Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/243

 for her liberty and for that of others, and though the difficulties that she has to contend with are serious, they are no greater than those of the French Revolution.

In the month of July last, when the armies of Brusiloff announced thirty-five thousand Austro-German prisoners, we thought of Valmy and Jemmappes.

Now, in September, which is opening so badly, why should we not remember, to give us fresh hope, those terrible days of 1793, when Belgium was evacuated, Revolutionary France invaded, Lyons in revolt, the English in Toulon, and La Vendée in open rebellion against the nation?

The Convention none the less triumphed, and the Russian Revolution will surely triumph in its turn.

Between these two periods, it is true, we must remember there is one disquieting difference.

The defeats of the Revolution took place in France when the war was only beginning; they have taken place in Russia after three years of a war which has ruined the finances of the country, thrown all its internal services into disorder, and created among the