Paris Peace Conference 184.02202/10: Telegram
The Consul at Helsingfors (Haynes) to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received in Paris March 30, 10:20 a.m.]
27. From Pettit.
In accordance with instructions which could not be delivered in full by Consul Haynes until my arrival, I have come to Helsingfors. As my return to Petrograd is necessary to secure the rest of my baggage, I will be back through Helsingfors about April 1st and trust to have a message from Mission sent to Helsingfors in case situation is in any way changed.
Am firmly convinced that though a majority of the population of Petrograd may not be Communist, most of the intelligent citizens realize that there is no other government which can preserve order. They believe Allied intervention or a revolution would result in chaos. The population wants peace with the Allies and food; then they believe the present administration will respond to whatever demands the majority of the population may make. Some of the Soviet officials understand this, as is shown by the changes already introduced. The presence of some one in touch with the outside world in Petrograd appears advisable. The friendship that the Soviet Government has for the United States dictates that such a person should be an American. If the American Mission is not in [Page 96] a position to retain a representative in Petrograd, cannot General Churchill send an intelligence officer here? Pettit.