Council of People’s Commissars, Decree on State Independence for Finland. December 31, 1917
Original Source: Izvestiia vserossiiskogo tsentral’nogo ispolnitel’nogo komiteta, 8 December 1918, No. 269.
Responding to the Finnish Government’s request for recognition of the independence of the Finnish Republic, the Council of People’s Commissars, in full agreement with the principles of the right of a nation to self-determination, resolves:
To submit the following proposal to the Central Executive Committee:
(a) to recognize the state independence of the Finnish Republic
(b) to organize, in agreement with the Finnish Government, a special commission of representatives of both sides to elaborate practical measures stemming from Finland’s secession from Russia.
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, V. UL’IANOV (LENIN).
People’s Commissars, I. SHTEINBERG, KARELIN, STALIN.
Business Manager of the Council of People’s Commissars, BONCH-BRUEVICH.
Secretary of the Council of People’s Commissars, N. GORBUNOV.
Source: Decrees of the Soviet Government (Moscow: Institute of Marxism-Leninism, 1957), Vol. I, p. 250.