosia, and the Ukrainian units have been withdrawn by them from Simferopol further north, beyond Perekop. This means that the Germans want to keep the Crimea for themselves, with the object of throwing a bridge across the Kerch Strait, making their way to Persia and Mesopotamia via the Black Sea railway line and the Transcaucasian line, via Kars and so on—that is, precisely what the imperialist Rohrbach once timidly dreamed of. This is the second reason, like the first, indicating that the proposed peace conference will be postponed. Our parliamentary envoy is making his way, or has already made his way, to Vorozhba. I expect news from him any minute. Depending on this news, it is possible that I shall leave for Moscow tomorrow.

Have you received the radiogram from the Ukrainian peace delegation from Vorozhba stating that the delegation has fixed Nezhin as the place for negotiations, and have you given any reply on your part?

LENIN

STALIN: Chicherin passed it on to us by direct wire; he gave the Ukrainians a reply to the effect of inviting them to Kursk, in the words: “Our delegation is waiting for you in Kursk.” We ourselves did not receive the radio direct, perhaps because the Kursk station is very weak. We sent our reply with the parliamentary envoy, in the sense of inviting the Ukrainians to Kursk, where, according to the statement of the Ukrainian courier, the wires have been laid and everything is ready for the meeting. In our message we avoid the question of Nezhin, and, between ourselves, it goes without saying that we shall not make a casus belli out of Nezhin. I have just been informed that General Skoropadsky has been appointed Hetman of the Ukraine, but this information has not yet been verified. Incidentally, don’t you think that the new Ukrainian authority will not fail, on occasion, to declare war on us for the restoration of order and tranquillity, with Germany maintaining a strict, a very strict, neutrality?

LENIN: I, too, had no doubt that you would not make a casus belli out of Nezhin, but in my opinion this idea should have been expressed in your reply to the Ukrainians. Draft a new telegram with an inquiry both to the German Government and to the new Hetman authority. Send this telegram to us here by direct wire, and we shall send it by direct wire to Berlin. In addition, it would be useful to confirm the instruction to all units stationed on the frontier formally to propose a suspension of hostilities, and then to get in touch with Rostov regarding the strengthening of the defence both of Rostov and of the Kerch Strait. I think, in general, that since you have no means of communication with the Ukrainian Government, you should speak twice a day via Moscow with Berlin, hinting in a very polite form that Eichhorn is a more stable quantity than the Ukrainian Government. LENIN

WE, both of us present here, think that the telegrams should be sent to Berlin not by the peace delegation but by the Foreign Commissariat. We think, moreover, that instructions to the fronts should be issued not by us but by the Supreme War Council. For our part, we have done everything possible and have actually created an atmosphere of truce on the Kursk and Bryansk fronts. There is no communication with Rostov. We intend to send a man to Rostov with the appropriate directives. Did you receive yesterday’s tape of our conversation with Antonov, which Karakhan took?

No, I did not receive it. I shall try to find Chicherin and Trotsky immediately to talk with them and hope to send you a note today, in about three hours. That is all for now. LENIN

STALIN: One moment more. Catch Karakhan and demand the tape which he undertook to send you. The contents of the tape: Antonov categorically requests that instructions be issued to the Soviets, especially the Voronezh Soviet, to post frontier guards with white flags, who would disarm all units crossing the frontier. If this is done, Antonov undertakes officially to divest himself of his powers as Commander-in-Chief and to recognise the war with the Ukraine as liquidated. I think this would greatly expedite the peace. Rakovsky and I asked Karakhan to pass on this request of Antonov’s to the proper quarters and to comply with it. That is the contents of the tape. STALIN

LENIN: Good. I shall make all inquiries immediately. LENIN

STALIN: I press your hand, I am waiting. Good-bye.