Page:The Proletarian Revolution in Russia - Lenin, Trotsky and Chicherin - ed. Louis C. Fraina (1918).djvu/474

 Army—that even in that case the Russian people, worn out by the war and not having had sufficient time to take advantage of the benefits of the Soviet rule to elevate their national economy, will be unable to pay to the French bankers the full tribute for the billions that were used by the government of the Czar for purposes injurious to the people. Do your French allies demand that a part of this tribute be paid in installments, and if so—what part, and do they not anticipate that their claims will result in similar claims by other creditors of the infamous government of the Czar which has been overthrown by the Russian people? We can hardly think that your government and your Allies are without a ready answer, when your and their troops are trying to advance on our territory with the evident object of seizing and enslaving our country. The Russian people, through the people's Red Army, are guarding their territory and are bravely fighting against your invasion and against the attacks of your Allies. But your government and the governments of the other Powers of the Entente, undoubtedly, have well prepared plans, for the sake of which you are shedding the blood of your soldiers. We expect that you will state your demands very clearly and definitely. Should we, however, be disappointed, should you fail to reply to our quite definite and precise questions, we will draw the only possible conclusion—that we are justified in the assumption that your government and the governments of your Allies desire to get from the Russian people a tribute both in money and in natural resources of Russia, and territorial concessions as well. We will tell this to the Russian people as well as to the toiling masses of other countries, and the absence of a reply from you will serve for us as a silent reply. The Russian people will then understand that the demands of your government and of the governments of your Allies are so severe and vast that you do not even want to communicate them to the Russian Government.