Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/378

 peace and, if need be, to enlist the services of German militarism for purposes of intervention in the internal affairs of the Russian Republic in order to sustain the Rada against the Russian Revolution.

On February 9 we learned that the negotiations carried on behind our backs between the Rada and the Central Powers had led to the signing of a peace treaty. February 9 is the natal day of King Leopold of Bavaria and, as is customary in monarchical countries, the consummation of the solemn, historic act—whether with the consent of the Kieff Rada I do not know—had been set for that day. General Hoffmann fired the salute in honor of Leopold of Bavaria—after he had asked the consent of the Kieff delegation, because, after the signing of the peace treaty, Brest-Litovsk passed over to the Ukraine. Events, however, took such a course that, when General Hoffmann asked the Kieff Rada's permission to fire the salute, the Rada, granting them Brest-Litovsk, did not have much more than that territory left. Upon the strength of despatches received from Petrograd, we informed the delegations of the Central Powers, officially, that the Kieff Rada no longer existed—a circumstance not without serious bearing upon the further course of the peace negotiations. We proposed to Count Czernin that he send representatives to the Ukraine, accompanied by our officers, so as to convince himself whether the "party of the second part"—the Kieff Rada—did or did not exist. It looked as though Czernin was willing to acquiesce; but when we submitted to him the question: does this mean that the treaty with the Kieff delegation will not be signed until your representatives return?—he was overcome by doubt and offered to inquire of Kuhlmann. After such inquiry he transmitted to us a negative answer. That was on February 8—on February 9 they had to have a signed treaty; that permitted of no delay. Not only because of the birthday of King Leopold of Bavaria but for a much weightier reason which Kuhlmann had doubtlessly made clear to Czernin: "If we now send our representatives to the Ukraine, they may find, indeed, that the Rada no longer exists, in which case we would have to deal with an All-Russian delegation and that would make worse our chances in the negotiations." … On the part of the Austrian delegation they told us: "Abandon the position of pure principle, put the question on a practicable basis and then the German delegation will be reasonable. … It is not possible for Germany to continue the war for the sake of the Moon Sound islands in case you present your demand in concrete form."

… We answered: "Very well, we are willing to test the