V. Poliakoff: The Empress Marie of Russia and her Times.

London, 1926.
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(3) Communists
La Liberté : c’est le droit de se méler des affaires des autres. VABBE GALIANI.
Karl Marx, the forerunner—The Internationalsk—Communist activities and organisation—Ulyanoff alias Lenin—His early life—Social Democratic propaganda—Disputes and foundation of Bolshevism—Beginning of Russian Revolutionary history in 1905—Precursors of Soviets—Lenin defeats and robs moderates in 1911—Revolution of March 1917—-Kerenski v. Lenin—Revolution of November 1917—Persecution of religion—Murder of the Czar—Further massacres—The Cheka—Prisoners’ interrogatories— Roving commissions—Chinese guillotines—Categories of consumers— No more homes—Starvation, spoliation and slavery of middle classes— Prisons—Brest-Litovsk—Communism in practice—The New Economic Policy—Death of the tyrant—Continuation of the tyranny—Russia in 1927—Details of administration—The Red Army—Duty of the civilised world.
Communism, being a negation of natural and economic laws, a policy like that of a hive devouring all its stores, would not have been worth notice if a disastrous experiment had not been rendered possible by the Serajevo war.
The forerunner of Communism was one Karl Marx, whose writings have been exalted to the rank of a revolutionary Gospel, much quoted but little read and rarely understood. Apart from fugitive publications, the works of Karl Marx— chiefly due to the pen of his colleague Engels—are confined to a Communist Manifesto of 1848 and a work in three volumes entitled “Capitalism.” Mr. Pelham Box, an assistant lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, praises Marx as “ the indefatigable genius whose word has been a consuming fire, and whose spirit presides over the Russian Revolution.”” Another adulator named Beer wrote in 1924: “From the standpoint of social philosophy, the Manifesto is almost perfect. Strong emotion and extraordinary in- tellectual power are united in it. Years of study of one of the boldest and most fertile minds are here welded together in the glowing heat of one of the most active of intellectual workshops.”’
The “ social philosophy ” was admittedly stolen and cor-
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rupted from Hegel (1770-1831), a mild German Pantheist, and Hegel had in his turn borrowed from Kant (1724-1804), whose clear logic had established a law of duty and the cer- tainty of the immortality of the soul and the existence of Almighty God. From such verities Marx and Engels con- cluded by some mysterious process of hallucination that any given state of society must eventually produce contrary conditions, which may be compared to a white mother and a black son, from whose unnatural nuptials a monster will be born. Mr. Box further illustrates the confusion by a sum- mary of Marx’s philosophy: ‘ The thesis gives rise to the antithesis .... The clash of these opposites produces that which is neither the one nor the other, but the synthesis of both. Thus capitalism and modern civilisation give birth to the proletariat, which feels itself the victim of exploitation at the hands of the masters of economic power. A conflict is inevitable. The self-evident decay of capitalism means the conquest of economic and political power by the prole- tariat ; in other words, a dictatorship of one class over an- other. But this is only the transition period. The prole- tariat, the victim of class oppression and private property, is driven to seek the extinction of both. This work accom- plished, the dictatorship of the proletariat will pass away, and the synthesis of the whole historical conflict will be the Communist Society.”
Such are the mystifications with which it is claimed that illiterates have been persuaded to commit crimes. A parody might be presented by evolving the apology of a sturdy beggar : “‘ I intend to burgle all the houses in Piccadilly and butcher all their owners because the synthesis of proprietors and property has aroused my desires for blood and pleasure. That, however, is but a transitory emotion. When I have secured enough for myself I shall be quite willing to share the surplus with less enterprising comrades.”
According to the Marxist gospel, all historical events and human institutions had their origins in the material condi- tions of life. There were no wars of religion, no patriotic or philosophical motives, no consequences of oratory or climate or sexual passions. In fact, Buckle was as foolish
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as Freud. As the Communist manifesto of Marx and Engeis sums up, “With the dissolution of primeval communities, society begins to be divided into separate and definitely an- tagonistic classes: freeman and slave, patrician and ple- beian, baron and serf, guild-master and journeyman—briefly the oppressor and the oppressed carried on ceaseless warfare, now open, now concealed, a warfare that always ended either in a revolutionary transformation of society or in the com- mon ruin of the contending classes.”’
The Marxian gospel did, however, contain one or two possibly practical tenets. For instance, in order to assert itself, the proletariat must rely upon international combina- tion. Vague attempts in that direction had been made in 1839 by some German workmen who had found trouble in their own country and a refuge in London, but their Society of Brotherly Democrats was neither long lived nor prolific. It was not until 1866 that Marx succeeded in establishing the Workers’ International Union, commonly called the First International, a secret organisation with no unity of purpose, comprising people of the most divergent views. The general idea was to seize political power with the object of crushing capital and abolishing industrial tutelage. The Paris Commune seemed to afford a suitable field for action on these lines, but the English and other moderate members withdrew, the society dwindled and in 1876 had ceased to exist. All that remained in the popular mind was a legacy of opposition to God and kings and property, laws, morals and traditions.
The Second International was founded at a Socialist Congress in Paris in 1889, not as a corporate society, but as a loose union of workers’ associations, chiefly for the purpose of summoning further congresses. The chief plank in the Socialist programme was then to appropriate all the means of production, and a significant symptom of the Socialist creed was provided at the Brussels Congress of 1891 by the
xclusion of Anarchists from the International, the idea of he Anarchists being liberty, whereas, to quote Herbert Spencer, “ all Socialism involves slavery.”
One great boast of the International was that it carried
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on a war to end war. The solidarity of the proletariat of the whole world would henceforth render all strife impossible. As Mr. Ben Tillett once told me, not a gun would be shoul- dered, not a lump of coal shipped in any country at the behest of a capitalist government. Monarchs might order mobili- sations, diplomatists make treaties, generals draw up plans of campaign, but the International would need only to wave its fairy wand, and a great peaceful current would go forth to hurry every warrior straight back to his home.
But when the Serajevo war came, nothing of the sort occurred. The great masses of the workers suddenly realised that patriotism came before politics. Many of the most ardent theorists of international fraternity developed into the most bloodthirsty heroes on either side. And Lenin exclaimed, ‘“‘ The Second International is dead !’”
Two congresses, however, were held in Switzerland by the Second International during the war, one at Zimmerwald in 1915 and the other at Kienthal in 1916, neither of them accomplishing anything, French and Germans both holding aloof. An attempt to hold a congress at Stockholm in 1917 failed, owing to prohibitions from most belligerent govern- ments.
Full international congresses were resumed after the Armistice, but it was found that the temper of the various _ delegates had been considerably changed by the experiences of war and the subsequent hostilities of peace-making. Old disagreements had been embittered and new ones added to them.
Meanwhile, the only Communists who knew their own minds were the Russians, flushed with the success of their recent revolution. They were shrewd enough to perceive that they could not hope to endure or develop extensively in an isolated Russia. What they sought to impress upon every adherent of Communism was the necessity of a world revolution, carried out everywhere by a vast secret organisa- tion, fostered by the spoils of Russian capitalism, led, con- trolled, dominated by the savage Communists who had won their spurs in the shambles of Russia.
For this purpose they summoned a Congress to Moscow in
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March 1919, depending on the secret society system of “cells” or small groups of people everywhere. The imme- diate business was to foment as many strikes as possible and to fight non-Communist Socialists in every way. In- deed, mere Socialists, or modetate revolutionaries, all right wings of the Red Party were to be treated as more dangerous and offensive than the middle-class itself. Warfare must never cease against lukewarm leaders, especially against Members of Parliament who showed signs of representing their constituents instead of representing the Third Inter- national. Communist members were instructed to use parliaments for Communist propaganda, to misuse parlia- mentary forms and discredit parliaments from within, like spies in an enemy’s camp. The same tactics were also to be followed by comrades serving in armies or navies, and the higher they could rise from the ranks, the more useful they would be, the greater their rewards.
The organisation was further developed at a second Con- gress of the Third International at Moscow in 1920, Russian leadership being still more clearly emphasised and the Com- munists of all countries being pressed to abandon all national ideals. Indeed, whenever signs of reluctance appeared, terrorism and bribery were freely used to establish the au- thority of the Moscow Central Executive.
That body had been the first to carry out the principles of Karl Marx, and no other could hope to unite the proletariat of all lands and races into a mighty military instrument of world-revolution. Only through that body could the dicta- torship of the proletariat find full expression, capital be universally overthrown, and the world become one vast Soviet republic on the Russian model. Blind obedience was exacted by the executive; neither counsels nor indepen- dent views were tolerated outside the charmed circle. Year by year, the leading spirits of every land were sum- moned to Moscow to pay their homage to the dread dictators and imbibe fresh inspiration for yet doughtier deeds. The world was invited to prostrate itself and hymn liberty before an idol as alien as it was automatic.
An example of the working of the Third International was
BAVARIAN BOLSHEVISM I7i
afforded in Germany when the Empire fell. Hordes of Rus- sian agitators and discredited Germans in Russian pay scoured the country proclaiming a fallacious era of liberty, creating soviets of workmen, soldiers and peasants to be registrars of Moscow’s decrees, subjecting defenceless bur- ghers and their families to red terrorism with house to house burglaries, judicial or haphazard murders, rapes, incendiar- ism, physical and mental tortures, anarchy let loose.
Bavaria was most severely afflicted of all under the brief tyranny of Kurt Eisner, an Oriental Jew, in 1919, when the Bolsheviks seized the reins of government, as they did in Hungary under Bela Kun, or Cohen, in 1919. Not only Germany and Austria, however, but practically the whole of Europe was honeycombed and undermined, while ten- tacles were spread right across Asia and beyond the oceans.
The encouragement of strikes was intensified and the dis- couragement of moderate Labour leaders. Red days and flag days were instituted to keep the people busy and amused, as well as to stimulate their generosity. Secrecy and mystery were emphasised as a sacred duty, with vague and terrible menaces in the background. Most important of all the proletariat was to be mobilised as for a real war, every organiser was to keep a store of arms and ammunition in his home; every possible adherent was to be taught the use of arms and the preparation of hand-grenades. As in the case of ordinary spies employed by Governments in foreign countries, every Communist agent was to carry on some ostensible trade or occupation, that might be con- ducted at a loss but would be well remunerated from head- quarters. The minutest rules and regulations were drawn up for secret communications and meetings, signs, pass- words, behaviour with strangers, even for distinctive cos- tumes. Among minor precautions it was ordained that comrades in public houses must always pay for food and drink on the nail so as to be able to depart suddenly in case of accidents; nor must they carry arms to secret meetings lest they should be raided and searched.
The whole of this organisation of Communism was based upon what were known as Red Hundreds, some for party
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service and others for the training of youth. From the age of sixteen, all boys were to be thoroughly prepared for civil war, all girls for information service and propaganda, which included writing out fly-leaves, chalking walls and pave- ments, and many ingenious devices. No effort was spared in attempting to captuie existing places of education, apart from the regular Bolshevik schools which taught the young idea to despise manners, morals, traditions, religion, churches, society, the family, the State and the Fatherland. Even school-children were formed into secret “cells” or groups and trained to spy upon one another. Parents who took no interest in politics were attracted by the offer of free education for their children. A pretence of charity was also found useful, and we find the Red Help Society or the International Workmen’s Assistance doling out money or food to the indigent as bait for possible recruits,—-Lenin’s rouble in place of the King’s shilling.
There was also a Society of Friends of New Russia in various countries to combat prejudices against the Soviets, and to reinforce espionage. Among other duties of mem- bers was the collection of photographs of active opponents of Communism, both important and obscure. These were forwarded to head-quarters and tabulated, as were registers of food-stores, flocks and herds, deposits of money and arms, for use in case of a revolution, as well as black lists of persons with chinks in their moral armour useful for purposes of blackmail. Branches of the terrible Cheka were also established, and mysterious crimes have been attributed to them. In fact, the Communist conspirators seemed to be merely waiting for “ the day,” when the whole of West- ern civilisation could be cast into the melting-pot.
Besides the First, Second and Third Internationals, which have now been described, reference may be made to another organisation, jocularly known as International Number Two-and-a-half. It was founded at Vienna in 1920 by Fritz Adler, and embraced the German, Austrian, Swiss and German-Bohemian Social Democrats, the French Socialist Party, and that mild, attenuated English group which styles itself the Independent Labour Party. Two-
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and-a-half occupied a half-way house between the Oppor- tunist reform of the Second International and the Moscow terrorism of the Third. It seems to have fallen between two stools and retained neither respect nor fear.
The Soviets having become a recognised political govern- ment in Russia, they might be deemed to have passed out of the domain of secret societies, and they certainly did come out into the open to a certain extent at home. But a survey of their rise and practical working is necessary to a study of Communism in general, if only as an awful exam- ple of its probable consequences everywhere.
The fly on the wheel of Russian revolution, or, some think, the apocalyptic beast and the engineer of devastation was a mean, cowardly little criminal named Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanoff, alias Tulin, alias Squint-eye, commonly called Lenin, for even his name was false.