Lenin and The Sealed Train Though Germany

[YM]

I have always wondered why Lenin's accepting the aid of German militarists in getting transported to Russia in order to carry out a Bolshevik Revolution did not end up discrediting him in the eyes of most Russians. Considering the massive concessions he made to the Germans at Brest-Litovsk, how could he avoided being branded as a German agent? (I read that knowledge of Lenin's use of German assistance in getting from Switzerland to Russia did become known in short order).
Can anybody answer this?

[Art]

1. It wasn't Lenin alone, but several wagon loads of political emigres from Switzerland belonging to various left parties.
2. Transit was officially arranged as an exchange for German POWs and internees in Russia.
3. Given the fact that parties to whom those emigres belonged received an absolute majority of votes in elections of 1917, the statement that this episode completely discredited them is hardly true.
4. Initial German demands during the Brest negotiations were rejected by Bolsheviks and affiliated left SRs altogether, only German offensive in February 1918 made them to yield. So the Brest treaty was concluded not because Bolsheviks wanted it but because they had no better options. Yet Bolshevist forces continued military operations against Germany and AH even after the treaty was concluded.

[Terry Duncan]

Art has answered most of what was asked. however the sealed train seems to be far less sealed than many imagined, and contact with other travellers was possible. The 'sealed' nature seems to have been far more a case of keeping a low profile. I believe there is mention of this in the TV adaptation of Strachan's The First World War, but opinion still seems divided between this and the original story told by Lenin - there is a diary entry to support meeting others and I will see if I can supply more details later.

[favedave]

This should be interesting to read. In the United States the 'Sealed Train' story was part and parcel to the Cold War. Wilhelmine Germany and Nazi Germany, a collective of evil we fought in two world wars spawned our then current enemy. This really limited examination of what Lenin and the Bolsheviks were really doing between the December armistice and the final signing of Brest-Litovsk in the first week of March in 1918. Whatever reason the Bolsheviks had for dilly-dallying with the signing of the final peace treaty, they caused Ludendorff to maintain the armies in the east at nearly full strength under Max Hoffman. He committed around a quarter of a million troops in his February offensive, moving the 'front' hundreds of miles deeper into Russia from the Black Sea to the Baltic. This had serious consequences on the manpower available for the spring offensives in the west. Operation George became Georgette as a direct result, and none of the main offensives beginning with Michael had fresh reserves to insert into the battles at the critical moments when, as Haig said the Allies had their backs to the wall.

[James A Pratt III]

Lenin when WW I began was in Austria-hungary instead of being interned he was transported to Switzerland in an Austrian goverment mail train. he also called for the defeat of the RUSSIAN armies!? during the war he and his party maintained contacts with the germans. After the Tsar abdicated he and his gang were tranported across germany to russia were just after he arrived there he started plotting to overthrow the Provisional goverment. Lenin also recieved vast amounts of gold and other aid from the Germans. In spite of the fact they had vast amounts of evidence about what lenin and the bolos were doing and all the aid they were getting from germany . add to this the july 1917 revolt . the provisional goverment headed by kerensky did nothing because the revolution has no enemies on the left and crushing the Bolos would harm the revolution. Lenin finally seizes power in November 1917 Kerensky has to flee the country and the rest of his "usefull idiot" pals either flee with him or are jailed or shot by lenin or Stalin. then lenin signs treaty of brest Livstok giving the germans a good chunk of russia and pretty much making them allies of the Germans. lenin and co were for a while confident that germany would win WW I or at least sure Germany would fight on into 1919. the end of WW I came as surprise to them. However, by this time they were solidly in power and go on stick russia with one of the most brutal dictatorships in history.
Sadly from 1914 to early 1917 Russia went through a period anti-german spy mania where hundreds of innocent people were executed on trumpted up charges of being german spys. It even helped cause the downfall of the russian monarchy because the Empress Alexandra was german born. However while the woman deserves to be critised for lots of things no one can question the fact she was 100% loyal to her adopted country.

[favedave]

Lenin certainly made no bones about using the Germans (or anybody else, Russian or not) to further the Soviet Revolution in October (November on our calendar) But remember, the German advances were, until Hoffman's February 1918 offensive, in Poland and the Ukrane, not Mother Russia proper. This was far from the Soviet Revolutions in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Until the Germans got close enough to threaten Lenin's control in Petersburg he was, or acted at any rate, non-plused. Did he think the Germans would win? Who knows? But foreign generals with powerful armies had gotten deep into Russia before, and would again, with bad results for them. Solidifying his position is all that really mattered. Casting out the Germans could come later, or as it turned out would be completely unnecessary if the Allies won. Therefore, it is possible that Lenin's delaying for three full months on signing the peace treaty was a calculated move to give him time to stabilize his regime and put the Germans at a logistic disadvantage for eviction, regardless of who won in the West. We weren't talking to the Russian regime in power so we don't really know. But Lenin had a reason for directing Trotsky to delay signing the documents
which 'cost' Russia so much and became increasingly disadvantageous. To my knowledge this strange anomaly against self-interest has never really been explored by historians (who are notoriously agenda driven).

[Art]

After the Tsar abdicated he and his gang

Again it wasn't Lenin and his gang but plenty of men from various parties including SRs, mensheviks, anarchists and Jewish Bund.

Lenin also recieved vast amounts of gold and other aid from the Germans.

The attitude to the "Germa gold" version in historical community is rather reserved as far as I understand. At least it's not a generally accepted fact.

the provisional goverment headed by kerensky did nothing because the revolution has no enemies on the left and crushing the Bolos would harm the revolution

That's not true. The government after July events in Petrograd initiated charges against Lenin and Bolsheviks. The ultimate result was nothing but hot vapor though and left parties mostly found those charges fabricated.

then lenin signs treaty of brest Livstok giving the germans a good chunk of russia and pretty much making them allies of the Germans.

There is nothing in the treaty of Brest to indicate any sort of alliance. The decision to conclude the treaty wasn't made by Lenin alone (he wasn't an autocrat but just a first among equals) but by the Bolshevist leadership with a minimal superiority of votes and only after situation on the front became catastrophic. As far as relations with Germany are concerned there are far more reasons to see Ukrainian nationalists or Don Cossack government (both were fighting against Bolsheviks) as pro-German. Generally speaking the only pro-Entente anti-Bolshevist force worth to mention in March 1918 was Kornilov/Denikon's Army but it was small and non-influential then.

[Terry Duncan]

That's not true. The government after July events in Petrograd initiated charges against Lenin and Bolsheviks. The ultimate result was nothing but hot vapor though and left parties mostly found those charges fabricated.

Just to add a little detail to what Art has said, the article on the July Days on Wiki gives the basic details of Karensky's actions afterwards;

Kerensky ordered the arrest of Lenin and the other leading Bolsheviks, accusing them of inciting revolt with German financial backing. Lenin successfully fled and went into hiding in Finland, but many other Bolshevik leaders were arrested, including Trotsky and Lunacharskii who were apprehended on 22 July. They remained in prison until Kerensky released them in response to the Kornilov Affair.

The government crisis was intensified by the resignation of Prime Minister Lvov. On 8 July Kerensky became prime minister. The SR-Menshevik leadership of the Soviets proclaimed the Provisional Government acknowledged it to have “unlimited powers.” The soviets became a powerless appendage of the government. The suppression of the demonstrations marked the end of dual power. The peaceful development of the revolution was seen as impossible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Days

It is from this period that the famous picture of the unshaven Lenin originates. There was also the famous hut at Razliv that still exists to my knowledge.

http://visualrian.ru/en/site/gallery/#556443/context[q]=site&context[field]=keyword

There is nothing in the treaty of Brest to indicate any sort of alliance.

There was nothing in the treaty or out of it to indicate an alliance. The Bolsheviks were staggered by the terms of the final treaty and only agreed because they had little option to do anything else, and Lenin told them they 'must sign this shameful peace.' Strachan lists the cost to Russia as a million square miles of its territory, almost all of its coal and oil, three quarters of its iron ore, and about half its industry. This treaty did much to convince the western powers that peace with Germany would only be possible with victory, and the Treaty of Bucharest seemed to confirm it. Germany was not seeking conciliatory peace, she was dictating terms so severe that nations could do no worse by fighting to final defeat.

As far as relations with Germany are concerned there are far more reasons to see Ukrainian nationalists or Don Cossack government (both were fighting against Bolsheviks) as pro-German.

That would be correct. The Ukraine was not entirely peaceful, but Hoffman (iirc) noted that the Germans should allow the government to continue for appearances but to run everything themselves.

[James A Pratt III]

The information about Lenin's links to the Germans pre 1917 is from Pipes "The Russian Revolution". Which is the source of Lenin getting 50 million marks in gold from the germans in the 1917-18 period. This is over 9 tons of the stuff. I think this may be about 6 Billion in todays currency. There are other books out that do mention Lenin getting large amounts of aid from the germans that i can't remember the titles of right now. Pipes also notes that after the July Revolution many of the particpants were found with conterfit 10 rouble notes on them (One wonders who printed them?). He also points out Kerensky had evidence of Lenin getting aid from the germans but didn't do much about it because he was paronoid some one on the right would overthrow him in a coup. There is evidence that Kornilov was NOT planning a coup according to Pipes and the wiki posting on this Affair. The book "Young Stalin" points out Kerensky was using both cocaine and Morphia at this time. This looks like a real screw up on Kerenskys part.
One must point out that Russia and Gearmany were at war when Lenin and company went on their train ride across Germany. also got alot of his money pre WW I from "Exporations" crime see "Young Stalin" and Pipes. See also "Tide at Sunrise' were Lenin got lots of Japanese gold during the Russo-japanese War.

[spgapi]

Dokumente der Intrige

http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/ent ... &a=948&c=1