To the toiling Cossacks the war has only brought ruin and
death. The war has drained all the resources from Cossack farm life.
The only salvation for the whole of our country and for the Cossacks
in particular is a prompt and honest peace. The Council of People’s
Commissars has declared to all Governments and peoples: We do not
want other people’s property, and we do not wish to give away our
own. Peace without annexations and without indemnities. Every nation
must decide its own fate. There must be no oppressing of one nation
by another. Such is the honest, democratic, People’s peace which the
Council of People’s Commissars is proposing to all Governments, to
all peoples, allies and enemies. And the results are visible: ON THE
RUSSIAN FRONT AN ARMISTICE HAS BEEN CONCLUDED.
“The soldier’s and the Cossack’s blood is not flowing there any more.
Now, Cossacks, decide: do you wish to continue this ruinous,
senseless, criminal slaughter? Then support the Cadets, the enemies
of the people, support Tchernov, Tseretelli, Skobeliev, who drove you
into the offensive of July 1st; support Kornilov, who introduced
capital punishment for soldiers and Cossacks at the front. BUT IF YOU
WISH A PROMPT AND HONEST PEACE, THEN ENTER THE RANKS OF THE SOVIETS
AND SUPPORT THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’s COMMISSARS.
“Your fate, Cossacks, lies in your own hands. Our common foes, the
landowners, capitalists, officers-Kornilovists, bourgeois newspapers,
are deceiving you and driving you along the road to ruin.
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