Bolshevism: The Enemy of Political and Industrial DemocracySpargo, John
History
Bolshevism: The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy
Spargo, John
Communism -- Soviet Union; Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921
As we have already noted, into the ranks of the terrorist
Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviki spies and provocative agents
wormed their way in large numbers. It is the inevitable fate of secret,
conspiratory movements that this should be so, and also that it should
result in saturating the minds of all engaged in the movements with
distrust and suspicion. More than once the charge of being a provocateur
was leveled at Lenine and at Trotzky, but without justification,
apparently. There was, indeed, one incident which placed Lenine in a bad
light. It belongs to a somewhat later period than we have been discussing,
but it serves admirably to illustrate conditions which obtained throughout
the whole dark period between the two great revolutions. One of Lenine's
close friends and disciples was Roman Malinovsky, a fiery speaker of
considerable power, distinguished for his bitter attacks upon the bourgeois
progressive parties and upon the Mensheviki. The tenor of his speeches was
always the same--only the interest of the proletariat should be considered;
all bourgeois political parties and groups were equally reactionary, and
any co-operation with them, for any purpose, was a betrayal of Socialist
principle.
Malinovsky was trusted by the Bolsheviki. He was elected to the Fourth
Duma, where he became the leader of the little group of thirteen Social
Democrats. Like other members of the Bolshevik faction, he entered the
Duma, despite his contempt for parliamentary action, simply because it
afforded him a useful opportunity for agitation and demonstrations. In the
Duma he assailed even a portion of the Social Democratic group as belonging
to the bourgeoisie, succeeding in splitting it in two factions and becoming
the leader of the Bolshevik faction, numbering six. This blatant demagogue,
whom Lenine called "the Russian Bebel," was proposed for membership in the
International Socialist Bureau, the supreme council of the International
Socialist movement, and would have been sent as a delegate to that body as
a representative of Russian Socialist movement but for the discovery of the
fact that he was a secret agent of the Czar's government!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account