The Bolsheviki and World Peace

In this vivid collection of essays, the former Russian foreign minister lays bare the revolutionary mindset that drove the Bolsheviks from the streets of Petrograd to the negotiating tables of Europe. He argues that true peace cannot be achieved through secret diplomacy, but only by a congress of peoples—a “people’s peace” that places workers’ interests above national agendas. The writer recounts how the new government exposed hidden treaties and challenged the conventions of old‑world diplomacy, insisting that the fight for peace is inseparable from the class struggle.

Beyond a memoir of policy, the work serves as a polemic aimed at fellow socialists who, in his view, betrayed international solidarity for patriotic compromise. It captures the tension between revolutionary idealism and the pragmatic demands of state power, offering listeners a window into the bold, often controversial ideas that shaped the early Soviet approach to war and diplomacy.