32. TELEGRAM TO ARTHUR HENDERSON^[1]

Written on January 24 (February 6), 1918 · First published in Russian in 1965 in Collected Works, Fifth Ed., Vol. 50. Published on February 14, 1918, in English in the newspaper The Call No. 97. Sent to London. Printed from the newspaper text. Written in English. · page 60

The Russian Socialist Government regrets inability to participate in the Allied Socialist Conference as being contrary to the principles of Internationalism. We object to division of the working class according to Imperialist grouping. If British Labour agrees to Russian peace aims, which are already accepted by the Socialist parties of the Central Powers, such division is still more unwarranted.

Notes

[1] This document is the reply to a telegram from Arthur Henderson, who, on behalf of the British Labour Party, proposed to Lenin   that delegates should be sent from the Bolshevik Party to a conference in London of socialists of the Entente countries to be convened on February 20, 1918, with the aim of achieving a common agreement on the problems of the war.