Georgii Chicherin, Protest by the Neutral Powers and Soviet Response. September 12, 1918
The Swiss, Danish, and Dutch ministers, the Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, and Persian Charges, and the German Consul General, to the Soviet Commissar of the Northern Commune (Zinoviev)
The representatives of the Diplomatic Corps at Petrograd, having been themselves witnesses of the arrest of great numbers of persons of all ages and both sexes, and the summary executions daily carried out by the soldiers of the Red Army, requested an interview with Commissar Zinoviev, who received them on Monday, September 3. They stated that they had no intention of interfering in the political contests at present disrupting Russia; but that, taking a purely humanitarian point of view. they wished to express, in the name of the Governments they represent, their profound indignation at the reign of terror instituted in the cities of Petrograd, Moscow, etc.
Without any other reason than that of gratifying their hate against a whole class of citizens, without orders from a legal power of any sort, crowds of armed men enter day or night into private houses, plunder and steal, arrest and throw into prison hundreds of unfortunate people entirely unconnected with political struggle, whose only crime is to belong to the middle classes, and whose extermination is proclaimed by the leaders of the country in their own papers and in their speeches. It is quite impossible for the poor distressed families to obtain any information as to the place where their relatives have been imprisoned; permission is denied them to communicate with the prisoners and to supply them with the necessary food.
Such acts of violence, incomprehensible on the part of men who profess their wish to promote the happiness of mankind, call forth the indignation of the civilized world, now acquainted with the events in Petrograd.
The Diplomatic Corps considered it its duty to inform Commissar Zinoviev of the feelings of reprobation which animate it. It has protested and it does protest energetically against the arbitrary acts which are being committed every day. The representatives of the powers make all express reservations as to the right of their Governments to demand the satisfactions which may be considered necessary and to render personally responsible before the courts all perpetrators of the criminal acts which have been committed or may be committed in future.
They ask that the terms of the present note be brought to the knowledge of the Soviet government.
{Petrograd, September 5, 1918}
Reply of the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Chicherin) to the Joint Note of the Diplomatic Corps
The note which was handed us by the representatives of the neutral powers on September 5 is an act of grave interference in the internal affairs of Russia. The Soviet government could let it remain entirely unanswered, but the Soviet government always with pleasure takes advantage of every opportunity to explain the meaning of its policy to the masses of people in all countries, since the government not only represents the labor class in Russia, but also all exploited humanity. The Commissariat of the People gives the following reply regarding the questions touched in the note:
The neutral powers try to represent a picture of the oppressed bourgeoisie in Russia, a picture which is to arouse deep indignation of the bourgeoisie of the entire world. We do not intend to deny the assertions made by the representatives of the neutral powers, who, in their note, repeat all the lies which are spread by the Russian bourgeoisie about the Red Army. Neither do we wish to deny assertions regarding concrete cases of abuse since the representatives of the neutral powers, in the first place, do not give any concrete cases, and in the second place, abuses on the part of individuals always occur in every war, and we are engaged in a civil war. But the representatives of the neutral powers do not protest against separate abuses of irresponsible persons, but against the regime which is carried out by the workers’ and peasants’ government in its fight against the exploiting classes. Before we explain why the workers’ and peasants’ government uses the red terror, against which the representatives of the neutral powers protest in the name of humanity, and because of which they threaten us with the condemnation of the whole civilized world, we permit ourselves to ask a few questions. Is it known to the representatives that the international war is now in its fifth year? In this war small groups, consisting of bankers, generals and bureaucrats, have thrown the masses of people of all the world to kill and destroy each other in order that the capitalists might earn milliards for their own account. Do you know that in this war not only millions have died at the front but that both belligerents have bombarded open cities and killed defenseless women and children? Do you know that one of the belligerent parties in this war condemned tens of millions of people to famine by cutting this country off from the supply of grain. in spite of international laws? That this belligerent party hopes that the starvation of the children will force the other party to surrender to the victor, grace or no grace? Do you know that the other party makes prisoners of hundreds of thousands of defenseless, peaceful “enemy” citizens and sends them to compulsory labor far from their homes, taking from them all right to defense? Is it known to you that in all the belligerent countries the ruling capitalist clique has taken from the masses the freedom of assembly, the freedom of the press, the freedom of strike, that for every attempt to protest against this white terror the bourgeoisie condemn the workers to prison or send them to the front to kill, in that way, every thought of their human rights? All these pictures of the crushing of the laboring class in the interest of capital, all these pictures of the white terror against the proletariat, are very well known to the leaders of the neutral capitalistic countries and their representatives in Russia. Still they seem either to have forgotten the exalted ideals of humanity or else they have forgotten, in this case, the masses who have been killed on the battlefields.
The so-called neutral powers did not dare to protest with a single word against the white terror of capital, nor did they wish to, because the bourgeoisie in all neutral countries have helped the capitalists of the belligerent countries to continue the war, earning milliards; on deliveries made to both belligerent camps.
We take the liberty of putting still another question. Have you, the representatives of the neutral powers, heard anything about the massacre of the Sinn Feins in Dublin, about the execution, without trial, of hundreds of Irishmen with Skeffington at the head? Have you heard anything about the white terror in Finland, about tens of thousands who have been shot, about tens of thousands of workers imprisoned, about their wives and children, against which no protests have been or will be made? Have you heard about the mass executions of workers and peasants in the Ukraine, about the mass execution of workers by the heroic Czechoslovaks, the hired bandits of French-English capital?
The governments of the so-called neutral powers have surely heard about them but it has never occurred to them to protest against these actions of the bourgeoisie who suppress the labor movement since they themselves, in their own countries, are forced to suppress every labor movement in order to favor the interests of the bourgeoisie thereby. It is sufficient to recall the labor demonstrations in Denmark, Norway, Holland and Switzerland which were put down with the aid of the military. The workers in Holland, Switzerland and Denmark have not had time to act before the Governments of these countries have had time to mobilize their military forces to suppress the slightest protests on the part of the masses of people. If the representatives of the neutral powers threaten us with the indignation of the civilized world and protest against the red terror in the name of humanity, we beg to point out to them that they have not been sent here to protect humanity, but to protect the interests of capitalistic countries, and we advise them not to threaten us with the indignation of the whole civilized world which is covered from head to foot with the blood of workers, but to fear the fury of the masses of people of the whole world, who are marching against the “civilization” which has led humanity to this butchery which is without result. In all the capitalistic world there exists the white terror against the laboring class. The working class in Russia has destroyed the power of Tsarism, whose bloody regime has not called forth any protests from the neutral powers. The working class in Russia has destroyed the reign of the bourgeoisie in Russia which, under the flag of the revolution and the silence of the neutral powers, executed soldiers who did not wish to spill blood in the interests of the war speculators. They also executed peasants who declared the earth to be their property, the earth which they have plowed for a hundred years and moistened with their sweat. The greater part of the Russian people, as represented by the second Workers’ Congress, have put the power in the hands of the workers’ and peasants’ government. A group of capitalists who wanted to regain their factories and banks which had been taken from them in favor of the people, a group of property owners who wish to rob the peasants of their ground, a group of generals who again wish to force the workers and peasants to obedience with a whip, all these did not approve of this, the decision of the Russian people. With the help of foreign capital they have mobilized counter-revolutionary bands with whose assistance they cut Russia off from bread so that the hand of starvation may quell the Russian revolution. They have become convinced that it is impossible to overthrow the workers’ government which is supported by the masses of people. They try to instigate counter-revolutionary disturbances amongst these masses in order to hinder the workers’ and peasants’ government in its efforts to lead the country out of the anarchy into which the criminal politics of the former government have brought it. They have sold Russia in the south, north and east to foreign imperialistic countries, gathering foreign bayonets from all directions they could get them. Behind the forest of these foreign bayonets they send hired murderers to kill the leaders of the laboring class, in whom not only Russia’s proletariat but all humanity see the realization of their hopes.
This counter-revolutionary clique which utilizes foreign and Russian capital to force slavery and war on the Russian people, this clique the Russian workers will ruthlessly annihilate. We declare before the proletariat of the whole world that no outward protests and representations will deter the hand which is to punish those who raise arms against the workers and the poorest peasants in Russia, who wish to starve them and who wish to drive them into new wars in the interests of capital. We assure equal rights and liberties to all those who loyally fulfill the duties which belong to the citizens of the socialistic Russian Republic. To them we bring peace, against our enemies a ruthless war!
We are convinced that the masses of people in all countries which are oppressed and terrorized by small groups of exploiters will understand that violence in Russia is used only in the holy interests for the liberation of the masses, and that they will not only understand us, but even follow the same path as we.
We reject most energetically the interference of the neutral capitalistic powers in favor of the Russian bourgeoisie and declare that in every attempt on the part of representatives of these powers to exceed the limits for the lawful protection of the interests of their citizens, we will see an attempt to support the Russian counter-revolution.
Chicherin
Source: U.S. Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1918), Vol. I, pp. 697-698, 705-708.