Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 26 - From Marx to Mao

444V. I. LENINwhether or not the European, and especially the German,socialist revolution will take place in the next six months(or some such brief period). Inasmuch as it is quite impossibleto determine this, all such attempts, objectively speaking,would be nothing but a blind gamble.7. The peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk have by now—January 7, 1918—made it perfectly clear that the war partyhas undoubtedly gained the upper hand in the GermanGovernment (which has the other governments of the QuadrupleAlliance at its beck and call) and has virtually alreadypresented Russia with an ultimatum (and it is to be expected,most certainly to be expected, that any day now itwill be presented formally). The ultimatum is as follows:either the continuation of the war, or a peace with annexations,i.e., peace on condition that we surrender all theterritory we have occupied, while the Germans retain allthe territory they have occupied and impose upon us anindemnity (outwardly disguised as payment for the maintenanceof prisoners)—an indemnity of about three thousandmillion rubles, payable over a number of years.8. The socialist government of Russia is faced with thequestion—a question whose solution brooks no delay—ofwhether to accept this peace with annexations now, or toimmediately wage a revolutionary war. In fact, no middlecourse is possible. No further postponement can now beachieved, for we have already done everything possible andimpossible to deliberately protract the negotiations.9. On examining the arguments in favour of an immediaterevolutionary war, the first argument we encounter is thata separate peace at this juncture would, objectively speaking,be an agreement with the German imperialists, an“imperialistic deal”, and so forth, and that, consequently,such a peace would mean a complete break with the fundamentalprinciples of proletarian internationalism.This argument, however, is obviously incorrect. Workerswho lose a strike and sign terms for the resumption of workwhich are unfavourable to them and favourable to the capitalists,do not betray socialism. The only people who betraysocialism are those who secure advantages for a section ofthe workers in exchange for profit to the capitalists; onlysuch agreements are impermissible in principle.