File No. 861.00/3257

The Chargé in Great Britain (Laughlin) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

3906. The Foreign Office have given me the following telegram they have received from Lindley, the British representative at Archangel, which our Consul there asked to have communicated to you:

Following is text of proclamation issued by Chaikovski to-day:

To the population of northern region and Russian Allies: The World war is at an end, all civilized humanity breathes a sigh of relief, the crisis of our sickness is past and we are now freed from immediate threat to civilization and liberty but danger of incidental complications due to the war remains. One such complication, Bolshevism, [Page 571] must be liquidated before humanity can devote itself to constructive work of peace. It is a mistake to suppose conclusion of peace between Allies and Central powers puts an end to danger of Bolshevism.

Unfortunately, Bolshevism is a danger not merely to Russia but equally from an international point of view. This danger consists in seizure of power by a negligible minority relying on the armed support of rebel army and navy in order to force the majority to submit to the will of leaders of a single party unrecognized by population and not elected by them for government of the country.

Such usurpation of authority is only possible in the atmosphere of war; with cessation of wars it should immediately be liquidated no matter what high-sounding watchwords it may adopt to justify such violation of the rights of the free people.

In Russia it has taken the form of return to the previous government by intensive and extraordinary police methods similar to those employed by Imperial Government during period of martial law lasting from 1889 to 1917 with short intervals in 1905 and 1906 at the time of first Russian revolution. Soviet authorities returned to this policy after the October rebellion1 of 1917. Since that time they have committed more crimes and acts of violence than the Imperial Government during the whole twenty-seven years of its unnatural dictatorship. Now this siren tempting to influence either the credulous, weak-minded, or unprincipled is trying to persuade the world it represents longed-for socialist heaven, “proletariat dictatorship.” It is time to put an end to this nrystification. All peoples must strain every nerve for the sake of liberty, justice and happiness of the proletariat of the world; otherwise it will be the grave, not only for their own liberty, prosperity, but those of all humanity.

In any case there can be no place for Bolshevik usurpers at international peace congress for peaceful relations between nations incompatible with policy of violence on which Bolshevik power is based. Such policy can only lead to civil war and inevitably leads to war with neighboring nations and destroys the state of peace.

That is why there can be no true end to the war without final liquidation of Bolshevism, that is why no one having at heart the cause of peace can lay down arms before Soviet power has been broken.

Laughlin
  1. November revolution, if the new-style calendar is used.