== Lenin's mood of buoyant optimism == 

 What are the indications that Bosheviks were in “a mood of buoyant optimism” in 1919? Wasn’t this the time when the Whites under general Yudenich were besieging Petrograd , the Whites under Denikin (in 1920 -  under Wrangel) were still controlling a piece of Ukraine and the Japanese still were going strong against the Bolsheviks in the Far East? The diplomatic account would point a mood of mortal fear: in 1919 the Bolsheviks expressed a constant willingness to offer concessions and peace treaties to almost anyone, from the White to the Poles. The fact that most of those offers were rejected suggests the Bolsheviks were not viewed as superior contenders at the time. 
 If the statement about “a mood of buoyant optimism” is unsubstantiated, would the author please remove it?