October 24, 1921

Comrade Chicherin! I am sending my amendments and ask you to return them with your comments.

No. 1) We do not have 150 million, but 130, counting the Far Eastern Republic.

No. 2) Not "concede," but make a series of concessions.

No. 3) The main thing: we must state subtly and precisely their mutual claims against each other.

With communist greetings,
Lenin

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**Draft Statement**

The Brussels Conference of representatives of the powers, according to information from West European newspapers, has made the recognition of the debts of former Russian governments a condition for granting credits to the Russian Government for aid to the starving. The Russian Government has so far received no communication about the decisions of this conference. However, the Russian Government, in the face of the starving masses of the people, does not wish to be concerned with the niceties of diplomatic etiquette and considers it its bounden duty immediately to declare its attitude toward the Brussels decisions.

The British Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, in his speech of August 16 in the British Parliament, called a devilish design the proposal to use the famine in Russia to compel her to recognize the debts of the tsarist government. Nevertheless, the Brussels Conference, fully aware that in view of the magnitude of the famine disaster in Russia the Soviet Government is unable by its own efforts to save the stricken population from destruction, made the granting of credits to Russia, without which serious aid to the starving is impossible, conditional upon the Soviet Government's recognition of the old debts.

Drawing the attention of the working masses of all countries and of all citizens to whom considerations of humanity are dear to these actions of the Brussels Conference, the Russian Government at the same time declares that the proposal to recognize the old debts under certain conditions at present meets its own intentions. From the very beginning of its existence, the Soviet Government has made economic cooperation with other powers one of the fundamental aims of its policy. It has always declared its readiness to grant sufficient profit to foreign capitalists who would help it in developing Russia's natural wealth and restoring its economic apparatus. At the present time it notes that in the official statements of both the President of the United States of America and the British ministers, the idea is constantly expressed that three years after the end of the world war there is still no real peace, the need of the masses is becoming more acute, state debts are increasing, and devastation is growing.

It is perfectly obvious that one cannot think of establishing full peace without Russia with her 150 million population, that one cannot overcome devastation while leaving Russia in ruins, and that the question of relations between Russia and the rest of the world, which is a question of primary world importance, cannot be resolved without an agreement with the Soviet Government. From the standpoint of the long-term interests and permanent needs of all states and all peoples, the economic restoration of Russia is a primary necessity not only for her but also for them. Without economic interaction with other countries, the task of Russia's economic revival proves extremely difficult, and its fulfillment will have to be spread over a much longer period.

The Workers' and Peasants' Government can fulfill this task better than any other. The private selfish interests of individual groups of capitalists do not hinder it in the work of restoring the national economy. The interests of the broadest masses of the people, which in essence mean the interests of society as a whole, directly guide the workers' and peasants' government. Setting itself the goal of satisfying the interests of all the working people of Russia, the workers' and peasants' government, which has emerged victoriously from the unheard-of trials of the civil war, opens up the possibility for private initiative and capital to cooperate with the power of the workers and peasants in developing Russia's natural wealth. The Soviet Government has restored private trade, private ownership of small enterprises, and the right of concessions and leases for large ones.

The Soviet Government grants foreign capital a sufficient share of profit to satisfy its interests, in order to attract it to participation in economic work in Russia. Following this path, the Soviet Government strives for economic agreements with all powers, for which, in the final analysis, the conclusion of a final peace between Russia and other states is necessary. Setting itself this task, the Soviet Government encounters from other powers the demand for recognition of the old debts of the tsarist government.

The Soviet Government declares that, in its firm conviction, no people is obliged to pay the cost of the chains it has worn for centuries. But in its unshakable determination to reach full agreement with other powers, the Russian Government is ready to concede on this most important question. It thereby also meets the wishes of the numerous small holders of Russian state loans, especially in France, for whom the recognition of the tsarist debts by them is of substantial interest. Proceeding from these considerations, the Russian Government declares that it is ready to recognize its obligations to other states and their citizens under state loans contracted by the tsarist government before 1914, provided that favorable conditions are granted to it which ensure it the practical possibility of fulfilling these obligations.

It goes without saying that an indispensable condition of this recognition is the simultaneous obligation of the great powers unconditionally to put an end to all actions threatening the security of the Soviet republics and the inviolability of their frontiers. In other words, the Soviet republic can assume these obligations only if the great powers conclude a final general peace with it, and if its government is recognized by the other powers.

To this end, the Russian Government proposes the earliest possible convocation of an international conference which would deal with the tasks outlined above, would examine the mutual claims of other powers and the Russian Government, and would work out a final peace treaty between them. Only after the convocation of this conference can universal pacification be achieved. The latter will in no case be achieved by the Washington Conference, whose decisions will not be recognized by the Russian Republic, which was not invited to participate in this conference.

On the approaching fourth anniversary of the existence of the Soviet Government, in a few days, all will be forced to note that the efforts of numerous external and internal enemies have only strengthened in Russia the workers' and peasants' government as the true defender and representative of the interests of the working masses of Russia and its independence. New interventionist designs against Soviet Russia, the existence of which is indicated by numerous statements of the leading press organs of the Entente countries, will further cement the indissoluble bond of the working masses of Russia with the workers' and peasants' government representing their will, but an attempt to carry out these designs may further increase the suffering of the working masses and delay the moment of the final economic restoration of Russia, thereby also striking a blow at the economic interests of all other peoples.

The proposal which the Russian Government is putting forward is the best proof of its striving for peace with all