Page:George Pitt-Rivers - The World Significance of the Russian Revolution (1920).pdf/20

 4 is easy to prate of "the issue between Reaction and Progress." Such verbiage means nothing; every shallow tub-thumper calls his hackneyed catch-words "progressive," and seeks to make the flesh of his bétes noires' creep by calling them "reactionary!" "They are nothing," said Disraeli, "but words to mystify the millions. They mean nothing, they are nothing; they are phrases, not facts."

The bewildering play and inter-play of forces which has finally enthrowned Lenin in the seat of power may well confuse the casual eye. How is it that Lenin, the neurotic son of a public official and the brother of an assassin, with a small executive consisting chiefly of alien or of Jew internationals, is able to exercise despotic sway over a population (before the revolution) of 148 millions, of which at least 87% are peasants bitterly opposed to communism, and of the remainder consisting of industrial proletariat (less than 3% of the population) intelligentsia, and the parasitic Commissar and public executioner class, the latter class only (at most 2% of the whole) does not loath the régime?

The answer to the riddle can only be understood if we clearly distinguish between the attractiveness of the propaganda, decoy-cries and prospects of unbridled licence which hypnotised the masses on the initial "breaking-up" stage, and the bitter realization which came after their dupes had allowed their new masters to