Page:Grigory Zinoviev - Army and People (1920).pdf/16

 be many men who do not approve of our policy and would wish to follow another; nevertheless we do not hide in the bushes. Although from the stand-point of our immediate interests it might be of advantage to say that the army stands outside of politics, this is just where our government differs from others, in that it is not guided by momentary interests. Its policy is dictated entirely by the interests of right and truth. And were we to say that our army stands outside of politics, it would be profound hypocrisy on our part, and humiliating to the Soviet power.

Just as the army of the French Republic, which is at this moment conquering colonies in Africa and assisting Koltchak in Russia, is not standing outside of politics, but is carrying out a well-defined policy dictated to it by the bourgeois class, so our Red Army is not standing outside of politics, but is carrying out a well-defined policy defending well-defined interests; with this difference, that it is defending the interests of an immense majority of the working class, the interests of the workers and peasants.

This is why, comrades, we think it is necessary for the army command clearly to understand the fundamental idea underlying our present government, namely, that never and nowhere has an army stood outside of politics.