Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/216

 war which seemed to them could only end in an indefinite result.

But, none the less, in the present state of things their efforts—profited voluntarily or involuntarily—Germany, and in these conditions their policy could not but excite the suspicions and mistrust of the Allied countries.

Just after the Russian Revolution, however, circumstances seemed more favourable to their action.

The Petrograd Soviet declared for peace without annexations or contributions. The German and Austrian Socialist Democrats declared themselves ready to accept this formula on condition that they interpreted it in the same sense as von Hindenburg; and in Great Britain, and especially in France, an increasing minority declared themselves in favour of taking up again international relationships. In neutral countries, Socialists were unanimous for peace, and hoped to achieve it by a general Conference.

In the beginning of April the Danish put their irons in the fire. The Socialist Minister Stanning wrote to the International Socialist Bureau that if the Executive