The German envoy in Switzerland, G. von Romberg, gave similar advice on the basis of information obtained from local experts on Russian affairs. He called Berlin’s attention to the fact that the followers of “Lehnin” caused discord in the Petrograd Soviet with calls for immediate peace negotiations and the refusal to cooperate with both the Provisional Government and the other socialist parties.23
Won over, the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, instructed Romberg to initiate talks with the Russian émigrés about transit to Sweden. These talks were carried out in late March and early April (NS) with the assistance of Swiss socialists, initially Robert Grimm and then Fritz Platten. Lenin acted on behalf of the Russians. It is symptomatic of the myopia of the Germans that in venturing on these dangerous political waters they did not bother to inform themselves about either Lenin or his program: all that mattered to them was that the Bolsheviks and other adherents of the Zimmerwald-Kiental position wanted Russia out of the war. A historian who has inspected the German archives found in them no document to indicate interest in the Bolsheviks: two issues of Lenin’s journal, Sbornik Sotsial-Demokrata, forwarded to Berlin by the Berne embassy, lay in the archive forty years later, their pages uncut.24
In negotiating transit across Germany, Lenin took great pains to ensure that the émigrés would not lay themselves open to charges of collaborating with the enemy. He insisted that the train enjoy the status of an extraterritorial entity: no one was to enter it without the permission of Platten and there would be no passport controls.25 The fact that a penurious refugee felt in a position to pose terms to the German Government indicates that he had a good appreciation of the services which he could render to it.
On the German side, the negotiations were carried out by the civilian authorities, with the active support of the Foreign Office, especially its chief, Richard von Kühlmann. Although subsequently it came to be believed that the driving force behind Lenin’s return to Russia was Ludendorff, in fact the general played a marginal role, his contribution being confined to providing transport.26
On April 1 (NS), Platten transmitted Lenin’s terms to the German Embassy. Two days later, he was advised they were acceptable. At this time the German Treasury approved a request from the Foreign Ministry to allocate five million marks for “Russian work.”27 What the Germans were doing in regard to Russia was part of a pattern:
For each of their enemies, France, Britain, Italy, and Russia, the Germans had long since worked out a scheme for treason from within. The plans all bore a rough similarity: first, discord by means of the parties of the far left; next pacifist articles published by defeatists either paid or directly inspired by Germany; and, finally, the establishment of an understanding with a prominent political personality who would ultimately take over the weakened enemy government and sue for peace.28
For Britain, they used the Irishman Sir Roger Casement, for France, Joseph Caillaux, and for Russia, Lenin. Casement was shot, Caillaux imprisoned, and only Lenin justified the moneys spent on him.
At 3:20 P.M. on March 27/April 9, thirty-two Russian émigrés left Zurich for the German frontier. While a full list of passengers is not available—the agreement stipulated that the Germans would not inquire into who traveled in the train—it is known that among them were nineteen Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Krupskaia, Zinoviev with his wife and child, Inessa Armand, and Radek, as well as six members of the Bund and three followers of Trotsky.29 Having crossed the border at Gottmadingen, they transferred to a German train, made up of two cars, one for the Russians, the other for their German escort. Contrary to legend, the train was not sealed.30 Traveling thrpugh Stuttgart and Frankfurt, they arrived in Berlin in the early afternoon of March 29/April 11. There the train was held up for twenty hours, surrounded by German guards. On March 30/April 12 they departed for the Baltic port at Sassnitz, where they boarded a Swedish steamer bound for Trälleborg. On arrival, they were welcomed by the mayor of Stockholm. They then proceeded to the Swedish capital.31
Parvus was among those who awaited them there. He asked to meet with Lenin, but the cautious Bolshevik leader refused and passed him on to Radek, who, by virtue of being an Austrian subject, was not at risk of being accused of treason. Radek spent a good part of March 31/April 13 with Parvus. What transpired between them is not known. When they parted, Parvus dashed off to Berlin. On April 20 (NS), he met in private with the German State Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann. This encounter also left no record. He then returned to Stockholm.32 Although documentary evidence is lacking—as is usual in matters involving high-level covert operations—in the light of subsequent events it seems virtually certain that Parvus worked out with Radek, on behalf of the German Government, the terms and procedures for financing Bolshevik activities in Russia.*
The Russian Consulate in Stockholm had entry visas ready for the arrivals. The Provisional Government seems to have hesitated over whether to allow entry to the anti-war activists, but changed its mind in the hope that Lenin would compromise himself politically by having traveled across enemy territory.33 The party left Stockholm for Finland on March 31/April 13, reaching Petrograd three days later (April 3/16) at 11:10 p.m.†
Lenin arrived in Petrograd on the final day of the All-Russian Bolshevik Conference. Many Bolsheviks from the provinces were on hand and they prepared a welcome for their leader that in theatricality surpassed anything ever seen in socialist circles. The Petrograd Committee rallied workers to the Finland Station; along the tracks it deployed a guard of soldiers and a military band. When Lenin emerged from the train, the band struck up the “Marseillaise” and the guard sprang to attention. Chkheidze welcomed the arrivals on behalf of the Ispolkom, voicing the hope that socialists would close ranks to defend “revolutionary freedom” from both the domestic counterrevolution and foreign aggression. Outside the Finland Station, Lenin mounted an armored car and, illuminated by a projector, delivered some brief remarks, after which he rode to Kshesinskaia’s followed by a crowd.34
Sukhanov has left us an eyewitness account of the proceedings at the Bolshevik headquarters that night:
Below, in a fairly large hall, were assembled many people: workers, “professional revolutionaries,” and ladies. Chairs were in short supply, and half of those present had to stand uncomfortably or spread themselves out on tables. Someone was chosen chairman, and greetings in the form of reports from the localities got underway. This was, on the whole, monotonous and long-winded. But now and then there crept in what I thought were curious and characteristic features of the Bolshevik “style,” the specific mode of Bolshevik Party work. And it became obvious with absolute clarity that all Bolshevik work was held in the iron frames of its foreign spiritual center, without which the party’s members would have felt themselves utterly helpless, of which, at the same time, they were proud, of which the better ones among them felt themselves to be devoted servants, like the Knights of the Holy Grail. Kamenev, too, said something nondescript. Finally, they remembered Zinoviev, who was faintly applauded but said nothing. Finally, the greetings in the form of reports came to an end.…
And then, the grand master of the order rose to his feet with his “response.” I cannot forget that speech, like lightning, which shook up and astonished not only me, a heretic accidentally thrown into delirium, but also the true believers. I aver that no one had expected anything like it. It seemed as if all the elemental forces had risen from their lairs and the spirit of universal destruction, which knew no obstacles, no doubts, neither human difficulties nor human calculations, circled in Kshesinskaia’s hall above the heads of the enchanted disciples.35