Page:Grigory Zinoviev - Army and People (1920).pdf/37

 of no account; what matters is the tremendous historical fact, the underground commotions which transform the whole world when the universe changes its clothes.

And all this is taking place right now, under our very eyes. What a great, proud, tragic, but beautiful time is ours.

If the officer class come to comprehend what is taking place, try to fathom the meaning of it, arming themselves with sound views, and will look at it all as a radical transformation, not as the wicked manifestation of this or that individual, this or that group, then they will shake oft their hard stubbornness, and will be able to struggle against the old inherited prejudices, the wrong notions grafted on them by education, and with their help there will occur a complete change in the attitude of the masses towards the officer class generally.

The question which next calls for our attention is: the officer class and the Soviet rule.

Comrades, for two years now the Soviet rule has existed in Russia. And it seems to me that we now possess definite material in the shape of facts, which friends and foes alike must recognise; for facts are stubborn things, as the English say—they can't be denied.