Page:Karl Radek - Proletarian Dictatorship and Terrorism - tr. Patrick Lavin (1921).djvu/15

8 involved—was, from the nature of their profession, the most notorious. Britain, which had led the way in so many departments of human activity, has upheld its pioneer tradition by producing the classic example of literary treachery—Mr. George Bernard Shaw. (If any reader objects that Mr. Shaw is an Irishman, the reply is that he considers himself an Englishman. England is his spiritual—and financial—home.) This man, who makes his living by trading on the ignorance and the credulity of the British people, wrote a book (a new edition of which appeared shortly before the war broke out) containing one of the most trenchant exposures of Imperialism and militarism ever penned—this man appeared as a supporter of an Empire, the course of whose history has been aptly described as "one reeking path of infamies," in what was perhaps the most criminal of all its criminal wars. To realize the depth of infamy reached by him and others of his type who still wish to compel subject nations to remain in the British Empire, it is only necessary to refer to the treatment meted out by that Empire's rulers to the people of Ireland. The details here given may have the effect of turning the attention of some pacifist propagandists from the violent tactics of the Russian Government, and directing it to the methods of a terrorist governing gang whose ferocity has seldom, if ever, been equalled within the historical period, and whose only possible rivals in the disgraceful competition of atrocities would appear to be their cousins who rule the mighty Empire camouflaged under the title of the United States of America.

From May to December, 1916, 38 Irish citizens were murdered, 1,949 deported, 3,226 arrested, 119 court martialed and 160 sentenced. In the same period 13 newspapers were suppressed. In 1917 there were 7 murders, 24 deportations, 18 armed assaults on civilians, 349 arrests,—38 court-martialed, 269 sentences. Three newspapers were suppressed.

In 1918 six people were murdered, 91 deported, 1,107 arrested, 973 sentenced, 62 court-martialed, and 81 assaulted