V. I. Lenin

Draft of an Order for all Soviets


Written: March 2, 1918
First Published: 1929 in Lenin Miscellany XI Published according to the manuscrit
Source: Lenin’s Collected Works, Progress Publishers, Moscow, Volume 27, 1972, page 78
Translated: Clemans Dutt, Edited by Robert Daglish
Transcription\HTML Markup:Robert Cymbala and David Walters
Online Version: Lenin Internet Archive March, 2002


We assume that the peace treaty will be signed tomorrow, March 3, but the reports of our agents, taken in connection with all the circumstances, lead us to expect that among the Germans the party of war against Russia will gain the upper hand in the very near future. Hence the categorical order: delay the demobilisation of Red Army men; intensify preparations for blowing up railways, bridges and roads; mobilise and arm detachments; continue accelerated evacuation; withdraw armaments into the interior of the country.

Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars
V. Uiyanov (Lenin)