Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/241

 The Soviets are discussing when they should be acting, party and class antagonisms are dominating the preoccupations of public safety, and in this immense country, where so many nationalities meet, one looks in vain for any signs of a national spirit.

We must expect in these conditions that in Paris, as in London, the Conservatives, who have been forced to keep silence during the first successes of the Revolution, should to-day open their mouths to judge and to condemn.

And, unfortunately for the cause even of the Entente, they are doing so with such bigoted views, such a petty manner of judging the Revolution only by its immediate military results, that their attacks risk influencing Western opinion against Russia and Russian opinion against the Allies.

Certainly one can understand that, at the news of reverses which defeated so many hopes, there should have been, among those who were counting on an early and victorious peace, feelings of anger and disillusionment.

But though disillusioned we should not