File No. 861.00/2441
[Enclosure]
The Representatives of
the Czechoslovak National Council to the Consuls of the Allied
Powers
Vladivostok, June 25, 1918.
At the very beginning of the war, the Czecho-Slovaks understood
that the Allies had right and justice on their side, that the
object of Germany was to obtain hegemony over the whole world,
while the Allies were fighting for right and liberty for all
mankind. This truth showed us that our place is with the Allies,
and our people having taken of its own free will this fixed
determination and accepted this duty, not only has always
remained faithful thereto but has been ready to do all that was
possible to assist in attaining the common object without
heeding any sacrifices which this might entail. Truly it is not
selfishness which guides our actions; we want no more for
ourselves than for others and we are fighting for others also to
attain that which every civilized and politically developed
nation has a full right to demand, namely, full political
independence.
To-day there is no battle field on any front where Czecho-Slovak
soldiers have not poured out their blood. The majority of our
troops have been fighting in the ranks of the Russian Army and
only when the Russian Army collapsed
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irremediably and after the peace of Brest
Litovsk, did we clearly understand that the part we could play
on the Russian front was over.
Refusing to recognize the peace of Brest Litovsk, so shameful for
the Russian people, we, the only portion of the once glorious
Russian Army remaining strong in morale and organized as a
military force, determined to pass to France to continue the
strife.
The central Bolshevik government allowed us to leave Russia upon
conditions which were laid down in the treaty concluded between
our army and the government of the People’s Commissioners on the
26th of March 1918.
Loyally and faithfully have we fulfilled all the conditions
imposed upon us by this treaty: never have we become involved in
the internal political affairs of Russia.
Of this the best proof is that, in spite of all the obstacles
that the local Bolshevik authorities placed in our road, 13,000
of our soldiers have accomplished the journey all through Russia
without disputes and have been living for the past two months in
Vladivostok in correct and loyal relations with the Bolshevik
authorities here. This condition of things continued as long as
the Bolshevik government remained in the hands of Russians but
changed completely the moment Germans and Magyars obtained the
mastery in the central government of Siberia and, under the
guise of internationalists and communists, were accepted by the
Bolshevik government in the ranks of the Red forces and even in
the administrative organs of which they form to-day the
kernel.
Obeying the ultimatum from Berlin, Trotsky, the People’s Commissioner, gave the
order for our troops to be disarmed, our officers outlawed and
our soldiers placed as prisoners in internment camps under
severe control. As a result of this order, our troops along the
line between Irkutsk and Penza were attacked simultaneously by
Germans and Magyars. By Trotsky’s order, the treaty made between us and
the Bolsheviks guaranteeing to us free departure from Russia was
treacherously violated and the central government of Siberia
fell into the hands of the Germans.
Our troops, ambushed by Germans and Magyars, had in self-defense
to accept the combat, the result of which is that to-day the
whole of the Trans-Siberian line from Penza to Irkutsk is in our
hands. In all the places along this line, the Bolshevik
government has been overthrown by the Russian Mensheviks and
Revolutionary Socialists of the right wing without any
cooperation from our troops. The central government of Siberia
(Bolshevik) is hastily organizing against the Czecho-Slovaks
German and Magyar prisoners. The Russian people welcomes our
troops and supports them with all its power.
Our troops at Vladivostok hold it to be their duty to go to the
help of their brothers attacked in western Siberia but can not
do this now, when all negotiations with the central government
of Siberia have come to nothing, otherwise than with arms in
their hands. Now that we are about to fight here in Siberia only
against the Germans and Magyars, we would much desire that our
expedition should be made with the consent of the local
Bolshevik authorities though we are very doubtful of obtaining
such consent. To-day, we address ourselves to the
representatives of the Allied nations in Vladivostok in order to
put before them the absolute necessity of the decision which we
have taken and the reasons which have dictated it; to request
their consent and to ask them, in case of necessity, to assure
us of their help.
At the same time, we would call their attention to the following
fact. To-day, the central government of Siberia is, without
doubt, under a strong or even a dominant influence of Germans
and Magyars and, immediately our troops
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will leave the soil of Siberia, the whole
of Siberia will at once fall into the hands of the Germans.
There is no need to insist upon the influence which this
circumstance might have upon the future of the war and, for this
reason, we believe it to be essential that the troops of the
Allies when our troops are withdrawn, should occupy the railway
line in Siberia with the object we all have in view of forming a
new front against the Germans. By following this course, the
welfare of Russia would best be served; for the Allies in
delivering Russia, or at least Siberia, from civil war will give
her the possibility of building up a new form of government in
accordance with the true desire and will of the Russian
people.
The only object, and the most ardent desire of the Czecho-Slovak
troops, is to arrive as soon as may be possible upon the French
front but, should the Allies, together and unanimously, esteem
that the final result of the war would best be attained, under
present circumstances, by the return of our troops to the
Russian front to be created, then our army would obey the order
of its supreme political leader, Professor Masaryk.
(Two signatures which are illegible.
1)
