While I have indicated the sources of most of the evidence against the Bolsheviki, either in the text itself or in the foot-notes and references, I have not thought it advisable to burden my pages with such foot-notes and references concerning matters of general knowledge. To have given references and authorities for all the facts summarized in the historical outlines, for example, would have been simply a show of pedantry and served only to frighten away the ordinary reader. I have been deeply indebted to the works of other writers, among which I may mention the following: Peter Kropotkin's _Memoirs of a Revolutionist_ and _Ideals and Realities of Russian Literature_; S. Stepniak's _Underground Russia_; Leo Deutsch's _Sixteen Years in Siberia_; Alexander Ular's _Russia from Within_; William English Walling's _Russia's Message_; Zinovy N. Preev's _The Russian Riddle_; Maxim Litvinov's _The Bolshevik Revolution: Its Rise and Meaning_; M.J. Olgin's _The Soul of the Russian Revolution_; A.J. Sack's _The Birth of Russian Democracy_; E.A. Ross's _Russia in Upheaval_; Isaac Don Levine's _The Russian Revolution_; Bessie Beatty's _The Red Heart of Russia_; Louise Bryant's _Six Red Months in Russia_; Leon Trotzky's _Our Revolution_ and _The Bolsheviki and World Peace_; Gabriel Domergue's _La Russe Rouge_; Nikolai Lenine's _The Soviets at Work_; Zinoviev and Lenine's _Sozialismus und Krieg_; Emile Vandervelde's _Trois Aspects de la Revolution Russe_; P.G. Chesnais's _La Revolution et la Paix_ and _Les Bolsheviks_. I have also freely availed myself of the many admirable translations of official Bolshevist documents published in _The Class Struggle_, of New York, a pro-Bolshevist magazine; the collection of documents published by _The Nation_, of New York, a journal exceedingly generous in its treatment of Bolshevism and the Bolsheviki; and of the mass of material published in its excellent "International Notes" by _Justice_, of London, the oldest Socialist newspaper in the English language, I believe, and one of the most ably edited. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made of friendly service rendered and valuable information given by Mr. Alexander Kerensky, former Premier of Russia; Mr. Henry L. Slobodin, of New York; Mr. A.J. Sack, Director of the Russian Information Bureau in the United States; Dr. Boris Takavenko, editor of _La Russia Nuova_, Rome, Italy; Mr. William English Walling, New York; and my friend, Father Cahill, of Bennington. Among the Appendices at the end of the volume will be found some important documents containing some contemporary Russian Socialist judgments of Bolshevism. These documents are, I venture to suggest, of the utmost possible value and importance to the student and general reader. JOHN SPARGO, "NESTLEDOWN," OLD BENNNIGTON, VERMONT, _End of January, 1919_. BOLSHEVISM CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND I