cost. Chicherin's note, he thought, would emphasize the
difference between these opposing views and would tend to
make impossible an alliance of the capitalists against Russia.


Finally, Kamenev, now President of the Moscow Soviet,
spoke, objecting to Bucharin's comparison of the peace now
sought with that of Brest Litovsk. Then everything was in a
state of experiment and untried. Now it was clear to the
world that the unity of Russia could be achieved only under
the Soviets. The powers opposed to them could not but
recognize this fact. Some parts of Russia (Ukraine) had
during the last fifteen months experienced every kind of
government, from the Soviets, the dictatorship of the
proletariat, to the dictatorship of foreign invaders and the
dictatorship of a General of the old regime, and they had
after all returned to the Soviets. Western European
imperialists must realize that the only Government in Russia
which rested on the popular masses was the Government
of the Soviets and no other. Even the paper of the
Mensheviks, commenting on Chicherin's note, had declared
that by this step the Soviet Government had shown that it
was actually a national Government acting in the interests of
the nation. He further read a statement by Right Social
Revolutionaries (delegates of that group, members of the
Constituent Assembly, were in the gallery) to the effect that
they were prepared to help the Soviet Government as the
only Government in Russia that was fighting against a
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.