ABSTRACT
Negotiations took place between Japan and Russia in 1903. Japan's objectives were Russian withdrawal from Manchuria and recognition of Japanese supremacy in Korea. The war with Japan was unpopular with the whole of progressive Russia – socialists, liberals and nationalists among the ethnic minorities. Lenin, who openly rejoiced at Japan's victories, was not the only opponent of tsarism within Russia to sympathize with the Japanese. Lenin openly sympathized with Japan, and expressed the hope that the mikado would win the war against the tsar. In January 1905 he explained why Russian socialists must welcome a Japanese victory: by defeating the Russian autocracy the Japanese bourgeoisie was carrying out a 'revolutionary task'. The main demands of the Mensheviks and of Iskra after the outbreak of the war were the earliest possible return to peace, and the calling of a constituent assembly as a step towards peace.
