94. To THE R.C.P.(B.) CENTRAL COMMITTEE[1]
Fully in favour.
Lenin
Authorise Chicherin to draw up a draft message and put it through at this very session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee.
Lenin
Notes
[1] Written on G. V. Chicherin’s letter to the R.C.P.(B.) Central Committee of March 18, 1921, saying that, according to information received through Washington Vanderlip, the new U.S. President William Harding (who succeeded Woodrow Wilson in March 1921, as a Republican President) was allegedly in favour of establishing trade relations with Soviet Russia. In tins connection, Chicherin proposed that the session of the All-Russia C.E.C., which was to open, should adopt a Message on the desirability of establishing trade relations between Soviet Russia and the U.S.A. On March 20, the All-Russia C.E.C. sent a Message to the Congress of the U.S.A. and President Harding. However, this and other friendly acts by the Soviet Government did not meet with any response from the U.S. Government which persisted in refusing to recognise the Soviet state. This hostile U.S. stand delayed the normalisation of diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries for many years.