ABSTRACT
During the early discussions, a proposal was made that the representatives in Paris of some of the anti-Bolshevist movements in Russia should be heard first. Lloyd George urged that the first need was for the Allied and Associated Powers to decide whether to withdraw or to reinforce their troops in Russia. Without reinforcements they were useless. The difficulty about hearing the Russians now in Paris was that they represented every opinion except the prevalent opinion in Russia, the Bolshevists, who were the de facto Government in the greater part of the country. President Wilson then accepted Clemenceau's invitation to draft a manifesto, which was adopted, subject to some small modifications on the following day, for public transmission to the contending Russian parties. It was unfortunate that neither the Bolshevist Government nor any of the contending parties in Russia responded to overture in the spirit in which it had been made, as years of misunderstanding might have been avoided thereby.
