Vladimir Lenin
Appeal to the Soldiers of
All the Belligerent Countries
Written: April 20, 1917
First Published: Pravda No. 37, April 21, 1917
Transcription/Markup: Brian Basgen and David Walters
Online Version: Lenin Internet Archive (marxists.org) 1999
Brothers, soldiers!
We are all worn out by this frightful war, which has cost millions of lives,
crippled millions of people and caused untold misery, ruin, and starvation.
And more and more people are beginning to ask themselves:
What started this war, what is it being waged for?
Every day it is becoming clearer to us, the workers and peasants, who bear the
brunt of the war, that it was started and is being waged by the capitalists of
all countries for the sake of the capitalists' interests, for the sake of world
supremacy, for the sake of markets for the manufacturers, factory owners and
bankers, for the sake of plundering the weak nationalities. They are carving up
colonies and seizing territories in the Balkans and in Turkey-and for this the
European peoples must be ruined, for this we must die, for this we must witness
the ruin, starvation and death of our families.
The capitalist class in all countries is deriving colossal, staggering,
scandalously high profits from contracts and war supplies, from concessions in
annexed countries, and from the rising price of goods. The capitalist class has
imposed contribution on all tbe nations for decades ahead in the shape of high
interest on the billions lent in war loans. And we, the workers and peasants,
must die, suffer ruin, and starve, must patiently bear all this and strengthen
our oppressors, the capitalists, by having the workers of the different coun
tries exterminate each other and feel hatred for each other.
Are we going to continue submissively to bear our yoke, to put up with the war
between the capitalist classes?Are we going to let this war drag on by taking
the side of our own national governments, our own national bourgeoisies, our own
national capitalists, and thereby destroying the international unity of the
workers of all countries, of the whole world?
No, brother soldiers, it is time we opened our eyes, it is time we took our fate
into our own hands. In all countries popular wrath against the capitalist class,
which has drawn the people into the war, is growing, spreading, and gaining
strength. Not only in Germany, but even in Britain, which before the war had the
reputation of being one of the freest countries, hundreds and hundreds of true
friends and representatives of the working class are languishing in prison for
having spoken the honest truth against the war and against the capitalists. The
[February] revolution in Russia is only the first step of the first revolution;
it should be followed and will be followed by others.
The new government in Russia-which has overthrown Nicholas II, who was as bad a
crowned brigand as Wilhelm lI-is a government of the capitalists. It is waging
just as predatory and imperialist a war as the capitalists of Germany, Britain,
and other countries. It has endorsed the predatory secret treaties concluded by
Nicholas II with the capitalists of Britain, France, and other countries; it is
not publishing these treaties for the world to know, just as the German
Government is not publishing its secret and equally pred atory treaties with
Austria, Bulgaria, and so on.
On April 20 the Russian Provisional Government published a Note re-endorsing the
old predatory treaties concluded by the tsar and declaring its readiness to
fight the war to a victorious finish, thereby arousing the indignation even of
those who have hitherto trusted and supported it.
But, in addition to the capitalist government, the Russian revolution has given
rise to spontaneous revolutionary organisations representing the vast majority
of the workers and peasants, namely, the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers'
Deputies in Petrograd and in the majority of Russia's cities. Most of the
soldiers and some of the workers in Russia- like very many workers and soldiers
in Germany-still preserve an unreasoning trust in the government of the
capitalists and in their empty and lying talk of a peace without annexations, a
war of defence, and so on.
But, unlike the capitalists, the workers and poor peasants have no interest in
annexations or in protecting the profits of the capitalists. And, therefore,
every day, every step taken by the capitalist government, both in Russia and in
Germany, will expose the deceit of the capitalists, will expose the fact that as
long as capitalist rule lasts there can be no really democratic, non-coercive
peace based on a real renunciation of all annexations, i.e., on the liberation
of all colonies without exception, of all oppressed, forcibly annexed or
underprivileged nationalities without exception, and the war will in all
likelihood become still more acute and pro tracted.
Only if state power in both the, at present, hostile countries, for example, in
both Russia and Germany, passes wholly and exclusively into the hands of the
revolutionary Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which are really
capable of rending the whole mesh of capitalist relations and inter ests, will
the workers of both the belligerent countries ac quire confidence in each other
and be able to put a speedy end to the war on the basis of a really democratic
peace that will really liberate all the nations and nationalitiea of the world.
Brothers, soldiers!
Let us do everything we can to hasten this, to achieve this aim. Let us not fear
sacrifices-any sacrifice for the workers' revolution will be less painful than
the sacrifices of war. Every victorious step of the revolution will save
hundreds of thousands and millions of people from death, ruin, and starvation.
Peace to the hovels, war on the palaces! Peace to the workers of all countries!
Longlive the fraternal unity of the revolutionary workers of all countries! Long
live socialism!
Central Committee of the R.S.D.L P.
Petrograd Committee of the R.S.D.L.P.
Editorial Board of Pravda
...
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