Trotsky's speech at Brest-Litovsk
Extract from a speech by Leon Trotsky during negotiations between Russia and Germany at Brest-Litovsk, 10 February 1918.

As Bolshevik Russia's first 'People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs', Trotsky led the Soviet delegation in peace negotiations with Germany at Brest-Litovsk between December 1917 and March 1918. In this extract from his contribution to negotiations on 10 February 1918, the minutes of which can be found in the records of the German Foreign Ministry, Trotsky condemns the imperialist nature of the First World War and boldly confirms Russia's intention to leave the conflict. This policy, as he intimates, was predicated upon world-wide socialist revolution - a revolution that Trotsky believed could only survive if it embraced industrial powers such as Germany.
Catalogue reference: GFM 33/1504 (10 Feb 1918)

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