V. I. Lenin

Direct- Line Conversation With The Moscow Soviet February 20, 1918


Held: 20 February, 1918
First Published: 21 February, 1918 in the newpaper Izvestia Sovetov Rabochkh, Soldatskikh I Krestyanskikh Deputatov Goroda Moskvy I Moskovishoi Oblasti No. 29
Source: Lenin’s Collected Works, Progress Publishers, Moscow, Volume 26, 1972, pp. 526
Translated: Yuri Sdobnikov and George Hanna, Edited by George Hanna
Transcription & HTML Markup: Charles Farrell and David Walters
Online Version: Lenin Internet Archive December, 2000


 

At 2.15 p.m. the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Comrade Lenin, was called up by Comrade Feldman, member of the Executive Committee., who, on behalf of the Bolshevik group, asked Comrade Lenin the following:

(1) What happened after the receipt of the telegram from Berlin;

(2) What measures have been taken by the Council of People's Commissars at present;

(3) Whether or not there was any other reply from Berlin apart from Hofimana's telegram.

To the first question Comrade Lenin replied:

There is no army; the Germans are attacking from Riga along the entire front. They have taken Dvinsk and Rezhitsa and are on their way to Lutsk and Minsk. Those who want to do something-and stop talking-must conclude peace and continue the task of consolidating and extending the revolution at home

To the second question:

Until the offensives are stopped, an order has been issued to put up resistance wherever possible, and destroy everything, down to the last hunk of bread, all along the way.

To the third question:

No, there was none.