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LEFT BOLSHEVISM 95 BOLSHEVISM from their owners by the peasants at once, and urged a similar confiscation by the workmen of the factories in which they were employed. The latter pro- -am had at least the merit of courage and sincerity. There was no mincing of terms, no veiling of the issues. Confis- cation pure and simple was demanded. And since only the comparatively few were propertied and the millions had nothing, the program of Lenine had a powerful appeal. The struggle for power by the various groups continued for months. The coun- try was still in the war and that thought was still uppermost in the popular mind. The Provisional Government sought to continue loyal to the Allies, and later, when Kerensky assumed the reins of power, he endeavored to keep up the flag- ging energies of the people. But all this time an unwearied propaganda was be- ing maintained by the Bolshevist leaders that undermined the morale of the troops at the front and the people in the rear. The one idea of the Bolshevists was to secure the withdrawal of Russia from the war, in order that they might be able to put their social theories into practice. The steps by which they finally suc- ceeded in doing this are told in detail elsewhere in this work. See Russia and Brest-Litovsk. Having dissolved the Constituent As- sembly and killed or otherwise silenced their opponents, the development of the Bolshevist program proceeded. A proc- lamation was issued Nov. 26, proclaim- ing the abolition of class titles, distinc- tions, and privileges. The corporate property of nobles, merchants, and citi- zens must be put in possession of the state. All persons henceforth, no matter what had been their previous station, were to be known as citizens of the "Russian Republic." All church prop- erty, lands, money, gold, silver, and pre- cious stones were confiscated. It was forbidden to give religious instruction in the schools. All mines, forests, waters, and landed estates, with their live stock, buildings, and machinery were declared the common property of the people. That changes so drastic could be car- ried out without stout resistance on the part of those whose interests were men- aced was impossible. There were in- dividual and sectional revolts all over the former empire. But the Bolshevists, although a minority of the people, knew exactly what they wanted and were pre- pared to go to any lengths to achieve it. A reign of terror was promptly inaugu- rated, and excesses were perpetrated be- fore which those of the French Revolu- tion pale into insignificance. Men and women inimical to the ruling power were executed with barely the pretense of a trial. Women and children were held as hostages for the fidelity of men of their family who were at the time out of the government's reach, and vengeance was visited upon them unsparingly on occasion. Spies were everywhere, and no man dared to speak to his neighbor for fear of being denounced. In many cases, fiendish torture and mutilation were an accompaniment of the killings. The evidence on this point is appalling and irrefutable. Nor is the fact of terrorism denied by Lenine and his associates. It is defended by them as being a necessary incident of all revolutions, while the most revolting phases are either palliated or denied. Peters, himself, the former head of the AU-Russian Extraordinary Com- mission, has admitted that in the one year from November, 1918, to November, 1919, 4,444 executions took place through his order. Lenine, in several of his de- crees, admits and justifies the existence of terrorism, which, however, he adds, came to an end on Jan. 22, 1920, the date set by the Soviet Government for the abolition of the death penalty. Any in- tervention by Allied Governments, he de- clares, would lead to a return of the policy of blood. Other admissions by oflicial Bolshevist organs and pronounce- ments by leaders indicate how wide was the sweep of the Red Terror. The claim of Bolshevism that it is a step forward toward democracy has not been justified by the facts. The essence of democracy is the equality of all men before the law and the right of all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Bolshevism in practice has been the exact antithesis of this idea. It has disfran- chised and oppressed a large part of the Russian people, and that the most in- telligent and progressive part. It has put a premium on ignorance and a pen- alty on brains. Professional men and business men have been enslaved. The Czar has indeed been dethroned, but a many-headed tyrant, the proletariat, has been enthroned in his place. And even this is only a fictitious rule, for the pro- letariat itself is mercilessly tyrannized over by Lenine and Trotzky and their associates. No man's house is his castle. There is no such thing as the liberty of the press. Life itself is only held on the tenure of servile, instant, unquestioning obedience to the despots who have re- placed the Romanoffs. . i Cunning casuistry is used to explain ^ '* and justify these departures from gen- uine democratic principles. Thus N. Bukharin, a Bolshevist leader, in a pam- phlet on "The Program of the Bolshe-