Three sealed wagons. "sealed wagon" list of passengers. "Long live the world socialist revolution!"
First news of victory February Revolution in Russia, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin received March 15, 1917, while in Zurich. From that moment on, he began to look for ways to quickly return to his homeland. Lenin knew well that neither he nor other prominent Bolsheviks could go through England just like that. The British authorities were quite well aware of their revolutionary activity, while passing through England they could be detained and even arrested. Nevertheless, Lenin is considering the terms of passage through England, which should be agreed with the British government through negotiations. These conditions included the granting to the Swiss socialist Fritz Platten the right to transport any number of emigrants through England, regardless of their attitude to the war, the provision of a wagon enjoying the right of extraterritoriality on the territory of England, as well as the possibility of sending emigrants from England by steamboat to the port of any neutral country as quickly as possible. But the British authorities did not agree to this, which forced the Russian emigrants in Switzerland to resort, as the last opportunity to return to Russia, to travel through Germany.
The idea of obtaining permission to travel through Germany in exchange for Germans and Austrians interned in Russia arose in emigre circles shortly after receiving news of the amnesty in Russia. The emigrants knew that during the war between Russia and Germany military detainees and prisoners of war were repeatedly exchanged through neutral countries, and they believed that the amnesty announced by the Provisional Government would open up this convenient way for them to return to their homeland. At a meeting of representatives of Russian and Polish socialist organizations of the Zimmerwald trend in Bern on March 19, this plan was put forward by the Menshevik leader Martov. One of the leaders of the Swiss Social Democracy, Robert Grimm, was instructed to probe the Swiss government for consent to mediate negotiations on this issue with representatives of the German authorities in Bern. When it finally became clear to Lenin that the route through England was closed, he turned to Martov's plan. But the negotiations were slow, and Vladimir Ilyich decided to involve Fritz Platten in this case.
“Once, at 11 o’clock in the morning, I received a phone call from the party secretariat and was asked to be at half past two for a conversation with Comrade Lenin in the premises of the Eintracht workers’ club. I found a small group of comrades there at dinner. Lenin, Radek, Münzenberg and I went to the board room for a confidential conversation, and there Comrade Lenin asked me if I would agree to be their confidant in organizing the trip and accompany them through Germany. After a short reflection, I answered in the affirmative,” Platten wrote in a book about Lenin’s emigration.
The explanation with Grimm was short and decisive. Grimm stated that he considered Platten's intervention undesirable. This statement further strengthened Lenin's former distrust. However, Grimm did nothing against this move, and Platten was received by Minister Romberg to negotiate the move of Russian emigrants living in Switzerland. On behalf of Lenin and Zinoviev, Platten presented to Minister Romberg the following conditions on which the emigrants agreed to make the move:
1. I, Fritz Platten, supervise, with my full personal responsibility, the passage through Germany of a wagon with political emigrants and legal persons wishing to go to Russia.
2. The carriage, in which the emigrants follow, enjoys the right of extraterritoriality.
3. Passports or identity checks must not take place either on entry into or exit from Germany.
4. Persons are allowed to travel completely regardless of their political direction and views on war and peace.
5. Platten purchases the necessary railway tickets for those leaving at the normal rate.
6. The journey must take place as non-stop as possible in non-stop trains. There must be neither an order to leave the wagon, nor an exit from it on one's own initiative. There should be no breaks when driving without technical need.
7. Permission to travel is given on the basis of the exchange of those leaving for German and Austrian prisoners and internees in Russia. The mediator and those traveling undertake to agitate in Russia, especially among the workers, with the aim of carrying out this exchange in practice.
8. The shortest possible time to move from the Swiss border to the Swedish one, as well as the technical details must be agreed immediately.
Two days later, an unconditional agreement followed. Reporting Berlin's decision, Romberg informed Platten that Janson, a representative of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions, would board the train in Stuttgart. From further negotiations it became clear that the following conditions were set for the move: 1) the maximum number of people leaving should not exceed 60 people, 2) two second-class passenger cars would be ready at Gottmadingen. The day of departure was set by the German authorities for 9 April.
The group wishing to go through Germany by April 1 consisted of only 10 people. Bolshevik groups in Switzerland, at the request of Lenin, brought to the attention of émigrés of all political denominations that those wishing to travel in the first batch could join the group. Within a few days, the initially small group of departures grew to 32 people.
By 11 o'clock on the morning of April 9, all the necessary preparations were completed and the Zurich railway station was warned about the departure of emigrants. All those leaving gathered at the Zähringerhof restaurant for a common modest dinner.
At half past three, a group of emigrants headed from the restaurant to the Zurich station, loaded with pillows, blankets and other belongings. An impressive crowd of patriotic émigrés gathered at the station, shouting out accusations of national treason to those departing and predictions that they would all be hanged in Russia as Jewish provocateurs. In response to this, as the train departed, its passengers sang the Internationale in chorus. According to the schedule, the train departed at 3:10. In Teyngen there was a Swiss customs inspection, and the passports were not checked.
April 9, 1917 V.I. Lenin (who was then known under the pseudonym N. Lenin) and his party comrades-in-arms left Switzerland for Petrograd.
As is known, approximately recent years thirty, in order to snatch a certain victory from Russia in the First World War, Germany recruited a crowd of Russian-speaking revolutionaries in exile. She put them in a secret sealed carriage and sent them to St. Petersburg. Having broken free, the Bolsheviks, supplied with German millions, made a coup and concluded an "obscene peace."
To understand how true this version is, let's imagine that today's West catches the best Russian oppositionists, from A. Navalny to M. Kasyanov, seals them up, gives them a lot of money for the Internet and sends them to Russia to perform. Will this destroy power? By the way, all these citizens are already in Russia, and everything seems to be fine with their money.
The thing is that the understandable historical hostility of many of our fellow citizens to V.I. Lenin is no excuse for unbridled fantasizing. Today, as we celebrate the 99th anniversary of Lenin's departure to Russia, it is worth talking about.
Why through Germany
Since 1908, Lenin has been in exile. From the very beginning of the First World War, he was a resolute and public opponent of it. At the time of the abdication of Nicholas II and the February Revolution, he was in Switzerland. Russia at that time participated in the war: in alliance with the Entente countries against the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria).
The possibility of leaving Switzerland was closed to him.
1. You can’t go through the Entente countries - the Bolsheviks demand an immediate conclusion of peace, and therefore they are considered undesirable elements there;
2. In Germany, in accordance with the laws of war, Lenin and his associates can be interned as citizens of a hostile state.
Nevertheless, all routes were worked out. Thus, the logistically fantastic possibility of passage from Switzerland through England was unsuccessfully probed by I. Armand. France refused to issue passports to the Bolsheviks. Moreover, the authorities of England and France, on their own initiative, as well as at the request of the Provisional Government, detained a number of Russian Social Democrats: L. Trotsky, for example, spent about a month in a British concentration camp. Therefore, after lengthy discussions and doubts, the only possible route was chosen: Germany - Sweden - Finland - Russia.
Often, Lenin's return to Russia is associated with the adventurer (and, presumably, a German intelligence agent) Parvus, on the grounds that it was he who first suggested that the German authorities assist Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders. After that, they usually forget to mention that Lenin refused the help of Parvus - this is evidenced by his correspondence with the revolutionary Y. Ganetsky, who was in contact with Parvus:
“... Berlin permission is unacceptable for me. Either the Swiss government will receive a wagon to Copenhagen, or the Russian government will agree on the exchange of all emigrants for interned Germans ... Of course, I cannot use the services of people related to the publisher of Kolokol (i.e. Parvus - author).
As a result, the passage was agreed upon through the mediation of the Swiss Social Democratic Party.
Railway carriage
The same wagon.
The tale of a sealed wagon took root with the light hand of W. Churchill (“... the Germans brought Lenin into Russia in an isolated wagon, like a plague bacillus”). In fact, only 3 of the 4 doors of the car were sealed - so that the officers accompanying the car could monitor compliance with the travel agreement. In particular, only the Swiss Social Democrat F. Platten had the right to communicate with the German authorities along the way. He also acted as an intermediary in the negotiations between Lenin and the leadership of Germany - there was no direct communication.
Conditions for the passage of Russian emigrants through Germany:
"one. I, Fritz Platten, am escorting, on my own responsibility and at my own risk, a wagonload of political emigrants and refugees returning through Germany to Russia.
2. Relations with the German authorities and officials are conducted exclusively and only by Platten. Without his permission, no one has the right to enter the car.
3. The wagon has the right of extraterritoriality. No control of passports or passengers should be carried out either when entering or leaving Germany.
4. Passengers will be accepted into the carriage regardless of their views and attitudes towards the question of war or peace.
5. Platten undertakes to supply passengers with railway tickets at normal fare prices.
6. If possible, the journey should be made without interruption. No one should either voluntarily or by order leave the car. There should be no delays along the way without technical necessity.
7. Permission to travel is given on the basis of an exchange for German or Austrian prisoners of war or internees in Russia.
8. The mediator and the passengers undertake to personally and privately press the working class to comply with paragraph 7.
9. Moving from the Swiss border to the Swedish border as soon as possible, as far as technically feasible.
(Signed) Fritz Platten
Secretary of the Swiss Socialist Party".
In addition to Lenin, more than 200 more people returned to Russia by the same route: members of the RSDLP (including the Mensheviks), Bund, Socialist-Revolutionaries, anarchist-communists, non-party people.
Nadezhda Krupskaya in her published Soviet power In her memoirs, she wrote about the “secret list of passengers” without any secrecy:
“... We went, the Zinovievs, the Usievichs, Inessa Armand, the Safarovs, Olga Ravich, Abramovich from Chaux-de-Fonds, Grebelskaya, Kharitonov, Linde, Rosenblum, Fighters, Mikha Tskhakaya, Mariengofy, Sokolnikov. Radek rode under the guise of a Russian. There were 30 people in all, except for the four-year-old son of the Bund, who was traveling with us, curly-haired Robert. We were accompanied by Fritz Platten".
Who used whom
L. Trotsky gave a description of the participation of the German authorities and the German General Staff in the passage: “... allowing a group of Russian revolutionaries to pass through Germany was Ludendorff's 'adventure', due to the difficult military situation in Germany. Lenin used the calculations of Ludendorff, while having his own calculation. Ludendorff said to himself: Lenin will overthrow the patriots, and then I will strangle Lenin and his friends. Lenin said to himself: I will ride in Ludendorff's carriage, and for the service I will pay him in my own way.
"Lenin's payback" was the revolution in Germany itself.
Money
The funds for the fare came from different sources: cash desk of the RSDLP (b), assistance from the Swiss Social Democrats (mainly a loan). Lenin refused the financial assistance offered by German agents even earlier than the organizational one, approximately March 24-26.
After returning to Russia, Lenin delivered the April Theses (April 17, published on April 20, adopted by the Bolshevik Party as a program by the end of April), which became the theoretical foundation of October.
Thus, we see simple facts:
For the "conquests of the February Revolution" Lenin's arrival was indeed fatal;
He did not save the German Empire;
Prisoner a year later "obscene" Brest Peace He did not save Germany either, but saved the power of the Bolsheviks.
As for Russia, there is, of course, the point of view that it was completely and completely destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and now we do not live in it. However, for those who continue to live stubbornly in Russia, this point of view is hardly interesting.
First revolution and attempted return
Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was a well-known opposition figure as one of the founders of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), which in 1905 split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
The split of the Russian radical opposition itself took place far from Russia: most of the party members were threatened with a prison return to their homeland. Among those whom the authorities did not expect was Lenin.
Ilyich perfectly remembered how, on the morning of January 1905, the dumbfounded Lunacharsky spouses flew into his house, announcing the revolution that had begun in Russia. After that, Lenin waited a whole year for permission to enter his homeland - but time does not wait, and 1905 was decided without him. Neither books, nor speeches, nor congresses could turn the revolution in the direction necessary for Lenin - even the tsar remained in place. In December 1907, the future leader of the revolution again left Russia for almost ten years.
“There, to the rebellious Petrograd”
Lenin's condition after receiving the news of the February Revolution was best described by his wife, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya:
“There is no way out of colossal energy... There is no need for a clear awareness of what is happening. And for some reason I remembered the white northern wolf, whom Ilyich and I saw in the London Zoological Garden and stood for a long time in front of his cage. “All animals eventually get used to the cage: bears, tigers, lions,” the watchman explained to us. “Only a white wolf from the Russian North never gets used to a cage - and day and night it beats against the iron bars of the grate.” Lenin literally cannot sit still: he feverishly paces around the room, writes letters, meets like-minded people, but most importantly, he thinks; thinks about what kind of magical airplane can bring him to the revolutionary homeland. In his fever, he no longer cares much about the safety and feasibility of plans: just to start moving there, to rebellious Petrograd.
- globallookpress.com
- Mary Evans Picture Library
The legal path lay through France, Great Britain and Scandinavia, but here's the problem - back in 1915-1916, the Entente countries compiled black lists of people who should not cross the borders of the treaty countries. Among the objectionable were active propagandists of peace, among whom was Lenin.
Homecoming under own name excluded. Vladimir Ilyich, in desperation, begins to come up with absolutely fantastic plans that cause laughter from his worried comrades. One plan was to borrow documents from two deaf-mute Swedes who looked like him and Zinoviev and ride under their names. Krupskaya joked: “It won’t work, you can let it slip in a dream ... You fall asleep, you see the Mensheviks in a dream and you begin to swear: bastards, bastards! That's where the whole conspiracy is gone." But this situation was not funny.
“Immediately go, even through hell!”
Paradoxically, but October revolution to some extent, the unexpected decision of the Provisional Government, which in March 1917 granted amnesty to all those convicted on political and religious matters, saved. Now Lenin could return to Russia and even remain at large, but still did not know how to get to his homeland. Then another savior of the revolution appeared on the scene - Julius Martov.
He offered all the numerous political emigrants a risky and unexpected option - to go through Germany, giving her in return part of the prisoners of war held in Russia. There was nothing unusual in the proposal itself: through an exchange, some Russian citizens returned to Russia from Germany at war with it, for example, the scientist Maxim Kovalevsky. But whether the Provisional Government would want to go for an exchange and receive such a revolutionary gift was a big question. Fortunately for the revolutionaries, Germany, which was interested in the return of the Bolsheviks to Russia, which would contribute to its exit from the war, allowed them to travel "on credit" - without the consent of the Provisional Government for an exchange.
We also agreed that the car would be sealed, that is, any contact of travelers with the outside world was excluded.
Lenin did not care at all how to get to Petrograd. "Drive! Immediately go, even through hell! he said. The venture was risky: despite the amnesty, there was no guarantee that they would not go straight to jail. In addition, the people had every reason to believe that Lenin and his associates had sold out to the Germans. Although about the latter, Lenin stated:
“You want to assure me that the workers will not understand my arguments about the need to use any road to get to Russia and take part in the revolution. You want to assure me that some slanderers will succeed in misleading the workers and assuring them that we old tried revolutionaries are acting to please German imperialism. Yes, this is for chickens to laugh at.
"We're Going to Jail"
Farewell to Switzerland took place on 9 April. It is hardly possible to call him calm: at the station there was almost a brawl with opponents of Lenin's idea, someone tried at the last moment to dissuade the revolutionaries from taking a risky step, someone expressed a modest hope to see each other soon on Swiss soil. But the plan was not thwarted: at 15:10 the political emigrants left Zurich.
- newsreel frame
The atmosphere in the sealed carriage was almost fraternal. They slept in turns, because there were not enough places for everyone, they sang songs in chorus, told jokes. One of the emigrants recalled Lenin in this way:
“I have never seen a person so natural and simple in every word, in every movement.<...>No one felt overwhelmed by his personality, not even embarrassed in front of him.<...>Drawing in the presence of Ilyich was impossible. He didn’t just cut off a person or make fun of him, but just somehow immediately stopped seeing you, hearing you, you definitely fell out of his field of vision as soon as you stopped talking about what you were really interested in, but began to pose. And precisely because in his presence the person himself became better and more natural, it was so free and joyful with him.
Yes, and the Germans tried to impress: fed cutlets with peas, bought newspapers, drove the curious away from the car during stops. Only once did a member of the leadership of the German trade unions try to get a conversation with Comrade Lenin, which caused an explosion of fun in the car and a promise of reprisals in case of repeated attempts. An excited and joyful mood reigned, and the future leader of the revolution kept repeating: "We are going to prison."
"Lenin is a German spy"
But the Provisional Government was not sure that Lenin was going to prison. Some ministers argued that Lenin should not be allowed into the country. Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, one of the leaders of the Cadets and the father of the famous writer, recalled that “they answered quite unanimously that there were no formal grounds to prevent Lenin from entering, that, on the contrary, Lenin had the right to return, since he was amnestied, that the way to which he resorts to make the trip is not formally criminal. To this was added<...>that the very fact of resorting to the services of Germany would undermine Lenin's authority to such an extent that he would not have to be feared.
Exactly the same arguments - "Lenin himself will undermine his authority" - were expressed by the Provisional Government to the Entente, which demanded to prevent Ulyanov from returning to his homeland.
The official media actively promoted the idea that "Lenin is a German spy." In feuilletons and anecdotes, they stubbornly portrayed how he fraternized with the Kaiser, cartoonists compared the train carrying Vladimir Ilyich with a Trojan horse. It would seem that Lenin was discredited on all fronts. Even if he is not imprisoned, the socialist revolution cannot be carried out.
"Long live the world socialist revolution!"
The night of April 16-17, 1917 was the moment of truth. The closer the train approached the Finland Station, the more acutely Lenin and his inner circle asked themselves the question: “Will they be arrested or not?” Torches burned on the platform. The streets were full of people. But these people obviously did not intend to judge Lenin - they held welcome posters in their hands. Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich recalls:
“The orchestra played a greeting, and all the troops took guard.<...>There was such a powerful, such an amazing, such a heartfelt “Hurrah!” that I had never heard before.<...>Vladimir Ilyich, having greeted us cordially and joyfully, who had not seen him for almost ten years, was about to move with his hurried gait, and when this "Hurrah!"
- What is it?
It is the revolutionary troops and workers who greet you...
The officer, with all the restraint and solemnity of large parades, reported to Vladimir Ilyich, and he looked at him in bewilderment, obviously not at all imagining that this would all be so.
Looking around at the sea of heads spread around, Lenin said: “Yes, this is a revolution!” And the leader of the revolution with a bouquet of white and scarlet carnations walked under the triumphal arches made for him to his first people's platform in ten years. She became an armored car. The peals of the Marseillaise, performed by a military band, fell silent, and Lenin began his speech:
“Sailors, comrades, greeting you, I still don’t know if you believe all the promises of the Provisional Government, but I firmly know that when you are told sweet speeches, when you are promised a lot, you are being deceived, just as the entire Russian people are being deceived. The people need peace, the people need bread, the people need land. And they give you war, famine, lack of bread, they leave the landowner on the ground ... Long live the world social revolution!
According to other memoirs, he said:
“I thank you for giving me the opportunity to return to Russia. You have done a great deed - you have thrown off the king, but the work is not finished, the iron still needs to be struck while it is hot. Long live the socialist revolution!”
The people sang the Marseillaise again, but Lenin, grimacing, stopped them. He didn't like the anthem bourgeois revolution calling for the fight against the enemy, so the leader asked to sing the "Internationale". The Bolsheviks standing nearby did not know the song, for which they were ashamed by Lenin.
According to Bonch-Bruevich, “searchlights streaked the sky with their mysterious, fast-running sheaves of light, either rising into the heavenly heights, or descending point-blank into the crowd. This restless, gliding everywhere, trembling light, playing and shimmering<...>excited everyone even more, giving the whole picture of this historical meeting some kind of mysterious, magical<...>view".
There was something mystical-religious about it. The figure of Lenin on an armored car has become one of the symbols of Russia in the 20th century. It will be copied until the end of the century.
On that April night, Lenin was uncloudedly happy. The real fight was just beginning, but he seemed to know that he was destined to win. Tomorrow he will read his famous “April Theses” to his fellow party members, which at first will cause a lot of controversy due to their radicalism, but the pressure of the “furious leader” will very soon break the resistance of the Bolshevik Party, and on April 22, 1917 at the April party conference, as a gift on his 47th day birth, Lenin will receive recognition of the theses. Here, on the political horizon, the figure of Stalin will appear, who will be one of the first to speak out for new program party, thereby probably endearing Lenin to him.
Sealed wagon- the established designation of a carriage and a special train in which Lenin, with a large group of emigrant revolutionaries, passed through Germany in April 1917, following from Switzerland to Russia.
The history of the sealed wagon is an integral part of the question of German financing of the Bolsheviks and, accordingly, the role of Germany in the Russian revolution.
The idea of a trip through Germany
Arthur Zimmermann, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Germany
The February revolution inspired the Germans, who found themselves in a stalemate in the conditions of a protracted war; there was a real opportunity for Russia to withdraw from the war and after that - a decisive victory in the West. Chief of staff Eastern Front General Max Hoffman later recalled: “The disintegration introduced into the Russian army by the revolution, we naturally sought to strengthen by means of propaganda. In the rear, someone who maintained relations with the Russians living in exile in Switzerland came up with the idea of using some of these Russians in order to destroy the spirit of the Russian army even faster and poison it with poison. According to Hoffman, through Deputy Erzberger, this "someone" made a corresponding proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; as a result, the famous "sealed wagon" appeared, delivering Lenin and other emigrants through Germany to Russia. Soon () the name of the initiator also surfaced in the press: it was Parvus, acting through the German ambassador in Copenhagen, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau. According to Rantzau himself, the idea of Parvus found support in the Foreign Ministry from Baron von Malzan and from Deputy Erzberger, head of military propaganda; they convinced Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, who suggested that the Headquarters (that is, the Kaiser, Hindenburg and Ludendorff) carry out a "brilliant maneuver". This information was fully confirmed with the publication of the documents of the German Foreign Ministry. Zeman-Scharlau's book gives an extensive account of Brockdorf-Rantzau's meeting with Parvus, who raised the question of the need to bring Russia into a state of anarchy by supporting the most radical elements. In a memorandum drawn up on the basis of conversations with Parvus, Brockdorff-Rantzau wrote: “I believe that, from our point of view, it is preferable to support the extremists, since this is what will most quickly lead to certain results. In all likelihood, in about three months, we can count on the fact that disintegration will reach a stage when we can break Russia by military force. . As a result, the chancellor authorized the German ambassador in Bern, von Romberg, to get in touch with Russian emigrants and offer them passage to Russia through Germany. At the same time (April 3), the Foreign Ministry asked the Treasury for 3 million marks for propaganda in Russia, which were allocated. .
Lenin's refusal to Parvus
Meanwhile, Parvus tried to act independently of the Foreign Ministry: having received the consent of the General Staff, he asked Ganetsky to inform Lenin that his and Zinoviev's trip through Germany was organized, but not to tell him clearly from what source the assistance was provided. Agent Georg Sklarz was sent to Zurich to organize the trip, with Lenin and Zinoviev being transported in the first place. However, the case failed on the first attempt: Lenin was afraid of being compromised. On March 24, Zinoviev, at the request of Lenin, telegraphs Ganetsky: “The letter has been sent. Uncle (that is, Lenin) wants to know more. The official passage of only a few persons is unacceptable.” When Sklarz, in addition to offering to send only Lenin and Zinoviev, offered to cover their expenses, Lenin broke off the negotiations. On March 28, he telegraphed Ganetsky: “The Berlin permission is unacceptable to me. Either the Swiss government will receive a wagon to Copenhagen, or the Russian will agree on the exchange of all emigrants for interned Germans, ”after which he asks him to find out the possibility of passing through England. On March 30, Lenin wrote to Ganetsky: “Of course, I cannot use the services of people related to the publisher of Kolokol (that is, Parvus),” and again proposes a plan for exchanging emigrants for interned Germans (this plan belonged to Martov). However, S.P. Melgunov believes that the letter, addressed just to a person who has a direct “relationship to the publisher of the Bells”, was designed to be distributed in party circles and process party public opinion, while the decision to return through Germany was already Lenin’s. received .
Travel organization
Signatures of Lenin and other emigrants under the terms of travel through Germany.
The next day, he demands money from Ganetsky for the trip: “Allocate two thousand, preferably three thousand crowns for our trip. We intend to leave on Wednesday (April 4) with at least 10 people.” Soon he writes to Inessa Armand: “We have more money for the trip than I thought, there will be enough people for 10-12, because we great(underlined in the text) the comrades in Stockholm helped.”
The German leftist Social Democrat Paul Levy assured that it was he who turned out to be an intermediate link between Lenin and the embassy in Bern (and the German Foreign Ministry), who equally ardently sought the first - to get to Russia, the second - to transport him there; when Levi connected Lenin with the ambassador, Lenin sat down to draw up the conditions of travel - and they were unconditionally accepted.
The interest of the Germans was so great that the Kaiser personally ordered to give Lenin copies of official German documents (as material for propaganda about the “peacefulness” of Germany), and the General Staff was ready to let the “sealed wagon” pass directly through the front if Sweden refused to accept Russian revolutionaries. However, Sweden agreed. The terms of passage were signed on 4 April. The text of the agreement read:
Conditions for the passage of Russian emigrants through Germany
1. I, Fritz Platten, escort, on my own responsibility and at my own risk, a carriage with political emigrants and refugees returning through Germany to Russia.
2. Relations with the German authorities and officials are conducted exclusively and only by Platten. Without his permission, no one has the right to enter the car.
3. The right of extraterritoriality is recognized for the wagon. No control of passports or passengers should be carried out either when entering or leaving Germany.
4. Passengers will be accepted into the carriage regardless of their views and attitudes towards the question of war or peace.
5. Platten undertakes to supply passengers with railway tickets at normal fare prices.
6. If possible, the journey should be made without interruption. No one should either voluntarily or by order leave the car. There should be no delays along the way without technical necessity.
7. Permission to travel is given on the basis of an exchange for German or Austrian prisoners of war or internees in Russia.
8. The mediator and the passengers undertake to personally and privately press the working class to comply with paragraph 7.
9. Moving from the Swiss border to the Swedish border as soon as possible, as far as technically feasible.
Bern - Zurich. April 4 (March 22. N.M.), 1917
(Signed) Fritz Platten
Secretary of the Swiss Socialist Party
Regarding paragraph 7, Professor S. G. Pushkarev believes that since the Bolsheviks were not part of the government and did not have a majority in the Soviets, and therefore they could not actually exchange prisoners, the paragraph had no practical meaning and was included by Lenin solely in order to so that the third-party reader gets the impression of an equitable nature of the treaty.
Drive
The locomotive of the train on which Lenin arrived in Petrograd
List of passengers
List of passengers of the "sealed car" compiled by V. L. Burtsev
Lenin's arrival in Russia
Lenin arrived in Petrograd on the evening of April 3 (16). On April 12 (25) he telegraphed Ganetsky and Radek to Stockholm with a request to send money: “Dear friends! Until now, nothing, absolutely nothing: no letters, no packages, no money from you. 10 days later, he already wrote to Ganetsky: “Money (two thousand) received from Kozlovsky. The packages have not yet been received ... It is not easy to arrange business with couriers, but we will still take all measures. Now a special person is coming to organize the whole business. We hope he gets it right."
Immediately upon arrival in Russia, on April 4 (17), Lenin delivered the famous "April Theses" directed against the Provisional Government and "revolutionary defense". In the very first thesis, the war on the part of "Lvov and Co" was characterized as still "predatory, imperialist"; there were calls for "organizing a broad propaganda of this view in the army" and fraternization. Further, there was a demand for the transfer of power into the hands of the soviets, with the subsequent "elimination of the army, bureaucracy, and police." The day after the publication of the Theses in Pravda, on April 21 (NS), one of the leaders of German intelligence in Stockholm telegraphed the Foreign Ministry in Berlin: “Lenin's arrival in Russia is successful. It works exactly the way we would like it to.” Subsequently, General Ludendorff wrote in his memoirs: “By sending Lenin to Russia, our government assumed a special responsibility. From a military point of view, this enterprise was justified, Russia had to be knocked down.
The arguments of the opponents of the version of "German gold"
Ganetsky (far left) and Radek (next to him) with a group of Swedish Social Democrats. Stockholm, May 1917
For their part, opponents of the “German gold” version point out that Parvus was not an intermediary in negotiations on the passage of Russian political emigrants through Germany, but that the emigrants refused to mediate Karl Moor and Robert Grimm, quite reasonably suspecting them of German agents, leaving Fritz Platten to negotiate . When in Stockholm Parvus tried to meet with Lenin, he categorically refused this meeting. Further, in their opinion, the emigrants who passed through Germany did not take on any political obligations, except for one thing - to agitate for the passage of interned Germans from Russia to Germany, equal in number to the emigrants who passed through Germany. And the initiative in this obligation came from the political emigrants themselves, since Lenin categorically refused to go simply with the permission of the Berlin government
For their part, opponents of the “German gold” version point out that Parvus was not an intermediary in the negotiations on the passage of Russian political emigrants through Germany, but the mediation of Karl Moor and Robert Grimm, quite reasonably suspecting them of German agents, the emigrants refused, leaving Fritz Platten to negotiate . When in Stockholm Parvus tried to meet with Lenin, he categorically refused this meeting. Further, in their opinion, the emigrants who passed through Germany did not take on any political obligations, except for one thing - to agitate for the passage of interned Germans from Russia to Germany, equal in number to the emigrants who passed through Germany. And the initiative in this obligation came from the political emigrants themselves, since Lenin categorically refused to go simply with the permission of the Berlin government.
In addition, supporters of the “German gold” version tendentiously violate the chronology of events, which is indicated, in particular, by Gennady Sobolev: they forget to mention that the idea of passing through Germany belonged to Parvus, and Yu. O. Martov, who was not connected with him in any way, was expressed at a meeting of emigrants in Bern at a time when Parvus had not yet thought about what problems opponents of the war might have with obtaining visas in the Entente countries. They also forget to mention that from the very beginning the emigrants strove to act openly and legally - through the Committee for the Return of Russian Emigrants to their Homeland (this Committee is not mentioned at all).
Another argument is the traditional suppression by supporters of the fact that the sealed carriage in which the group of emigrants headed by Lenin returned to Russia was not the only one. In May 1917, a significant group of Menshevik-internationalists, Socialist-Revolutionaries and non-factional Social Democrats headed by Yu. O. Martov, Pavel Axelrod and Anatoly Lunacharsky (at that time not yet a Bolshevik) followed the same path. Refusing at first to go through Germany without the official permission of the Petrograd Soviet, the emigrants stuck in Switzerland eventually chose this path - for lack of anything else, as they claimed in their telegrams to the Petrograd Soviet. The emigrants' correspondence contains a "black list of the most dangerous pacifists", for whom travel through the Entente countries was closed. It included not only the co-editors of the Bolshevik Social Democrat, Lenin and Zinoviev, but also all the former employees of the Nashe Slovo newspaper, headed by Trotsky and Martov. The first "bell" was the arrest in the UK of a moderate internationalist, the leader of the Socialist-Revolutionaries Viktor Chernov - in fact, his arrest prompted Lenin to accept Platten's proposal. At the request of the Provisional Government, which was pressed by the Petrograd Soviet, Chernov was soon released; but this was followed by the arrest of Leon Trotsky by the British authorities in Canada, and it took much longer to wait for his release from the English concentration camp.
Unable to obtain official permission from the Petrograd Soviet and feeling like "undesirable emigrants", the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries passed through Germany without permission. And if the very fact of passage is intended to prove a connection with the German General Staff, one will have to admit that both the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries were also connected with it.
The fact is also hushed up that accusations of links with the German General Staff during the First World War were not stinted at all and they did not require any evidence. "Spy mania" began with the first defeats of the Russian army, and until 1917, charges of treason and secret relations with Germany were brought against members imperial family and the ministers of war; in 1917, supporters of the slogan "war to a victorious end" made similar accusations against almost all opponents of the war (which had been so since 1914). In particular, Nikolai Sukhanov, who spent the entire war in Russia, testifies:
| Apart from the Bolsheviks, all internationalists of any note were directly or indirectly accused of serving the Germans or of dealing with the German authorities. I personally became a favorite target of the "Rech" and was called by it only with the epithet: "kind to the German heart" or "so highly valued by the Germans." Almost daily I began to receive letters from the capital, the provinces and the army; in some there were exhortations or bullying, in others - questions: “Tell me, how much did you take?” The United States could not even pass through Germany with all its desire (as a result, Alexander Kerensky had to remove the disgraced prosecutor from the case). Finally, opponents of the version accuse their opponents of uncritical and frankly one-sided selection of sources; in particular, the authenticity of the documents used by supporters of the “German gold” version is also questionable, since many of them are considered fakes. |
