861.01/172: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Davis)
6209. Copenhagen has been asked to repeat to you its telegrams relating to O’Grady’s mission which suggest that the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners may become the forerunner of more general discussion with the Bolsheviki. The Minister at Copenhagen has been instructed to hold entirely aloof from the negotiations with the Bolsheviki and in no circumstances to come in contact with Litvinoff.
A New York Times Correspondent telegraphs from Dorpat November 20 the substance of an interview supposed to have taken place between Litvinoff and Vandenbosch, described as the Dutch Consul at Reval. Litvinoff’s attitude is interpreted in this despatch as indicating that the Bolshevik domestic situation is precarious and recognition by the Entente necessary to their continued existence. The Times Correspondent sums up as follows: “As the upshot of the whole conversation Vandenbosch was left with the impression that the Soviet was now making a supreme effort to throw dust in the eyes of the world and make peace that would guarantee its position before enough of the truth (about the situation in Bolshevik Russia) was known to render it impossible.”
Information reaches Imbrie at Viborg that the Commissar of the Interior at Petrograd has reported to the Council of People’s Commissars at Moscow that because of lack of cooperation among the workmen and their failure to grasp communistic principles, the early fall of the Soviet Government is inevitable unless recognition can be obtained from the Allied and neutral countries.
Further light is thrown upon the situation by a press report from Warsaw which seems to have been sent originally to the London Times. According to this Lenin and Trotsky are considering the idea of holding elections for a Constituent Assembly and are courting [Page 125] an alliance with the more moderate revolutionary parties. The Extraordinary Commissions would be abolished and peace proposals made to Kolchak and Denikin. The Department is inclined to believe that this despatch has been inspired by the Bolsheviki for the purpose of creating public sentiment abroad favorable to a composition with them.
It would seem most unfortunate if the Government of Great Britain should give to the Bolsheviki at this critical juncture the moral support they would derive from negotiations of a general nature with Great Britain or an expectation of recognition. It would not alter the situation if the Bolsheviki were actually making overtures to other socialist parties, as any movement toward really democratic reformation would be halted rather than encouraged by developments which might give the Bolsheviki ground for hoping that they could still maintain themselves without fundamental concessions to other political elements in Russia. Please keep closely in touch with the situation in London and as the opportunity presents intimate to the British authorities the point of view outlined above.
Repeat foregoing to Paris.
Your 3423, November 21, 6 p.m.94 Department’s 1732 to Stockholm95 was forwarded through you in order that you might be advised of the Department’s attitude in the Russian situation. If you have not repeated the message to Stockholm please do so at once. If Stockholm’s 324896 is necessary to your understanding of the matter you should ask Stockholm to repeat it to you.