We in Russia have wheat, flax, platinum, potash, and many useful minerals for which the entire world experiences an acute need. In the final analysis, the world will have to come to us for these, regardless of whether we have Bolshevism or not. There are signs that people are gradually coming to an understanding of this truth. However, in the meantime, not only Russia but all of Europe is cracking at the seams, and the Supreme Council still permits itself to conduct a policy of evasion. Russia, just as Europe, can be saved from complete ruin, but for this it is necessary to act immediately and quickly. And the Supreme Council acts very slowly, terribly slowly. In fact, it seems to have already been dissolved, having resolved nothing, and has transferred its functions to the council of ambassadors, and its place should be taken only by the non-existent League of Nations, which is stillborn. And can the League of Nations even begin to function without the United States, which ought to constitute its main support?

I asked to what extent the Soviet government was satisfied with the military situation.

Very much satisfied. The only signs of further military aggression against us come only from Poland, about which I have already spoken. If Poland undertakes such an adventure, it will lead to new suffering for both sides and to the unnecessary deaths of new human lives. But even Foch will not be able to ensure victory for the Poles. They would not be able to defeat our Red Army, even if Churchill himself were fighting alongside them.

Here Lenin smiled darkly, throwing his head back. Then he continued in a more serious tone:

We, of course, can be crushed by any of the great Allied powers, if they are able to send their own armies against us. But they will not dare to do so. The extraordinary paradox lies in the fact that, however weak Russia may be compared with the unlimited resources of the Allies, it not only managed to defeat any armed forces, including British, American, and French troops, which the Allies succeeded in sending against it, but also to achieve diplomatic and moral victories in the countries of the sanitary cordon. Finland refused to war against us. We concluded peace with Estonia, and soon peace will be signed with Serbia[7] and Lithuania{72}. Despite considerable inducements and sinister threats from the Entente against these small states, they preferred to establish peaceful relations with us.