Invitation to the Allies
Leon Trotsky, Note on Joining the Negotiations. December 6, 1917
Trotsky sent this note to Moscow in his capacity as People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs.
Original Source: Izvestiia, No. 234, 7 December 1917, pp. 1-2
The negotiations between the delegates of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, on the one hand, and the Russian delegates, on the other, have been suspended for a week in order to inform the Allied nations and governments that such negotiations are taking place as well as to indicate the direction of those negotiations.
On behalf of Russia it was proposed that the intended armistice should have for its object the conclusion of a democratic peace on the basis of the declaration of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, that during armistice negotiations there should be no transfer of troops from one front to another, and that the Moon Sound Islands should be evacuated.
On the question of war aims the enemy delegates refrained from any definite statement on the ground that they were under limited orders to regulate the military side of the armistice only. Likewise on the question of a general armistice the enemy delegates insisted that they had no authority to discuss armistice conditions with countries whose delegates took no part in the negotiations ...
In view of the unwillingness of our delegation to sign a formal armistice at this stage of the negotiations the period of suspension of military activities has been extended for one week, and armistice negotiations will be postponed for that period.
Thus a period of more than one month will have elapsed between the first peace decree of the Soviet Government (November 8) and the resumption of peace negotiations (December 12). This interval ... affords ample time to the Allies to set forth their attitude toward the peace negotiations, i.e., to say whether they will accept or decline the opportunity of taking part in the armistice and peace negotiations, and, in case of refusal, to state clearly and definitely before all humanity, for what causes the nations of Europe must continue shedding their blood during the fourth year of war.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (1919), Russia, 1:258.