# Smolensk Declaration

The declaration was read in Smolensk on December 27, 1942 by a former Soviet General Andrey Vlasov, commander of the Russian Liberation Army and chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia during World War II. Below is an English language translation of the Russian original.
An appeal by the Russian Committee to the men and officers' of the Red Army, to the whole Russian nation, and to the other nations of the Soviet Union.
Friends and Brothers!
BOLSHEVISM IS THE ENEMY OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. It has brought countless disasters to our country and finally has involved the Russian people in a bloody war waged in others’ interests. This war has brought unheard-of sufferings to our Motherland. Millions of Russians have already paid with their lives for Stalin’s criminal attempts to seize world-wide power to the profit of Anglo-American capitalists. Millions of Russians have been crippled and have lost their ability to work forever. Women, old people and children are dying of cold, starvation and because the work demanded of them is beyond their strength. Hundreds of Russian cities and thousands of villages have been destroyed, blown up and burned on Stalin’s orders.
Defeats such as those experienced by the Red Army have never happened before in the history of our country. In spite of the selflessness of the troops and officers and the bravery and self-sacrifice of the Russian people, battle after battle has been lost. The fault lies with the rottenness of the whole of the Bolshevik system, and the incompetence of Stalin and his general staff.
At this very moment, when Bolshevism has shown itself to be incapable of organising the country’s defences, Stalin and his clique make use of terror and lying propaganda to continue to drive people to their deaths, for they want to remain in power, at least for a while, regardless of the cost in blood to the Russian people.
STALIN’S ALLIES - THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN CAPITALISTS - HAVE BETRAYED THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. They aim to make use of Bolshevism in order to take over the natural riches of our country. These plutocrats not only save their own skins at the cost of millions of Russian lives, but they are the signatories to secret pacts biased in their favour.
Germany, meanwhile, is not waging war against the Russian people and their Motherland, but only against Bolshevism. Germany does not wish to encroach on the living space of the Russian people or on their national and political liberties. Adolf Hitler’s National-Socialist Germany aims to organise a ‘New Europe’ without Bolsheviks and Capitalists, in which every nation is guaranteed an honourable place.
The place of the Russian nation lies in the family of European nations; its place within the ‘New Europe’ will depend on the degree of its participation in the struggle against Bolshevism, since the destruction of Stalin’s blood-stained power and that of his criminal clique - IS FIRST AND FOREMOST THE TASK OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
In order to unite the Russian people and to lead them in their struggle against this hated regime, in order to co-operate with Germany in its struggle against Bolshevism and in its creation of a ‘New Europe’, we, the sons of our people and the patriots of our Motherland have formed the Russian Committee.
The RUSSIAN COMMITTEE has set itself the following aims:
The RUSSIAN COMMITTEE sees the following principles as forming the basis of the ‘New Russia’:
Since we believe wholeheartedly that a happy future for the Russian people can and must be built on the basis of these principles, we call upon all Russians who now find themselves in the occupied territories and in those territories still occupied by the Bolshevik authorities: workers, peasants, members of the intelligentsia, soldiers, officers, political workers, to unite in the struggle on THE MOTHERLAND’S BEHALF, AGAINST HER WORST ENEMY - BOLSHEVISM. The Russian Committee declares that Stalin and his clique are enemies of the people. The Russian Committee declares that all those who voluntarily joined the punitive organisations of Bolshevism - the special sections, the NKVD, the frontier detachments - are enemies of the people. The Russian Committee declares that all those who destroy the treasures of the Russian people are enemies of the people.
The duty of every honest son of the people is to destroy the enemies of the people, who propel our country towards new misfortunes. The Russian Committee calls upon all Russians to carry out their duty.
The Russian Committee calls upon all Red Army men and officers to cross over to the Russian Liberation Army which is allied to Germany. Furthermore, the life of all those crossing over to the fighters against Bolshevism is guaranteed and sacrosanct, whatever their previous actions and occupation may have been.
The Russian Committee calls upon all Russians to take part in the struggle against hated Bolshevism, to set up partisan units of liberation and to turn their weapons against the oppressors of the people, Stalin and his hirelings.
Russians! Friends and brothers!
Enough blood has been spilt! There has been enough starvation, forced labour and suffering in the Bolshevik torture-chambers! Arise and join in the struggle for freedom! Let us fight in the sacred struggle for our Motherland! Join in the fight to the finish to gain happiness for the Russian people! Long may peace with honour with Germany prevail! It will lay the basis for eternal friendship between the German and Russian nations!
Long live the Russian people, equal partners in the family of nations of a New Europe!