1917 (DECEMBER) - 1918

1 L. N. Stark – an employee of the press bureau at the Council of People's Commissars, from January 13 (26), 1918 – commissioner of the Petrograd Telegraph Agency.
2 R. M. Radek – assistant secretary of the international department of the Council of People's Commissars.
3 V. I. Lenin signed A. V. Shotman’s certificate of appointment as a member of the collegium of the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs on the same day, January 8, 1918.
4 Petrograd Telegraph Agency.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES with F. E. DZERZHINSKY

[January 9 (22), 1918]
Why don't you give a draft decree (1) on a complete ban on the export
of machine oil and the like to Finland?
(2) on an audit commission for control?
(3) on sending agents to Torneå to catch sellers?

1 V. I. Lenin's correspondence with F. E. Dzerzhinsky took place at the meeting
of the Council of People's Commissars on January 9 (22), 1918, during the discussion of the issue of the import
and export of goods from Finland.
F.
E.
Dzerzhinsky - Chairman of the All-Russian Extraordinary
Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Sabotage, and Speculation under
the Council of People's Commissars (VChK).
3 We are talking about the fight against smugglers and speculators on the Swedish
border in
Torneå - the only at this time, place of communication between the Soviet
Republic with the outside world.
We are coming to you today with a report on this matter.

NOTE TO THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
16 (29). I. 1918
Russian citizen
Samuel
Hatkin (Samuel
Hatkin)

who lived in Riga in 1906 and met Platten there
2,
who vouches for him, requests permission to enter Rus sia.
I request that he be allowed to enter.
Lenin

1 No other materials about him could be found.
2 Friedrich (Fritz) Platten - at this time secretary of the Swiss
Social Democratic Party.
INTERVIEW WITH A CORRESPONDENT
OF THE SWEDISH NEWSPAPER «FOLKETS
DAGBLAD POLITIKEN»

[January 20 (February 2), 1918]
Petrograd, Sunday.
(Petrograd Bureau
Folkets
Dagblad. Telegram received late).
Yesterday in the afternoon, Lenin received your correspondent and had a long conversation with him.
He
reported that for two days Smolny has had no contact with Brest-Litovsk
2. No information has been received from there during this time. Trotsky
3 is sitting there as if in the Petrograd
Fortress. This proves that the Germans want to hide something.
Surely, the internal situation in Germany is critical. It is possible that they also want to influence the Russians by such behavior, but they are mistaken.
Trotsky will not let himself be deceived by such methods. We will also take
measures to change this situation.
Regarding the internal situation in Russia, Lenin was especially
hopeful.
On
the Don, we are in control.
Kiev is ours. It has just been reported that Orenburg has been taken by Bolshevik troops
4 and that the Cossacks under the command of General Dutov
5 have suffered a heavy defeat. 40 Cossack regiments have declared war on Kaledin.
One fine day he, perhaps, will be delivered here as a prisoner
8.
In military terms, we thus have the upper hand everywhere in the country. Even sabotage by the bourgeoisie is
receding. The organization of all groups of employees has just decided
to begin negotiations with Smolny in order to resume work
at all state enterprises. In addition, work is underway
on
the nationalization of the means of production.
Most recently, the leather industry was nationalized, just as metallurgy was nationalized before, they are managed jointly by workers and capitalists with the decisive influence of the former. And the bread issue seems to be clearing up. Yesterday in Smolny there was a Siberian dele-

1917 (DECEMBER) - 1918
YEARS

gation that promised effective support from Siberia, where there is grain in abundance. Yesterday, as many as
two railway trains arrived from Siberia with bread grain, rice, and other food products. The opposition from the Mensheviks
and Right Social Revolutionaries is becoming less and less significant. At the large Congress of Soviets, they were in a decreasing
minority. Their best forces, apparently, will gradually move
to us, as some of them did before. What is especially important to note from the results of the Congress of Soviets is that
the overwhelming majority of the Russian people support
the revolution.
Regarding Finland, Lenin expressed his satisfaction with the revolution
7. All of southern Finland is in the hands of the workers.
Tampere, which was reported to have been taken by the White Guards, at least on Saturday,
was still in the hands of the Red Guard. In Uleåborg, on the contrary,
the White Guards inflicted a defeat on the Reds. The White Guard,
which seems to be partially led by German officers, has declared war on the Bolsheviks as well.
There is also good news from Romania.
The news that the king has been overthrown, of course, has not yet been
confirmed, but it is possible that it has indeed happened.
Yes, we will soon finish with the small states, said
Lenin with his good-natured, sarcastic smile. If only everything goes well in Germany then.
In conclusion, when asked by the correspondent about his health, Lenin
replied that he feels great, despite the enormous burden of work, which leaves him almost no time to sleep.
I have only one dream, he said, to rest for at least half an hour.
Printed according to the newspaper «Folkets
Dasfblad
Politikem
Translation from
Swedish
1 «Folkets Dagblad Politiken» («People's Daily Political
Newspaper») - a newspaper of the Swedish left Social Democrats, who formed in
1917 the Left Social Democratic Party of Sweden; published
in Stockholm since April 1917.
Until November 1917 it was called «Politiken».
2 On January 5 (18), 1918, at the suggestion of the Soviet delegation to the peace
conference in Brest-Litovsk, the work of the political commission was interrupted for 12 days.
3 L. D. Trotsky - at this time People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
4 Soviet troops liberated Orenburg from the White Cossacks on January 18 (31),
1918.
5 A. I. Dutov - a colonel of the tsarist army, ataman of the Orenburg
Cossack army, one of the leaders of the Cossack counter-revolution.