22 November 1917. Leon Trotsky

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Leon Trotsky

Government note to Ambassadors of allied countries

1, Smolny proezd, Smolny, Petrograd, Russian Republic

Mr. Ambassadors, it is my honor to inform you that the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies has formed a new Government of the Russian Republic in the form of the Council of People's Commissars. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is the Government’s Chairman. I was entrusted with foreign policy as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

Turn your attention to the text of the armistice and democratic peace proposal approved by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies on the basis of self-determination of peoples. I have the honor to ask you to view this document as a formal proposal for an immediate armistice on all fronts and the immediate opening of peace negotiations. It’s a proposal the plenipotentiary of the Government of the Russian Republic addresses simultaneously all the belligerent peoples and their governments.

Rest reassured Mr. Ambassadors with the deepest respect of the Soviet Government to the people of your country, who cannot but strive for peace like all peoples are exhausted and bled by this unprecedented slaughter.

People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs, L. Trotsky

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