people. The opposition on the left complained
that it was a betrayal of the revolution into the
hands of the Entente, and there were many Bolsheviks
who said openly that they thought it went a little
too far in the way of concession. On February 10th, the
Executive Committee met to consider the international
position.


Before proceeding to an account of that meeting, it will be
well to make a short summary of the note in question.
Chicherin, after referring to the fact that no invitation had
been addressed to them and that the absence of a reply from
them was being treated as the rejection of a proposal they
had never received, said that in spite of its more and more
favourable position, the Russian Soviet Government
considered a cessation of hostilities so desirable that it was
ready immediately to begin negotiations, and, as it had more
than once declared, to secure agreement "even at the cost of
serious concessions in so far as these should not threaten the
development of the Republic." "Taking into consideration
that the enemies against whom it has to struggle borrow their
strength of resistance exclusively from the help shown them
by the powers of the Entente, and that therefore these
powers are the only actual enemy of the Russian Soviet
Government, the latter addresses itself precisely to the
powers of the Entente, setting out the points on which it
considers such concessions possible with a view to the
ending of every kind of conflict with the aforesaid powers."
There follows a list of the concessions they are prepared to