V. I.

Lenin

659

LETTER TO G. V. CHICHERIN AND A TELEGRAM TO L. B. KAMENEV

14. VIII. 1920

Comrade Chicherin, I hope you will fully inform Kamenev of all the facts
showing that France and Daszynski are torpedoing the meeting in
Minsk? [1]

This is essential. Very, very much so.

Danishevsky must be told that he should begin with a solemn declaration of ( a) independence and sovereignly ( b) a frontier giving more than
Curzon’s [2] ( c) no indemnities. Isn’t that so?

In reply to Kamenev’s request I am sending you for coding:

To Kamenev in code

In my opinion, the whole point is that France and
Daszynski are torpedoing the actual meeting in Minsk. They
will probably also prevent the armistice. I am hoping that
Britain will be unable to fight, and without her everything
falls to the ground. There is practically no news from
Poland. The little there is confirms our decision at the C.C.
plenum, namely, extreme vigilance, and we are bound to win this campaign. That we have roused the workers—
this is already no small gain. Lenin .

With communist greetings, Lenin

P.S. Britain is trying to prove that we are torpedoing the meeting. All the documents must be sent urgently to
Kamenev.

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Notes:
[1]
This refers to the conference for ending the war and establishing peaceful friendly relations between the R.S.F.S.R. and
the Ukraine, on the one hand, and Poland, on the other.
Despite all the attempts of the imperialists to prevent it, the peace
conference began its work on August 17, 1920, in Minsk, where it
continued until September 3. On September 21, the conference
resumed its work in Riga. The peace negotiations ended with the
signing in Riga on October 12, 1920, of “A Treaty on an Armistice
and Preliminary Conditions of Peace” between Soviet Russia and
the Soviet Ukraine, on the one hand, and Poland, on the other
(see Dokumenty vneshnei politiki SSSR , Vol. III, Moscow, 1959,
pp. 245–58).

[2]
See Note 427.