Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/352

 made for resuming the war against German Imperialism on terms that were not hopeless, and acting to develop the proletarian revolution in Germany.

The discussion of the treaty in the Congress was extraordinarily violent, but Lenin's dominating personality and relentless logic carried conviction, and the treaty was ratified by an overwhelming majority. Germany imposed upon Russia an indemnity of 6,000,000,000 rubles, and virtually annexed 780,000 square kilometres of former Russian territory, including 56,000,000 inhabitants.

During the course of the peace negotiations, the German majority Socialists declared they would break with the Government should it impose an annexationist peace; and after such a peace was imposed, by means extraordinarily brutal and infamous, these "Socialists" did not break with the Government; indeed, they did not even vote against ratification in the Reichstag, abstaining from voting. On February 26, in a Reichstag address, Scheidemann had said: "Within a few days the curtain will fall upon the fifth act of that great tragedy, the Russian Revolution. What has happened was not the intention of the Social Democracy. Before the whole world we declare that the policies that were used against Russia were not our policies." Answering this hypocrisy, Dr. Hans Block, Independent Socialist, in an article Pontius Pilate Scheidemann, said: "There is something in the bitter tears of the Apostle Peter, in the repentance and suicide of the traitor Judas, that appeals to us. But in this great human tragedy of the past, neither the cowardly St. Peter, nor even the faithless Judas Iscariot are as contemptible as that great Pontius Pilate, the original cold 'politican,' who 'washed his hands in innocence.' Human repentance and human grief awaken sympathy, even for the faithless. But cold, self-satisfied self-justification can arouse only hatred and disgust. 'Before the whole world we declare that the policies that were used against Russia were not our policies.' They have voted for war loans, and will continue to vote for them; they have supported the government, and will continue to support it; they have sworn allegiance to the annexationist majority bloc,—but they wash their hands in innocence and declare, 'What has happened in Russia was not the intention of the German Social Democracy.

After this acceptance of an infamous peace, the revolutionary Soviet Government set itself to the task of reconstruction, industrial, political and military. Earnest efforts were made to organize a new army; Trotzky accepted the post of Commissaire of War; and the All-Russian Congress in July decided to introduce conscription, the unanimous opinion being that, considering the international situation, an active, efficient army was necessary to preserve the Revolution against any and all aggression. Imperialistic Germany and revolutionary Russia each realized that the "peace" was temporary, and each awaited the ultimate decision that was pending. Germany assumed that she could hold on the west, convince the Allies of the futility of Victory over the Central Powers, and thus be able to retain the conquests in the East. Revolutionary Russia assumed that during the period of the prolongation of war, she would recuperate, economically and militarily, and then strike a blow against Imperialism either at the moment of a German Revolution, or independently when Germany was exhausted by the sanguinary struggle on the western front.

In accepting the German peace, revolutionary Russia met its first