467. To L. D. TROTSKY

Written in November, not later than 6, 1919 · First published in 1942 in Lenin Miscellany XXXIV. Printed from the text in an unknown handwriting. · page 309

Trotsky

I thought Chicherin had informed you that he was notifying the Estonians of our offensive against them if they let Yudenich in. I think we ought to enter Estland if they let Yudenich in, and, if this threat is real, we must speed things up by vehement action.^[1] Chicherin is against making this public, for then the Entente would adopt their own measures.

Lenin

Notes

[1] On Novembers, 1919, the Politbureau of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) accepted the idea of the Red Army crossing the Estonian frontier to complete the rout of Yudenich’s whiteguard forces. On November 14, however, this decision was rescinded at a meeting of the Politbureau which noted that under pressure from the working population the Estonian Government was agreeing to resume peace negotiations and, apparently, would not support Yudenich.

On December 5, 1919, a peace conference of the R.S.F.S.R. and Estonia opened in the town of Yuriev (Tartu), at which an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the R.S.F.S.R. and Estonia was signed (December 31, 1919). On February 2, 1920, a peace treaty between Soviet Russia and Estonia was concluded.