The letter to American workers was published in the revolutionary press, and Lenin warmly thanked Travin on his return.
The story now goes back to December, 1917. On that date the first Soviet ship to visit the USA, the Shilka, arrived in Seattle on a political mission. Some Seattle longshoremen had appealed to Vladivostock Bolsheviks to send a speaker to tell them about the revolution. The Vladivostok comrades promptly sent the Shilka, with its commissar Nicolai Kryukov, whom I interviewed in Leningrad 54 years later.
Kryukov, a vigorous smiling veteran in his 80’s was very enthusiastic about Seattle’s workers. He said the Shilka crew was placed under arrest at first, but was soon fceed. The authorities had to bow to mass protest from the IWW and AFL unions.
The Shilka carried back a letter to Lenin from the IWW. It was written by Roy Brown, an IWW leader, who became a communist later. It asked the Soviet workers to help them survive government persecution. Thousands of Wobblies were in prison at that time.
Lenin told Kryukov that the letter to American workers was written in answer to the IWW appeal. This letter is a classic lesson in revolutionary theory and tactics and is afire with class feeling. (Art Shields, Labour journalist)
Данный текст может быть использоваи в качестве дополнительного материала к теме John Reed.
Ведь именно Джон Рид, известный учащимся своей знаменитой книгой «10 дней, которые потрясли мир», принимал участие и оказании помощи молодой Советской республике, в частности добивался, чтобы письмо
В. И. Ленина было тепло встречено в Соединенных Штатах. Беседа на данную тему будет иметь большое воспитательное значение' учащиеся выяснят, какова роль американского революционера! журналиста в этой истории, как велика солидарность трудящихся всех стран. Учитель сможет использовать материал письма В. И. Ле. нина для своей подготовки к занятию. Кроме того, отдельные отрывки, сокращенные и трансформированные, могут быть использованы и в классе. Например, можно рекомендовать учителю подобный длинный текст трансформировать следующим образом:
Lenin wrote his classic Letter to American Workers on August 20, 1918, while capitalist armies were invading the Socialist land. He was wounded several days later. The letter was written on cigaret paper. It was carried to the United States by Pyotr Travin, a true Bolshevik, who arrived in New York as seaman on a Danish ship.
Travin carried Lenin’s peace message to President Wilson. The letter got much attention in the US with the help of John Reed, the great revolutionary journalist. Reed took Travin to Washington to see Senator Johnson who opposed President Wilson’s military intervention in Russia. When he learned about Lenin’s peace proposals he said, “Our boys are dying in the snows of Russia while the Soviets offer negotiation.”
The Letter to American Workers was published in the revolutionary press, and Lenin warmly thanked Travin on his return.
The answer to Lenin’s letter was written by Roy Brown, the leader of the American trade-union organization–the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). At that time thousands of members of IWW (“Wobblies”) were in prison. Roy Brown, who became later a communist, asked the Soviet workers to help the arrested American workers.
