----------------------------------------
-----------------                       
,transcriber's ,note3                   
,a number of obvious typographical      
errors have been             corrected  
in this text4 ,for a complete list1     
please            see the bottom of this
 document4                              
,corrections listed in the existing     
,errata at the               end of this
 book have been applied to the text4    
----------------------------------------
-----------------     ,the ,practice and
 ,theory of ,bolshevism    ,bertrand    
,russell      ,,london3 ,,george ,,allen
  ,,unwin ,,ltd4 ,,ruskin ,,house1 #dj  
,,museum ,,street1 ,w4,c4 #a     ,first 
published ,november #aibj ,reprinted    
,february #aiba    7,all rights         
reserved7     ,,preface   ,the ,russian 
,revolution is one of the great heroic  
events of the world's history4 ,it is   
natural to compare it to the ,french    
,revolution1 but it is in fact something
 of even more importance4 ,it does more 

to change daily life and the structure  
of society3 it also does more to change 
men's beliefs4 ,the difference is       
exemplified by the difference between   
,marx and ,rousseau3 the latter         
sentimental and soft1 appealing to      
emotion1 obliterating sharp outlines2   
the former systematic like ,hegel1 full 
of hard intellectual content1 appealing 
to historic necessity and the technical 
development of industry1 suggesting a   
view of human beings as puppets in the  
grip of omnipotent material forces4     
,bolshevism combines the characteristics
 of the ,french ,revolution with those  
of the rise of ,islam2 and the result is
 something radically new1 which can only
 be understood by a patient and         
passionate effort of imagination4       
,before entering upon any detail1 ,i    
wish to state1 as clearly and           
unambiguously as ,i can1 my own attitude
 towards this new thing4  ,by far the   
most important aspect of the ,russian   
,revolution is as an attempt to realize 

,communism4 ,i believe that ,communism  
is necessary to the world1 and ,i       
believe that the heroism of ,russia has 
fired men's hopes in a way which was    
essential to the realization of         
,communism in the future4 ,regarded as a
 splendid attempt1 without which        
ultimate success would have been very   
improbable1 ,bolshevism deserves the    
gratitude and admiration of all the     
progressive part of mankind4  ,but the  
method by which ,moscow aims at         
establishing ,communism is a pioneer    
method1 rough and dangerous1 too heroic 
to count the cost of the opposition it  
arouses4 ,i do not believe that by this 
method a stable or desirable form of    
,communism can be established4 ,three   
issues seem to me possible from the     
present situation4 ,the first is the    
ultimate defeat of ,bolshevism by the   
forces of capitalism4 ,the second is the
 victory of the ,bolshevists accompanied
 by a complete loss of their ideals and 
a rgime of ,napoleonic imperialism4 ,the

 third is a prolonged world-war1 in     
which civilization will go under1 and   
all its manifestations 7including       
,communism7 will be forgotten4  ,it is  
because ,i do not believe that the      
methods of the ,third ,international can
 lead to the desired goal that ,i have  
thought it worth while to point out what
 seem to me undesirable features in the 
present state of ,russia4 ,i think there
 are lessons to be learnt which must be 
learnt if the world is ever to achieve  
what is desired by those in the ,west   
who have sympathy with the original aims
 of the ,bolsheviks4 ,i do not think    
these lessons can be learnt except by   
facing frankly and fully whatever       
elements of failure there are in        
,russia4 ,i think these elements of     
failure are less attributable to faults 
of detail than to an impatient          
philosophy1 which aims at creating a new
 world without sufficient preparation in
 the opinions and feelings of ordinary  
men and women4  ,but although ,i do not 

believe that ,communism can be realized 
immediately by the spread of            
,bolshevism1 ,i do believe that1 if     
,bolshevism falls1 it will have         
contributed a legend and a heroic       
attempt without which ultimate success  
might never have come4 ,a fundamental   
economic reconstruction1 bringing with  
it very far-reaching changes in ways of 
thinking and feeling1 in philosophy and 
art and private relations1 seems        
absolutely necessary if industrialism is
 to become the servant of man instead of
 his master4 ,in all this1 ,i am at one 
with the ,bolsheviks2 politically1 ,i   
criticize them only when their methods  
seem to involve a departure from their  
own ideals4  ,there is1 however1 another
 aspect of ,bolshevism from which ,i    
differ more fundamentally4 ,bolshevism  
is not merely a political doctrine2 it  
is also a religion1 with elaborate      
dogmas and inspired scriptures4 ,when   
,lenin wishes to prove some proposition1
 he does so1 if possible1 by quoting    

texts from ,marx and ,engels4 ,a        
full-fledged ,communist is not merely a 
man who believes that land and capital  
should be held in common1 and their     
produce distributed as nearly equally as
 possible4 ,he is a man who entertains a
 number of elaborate and dogmatic       
beliefs--such as philosophic            
materialism1 for example--which may be  
true1 but are not1 to a scientific      
temper1 capable of being known to be    
true with any certainty4 ,this habit1 of
 militant certainty about objectively   
doubtful matters1 is one from which1    
since the ,renaissance1 the world has   
been gradually emerging1 into that      
temper of constructive and fruitful     
scepticism which constitutes the        
scientific outlook4 ,i believe the      
scientific outlook to be immeasurably   
important to the human race4 ,if a more 
just economic system were only          
attainable by closing men's minds       
against free inquiry1 and plunging them 
back into the intellectual prison of the

 middle ages1 ,i should consider the    
price too high4 ,it cannot be denied    
that1 over any short period of time1    
dogmatic belief is a help in fighting4  
,if all ,communists become religious    
fanatics1 while supporters of capitalism
 retain a sceptical temper1 it may be   
assumed that the ,communists will win1  
while in the contrary case the          
capitalists would win4 ,it seems        
evident1 from the attitude of the       
capitalist world to ,soviet ,russia1 of 
the ,entente to the ,central ,empires1  
and of ,england to ,ireland and ,india1 
that there is no depth of cruelty1      
perfidy or brutality from which the     
present holders of power will shrink    
when they feel themselves threatened4   
,if1 in order to oust them1 nothing     
short of religious fanaticism will      
serve1 it is they who are the prime     
sources of the resultant evil4 ,and it  
is permissible to hope that1 when they  
have been dispossessed1 fanaticism will 
fade1 as other fanaticisms have faded in

 the past4  ,the present holders of     
power are evil men1 and the present     
manner of life is doomed4 ,to make the  
transition with a minimum of bloodshed1 
with a maximum of preservation of       
whatever has value in our existing      
civilization1 is a difficult problem4   
,it is this problem which has chiefly   
occupied my mind in writing the         
following pages4 ,i wish ,i could think 
that its solution would be facilitated  
by some slight degree of moderation and 
humane feeling on the part of those who 
enjoy unjust privileges in the world as 
it is4  ,the present work is the outcome
 of a visit to ,russia1 supplemented by 
much reading and discussion both before 
and after4 ,i have thought it best to   
record what ,i saw separately from      
theoretical considerations1 and ,i have 
endeavoured to state my impressions     
without any bias for or against the     
,bolsheviks4 ,i received at their hands 
the greatest kindness and courtesy1 and 
,i owe them a debt of gratitude for the 

perfect freedom which they allowed me in
 my investigations4 ,i am conscious that
 ,i was too short a time in ,russia to  
be able to form really reliable         
judgments2 however1 ,i share this       
drawback with most other westerners who 
have written on ,russia since the       
,october ,revolution4 ,i feel that      
,bolshevism is a matter of such         
importance that it is necessary1 for    
almost every political question1 to     
define one's attitude in regard to it2  
and ,i have hopes that ,i may help      
others to define their attitude1 even if
 only by way of opposition to what ,i   
have written4  ,i have received         
invaluable assistance from my secretary1
 ,miss ,d4,w4 ,black1 who was in ,russia
 shortly after ,i had left4 ,the chapter
 on ,art and ,education is written by   
her throughout4 ,neither is responsible 
for the other's opinions4    ,,bertrand 
,,russell    ,september1 #aibj4         
,,contents                              
,,page ,,preface                        

#e   ,,part ,i ,,the ,,present          
,,condition ,,of ,,russia     ,i4 ,,what
 ,,is ,,hoped ,,from ,,bolshevism       
#ae    ,,ii4 ,,general ,,characteristics
                             #bd        
,,iii4 ,,lenin1 ,,trotsky ,,and ,,gorky 
#cf    ,,iv4 ,,art ,,and ,,education    
#de     ,v4 ,,communism ,,and ,,the     
,,soviet ,,constitution                 
#gb    ,,vi4 ,,the ,,failure ,,of       
,,russian ,,industry                    
#ha   ,,vii4 ,,daily ,,life ,,in        
,,moscow                                
#ib  ,,viii4 ,,town ,,and ,,country     
#ii    ,,ix4 ,,international ,,policy   
#ajf   ,,part ,,ii ,,bolshevik ,,theory 
,i4 ,,the ,,materialistic ,,theory ,,of 
,,history                #aai    ,,ii4  
,,deciding ,,forces ,,in ,,politics     
#abh   ,,iii4 ,,bolshevik ,,criticism   
,,of ,,democracy                   #acd 
,,iv4 ,,revolution ,,and ,,dictatorship 
#adf     ,v4 ,,mechanism ,,and ,,the    
,,individual                       #aeg 
,,vi4 ,,why ,,russian ,,communism ,,has 

,,failed                   #afe   ,,vii4
 ,,conditions ,,for ,,the ,,success ,,of
 ,,communism            #agh     ,,part 
,i  ,,the ,,present ,,condition ,,of    
,,russia     ,i  ,,what ,,is ,,hoped    
,,from ,,bolshevism   ,to understand    
,bolshevism it is not sufficient to know
 facts2 it is necessary also to enter   
with sympathy or imagination into a new 
spirit4 ,the chief thing that the       
,bolsheviks have done is to create a    
hope1 or at any rate to make strong and 
widespread a hope which was formerly    
confined to a few4 ,this aspect of the  
movement is as easy to grasp at a       
distance as it is in ,russia--perhaps   
even easier1 because in ,russia present 
circumstances tend to obscure the view  
of the distant future4 ,but the actual  
situation in ,russia can only be        
understood superficially if we forget   
the hope which is the motive power of   
the whole4 ,one might as well describe  
the ,thebaid without mentioning that the
 hermits expected eternal bliss as the  

reward of their sacrifices here on      
earth4  ,i cannot share the hopes of the
 ,bolsheviks any more than those of the 
,egyptian anchorites2 ,i regard both as 
tragic delusions1 destined to bring upon
 the world centuries of darkness and    
futile violence4 ,the principles of the 
,sermon on the ,mount are admirable1 but
 their effect upon average human nature 
was very different from what was        
intended4 ,those who followed ,christ   
did not learn to love their enemies or  
to turn the other cheek4 ,they learned  
instead to use the ,inquisition and the 
stake1 to subject the human intellect to
 the yoke of an ignorant and intolerant 
priesthood1 to degrade art and          
extinguish science for a thousand years4
 ,these were the inevitable results1 not
 of the teaching1 but of fanatical      
belief in the teaching4 ,the hopes which
 inspire ,communism are1 in the main1 as
 admirable as those instilled by the    
,sermon on the ,mount1 but they are held
 as fanatically1 and are likely to do as

 much harm4 ,cruelty lurks in our       
instincts1 and fanaticism is a          
camouflage for cruelty4 ,fanatics are   
seldom genuinely humane1 and those who  
sincerely dread cruelty will be slow to 
adopt a fanatical creed4 ,i do not know 
whether ,bolshevism can be prevented    
from acquiring universal power4 ,but    
even if it cannot1 ,i am persuaded that 
those who stand out against it1 not from
 love of ancient injustice1 but in the  
name of the free spirit of ,man1 will be
 the bearers of the seeds of progress1  
from which1 when the world's gestation  
is accomplished1 new life will be born4 
,the war has left throughout ,europe a  
mood of disillusionment and despair     
which calls aloud for a new religion1 as
 the only force capable of giving men   
the energy to live vigorously4          
,bolshevism has supplied the new        
religion4 ,it promises glorious things3 
an end of the injustice of rich and     
poor1 an end of economic slavery1 an end
 of war4 ,it promises an end of the     

disunion of classes which poisons       
political life and threatens our        
industrial system with destruction4 ,it 
promises an end to commercialism1 that  
subtle falsehood that leads men to      
appraise everything by its money value1 
and to determine money value often      
merely by the caprices of idle          
plutocrats4 ,it promises a world where  
all men and women shall be kept sane by 
work1 and where all work shall be of    
value to the community1 not only to a   
few wealthy vampires4 ,it is to sweep   
away listlessness and pessimism and     
weariness and all the complicated       
miseries of those whose circumstances   
allow idleness and whose energies are   
not sufficient to force activity4 ,in   
place of palaces and hovels1 futile vice
 and useless misery1 there is to be     
wholesome work1 enough but not too much1
 all of it useful1 performed by men and 
women who have no time for pessimism and
 no occasion for despair4  ,the existing
 capitalist system is doomed4 ,its      

injustice is so glaring that only       
ignorance and tradition could lead      
wage-earners to tolerate it4 ,as        
ignorance diminishes1 tradition becomes 
weakened1 and the war destroyed the hold
 upon men's minds of everything merely  
traditional4 ,it may be that1 through   
the influence of ,america1 the          
capitalist system will linger for       
another fifty years2 but it will grow   
continually weaker1 and can never       
recover the position of easy dominance  
which it held in the nineteenth century4
 ,to attempt to bolster it up is a      
useless diversion of energies which     
might be expended upon building         
something new4 ,whether the new thing   
will be ,bolshevism or something else1  
,i do not know2 whether it will be      
better or worse than capitalism1 ,i do  
not know4 ,but that a radically new     
order of society will emerge1 ,i feel no
 doubt4 ,and ,i also feel no doubt that 
the new order will be either some form  
of ,socialism or a reversion to         

barbarism and petty war such as occurred
 during the barbarian invasion4 ,if     
,bolshevism remains the only vigorous   
and effective competitor of capitalism1 
,i believe that no form of ,socialism   
will be realized1 but only chaos and    
destruction4 ,this belief1 for which ,i 
shall give reasons later1 is one of the 
grounds upon which ,i oppose            
,bolshevism4 ,but to oppose it from the 
point of view of a supporter of         
capitalism would be1 to my mind1 utterly
 futile and against the movement of     
history in the present age4  ,the effect
 of ,bolshevism as a revolutionary hope 
is greater outside ,russia than within  
the ,soviet ,republic4 ,grim realities  
have done much to kill hope among those 
who are subject to the dictatorship of  
,moscow4 ,yet even within ,russia1 the  
,communist party1 in whose hands all    
political power is concentrated1 still  
lives by hope1 though the pressure of   
events has made the hope severe and     
stern and somewhat remote4 ,it is this  

hope that leads to concentration upon   
the rising generation4 ,russian         
,communists often avow that there is    
little hope for those who are already   
adult1 and that happiness can only come 
to the children who have grown up under 
the new rgime and been moulded from the 
first to the group-mentality that       
,communism requires4 ,it is only after  
the lapse of a generation that they hope
 to create a ,russia that shall realize 
their vision4  ,in the ,western ,world1 
the hope inspired by ,bolshevism is more
 immediate1 less shot through with      
tragedy4 ,western ,socialists who have  
visited ,russia have seen fit to        
suppress the harsher features of the    
present rgime1 and have disseminated a  
belief among their followers that the   
millennium would be quickly realized    
there if there were no war and no       
blockade4 ,even those ,socialists who   
are not ,bolsheviks for their own       
country have mostly done very little to 
help men in appraising the merits or    

demerits of ,bolshevik methods4 ,by this
 lack of courage they have exposed      
,western ,socialism to the danger of    
becoming ,bolshevik through ignorance of
 the price that has to be paid and of   
the uncertainty as to whether the       
desired goal will be reached in the end4
 ,i believe that the ,west is capable of
 adopting less painful and more certain 
methods of reaching ,socialism than     
those that have seemed necessary in     
,russia4 ,and ,i believe that while some
 forms of ,socialism are immeasurably   
better than capitalism1 others are even 
worse4 ,among those that are worse ,i   
reckon the form which is being achieved 
in ,russia1 not only in itself1 but as a
 more insuperable barrier to further    
progress4  ,in judging of ,bolshevism   
from what is to be seen in ,russia at   
present1 it is necessary to disentangle 
various factors which contribute to a   
single result4 ,to begin with1 ,russia  
is one of the nations that were defeated
 in the war2 this has produced a set of 

circumstances resembling those found in 
,germany and ,austria4 ,the food        
problem1 for example1 appears to be     
essentially similar in all three        
countries4 ,in order to arrive at what  
is specifically ,bolshevik1 we must     
first eliminate what is merely          
characteristic of a country which has   
suffered military disaster4 ,next we    
come to factors which are ,russian1     
which ,russian ,communists share with   
other ,russians1 but not with other     
,communists4 ,there is1 for example1 a  
great deal of disorder and chaos and    
waste1 which shocks ,westerners         
7especially ,germans7 even when they are
 in close political sympathy with the   
,bolsheviks4 ,my own belief is that1    
although1 with the exception of a few   
very able men1 the ,russian ,government 
is less efficient in organization than  
the ,germans or the ,americans would be 
in similar circumstances1 yet it        
represents what is most efficient in    
,russia1 and does more to prevent chaos 

than any possible alternative government
 would do4 ,again1 the intolerance and  
lack of liberty which has been inherited
 from the ,tsarist rgime is probably to 
be regarded as ,russian rather than     
,communist4 ,if a ,communist ,party were
 to acquire power in ,england1 it would 
probably be met by a less irresponsible 
opposition1 and would be able to show   
itself far more tolerant than any       
government can hope to be in ,russia if 
it is to escape assassination4 ,this1   
however1 is a matter of degree4 ,a great
 part of the despotism which            
characterizes the ,bolsheviks belongs to
 the essence of their social philosophy1
 and would have to be reproduced1 even  
if in a milder form1 wherever that      
philosophy became dominant4  ,it is     
customary among the apologists of       
,bolshevism in the ,west to excuse its  
harshness on the ground that it has been
 produced by the necessity of fighting  
the ,entente and its mercenaries4       
,undoubtedly it is true that this       

necessity has produced many of the worst
 elements in the present state of       
affairs4 ,undoubtedly1 also1 the        
,entente has incurred a heavy load of   
guilt by its peevish and futile         
opposition4 ,but the expectation of such
 opposition was always part of          
,bolshevik theory4 ,a general hostility 
to the first ,communist ,state was both 
foreseen and provoked by the doctrine of
 the class war4 ,those who adopt the    
,bolshevik standpoint must reckon with  
the embittered hostility of capitalist  
,states2 it is not worth while to adopt 
,bolshevik methods unless they can lead 
to good in spite of this hostility4 ,to 
say that capitalists are wicked and we  
have no responsibility for their acts is
 unscientific2 it is1 in particular1    
contrary to the ,marxian doctrine of    
economic determinism4 ,the evils        
produced in ,russia by the enmity of the
 ,entente are therefore to be reckoned  
as essential in the ,bolshevik method of
 transition to ,communism1 not as       

specially ,russian4 ,i am not sure that 
we cannot even go a step further4 ,the  
exhaustion and misery caused by         
unsuccessful war were necessary to the  
success of the ,bolsheviks2 a prosperous
 population will not embark by such     
methods upon a fundamental economic     
reconstruction4 ,one can imagine        
,england becoming ,bolshevik after an   
unsuccessful war involving the loss of  
,india--no improbable contingency in the
 next few years4 ,but at present the    
average wage-earner in ,england will not
 risk what he has for the doubtful gain 
of a revolution4 ,a condition of        
widespread misery may1 therefore1 be    
taken as indispensable to the           
inauguration of ,communism1 unless1     
indeed1 it were possible to establish   
,communism more or less peacefully1 by  
methods which would not1 even           
temporarily1 destroy the economic life  
of the country4 ,if the hopes which     
inspired ,communism at the start1 and   
which still inspire its ,western        

advocates1 are ever to be realized1 the 
problem of minimizing violence in the   
transition must be faced4               
,unfortunately1 violence is in itself   
delightful to most really vigorous      
revolutionaries1 and they feel no       
interest in the problem of avoiding it  
as far as possible4 ,hatred of enemies  
is easier and more intense than love of 
friends4 ,but from men who are more     
anxious to injure opponents than to     
benefit the world at large no great good
 is to be expected4     ,,ii  ,,general 
,,characteristics   ,i entered ,soviet  
,russia on ,may #aath and recrossed the 
frontier on ,june #afth4 ,the ,russian  
authorities only admitted me on the     
express condition that ,i should travel 
with the ,british ,labour ,delegation1 a
 condition with which ,i was naturally  
very willing to comply1 and which that  
,delegation kindly allowed me to fulfil4
 ,we were conveyed from the frontier to 
,petrograd1 as well as on subsequent    
journeys1 in a special train de luxe2   

covered with mottoes about the ,social  
,revolution and the ,proletariat of all 
countries2 we were received everywhere  
by regiments of soldiers1 with the      
,internationale being played on the     
regimental band while civilians stood   
bare-headed and soldiers at the salute2 
congratulatory orations were made by    
local leaders and answered by prominent 
,communists who accompanied us2 the     
entrances to the carriages were guarded 
by magnificent ,bashkir cavalry-men in  
resplendent uniforms2 in short1         
everything was done to make us feel like
 the ,prince of ,wales4 ,innumerable    
functions were arranged for us3         
banquets1 public meetings1 military     
reviews1 etc4  ,the assumption was that 
we had come to testify to the solidarity
 of ,british ,labour with ,russian      
,communism1 and on that assumption the  
utmost possible use was made of us for  
,bolshevik propaganda4 ,we1 on the other
 hand1 desired to ascertain what we     
could of ,russian conditions and        

,russian methods of government1 which   
was impossible in the atmosphere of a   
royal progress4 ,hence arose an amicable
 contest1 degenerating at times into a  
game of hide and seek3 while they       
assured us how splendid the banquet or  
parade was going to be1 we tried to     
explain how much we should prefer a     
quiet walk in the streets4 ,i1 not being
 a member of the ,delegation1 felt less 
obligation than my companions did to    
attend at propaganda meetings where one 
knew the speeches by heart beforehand4  
,in this way1 ,i was able1 by the help  
of neutral interpreters1 mostly ,english
 or ,american1 to have many             
conversations with casual people whom ,i
 met in the streets or on village       
greens1 and to find out how the whole   
system appears to the ordinary          
non-political man and woman4 ,the first 
five days we spent in ,petrograd1 the   
next eleven in ,moscow4 ,during this    
time we were living in daily contact    
with important men in the ,government1  

so that we learned the official point of
 view without difficulty4 ,i saw also   
what ,i could of the intellectuals in   
both places4 ,we were all allowed       
complete freedom to see politicians of  
opposition parties1 and we naturally    
made full use of this freedom4 ,we saw  
,mensheviks1 ,social ,revolutionaries of
 different groups1 and ,anarchists2 we  
saw them without the presence of any    
,bolsheviks1 and they spoke freely after
 they had overcome their initial fears4 
,i had an hour's talk with ,lenin1      
virtually tte--tte2 ,i met ,trotsky1    
though only in company2 ,i spent a night
 in the country with ,kamenev2 and ,i   
saw a great deal of other men who1      
though less known outside ,russia1 are  
of considerable importance in the       
,government4  ,at the end of our time in
 ,moscow we all felt a desire to see    
something of the country1 and to get in 
touch with the peasants1 since they form
 about #he per cent1 of the population4 
,the ,government showed the greatest    

kindness in meeting our wishes1 and it  
was decided that we should travel down  
the ,volga from ,nijni ,novgorod to     
,saratov1 stopping at many places1 large
 and small1 and talking freely with the 
inhabitants4 ,i found this part of the  
time extraordinarily instructive4 ,i    
learned to know more than ,i should have
 thought possible of the life and       
outlook of peasants1 village            
schoolmasters1 small ,jew traders1 and  
all kinds of people4 ,unfortunately1 my 
friend1 ,clifford ,allen1 fell ill1 and 
my time was much taken up with him4     
,this had1 however1 one good result1    
namely1 that ,i was able to go on with  
the boat to ,astrakhan1 as he was too   
ill to be moved off it4 ,this not only  
gave me further knowledge of the        
country1 but made me acquainted with    
,sverdlov1 ,acting ,minister of         
,transport1 who was travelling on the   
boat to organize the movement of oil    
from ,baku up the ,volga1 and who was   
one of the ablest as well as kindest    

people whom ,i met in ,russia4  ,one of 
the first things that ,i discovered     
after passing the ,red ,flag which marks
 the frontier of ,soviet ,russia1 amid a
 desolate region of marsh1 pine wood1   
and barbed wire entanglements1 was the  
profound difference between the theories
 of actual ,bolsheviks and the version  
of those theories current among advanced
 ,socialists in this country4 ,friends  
of ,russia here think of the            
dictatorship of the proletariat as      
merely a new form of representative     
government1 in which only working men   
and women have votes1 and the           
constituencies are partly occupational1 
not geographical4 ,they think that      
proletariat means proletariat1 but      
dictatorship does not quite mean        
dictatorship4 ,this is the opposite of  
the truth4 ,when a ,russian ,communist  
speaks of dictatorship1 he means the    
word literally1 but when he speaks of   
the proletariat1 he means the word in a 
,pickwickian sense4 ,he means the       

class-conscious part of the proletariat1
 i4e41 the ,communist ,party4#a ,he     
includes people by no means proletarian 
7such as ,lenin and ,tchicherin7 who    
have the right opinions1 and he excludes
 such wage-earners as have not the right
 opinions1 whom he classifies as lackeys
 of the bourgeoisie4 ,the ,communist who
 sincerely believes the party creed is  
convinced that private property is the  
root of all evil2 he is so certain of   
this that he shrinks from no measures1  
however harsh1 which seem necessary for 
constructing and preserving the         
,communist ,state4 ,he spares himself as
 little as he spares others4 ,he works  
sixteen hours a day1 and foregoes his   
,saturday half-holiday4 ,he volunteers  
for any difficult or dangerous work     
which needs to be done1 such as clearing
 away piles of infected corpses left by 
,kolchak or ,denikin4 ,in spite of his  
position of power and his control of    
supplies1 he lives an austere life4 ,he 
is not pursuing personal ends1 but      

aiming at the creation of a new social  
order4 ,the same motives1 however1 which
 make him austere make him also         
ruthless4 ,marx has taught that         
,communism is fatally predestined to    
come about2 this fits in with the       
,oriental traits in the ,russian        
character1 and produces a state of mind 
not unlike that of the early successors 
of ,mahomet4 ,opposition is crushed     
without mercy1 and without shrinking    
from the methods of the ,tsarist police1
 many of whom are still employed at     
their old work4 ,since all evils are due
 to private property1 the evils of the  
,bolshevik rgime while it has to fight  
private property will automatically     
cease as soon as it has succeeded4      
,these views are the familiar           
consequences of fanatical belief4 ,to an
 ,english mind they reinforce the       
conviction upon which ,english life has 
been based ever since #afhh1 that       
kindliness and tolerance are worth all  
the creeds in the world--a view which1  

it is true1 we do not apply to other    
nations or to subject races4  ,in a very
 novel society it is natural to seek for
 historical parallels4 ,the baser side  
of the present ,russian ,government is  
most nearly paralleled by the           
,directoire in ,france1 but on its      
better side it is closely analogous to  
the rule of ,cromwell4 ,the sincere     
,communists 7and all the older members  
of the party have proved their sincerity
 by years of persecution7 are not unlike
 the ,puritan soldiers in their stern   
politico-moral purpose4 ,cromwell's     
dealings with ,parliament are not unlike
 ,lenin's with the ,constituent         
,assembly4 ,both1 starting from a       
combination of democracy and religious  
faith1 were driven to sacrifice         
democracy to religion enforced by       
military dictatorship4 ,both tried to   
compel their countries to live at a     
higher level of morality and effort than
 the population found tolerable4 ,life  
in modern ,russia1 as in ,puritan       

,england1 is in many ways contrary to   
instinct4 ,and if the ,bolsheviks       
ultimately fall1 it will be for the     
reason for which the ,puritans fell3    
because there comes a point at which men
 feel that amusement and ease are worth 
more than all other goods put together4 
,far closer than any actual historical  
parallel is the parallel of ,plato's    
,republic4 ,the ,communist ,party       
corresponds to the guardians2 the       
soldiers have about the same status in  
both2 there is in ,russia an attempt to 
deal with family life more or less as   
,plato suggested4 ,i suppose it may be  
assumed that every teacher of ,plato    
throughout the world abhors ,bolshevism1
 and that every ,bolshevik regards      
,plato as an antiquated bourgeois4      
,nevertheless1 the parallel is          
extraordinarily exact between ,plato's  
,republic and the rgime which the better
 ,bolsheviks are endeavouring to create4
  ,bolshevism is internally aristocratic
 and externally militant4 ,the          

,communists in many ways resemble the   
,british public-school type3 they have  
all the good and bad traits of an       
aristocracy which is young and vital4   
,they are courageous1 energetic1 capable
 of command1 always ready to serve the  
,state2 on the other hand1 they are     
dictatorial1 lacking in ordinary        
consideration for the plebs4 ,they are  
practically the sole possessors of      
power1 and they enjoy innumerable       
advantages in consequence4 ,most of     
them1 though far from luxurious1 have   
better food than other people4 ,only    
people of some political importance can 
obtain motor-cars or telephones4        
,permits for railway journeys1 for      
making purchases at the ,soviet stores  
7where prices are about one-fiftieth of 
what they are in the market71 for going 
to the theatre1 and so on1 are1 of      
course1 easier to obtain for the friends
 of those in power than for ordinary    
mortals4 ,in a thousand ways1 the       
,communists have a life which is happier

 than that of the rest of the community4
 ,above all1 they are less exposed to   
the unwelcome attentions of the police  
and the extraordinary commission4  ,the 
,communist theory of international      
affairs is exceedingly simple4 ,the     
revolution foretold by ,marx1 which is  
to abolish capitalism throughout the    
world1 happened to begin in ,russia1    
though ,marxian theory would seem to    
demand that it should begin in ,america4
 ,in countries where the revolution has 
not yet broken out1 the sole duty of a  
,communist is to hasten its advent4     
,agreements with capitalist ,states can 
only be make-shifts1 and can never      
amount on either side to a sincere      
peace4 ,no real good can come to any    
country without a bloody revolution3    
,english ,labour men may fancy that a   
peaceful evolution is possible1 but they
 will find their mistake4 ,lenin told me
 that he hopes to see a ,labour         
,government in ,england1 and would wish 
his supporters to work for it1 but      

solely in order that the futility of    
,parliamentarism may be conclusively    
demonstrated to the ,british working    
man4 ,nothing will do any real good     
except the arming of the proletariat and
 the disarming of the bourgeoisie4      
,those who preach anything else are     
social traitors or deluded fools4  ,for 
my part1 after weighing this theory     
carefully1 and after admitting the whole
 of its indictment of bourgeois         
capitalism1 ,i find myself definitely   
and strongly opposed to it4 ,the ,third 
,international is an organization which 
exists to promote the class-war and to  
hasten the advent of revolution         
everywhere4 ,my objection is not that   
capitalism is less bad than the         
,bolsheviks believe1 but that ,socialism
 is less good1 not in its best form1 but
 in the only form which is likely to be 
brought about by war4 ,the evils of war1
 especially of civil war1 are certain   
and very great2 the gains to be achieved
 by victory are problematical4 ,in the  

course of a desperate struggle1 the     
heritage of civilization is likely to be
 lost1 while hatred1 suspicion1 and     
cruelty become normal in the relations  
of human beings4 ,in order to succeed in
 war1 a concentration of power is       
necessary1 and from concentration of    
power the very same evils flow as from  
the capitalist concentration of wealth4 
,for these reasons chiefly1 ,i cannot   
support any movement which aims at world
 revolution4 ,the damage to civilization
 done by revolution in one country may  
be repaired by the influence of another 
in which there has been no revolution2  
but in a universal cataclysm            
civilization might go under for a       
thousand years4 ,but while ,i cannot    
advocate world revolution1 ,i cannot    
escape from the conclusion that the     
,governments of the leading capitalist  
countries are doing everything to bring 
it about4 ,abuse of our power against   
,germany1 ,russia1 and ,india 7to say   
nothing of any other countries7 may well

 bring about our downfall1 and produce  
those very evils which the enemies of   
,bolshevism most dread4  ,the true      
,communist is thoroughly international4 
,lenin1 for example1 so far as ,i could 
judge1 is not more concerned with the   
interests of ,russia than with those of 
other countries2 ,russia is1 at the     
moment1 the protagonist of the social   
revolution1 and1 as such1 valuable to   
the world1 but ,lenin would sacrifice   
,russia rather than the revolution1 if  
the alternative should ever arise4 ,this
 is the orthodox attitude1 and is no    
doubt genuine in many of the leaders4   
,but nationalism is natural and         
instinctive2 through pride in the       
revolution1 it grows again even in the  
breasts of ,communists4 ,through the    
,polish war1 the ,bolsheviks have       
acquired the support of national        
feeling1 and their position in the      
country has been immensely strengthened4
  ,the only time ,i saw ,trotsky was at 
the ,opera in ,moscow4 ,the ,british    

,labour ,delegation were occupying what 
had been the ,tsar's box4 ,after        
speaking with us in the ante-chamber1 he
 stepped to the front of the box and    
stood with folded arms while the house  
cheered itself hoarse4 ,then he spoke a 
few sentences1 short and sharp1 with    
military precision1 winding up by       
calling for three cheers for our brave  
fellows at the front1 to which the      
audience responded as a ,london audience
 would have responded in the autumn of  
#aiad4 ,trotsky and the ,red ,army      
undoubtedly now have behind them a great
 body of nationalist sentiment4 ,the    
reconquest of ,asiatic ,russia has even 
revived what is essentially an          
imperialist way of feeling1 though this 
would be indignantly repudiated by many 
of those in whom ,i seemed to detect it4
 ,experience of power is inevitably     
altering ,communist theories1 and men   
who control a vast governmental machine 
can hardly have quite the same outlook  
on life as they had when they were      

hunted fugitives4 ,if the ,bolsheviks   
remain in power1 it is much to be feared
 that their ,communism will fade1 and   
that they will increasingly resemble any
 other ,asiatic ,government--for        
example1 our own ,government in ,india4 
,,footnotes3  #a ,see the article ,on   
the rle of the ,communist ,party in the 
,proletarian ,revolution1 in ,theses    
presented to the ,second ,congress of   
the ,communist ,international1          
,petrograd-,moscow1 #ah ,july1 #aibj--;a
 valuable work which ,i possess only in 
,french4     ,,iii  ,,lenin1 ,,trotsky  
,,and ,,gorky   ,soon after my arrival  
in ,moscow ,i had an hour's conversation
 with ,lenin in ,english1 which he      
speaks fairly well4 ,an interpreter was 
present1 but his services were scarcely 
required4 ,lenin's room is very bare2 it
 contains a big desk1 some maps on the  
walls1 two book-cases1 and one          
comfortable chair for visitors in       
addition to two or three hard chairs4   
,it is obvious that he has no love of   

luxury or even comfort4 ,he is very     
friendly1 and apparently simple1        
entirely without a trace of hauteur4 ,if
 one met him without knowing who he was1
 one would not guess that he is         
possessed of great power or even that he
 is in any way eminent4 ,i have never   
met a personage so destitute of         
self-importance4 ,he looks at his       
visitors very closely1 and screws up one
 eye1 which seems to increase alarmingly
 the penetrating power of the other4 ,he
 laughs a great deal2 at first his laugh
 seems merely friendly and jolly1 but   
gradually ,i came to feel it rather     
grim4 ,he is dictatorial1 calm1         
incapable of fear1 extraordinarily      
devoid of self-seeking1 an embodied     
theory4 ,the materialist conception of  
history1 one feels1 is his life-blood4  
,he resembles a professor in his desire 
to have the theory understood and in his
 fury with those who misunderstand or   
disagree1 as also in his love of        
expounding1 ,i got the impression that  

he despises a great many people and is  
an intellectual aristocrat4  ,the first 
question ,i asked him was as to how far 
he recognized the peculiarity of        
,english economic and political         
conditions8 ,i was anxious to know      
whether advocacy of violent revolution  
is an indispensable condition of joining
 the ,third ,international1 although ,i 
did not put this question directly      
because others were asking it           
officially4 ,his answer was             
unsatisfactory to me4 ,he admitted that 
there is little chance of revolution in 
,england now1 and that the working man  
is not yet disgusted with ,parliamentary
 government4 ,but he hopes that this    
result may be brought about by a ,labour
 ,ministry4 ,he thinks that1 if ,mr4    
,henderson1 for instance1 were to become
 ,prime ,minister1 nothing of importance
 would be done2 organized ,labour would 
then1 so he hopes and believes1 turn to 
revolution4 ,on this ground1 he wishes  
his supporters in this country to do    

everything in their power to secure a   
,labour majority in ,parliament2 he does
 not advocate abstention from           
,parliamentary contests1 but            
participation with a view to making     
,parliament obviously contemptible4 ,the
 reasons which make attempts at violent 
revolution seem to most of us both      
improbable and undesirable in this      
country carry no weight with him1 and   
seem to him mere bourgeois prejudices4  
,when ,i suggested that whatever is     
possible in ,england can be achieved    
without bloodshed1 he waved aside the   
suggestion as fantastic4 ,i got little  
impression of knowledge or psychological
 imagination as regards ,great ,britain4
 ,indeed the whole tendency of          
,marxianism is against psychological    
imagination1 since it attributes        
everything in politics to purely        
material causes4  ,i asked him next     
whether he thought it possible to       
establish ,communism firmly and fully in
 a country containing such a large      

majority of peasants4 ,he admitted that 
it was difficult1 and laughed over the  
exchange the peasant is compelled to    
make1 of food for paper2 the            
worthlessness of ,russian paper struck  
him as comic4 ,but he said--what is no  
doubt true--that things will right      
themselves when there are goods to offer
 to the peasant4 ,for this he looks     
partly to electrification in industry1  
which1 he says1 is a technical necessity
 in ,russia1 but will take ten years to 
complete4#b ,he spoke with enthusiasm1  
as they all do1 of the great scheme for 
generating electrical power by means of 
peat4 ,of course he looks to the raising
 of the blockade as the only radical    
cure2 but he was not very hopeful of    
this being achieved thoroughly or       
permanently except through revolutions  
in other countries4 ,peace between      
,bolshevik ,russia and capitalist       
countries1 he said1 must always be      
insecure2 the ,entente might be led by  
weariness and mutual dissensions to     

conclude peace1 but he felt convinced   
that the peace would be of brief        
duration4 ,i found in him1 as in almost 
all leading ,communists1 much less      
eagerness than existed in our delegation
 for peace and the raising of the       
blockade4 ,he believes that nothing of  
real value can be achieved except       
through world revolution and the        
abolition of capitalism2 ,i felt that he
 regarded the resumption of trade with  
capitalist countries as a mere          
palliative of doubtful value4  ,he      
described the division between rich and 
poor peasants1 and the ,government      
propaganda among the latter against the 
former1 leading to acts of violence     
which he seemed to find amusing4 ,he    
spoke as though the dictatorship over   
the peasant would have to continue a    
long time1 because of the peasant's     
desire for free trade4 ,he said he knew 
from statistics 7what ,i can well       
believe7 that the peasants have had more
 to eat these last two years than they  

ever had before1 and yet they are       
against us1 he added a little wistfully4
 ,i asked him what to reply to critics  
who say that in the country he has      
merely created peasant proprietorship1  
not ,communism2 he replied that that is 
not quite the truth1 but he did not say 
what the truth is4#c  ,the last question
 ,i asked him was whether resumption of 
trade with capitalist countries1 if it  
took place1 would not create centres of 
capitalist influence1 and make the      
preservation of ,communism more         
difficult8 ,it had seemed to me that the
 more ardent ,communists might well     
dread commercial intercourse with the   
outer world1 as leading to an           
infiltration of heresy1 and making the  
rigidity of the present system almost   
impossible4 ,i wished to know whether he
 had such a feeling4 ,he admitted that  
trade would create difficulties1 but    
said they would be less than those of   
the war4 ,he said that two years ago    
neither he nor his colleagues thought   

they could survive against the hostility
 of the world4 ,he attributes their     
survival to the jealousies and divergent
 interests of the different capitalist  
nations2 also to the power of ,bolshevik
 propaganda4 ,he said the ,germans had  
laughed when the ,bolsheviks proposed to
 combat guns with leaflets1 but that the
 event had proved the leaflets quite as 
powerful4 ,i do not think he recognizes 
that the ,labour and ,socialist parties 
have had any part in the matter4 ,he    
does not seem to know that the attitude 
of ,british ,labour has done a great    
deal to make a first-class war against  
,russia impossible1 since it has        
confined the ,government to what could  
be done in a hole-and-corner way1 and   
denied without a too blatant mendacity4 
,he thoroughly enjoys the attacks of    
,lord ,northcliffe1 to whom he wishes to
 send a medal for ,bolshevik propaganda4
 ,accusations of spoliation1 he         
remarked1 may shock the bourgeois1 but  
have an opposite effect upon the        

proletarian4  ,i think if ,i had met him
 without knowing who he was1 ,i should  
not have guessed that he was a great    
man2 he struck me as too opinionated and
 narrowly orthodox4 ,his strength comes1
 ,i imagine1 from his honesty1 courage1 
and unwavering faith--religious faith in
 the ,marxian gospel1 which takes the   
place of the ,christian martyr's hopes  
of ,paradise1 except that it is less    
egotistical4 ,he has as little love of  
liberty as the ,christians who suffered 
under ,diocletian1 and retaliated when  
they acquired power4 ,perhaps love of   
liberty is incompatible with            
whole-hearted belief in a panacea for   
all human ills4 ,if so1 ,i cannot but   
rejoice in the sceptical temper of the  
,western world4 ,i went to ,russia a    
,communist2 but contact with those who  
have no doubts has intensified a        
thousandfold my own doubts1 not as to   
,communism in itself1 but as to the     
wisdom of holding a creed so firmly that
 for its sake men are willing to inflict

 widespread misery4  ,trotsky1 whom the 
,communists do not by any means regard  
as ,lenin's equal1 made more impression 
upon me from the point of view of       
intelligence and personality1 though not
 of character4 ,i saw too little of him1
 however1 to have more than a very      
superficial impression4 ,he has bright  
eyes1 military bearing1 lightning       
intelligence and magnetic personality4  
,he is very good-looking1 with admirable
 wavy hair2 one feels he would be       
irresistible to women4 ,i felt in him a 
vein of gay good humour1 so long as he  
was not crossed in any way4 ,i thought1 
perhaps wrongly1 that his vanity was    
even greater than his love of power--the
 sort of vanity that one associates with
 an artist or actor4 ,the comparison    
with ,napoleon was forced upon one4 ,but
 ,i had no means of estimating the      
strength of his ,communist conviction1  
which may be very sincere and profound4 
,an extraordinary contrast to both these
 men was ,gorky1 with whom ,i had a     

brief interview in ,petrograd4 ,he was  
in bed1 apparently very ill and         
obviously heart-broken4 ,he begged me1  
in anything ,i might say about ,russia1 
always to emphasize what ,russia has    
suffered4 ,he supports the              
,government--as ,i should do1 if ,i were
 a ,russian--not because he thinks it   
faultless1 but because the possible     
alternatives are worse4 ,one felt in him
 a love of the ,russian people which    
makes their present martyrdom almost    
unbearable1 and prevents the fanatical  
faith by which the pure ,marxians are   
upheld4 ,i felt him the most lovable1   
and to me the most sympathetic1 of all  
the ,russians ,i saw4 ,i wished for more
 knowledge of his outlook1 but he spoke 
with difficulty and was constantly      
interrupted by terrible fits of         
coughing1 so that ,i could not stay4    
,all the intellectuals whom ,i met--a   
class who have suffered                 
terribly--expressed their gratitude to  
him for what he has done on their       

behalf4 ,the materialistic conception of
 history is all very well1 but some care
 for the higher things of civilization  
is a relief4 ,the ,bolsheviks are       
sometimes said to have done great things
 for art1 but ,i could not discover that
 they had done more than preserve       
something of what existed before4 ,when 
,i questioned one of them on the        
subject1 he grew impatient1 and said3   
,we haven't time for a new art1 any more
 than for a new religion4 ,unavoidably1 
although the ,government favours art as 
much as it can1 the atmosphere is one in
 which art cannot flourish1 because art 
is anarchic and resistant to            
organization4 ,gorky has done all that  
one man could to preserve the           
intellectual and artistic life of       
,russia4 ,i feared that he was dying1   
and that1 perhaps1 it was dying too4    
,but he recovered1 and ,i hope it will  
recover also4  ,,footnotes3  #b         
,electrification is desired not merely  
for reorganizing industry1 but in order 

to industrialize agriculture4 ,in       
,theses presented to the ,second        
,congress of the ,communist             
,international 7an instructive little   
book1 which ,i shall quote as ,theses71 
it is said in an article on the         
,agrarian question that ,socialism will 
not be secure till industry is          
reorganized on a new basis with general 
application of electric energy in all   
branches of agriculture and rural       
economy1 which alone can give to the    
towns the possibility of offering to    
backward rural districts a technical and
 social aid capable of determining an   
extraordinary increase of productivity  
of agricultural and rural labour1 and of
 engaging the small cultivators1 in     
their own interest1 to pass             
progressively to a collectivist         
mechanical cultivation 7p4 #cf of       
,french edition74  #c ,in ,theses 7p4   
#cd7 it is said3 ,it would be an        
irreparable error 444 not to admit the  
gratuitous grant of part of the         

expropriated lands to poor and even     
well-to-do peasants4     ,,iv  ,,art    
,,and ,,education   ,it has often been  
said that1 whatever the inadequacy of   
,bolshevik organization in other fields1
 in art and in education at least they  
have made great progress4  ,to take     
first of all art3 it is true that they  
began by recognizing1 as perhaps no     
other revolutionary government would1   
the importance and spontaneity of the   
artistic impulse1 and therefore while   
they controlled or destroyed the        
counter-revolutionary in all other      
social activities1 they allowed the     
artist1 whatever his political creed1   
complete freedom to continue his work4  
,moreover1 as regards clothing and      
rations they treated him especially     
well4 ,this1 and the care devoted to the
 upkeep of churches1 public monuments1  
and museums1 are well-known facts1 to   
which there has already been ample      
testimony4  ,the preservation of the old
 artistic community practically intact  

was the more remarkable in view of the  
pronounced sympathy of most of them with
 the old rgime4 ,the theory1 however1   
was that art and politics belonged to   
two separate realms2 but great honour   
would of course be the portion of those 
artists who would be inspired by the    
revolution4  ,three years' experience1  
however1 have proved the falsity of this
 doctrine and led to a divorce between  
art and popular feeling which a         
sensitive observer cannot fail to       
remark4 ,it is glaringly apparent in the
 hitherto most vital of all ,russian    
arts1 the theatre4 ,the artists have    
continued to perform the old classics in
 tragedy or comedy1 and the old-style   
operette4 ,the theatre programmes have  
remained the same for the last two      
years1 and1 but for the higher standard 
of artistic performance1 might belong to
 the theatres of ,paris or ,london4 ,as 
one sits in the theatre1 one is so      
acutely conscious of the discrepancy    
between the daily life of the audience  

and that depicted in the play that the  
latter seems utterly dead and           
meaningless4 ,to some of the more fiery 
,communists it appears that a mistake   
has been made4 ,they complain that      
bourgeois art is being preserved long   
after its time1 they accuse the artists 
of showing contempt for their public1 of
 being as untouched by the revolutionary
 mood as an elderly bourgeoise bewailing
 the loss of her personal comfort2 they 
would like to see only the revolutionary
 mood embodied in art1 and to achieve   
this would make a clean sweep1 enforcing
 the writing and performance of nothing 
but revolutionary plays and the painting
 of revolutionary pictures4 ,nor can it 
be argued that they are wrong as to the 
facts3 it is plain that the preservation
 of the old artistic tradition has      
served very little purpose2 but on the  
other hand it is equally plain that an  
artist cannot be drilled like a military
 recruit4 ,there is1 fortunately1 no    
sign that these tactics will be directly

 adopted1 but in an indirect fashion    
they are already being applied4 ,an     
artist is not to blame if his           
temperament leads him to draw cartoons  
of leading ,bolsheviks1 or satirize the 
various comical aspects--and they are   
many--of the ,soviet rgime4 ,to force   
such a man1 however1 to turn his talent 
only against ,denikin1 ,yudenitch and   
,kolchak1 or the leaders of the         
,entente1 is momentarily good for       
,communism1 but it is discouraging to   
the artist1 and may prove in the long   
run bad for art1 and possibly for       
,communism also4 ,it is plain from the  
religious nature of ,communism in       
,russia1 that such controlling of the   
impulse to artistic creation is         
inevitable1 and that propaganda art     
alone can flourish in such an           
atmosphere4 ,for example1 no poetry or  
literature that is not orthodox will    
reach the printing press4 ,it is so easy
 to make the excuse of lack of paper and
 the urgent need for manifestoes4 ,thus 

there may well come to be a repetition  
of the attitude of the medival ,church  
to the sagas and legends of the people1 
except that1 in this case1 it is the    
folk tales which will be preserved1 and 
the more sensitive and civilized        
products banned4 ,the only poet who     
seems to be much spoken of at present in
 ,russia is one who writes rough popular
 songs4 ,there are revolutionary odes1  
but one may hazard a guess that they    
resemble our patriotic war poetry4  ,i  
said that this state of affairs may in  
the long run be bad for art1 but the    
contrary may equally well prove to be   
the truth4 ,it is of course discouraging
 and paralysing to the old-style artist1
 and it is death to the old individual  
art which depended on subtlety and      
oddity of temperament1 and arose very   
largely from the complicated psychology 
of the idle4 ,there it stands1 this old 
art1 the purest monument to the nullity 
of the art-for-art's-sake doctrine1 like
 a rich exotic plant of exquisite       

beauty1 still apparently in its glory1  
till one perceives that the roots are   
cut1 and that leaf by leaf it is        
gradually fading away4  ,but1 unlike the
 ,puritans in this respect1 the         
,bolsheviks have not sought to dig up   
the roots1 and there are signs that the 
paralysis is merely temporary4          
,moreover1 individual art is not the    
only form1 and in particular the plastic
 arts have shown that they can live by  
mass action1 and flourish under an      
intolerant faith4 ,communist artists of 
the future may erect public buildings   
surpassing in beauty the medival        
churches1 they may paint frescoes1      
organize pageants1 make ,homeric songs  
about their heroes4 ,communist art will 
begin1 and is beginning now1 in the     
propaganda pictures1 and stories such as
 those designed for peasants and        
children4 ,there is1 for instance1 a    
kind of ,rake's ,progress or ,how she   
became a ,communist1 in which the       
,entente leaders make a sorry and       

grotesque appearance4 ,lenin and        
,trotsky already figure in woodcuts as  
,moses and ,aaron1 deliverers of their  
people1 while the mother and child who  
illustrate the statistics of the        
maternity exhibition have the grace and 
beauty of medival madonnas4 ,russia is  
only now emerging from the middle ages1 
and the ,church tradition in painting is
 passing with incredible smoothness into
 the service of ,communist doctrine4    
,these pictures have1 too1 an oriental  
flavour3 there are brown ,madonnas in   
the ,russian churches1 and such an one  
illustrates the statistics of infant    
mortality in ,india1 while the ,russian 
mother1 broad-footed1 in gay petticoat  
and kerchief1 sits in a starry meadow   
suckling her baby from a very ample     
white breast4 ,i think that this        
movement towards the ,church tradition  
may be unconscious and instinctive1 and 
would perhaps be deplored by many       
,communists1 for whom grandiose bad     
,rodin statuary and the crudity of      

cubism better express what they mean by 
revolution4 ,but this revolution is     
,russian and not ,french1 and its art1  
if all goes well1 should inevitably bear
 the popular ,russian stamp4 ,it is     
would-be primitive and popular art that 
is vulgar4 ,such at least is the        
reflection engendered by an inspection  
of ,russian peasant work as compared    
with the spirit of ,children's ,tales4  
,the ,russian peasant's artistic impulse
 is no legend4 ,besides the carving and 
embroidery which speak eloquently to    
peasant skill1 one observes many        
instances in daily life4 ,he will climb 
down1 when his slowly-moving train stops
 by the wayside1 to gather branches and 
flowers with which he will decorate the 
railway carriage both inside and out1 he
 will work willingly at any task which  
has beauty for its object1 and was all  
too prone under the old rgime to waste  
his time and his employer's material in 
fashioning small metal or wooden objects
 with his hands4  ,if the bourgeois     

tradition then will not serve1 there is 
a popular tradition which is still live 
and passionate and which may perhaps    
persist4 ,unhappily it has a formidable 
enemy in the organization and           
development of industry1 which is far   
more dangerous to art than ,communist   
doctrine4 ,indeed1 industry in its early
 stages seems everywhere doomed to be   
the enemy of beauty and instinctive     
life4 ,one might hope that this would   
not prove to be so in ,russia1 the first
 ,socialist ,state1 as yet unindustrial1
 able to draw on the industrial         
experience of the whole world1 were it  
not that one discovers with a certain   
misgiving in the ,bolshevik leaders the 
rasping arid temperament of those to    
whom the industrial machine is an end in
 itself1 and1 in addition1 reflects that
 these industrially minded men have as  
yet no practical experience1 nor do     
there exist men of goodwill to help     
them4 ,it does not seem reasonable to   
hope that ,russia can pass through the  

period of industrialization without a   
good deal of mismanagement1 involving   
waste resulting in too long hours1 child
 labour and other evils with which the  
,west is all too familiar4 ,what the    
,bolsheviks would not therefore         
willingly do to art1 the ,juggernaut    
which they are bent on setting in motion
 may accomplish for them4  ,the next    
generation in ,russia will have to      
consist of practical hard-working men1  
the old-style artists will die off and  
successors will not readily arise4 ,a   
,state which is struggling with economic
 difficulties is bound to be slow to    
admit an artistic vocation1 since this  
involves exemption from practical work4 
,moreover the majority of minds always  
turn instinctively to the real need of  
the moment4 ,a man therefore who is     
adapted by talent and temperament to    
becoming an opera singer1 will under the
 pressure of ,communist enthusiasm and  
,government encouragement turn his      
attention to economics4 7,i am here     

quoting an actual instance47 ,the whole 
,russian people at this stage in their  
development strike one as being forced  
by the logic of their situation to make 
a similar choice4  ,it may be all to the
 good that there should be fewer        
professional artists1 since some of the 
finest work has been done by men and    
groups of men to whom artistic          
expression was only a pastime4 ,they    
were not hampered by the solemnity and  
reverence for art which too often       
destroy the spontaneity of the          
professional4 ,indeed a revival of this 
attitude to art is one of the good      
results which may be hoped for from a   
,communist revolution in a more advanced
 industrial community4 ,there the       
problem of education will be to         
stimulate the creative impulses towards 
art and science so that men may know how
 to employ their leisure hours4 ,work in
 the factory can never be made to       
provide an adequate outlet4 ,the only   
hope1 if men are to remain human beings 

under industrialism1 is to reduce hours 
to the minimum4 ,but this is only       
possible when production and            
organization are highly efficient1 which
 will not be the case for a long time in
 ,russia4 ,hence not only does it appear
 that the number of artists will grow   
less1 but that the number of people     
undamaged in their artistic impulses and
 on that account able to create or      
appreciate as amateurs is likely to be  
deplorably small4 ,it is in this        
damaging effect of industry on human    
instinct that the immediate danger to   
art in ,russia lies4  ,the effect of    
industry on the crafts is quite obvious4
 ,a craftsman who is accustomed to work 
with his hands1 following the tradition 
developed by his ancestors1 is useless  
when brought face to face with a        
machine4 ,and the man who can handle the
 machine will only be concerned with    
quantity and utility in the first       
instance4 ,only gradually do the claims 
of beauty come to be recognized4        

,compare the modern motor car with the  
first of its species1 or even1 since the
 same law seems to operate in nature1   
the prehistoric animal with its modern  
descendant4 ,the same relation exists   
between them as between man and the ape1
 or the horse and the hipparion4 ,the   
movement of life seems to be towards    
ever greater delicacy and complexity1   
and man carries it forward in the       
articles that he makes and the society  
that he develops4 ,industry is a new    
tool1 difficult to handle1 but it will  
produce just as beautiful objects as did
 the medival builder and craftsman1     
though not until it has been in being   
for a long time and belongs to          
tradition4  ,one may expect1 therefore1 
that while the crafts in ,russia will   
lose in artistic value1 the drama1      
sculpture and painting and all those    
arts which have nothing to do with the  
machine and depend entirely upon mental 
and spiritual inspiration will receive  
an impetus from the ,communist faith4   

,whether the flowering period will be   
long or short depends partly on the     
political situation1 but chiefly on the 
rapidity of industrial development4 ,it 
may be that the machine will ultimately 
conquer the ,communist faith and grind  
out the human impulses1 and ,russia     
become during this transition period as 
inartistic and soulless as was ,america 
until quite recent years4 ,one would    
like to hope that mechanical progress   
will be swift and social idealism       
sufficiently strong to retain control4  
,but the practical difficulties are     
almost insuperable4  ,such signs of the 
progress of art as it is possible to    
notice at this early stage would seem to
 bear out the above argument4 ,for      
instance1 an attempt is being made to   
foster the continuation of peasant      
embroidery1 carving1 c41 in the towns4  
,it is done by people who have evidently
 lost the tradition already4 ,they are  
taught to copy the models which are     
placed in the ,peasant ,museum1 but     

there is no comparison between the live 
little wooden lady who smiles beneath   
the glass case1 and the soulless        
staring-eyed creature who is offered for
 sale1 nor between the quite ordinary   
carved fowl one may buy and the amusing 
life-like figure one may merely gaze at4
  ,but when one comes to art directly   
inspired by ,communism it is a different
 story4 ,apart from the propaganda      
pictures already referred to1 there are 
propaganda plays performed by the ,red  
,army in its spare moments1 and there   
are the mass pageant plays performed on 
,state occasions4 ,i had the good       
fortune to witness one of each kind4    
,the play was called ,zarevo 7,the      
,dawn71 and was performed on a ,saturday
 night on a small stage in a small hall 
in an entirely amateur fashion4 ,it     
represented ,russian life just before   
the revolution4 ,it was intense and     
tragic and passionately acted4 ,dramatic
 talent is not rare in ,russia4 ,almost 
the only comic relief was provided by   

the ,tsarist police1 who made one       
appearance towards the end1 got up like 
comic military characters in a musical  
comedy--just as1 in medival miracle     
plays1 the comic character was ,satan4  
,the play's intention was to show a     
typical ,russian working-class family4  
,there were the old father1 constantly  
drunk on vodka1 alternately maudlin and 
scolding2 the old mother2 two sons1 the 
one a ,communist and the other an       
,anarchist2 the wife of the ,communist1 
who did dressmaking2 her sister1 a      
prostitute2 and a young girl of         
bourgeois family1 also a ,communist1    
involved in a plot with the ,communist  
son1 who was of course the hero of the  
play4  ,the first act revealed the stern
 and heroic ,communist maintaining his  
views despite the reproaches of father  
and mother and the nagging of his wife4 
,it showed also the ,anarchist brother  
7as might be expected from the          
,bolshevik hostility to ,anarchism7 as  
an unruly1 lazy1 ne'er-do-well1 with a  

passionate love for ,sonia1 the young   
bourgeoise1 which was likely to become  
dangerous if not returned4 ,she1 on the 
other hand1 obviously preferred the     
,communist4 ,it was clear that he       
returned her love1 but it was not quite 
clear that he would wish the relation to
 be anything more than platonic         
comradeship in the service of their     
common ideal4 ,an unsuccessful strike1  
bringing want and danger from the       
police1 together with increasing        
jealousy on the part of the ,anarchist1 
led up to the tragic dnouement4 ,i was  
not quite definite as to how this was   
brought about4 ,all violent action was  
performed off the stage1 and this made  
the plot at times difficult to follow4  
,but it seemed that the ,anarchist in a 
jealous rage forged a letter from his   
brother to bring ,sonia to a rendezvous1
 and there murdered her1 at the same    
time betraying his brother to the       
police4 ,when the latter came to effect 
his arrest1 and accuse him also1 as the 

most likely person1 of the murder1 the  
,anarchist was seized with remorse and  
confessed4 ,both were therefore led away
 together4 ,once the plot is sketched1  
the play calls for no comment4 ,it had  
not great merit1 though it is unwise to 
hazard a judgment on a play whose       
dialogue was not fully interpreted1 but 
it was certainly real1 and the link     
between audience and performers was     
established as it never seemed to be in 
the professional theatre4 ,after the    
performance1 the floor was cleared for  
dancing1 and the audience were in a mood
 of thorough enjoyment4  ,the pageant of
 the ,world ,commune1 which was         
performed at the opening of the ,third  
,international ,congress in ,petrograd1 
was a still more important and          
significant phenomenon4 ,i do not       
suppose that anything of the kind has   
been staged since the days of the       
medival mystery plays4 ,it was1 in fact1
 a mystery play designed by the ,high   
,priests of the ,communist faith to     

instruct the people4 ,it was played on  
the steps of an immense white building  
that was once the ,stock ,exchange1 a   
building with a classical colonnade on  
three sides of it1 with a vast flight of
 steps in front1 that did not extend the
 whole width of the building but left at
 each side a platform that was level    
with the floor of the colonnade4 ,in    
front of this building a wide road ran  
from a bridge over one arm of the river 
to a bridge over the other1 so that the 
stretches of water and sky on either    
side seemed to the eye of imagination   
like the painted wings of a gigantic    
stage4 ,two battered red columns of     
fantastic design1 that were once light  
towers to guide ships1 stood on either  
side midway between the extremities of  
the building and the water1 but on the  
opposite side of the road4 ,these two   
towers were beflagged and illuminated   
and carried the limelight1 and between  
and behind them was gathered a densely  
packed audience of forty or fifty       

thousand people4 ,the play began at     
sundown1 while the sky was still red    
away to the right and the palaces on the
 far bank to the left still aglow with  
the setting sun1 and it continued under 
the magic of the darkening sky4 ,at     
first the beauty and grandeur of the    
setting drew the attention away from the
 performers1 but gradually one became   
aware that on the platform before the   
columns kings and queens and courtiers  
in sumptuous conventional robes1 and    
attended by soldiers1 were conversing in
 dumb show with one another4 ,a few     
climbed the steps of a small wooden     
platform that was set up in the middle1 
and one indicated by a lifted hand that 
here should be built a monument to the  
power of capitalism over the earth4 ,all
 gave signs of delight4 ,sentimental    
music was heard1 and the gay company    
fell to waltzing away the hours4        
,meanwhile1 from below on the road      
level1 there streamed out of the        
darkness on either side of the building 

and up the half-lit steps1 their fetters
 ringing in harmony with the music1 the 
enslaved and toiling masses coming in   
response to command to build the        
monument for their masters4 ,it is      
impossible to describe the exquisite    
beauty of the slow movement of those    
dark figures aslant the broad flight of 
steps2 individual expressions were of   
course indistinguishable1 and yet the   
movement and attitude of the groups     
conveyed pathos and patient endurance as
 well as any individual speech or       
gesture in the ordinary theatre4 ,some  
groups carried hammer and anvil1 and    
others staggered under enormous blocks  
of stone4 ,love for the ballet has      
perhaps made the ,russians understand   
the art of moving groups of actors in   
unison4 ,as ,i watched these processions
 climbing the steps in apparently       
careless and spontaneous fashion1 and   
yet producing so graceful a result1 ,i  
remembered the mad leap of the archers  
down the stage in ,prince ,igor1 which  

is also apparently careless and         
spontaneous and full of wild and        
irregular beauty1 yet never varies a    
hair-breadth from one performance to the
 next4  ,for a time the workers toiled  
in the shadow in their earthly world1   
and dancing continued in the lighted    
paradise of the rulers above1 until     
presently1 in sign that the monument was
 complete1 a large yellow disc was      
hoisted amid acclamation above the      
highest platform between the columns4   
,but at the same moment a banner was    
uplifted amongst the people1 and a small
 figure was seen gesticulating4 ,angry  
fists were shaken and the banner and    
speaker disappeared1 only to reappear   
almost immediately in another part of   
the dense crowd4 ,again hostility1 until
 finally among the ,french workers away 
up on the right1 the first ,communist   
manifesto found favour4 ,rallying around
 their banner the communards ran        
shouting down the steps1 gathering      
supporters as they came4 ,above1 all is 

confusion1 kings and queens scuttling in
 unroyal fashion with flying velvet     
robes to safe citadels right and left1  
while the army prepares to defend the   
main citadel of capitalism with its     
golden disc of power4 ,the communards   
scale the steps to the fortress which   
they finally capture1 haul down the disc
 and set their banner in its place4 ,the
 merry music of the ,carmagnole is      
heard1 and the victors are seen         
expressing their delight by dancing     
first on one foot and then on the other1
 like marionettes4 ,below1 the masses   
dance with them in a frenzy of joy4 ,but
 a pompous procession of ,prussian      
legions is seen approaching1 and1 amid  
shrieks and wails of despair1 the people
 are driven back1 and their leaders set 
in a row and shot4 ,thereafter came one 
of the most moving scenes in the drama4 
,several dark-clad women appeared       
carrying a black pall supported on      
sticks1 which they set in front of the  
bodies of the leaders so that it stood  

out1 an irregular pointed black shape   
against the white columns behind4 ,but  
for this melancholy monument the stage  
was now empty4 ,thick clouds of black   
smoke arose from braziers on either side
 and obscured the steps and the         
platform4 ,through the smoke came the   
distant sound of ,chopin's ,marche      
,funbre1 and as the air became clearer  
white figures could be dimly seen moving
 around the black pall in a solemn dance
 of mourning4 ,behind them the columns  
shone ghostly and unreal against the    
glimmering mauve rays of an uncertain   
and watery dawn4  ,the second part of   
the pageant opened in ,july #aiad4 ,once
 again the rulers were feasting and the 
workers at toil1 but the scene was      
enlivened by the presence of the leaders
 of the ,second ,international1 a group 
of decrepit professorial old men1 who   
waddled in in solemn procession carrying
 tomes full of international learning4  
,they sat in a row between the rulers   
and the people1 deep in study1          

spectacles on nose4 ,the call to war was
 the signal for a dramatic appeal from  
the workers to these leaders1 who       
refused to accept the ,red ,flag1 but   
weakly received patriotic flags from    
their respective governments4 ,jaurs1   
elevated to be the symbol of protest1   
towered above the people1 crying in a   
loud voice1 but fell back immediately as
 the assassin's shot rang out4 ,then the
 people divided into their national     
groups and the war began4 ,it was at    
this point that ,god ,save the ,king was
 played as the ,english soldiers marched
 out1 in a comic manner which made one  
think of it as ,gawd save the ,king4    
,other national anthems were burlesqued 
in a similar fashion1 but none quite so 
successfully4 ,a ridiculous effigy of   
the ,tsar with a knout in his hand now  
occupied the symbolic position and      
dominated the scene4 ,the incidents of  
the war which affected ,russia were then
 played4 ,spectacular cavalry charges on
 the road1 marching soldiers1 batteries 

of artillery1 a pathetic procession of  
cripples and nurses1 and other scenes   
too numerous to describe1 made up that  
part of the pageant devoted to the war4 
,then came the ,russian ,revolution in  
all its stages4 ,cars dashed by full of 
armed men1 red flags appeared           
everywhere1 the people stormed the      
citadel and hauled down the effigy of   
the ,tsar4 ,the ,kerensky ,government   
assumed control and drove them forth to 
war again1 but soon they returned to the
 charge1 destroyed the ,provisional     
,government1 and hoisted all the emblems
 of the ,russian ,soviet ,republic4 ,the
 ,entente leaders1 however1 were seen   
preparing their troops for battle1 and  
the pageant went on to show the         
formation of the ,red ,army under its   
emblem the ,red ,star4 ,white figures   
with golden trumpets appeared           
foretelling victory for the proletariat4
 ,the last scene1 the ,world ,commune1  
is described in the words of the        
abstract1 taken from a ,russian         

newspaper1 as follows3--      ,cannon   
shots announce the breaking of the      
blockade against     ,soviet ,russia1   
and the victory of the ,world           
,proletariat4 ,the     ,red ,army       
returns from the front1 and passes in   
triumphant     review before the leaders
 of the ,revolution4 ,at their feet lie 
the crowns of kings and the gold of the 
bankers4 ,ships draped     with flags   
are seen carrying workers from the west4
 ,the     workers of the whole world1   
with the emblems of labour1 gather      
for the celebration of the ,world       
,commune4 ,in the heavens     luminous  
inscriptions in different languages     
appear1 greeting     the ,congress3     
,long live the ,third ,international6   
,workers of     the world1 unite6       
,triumph to the sounds of the hymn of   
the     ,world ,commune1 the            
',international'4  ,even so glowing an  
account1 however1 hardly does it        
justice4 ,it had the pomp and majesty of
 the ,day of ,judgment itself4 ,rockets 

climbed the skies and peppered them with
 a thousand stars1 fireworks blazed on  
all sides1 garlanded and beflagged ships
 moved up and down the river1 chariots  
bearing the emblems of prosperity1      
grapes and corn1 travelled slowly along 
the road4 ,the ,eastern peoples came    
carrying gifts and emblems4 ,the actors1
 massed upon the steps1 waved triumphant
 hands1 trumpets sounded1 and the song  
of the ,international from ten thousand 
throats rose like a mighty wave         
engulfing the whole4  ,though the end of
 this drama may have erred on the side  
of the grandiose1 this may perhaps be   
forgiven the organizers in view of the  
occasion for which they prepared it4    
,nothing1 however1 could detract from   
the beauty and dramatic power of the    
opening and of many of the scenes4      
,moreover1 the effects obtained by      
movement in the mass were almost        
intoxicating4 ,the first entrance of the
 masses gave a sense of dumb and patient
 force that was moving in the extreme1  

and the frenzied delight of the dancing 
crowd at the victory of the ,french     
communards stirred one to ecstasy4 ,the 
pageant lasted for five hours or more1  
and was as exhausting emotionally as the
 ,passion ,play is said to be4 ,i had   
the vision of a great period of         
,communist art1 more especially of such 
open-air spectacles1 which should have  
the grandeur and scope and eternal      
meaning of the plays of ancient ,greece1
 the medival mysteries1 or the          
,shakespearean theatre4 ,in building1   
writing1 acting1 even in painting1 work 
would be done1 as it once was1 by       
groups1 not by one hand or mind1 and    
evolution would proceed slowly until    
once again the individual emerged from  
the mass4  ,in considering ,education   
under the ,bolshevik rgime1 the same two
 factors which ,i have already dealt    
with in discussing art1 namely          
industrial development and the communist
 doctrine1 must be taken into account4  
,industrial development is in reality   

one of the tenets of ,communism1 but as 
it is one which in ,russia is likely to 
endanger the doctrine as a whole ,i have
 thought it better to consider it as a  
separate item4  ,as in the matter of    
art1 so in education1 those who have    
given unqualified praise seem to have   
taken the short and superficial view4   
,it is hardly necessary to launch into  
descriptions of the crches1 country     
homes or palaces for children1 where    
,montessori methods prevail1 where the  
pupils cultivate their little gardens1  
model in plasticine1 draw and sing and  
act1 and dance their ,eurythmic dances  
barefoot on floors once sacred to the   
tread of the nobility4 ,i saw a         
reception and distributing house in     
,petrograd with which no fault could be 
found from the point of view of         
scientific organization4 ,the children  
were bright-eyed and merry1 and the     
rooms airy and clean4 ,i saw1 too1 a    
performance by school children in       
,moscow which included some quite       

wonderful ,eurythmic dancing1 in        
particular an interpretation of ,grieg's
 ,tanz in der ,halle des ,bergknigs by  
the ,dalcroze method1 but with a colour 
and warmth which were ,russian1 and in  
odd contrast to the mathematical        
precision associated with most ,dalcroze
 performances4  ,but in spite of the    
obvious merit of such institutions as   
exist1 misgivings would arise4 ,to begin
 with1 it must be remembered that it is 
necessary first to admit that children  
should be delivered up almost entirely  
to the ,state4 ,nominally1 the mother   
still comes to see her child in these   
schools1 but in actual fact1 the        
drafting of children to the country must
 intervene1 and the whole temper of the 
authorities seemed to be directed       
towards breaking the link between mother
 and child4 ,to some this will seem an  
advantage1 and it is a point which      
admits of lengthy discussion1 but as it 
belongs rather to the question of women 
and the family under ,communism1 ,i can 

do no more than mention it here4  ,then1
 again1 it must be remembered that the  
tactics of the ,bolsheviks towards such 
schools as existed under the old rgime  
in provincial towns and villages1 have  
not been the same as their tactics      
towards the theatres4 ,the greater      
number of these schools are closed1 in  
part1 it would seem1 from lack of       
personnel1 and in part from fear of     
counter-revolutionary propaganda4 ,the  
result is that1 though those schools    
which they have created are good and    
organized on modern lines1 on the whole 
there would seem to be less diffusion of
 child education than before4 ,in this1 
as in most other departments1 the       
,bolsheviks show themselves loath to    
attempt anything which cannot be done on
 a large scale and impregnated with     
,communist doctrine4 ,it goes without   
saying that ,communist doctrine is      
taught in schools1 as ,christianity has 
been taught hitherto1 moreover the      
,communist teachers show bitter         

hostility to other teachers who do not  
accept the doctrine4 ,at the children's 
entertainment alluded to above1 the     
dances and poems performed had nearly   
all some close relation to ,communism1  
and a teacher addressed the children for
 something like an hour and a half on   
the duties of ,communists and the errors
 of ,anarchism4  ,this teaching of      
,communism1 however necessary it may    
appear for the building of the          
,communist state of the future1 does    
seem to me to be an evil in that it is  
done emotionally and fanatically1 with  
an appeal to hate and militant ardour   
rather than to constructive reason4 ,it 
binds the free intellect and destroys   
initiative4 ,an industrial state needs  
not only obedient and patient workers   
and artists1 it needs also men and women
 with initiative in scientific research4
 ,it is idle to provide channels for    
scientific research later if it is to be
 choked at the source4 ,that source is  
an enquiring and free intellect         

unhampered by iron dogma4 ,beneficial to
 artistic and emotional development     
therefore1 the teaching of ,communism as
 a faith may well be most pernicious to 
the scientific and intellectual side of 
education1 and will lead direct to the  
pragmatist view of knowledge and        
scientific research which the ,church   
and the capitalist already find it so   
convenient to adopt4  ,but to come to   
the chief and most practical question1  
the relation of education to industry4  
,sooner or later education in ,russia   
must become subordinate to the needs of 
industrial development4 ,that the       
,bolsheviks already realize this is     
proved by the articles of ,lunacharsky  
which recently appeared in ,le ,phare   
7,geneva74 ,it was the spectre of       
industry that haunted me throughout the 
consideration of education as in the    
consideration of art1 and what ,i have  
said above of its dangers to the latter 
seems to me also to apply here4         
,montessori schools belong1 in my view1 

to that stage in industrial development 
when education is directed as much      
towards leisure occupations as towards  
preparation for professional life4      
,possibly the fine flower of useless    
scientific enquiry belongs to this stage
 also4 ,nobody in ,russia is likely to  
have much leisure for a good many years 
to come1 if the ,bolshevik programme of 
industrial development is efficiently   
carried out4 ,and there seemed to me to 
be something pathetic and almost cruel  
in this varied and agreeable education  
of the child1 when one reflected on the 
long hours of grinding toil to which he 
was soon to be subject in workshop or   
factory4 ,for ,i repeat that ,i do not  
believe industrial work in the early    
days of industry can be made tolerable  
to the worker4 ,once again ,i           
experienced the dread of seeing the     
ideals of the ,russian revolutionaries  
go down before the logic of necessity4  
,they are beginning to pride themselves 
on being hard1 practical men1 and it    

seems quite reasonable to fear that they
 should come to regard this full and    
humane development of the child as a    
mere luxury and ultimately neglect it4  
,worse still1 the few of these schools  
which already exist may perhaps become  
exclusive to the ,communists and their  
children1 or that company of ,samurai   
which is to leaven and govern the mass  
of the people4 ,if so1 they will soon   
come to resemble our public schools1 in 
that they will prepare1 in an artificial
 play atmosphere1 men who will pass     
straight to the position of leaders1    
while the portion of the proletariat who
 serve under them will be reading and   
writing1 just so much technical training
 as is necessary1 and ,communist        
doctrine4  ,this is a nightmare         
hypothesis1 but the difficulties of the 
practical problem seem to warrant its   
entertainment4 ,the number of people in 
,russia who can even read and write is  
extremely small1 the need to get them   
employed industrially as rapidly as     

possible is very great1 hence the system
 of education which develops out of this
 situation cannot be very ambitious or  
enlightened4 ,further it will have to   
continue over a sufficiently long period
 of time to allow of the risk of its    
becoming stable and traditional4 ,in    
adult education already the pupil comes 
for a short period1 learns ,communism1  
reading and writing--there is hardly    
time to give him much more--and returns 
to leaven the army or his native        
village4 ,in achieving this the         
,bolsheviks are already doing a very    
important and valuable work1 but they   
cannot hope for a long while to become  
the model of public instruction which   
they have hitherto been represented to  
be4 ,and the conditions of their        
becoming so ultimately are adherence to 
their ideals through a very long period 
of stress1 and a lessening of fanaticism
 in their ,communist teaching1          
conditions which1 unhappily1 seem to be 
mutually incompatible4  ,the whole of   

the argument set out in this chapter may
 be summed up in the statement of one   
fact which the mere idealist is prone to
 overlook1 namely that ,russia is a     
country at a stage in economic          
development not much more advanced than 
,america in the pioneer days4 ,the old  
civilization was aristocratic and       
exotic2 it could not survive in the     
modern world4 ,it is true that it       
produced great men1 but its foundations 
were rotten4 ,the new civilization may1 
for the moment1 be less productive of   
individual works of genius1 but it has a
 new solidity and gives promise of a new
 unity4 ,it may be that ,i have taken   
too hopeful a view and that the future  
evolution of ,russia will have as little
 connection with the life and tradition 
of its present population as modern     
,america with the life of the ,red      
,indian tribes4 ,the fact that there    
exists in ,russia a population at a far 
higher stage of culture1 which will be  
industrially educated1 not exterminated1

 militates against this hypothesis1 but 
the need for education may make progress
 slower than it was in the ,united      
,states4  ,one would not have looked for
 the millennium of ,communism1 nor even 
for valuable art and educational        
experiment in the ,america of early     
railroading and farming days4 ,nor must 
one look for such things from ,russia   
yet4 ,it may be that during the next    
hundred years there1 economic evolution 
will obscure ,communist ideals1 until   
finally1 in a country that has reached  
the stage of present-day ,america1 the  
battle will be fought out again to a    
victorious and stable issue4 ,unless1   
indeed1 the ,marxian scripture prove to 
be not infallible1 and faith and heroic 
devotion show themselves capable of     
triumphing over economic necessity4     
,v  ,,communism ,,and ,,the ,,soviet    
,,constitution   ,before ,i went to     
,russia ,i imagined that ,i was going to
 see an interesting experiment in a new 
form of representative government4 ,i   

did see an interesting experiment1 but  
not in representative government4 ,every
 one who is interested in ,bolshevism   
knows the series of elections1 from the 
village meeting to the ,all-,russian    
,soviet1 by which the people's          
commissaries are supposed to derive     
their power4 ,we were told that1 by the 
recall1 the occupational constituencies1
 and so on1 a new and far more perfect  
machinery had been devised for          
ascertaining and registering the popular
 will4 ,one of the things we hoped to   
study was the question whether the      
,soviet system is really superior to    
,parliamentarism in this respect4  ,we  
were not able to make any such study1   
because the ,soviet system is           
moribund4#d ,no conceivable system of   
free election would give majorities to  
the ,communists1 either in town or      
country4 ,various methods are therefore 
adopted for giving the victory to       
,government candidates4 ,in the first   
place1 the voting is by show of hands1  

so that all who vote against the        
,government are marked men4 ,in the     
second place1 no candidate who is not a 
,communist can have any printing done1  
the printing works being all in the     
hands of the ,state4 ,in the third      
place1 he cannot address any meetings1  
because the halls all belong to the     
,state4 ,the whole of the press is1 of  
course1 official2 no independent daily  
is permitted4 ,in spite of all these    
obstacles1 the ,mensheviks have         
succeeded in winning about #dj seats out
 of #a1ejj on the ,moscow ,soviet1 by   
being known in certain large factories  
where the electoral campaign could be   
conducted by word of mouth4 ,they won1  
in fact1 every seat that they contested4
  ,but although the ,moscow ,soviet is  
nominally sovereign in ,moscow1 it is   
really only a body of electors who      
choose the executive committee of forty1
 out of which1 in turn1 is chosen the   
,presidium1 consisting of nine men who  
have all the power4 ,the ,moscow        

,soviet1 as a whole1 meets rarely2 the  
,executive ,committee is supposed to    
meet once a week1 but did not meet while
 we were in ,moscow4 ,the ,presidium1 on
 the contrary1 meets daily4 ,of course1 
it is easy for the ,government to       
exercise pressure over the election of  
the executive committee1 and again over 
the election of the ,presidium4 ,it must
 be remembered that effective protest is
 impossible1 owing to the absolutely    
complete suppression of free speech and 
free ,press4 ,the result is that the    
,presidium of the ,moscow ,soviet       
consists only of orthodox ,communists4  
,kamenev1 the ,president of the ,moscow 
,soviet1 informed us that the recall is 
very frequently employed2 he said that  
in ,moscow there are1 on an average1    
thirty recalls a month4 ,i asked him    
what were the principal reasons for the 
recall1 and he mentioned four3 drinking1
 going to the front 7and being1         
therefore1 incapable of performing the  
duties71 change of politics on the part 

of the electors1 and failure to make a  
report to the electors once a fortnight1
 which all members of the ,soviet are   
expected to do4 ,it is evident that the 
recall affords opportunities for        
governmental pressure1 but ,i had no    
chance of finding out whether it is used
 for this purpose4  ,in country         
districts the method employed is        
somewhat different4 ,it is impossible to
 secure that the village ,soviet shall  
consist of ,communists1 because1 as a   
rule1 at any rate in the villages ,i    
saw1 there are no ,communists4 ,but when
 ,i asked in the villages how they were 
represented on the ,volost 7the next    
larger area7 or the ,gubernia1 ,i was   
met always with the reply that they were
 not represented at all4 ,i could not   
verify this1 and it is probably an      
overstatement1 but all concurred in the 
assertion that if they elected a        
non-,communist representative he could  
not obtain a pass on the railway and1   
therefore1 could not attend the ,volost 

or ,gubernia ,soviet4 ,i saw a meeting  
of the ,gubernia ,soviet of ,saratov4   
,the representation is so arranged that 
the town workers have an enormous       
preponderance over the surrounding      
peasants2 but even allowing for this1   
the proportion of peasants seemed       
astonishingly small for the centre of a 
very important agricultural area4  ,the 
,all-,russian ,soviet1 which is         
constitutionally the supreme body1 to   
which the ,people's ,commissaries are   
responsible1 meets seldom1 and has      
become increasingly formal4 ,its sole   
function at present1 so far as ,i could 
discover1 is to ratify1 without         
discussion1 previous decisions of the   
,communist ,party on matters 7especially
 concerning foreign policy7 upon which  
the constitution requires its decision4 
,all real power is in the hands of the  
,communist ,party1 who number about     
#fjj1jjj in a population of about #abj  
millions4 ,i never came across a        
,communist by chance3 the people whom ,i

 met in the streets or in the villages1 
when ,i could get into conversation with
 them1 almost invariably said they were 
of no party4 ,the only other answer ,i  
ever had was from some of the peasants1 
who openly stated that they were        
,tsarists4 ,it must be said that the    
peasants' reasons for disliking the     
,bolsheviks are very inadequate4 ,it is 
said--and all ,i saw confirmed the      
assertion--that the peasants are better 
off than they ever were before4 ,i saw  
no one--man1 woman1 or child--who looked
 underfed in the villages4 ,the big     
landowners are dispossessed1 and the    
peasants have profited4 ,but the towns  
and the army still need nourishing1 and 
the ,government has nothing to give the 
peasants in return for food except      
paper1 which the peasants resent having 
to take4 ,it is a singular fact that    
,tsarist roubles are worth ten times as 
much as ,soviet roubles1 and are much   
commoner in the country4 ,although they 
are illegal1 pocket-books full of them  

are openly displayed in the market      
places4 ,i do not think it should be    
inferred that the peasants expect a     
,tsarist restoration3 they are merely   
actuated by custom and dislike of       
novelty4 ,they have never heard of the  
blockade2 consequently they cannot      
understand why the ,government is unable
 to give them the clothes and           
agricultural implements that they need4 
,having got their land1 and being       
ignorant of affairs outside their own   
neighbourhood1 they wish their own      
village to be independent1 and would    
resent the demands of any ,government   
whatever4  ,within the ,communist ,party
 there are1 of course1 as always in a   
bureaucracy1 different factions1 though 
hitherto the external pressure has      
prevented disunion4 ,it seemed to me    
that the personnel of the bureaucracy   
could be divided into three classes4    
,there are first the old revolutionists1
 tested by years of persecution4 ,these 
men have most of the highest posts4     

,prison and exile have made them tough  
and fanatical and rather out of touch   
with their own country4 ,they are honest
 men1 with a profound belief that       
,communism will regenerate the world4   
,they think themselves utterly free from
 sentiment1 but1 in fact1 they are      
sentimental about ,communism and about  
the rgime that they are creating2 they  
cannot face the fact that what they are 
creating is not complete ,communism1 and
 that ,communism is anathema to the     
peasant1 who wants his own land and     
nothing else4 ,they are pitiless in     
punishing corruption or drunkenness when
 they find either among officials2 but  
they have built up a system in which the
 temptations to petty corruption are    
tremendous1 and their own materialistic 
theory should persuade them that under  
such a system corruption must be        
rampant4  ,the second class in the      
bureaucracy1 among whom are to be found 
most of the men occupying political     
posts just below the top1 consists of   

arrivistes1 who are enthusiastic        
,bolsheviks because of the material     
success of ,bolshevism4 ,with them must 
be reckoned the army of policemen1      
spies1 and secret agents1 largely       
inherited from the ,tsarist times1 who  
make their profit out of the fact that  
no one can live except by breaking the  
law4 ,this aspect of ,bolshevism is     
exemplified by the ,extraordinary       
,commission1 a body practically         
independent of the ,government1         
possessing its own regiments1 who are   
better fed than the ,red ,army4 ,this   
body has the power of imprisoning any   
man or woman without trial on such      
charges as speculation or               
counter-revolutionary activity4 ,it has 
shot thousands without proper trial1 and
 though now it has nominally lost the   
power of inflicting the death penalty1  
it is by no means certain that it has   
altogether lost it in fact4 ,it has     
spies everywhere1 and ordinary mortals  
live in terror of it4  ,the third class 

in the bureaucracy consists of men who  
are not ardent ,communists1 who have    
rallied to the ,government since it has 
proved itself stable1 and who work for  
it either out of patriotism or because  
they enjoy the opportunity of developing
 their ideas freely without the obstacle
 of traditional institutions4 ,among    
this class are to be found men of the   
type of the successful business man1 men
 with the same sort of ability as is    
found in the ,american self-made ,trust 
magnate1 but working for success and    
power1 not for money4 ,there is no doubt
 that the ,bolsheviks are successfully  
solving the problem of enlisting this   
kind of ability in the public service1  
without permitting it to amass wealth as
 it does in capitalist communities4     
,this is perhaps their greatest success 
so far1 outside the domain of war4 ,it  
makes it possible to suppose that1 if   
,russia is allowed to have peace1 an    
amazing industrial development may take 
place1 making ,russia a rival of the    

,united ,states4 ,the ,bolsheviks are   
industrialists in all their aims2 they  
love everything in modern industry      
except the excessive rewards of the     
capitalists4 ,and the harsh discipline  
to which they are subjecting the workers
 is calculated1 if anything can1 to give
 them the habits of industry and honesty
 which have hitherto been lacking1 and  
the lack of which alone prevents ,russia
 from being one of the foremost         
industrial countries4  ,,footnotes3  #d 
,in ,theses 7p4 #f of ,french edition7  
it is said3 ,the ancient classic        
subdivision of the ,labour movement into
 three forms 7parties1 trade unions1 and
 co-operatives7 has served its time4    
,the proletarian revolution has raised  
up in ,russia the essential form of     
proletarian dictatorship1 the soviets4  
,but the work in the ,soviets1 as in the
 industrial trade unions which have     
become revolutionary1 must be invariably
 and systematically directed by the     
party of the proletariat1 i4e4 the      

,communist ,party4 ,as the organized    
advanced guard of the working class1 the
 ,communist ,party answers equally to   
the economic1 political and spiritual   
needs of the entire working class4 ,it  
must be the soul of the trade unions1   
the soviets1 and all other proletarian  
organizations4  ,the appearance of the  
,soviets1 the principal historical form 
of the dictatorship of the proletariat1 
in no way diminishes the directing rle  
of the party in the proletarian         
revolution4 ,when the ,german           
,communists of the ',left' 444 declare  
that 'the party itself must also adapt  
itself more and more to the ,soviet idea
 and proletarianize itself1' we see     
there only an insinuating expression of 
the idea that the ,communist ,party must
 dissolve itself into the ,soviets1 so  
that the ,soviets can replace it4  ,this
 idea is profoundly erroneous and       
reactionary4  ,the history of the       
,russian ,revolution shows us1 at a     
certain moment1 the ,soviets going      

against the proletarian party and       
helping the agents of the               
bourgeoisie4444  ,in order that the     
,soviets may fulfil their historic      
mission1 the existence of a ,communist  
,party1 strong enough not to 'adapt'    
itself to the ,soviets but to exercise  
on them a decisive influence1 to force  
them not to adapt themselves to the     
bourgeoisie and official social         
democracy1 444 is on the contrary       
necessary4     ,,vi  ,,the ,,failure    
,,of ,,russian ,,industry   ,at first   
sight it is surprising that ,russian    
industry should have collapsed as badly 
as it has done1 and still more          
surprising that the efforts of the      
,communists have not been more          
successful in reviving it4 ,as ,i       
believe that the continued efficiency of
 industry is the main condition for     
success in the transition to a          
,communist ,state1 ,i shall endeavour to
 analyse the causes of the collapse1    
with a view to the discovery of ways by 

which it can be avoided elsewhere4  ,of 
the fact of the collapse there can be no
 doubt4 ,the ,ninth ,congress of the    
,communist ,party 7,march-,april1 #aibj7
 speaks of the incredible catastrophes  
of public economy1 and in connection    
with transport1 which is one of the     
vital elements of the problem1 it       
acknowledges the terrible collapse of   
the transport and the railway system1   
and urges the introduction of measures  
which cannot be delayed and which are to
 obviate the complete paralysis of the  
railway system and1 together with this1 
the ruin of the ,soviet ,republic4      
,almost all those who have visited      
,russia would confirm this view of the  
gravity of the situation4 ,in the       
factories1 in great works like those of 
,putilov and ,sornovo1 very little      
except war work is being done2 machinery
 stands idle and plant is becoming      
unusable4 ,one sees hardly any new      
manufactured articles in ,russia1 beyond
 a certain very inadequate quantity of  

clothes and boots--always excepting what
 is needed for the army4 ,and the       
difficulty of obtaining food is         
conclusive evidence of the absence of   
goods such as are needed by the         
peasants4  ,how has this state of       
affairs arisen8 ,and why does it        
continue8  ,a great deal of             
disorganization occurred before the     
first revolution and under ,kerensky4   
,russian industry was partly dependent  
on ,poland2 the war was conducted by    
methods of reckless extravagance1       
especially as regards rolling-stock2    
under ,kerensky there was a tendency to 
universal holiday1 under the impression 
that freedom had removed the necessity  
for work4 ,but when all this is admitted
 to the full1 it remains true that the  
state of industry under the ,bolsheviks 
is much worse than even under ,kerensky4
  ,the first and most obvious reason for
 this is that ,russia was quite         
unusually dependent upon foreign        
assistance4 ,not only did the machinery 

in the factories and the locomotives on 
the railways come from abroad1 but the  
organizing and technical brains in      
industry were mainly foreign4 ,when the 
,entente became hostile to ,russia1 the 
foreigners in ,russian industry either  
left the country or assisted            
counter-revolution4 ,even those who were
 in fact loyal naturally became suspect1
 and could not well be employed in      
responsible posts1 any more than        
,germans could in ,england during the   
war4 ,the native ,russians who had      
technical or business skill were little 
better2 they almost all practised       
sabotage in the first period of the     
,bolshevik rgime4 ,one hears amusing    
stories of common sailors frantically   
struggling with complicated accounts1   
because no competent accountant would   
work for the ,bolsheviks4  ,but those   
days passed4 ,when the ,government was  
seen to be stable1 a great many of those
 who had formerly sabotaged it became   
willing to accept posts under it1 and   

are now in fact so employed1 often at   
quite exceptional salaries4 ,their      
importance is thoroughly realized4 ,one 
resolution at the above-mentioned       
,congress says 7,i quote verbally the   
unedited document which was given to us 
in ,moscow73      ,being of opinion that
 without a scientific organization of   
industry1 even the widest application of
 compulsory labour     service1 as the  
great labour heroism of the working     
class1     will not only fail to secure 
the establishment of a powerful         
socialist production1 but will also fail
 to assist the country     to free      
itself from the clutches of poverty--the
 ,congress     considers it imperative  
to register all able specialists of     
the various departments of public       
economy and widely to     utilize them  
for the purpose of industrial           
organization4      ,the ,congress       
considers the elucidation for the wide  
masses of     the workers of the        
tremendous character of the economic    

problems of the country to be one of the
 chief problems of     industrial and   
general political agitation and         
propaganda2 and     of equal importance 
to this1 technical education1 and       
administrative and scientific technical 
experience4 ,the     ,congress makes it 
obligatory on all the members of the    
party     mercilessly to fight that     
particular obnoxious form1 the          
ignorant conceit which deems the working
 class capable of     solving all       
problems without the assistance in the  
most     responsible cases of           
specialists of the bourgeois school1 the
     management4 ,demagogic elements who
 speculate on this kind of     prejudice
 in the more backward section of our    
working classes1     can have no place  
in the ranks of the party of ,scientific
     ,socialism4  ,but ,russia alone is 
unable to supply the amount of skill    
required1 and is very deficient in      
technical instructors1 as well as in    
skilled workmen4 ,one was told1 over and

 over again1 that the first step in     
improvement would be the obtaining of   
spare parts for locomotives4 ,it seems  
strange that these could not be         
manufactured in ,russia4 ,to some extent
 they can be1 and we were shown         
locomotives which had been repaired on  
,communist ,saturdays4 ,but in the main 
the machinery for making spare parts is 
lacking and the skill required for its  
manufacture does not exist4 ,thus       
dependence on the outside world         
persists1 and the blockade continues to 
do its deadly work of spreading hunger1 
demoralization and despair4  ,the food  
question is intimately bound up with the
 question of industry4 ,there is a      
vicious circle1 for not only does the   
absence of manufactured goods cause a   
food shortage in the towns1 but the food
 shortage1 in turn1 diminishes the      
strength of the workers and makes them  
less able to produce goods4 ,i cannot   
but think that there has been some      
mismanagement as regards the food       

question4 ,for example1 in ,petrograd   
many workers have allotments and often  
work in them for eight hours after an   
eight hours' day in their regular       
employment4 ,but the food produced in   
the allotments is taken for general     
consumption1 not left to each individual
 producer4 ,this is in accordance with  
,communist theory1 but of course greatly
 diminishes the incentive to work1 and  
increases the red tape and              
administrative machinery4  ,lack of fuel
 has been another very grave source of  
trouble4 ,before the war coal came      
mostly from ,poland and the ,donetz     
,basin4 ,poland is lost to ,russia1 and 
the ,donetz ,basin was in the hands of  
,denikin1 who so destroyed the mines    
before retreating that they are still   
not in working order4 ,the result is a  
practically complete absence of coal4   
,oil1 which is equally important in     
,russia1 was also lacking until the     
recent recovery of ,baku4 ,all that ,i  
saw on the ,volga made me believe that  

real efficiency has been shown in       
reorganizing the transport of oil1 and  
doubtless this will do something to     
revive industry4 ,but the oil used to be
 worked very largely by ,englishmen1 and
 ,english machinery is much needed for  
refining it4 ,in the meantime1 ,russia  
has had to depend upon wood1 which      
involves immense labour4 ,most of the   
houses are not warmed in winter1 so that
 people live in a temperature below     
freezing-point4 ,another consequence of 
lack of fuel was the bursting of        
water-pipes1 so that people in          
,petrograd1 for the most part1 have to  
go down to the ,neva to fetch their     
water--a considerable addition to the   
labour of an already overworked day4  ,i
 find it difficult to believe that1 if  
greater efficiency had existed in the   
,government1 the food and fuel          
difficulties could not have been        
considerably alleviated4 ,in spite of   
the needs of the army1 there are still  
many horses in ,russia2 ,i saw troops of

 thousands of horses on the ,volga1     
which apparently belonged to ,kalmuk    
tribes4 ,by the help of carts and       
sledges1 it ought to be possible1       
without more labour than is warranted by
 the importance of the problem1 to bring
 food and timber into ,moscow and       
,petrograd4 ,it must be remembered that 
both cities are surrounded by forests1  
and ,moscow at least is surrounded by   
good agricultural land4 ,the ,government
 has devoted all its best energies      
hitherto to the two tasks of war and    
propaganda1 while industry and the food 
problem have been left to a lesser      
degree of energy and intelligence4 ,it  
is no doubt probable that1 if peace is  
secured1 the economic problems will     
receive more attention than hitherto4   
,but the ,russian character seems less  
adapted to steady work of an unexciting 
nature than to heroic efforts on great  
occasions2 it has immense passive       
endurance1 but not much active tenacity4
 ,whether1 with the menace of foreign   

invasion removed1 enough day-by-day     
detailed energy would exist for the     
reorganization of industry1 is a        
doubtful question1 as to which only time
 can decide4  ,this leads to the        
conclusion--which ,i think is adopted by
 most of the leading men in             
,russia--that it will be very difficult 
indeed to save the revolution without   
outside economic assistance4 ,outside   
assistance from capitalist countries is 
dangerous to the principles of          
,communism1 as well as precarious from  
the likelihood of fresh causes of       
quarrel4 ,but the need of help is       
urgent1 and if the policy of promoting  
revolution elsewhere were to succeed1 it
 would probably render the nations      
concerned temporarily incapable of      
supplying ,russian needs4 ,it is1       
therefore1 necessary for ,russia to     
accept the risks and uncertainties      
involved in attempting to make peace    
with the ,entente and to trade with     
,america4 ,by continuing war1 ,russia   

can do infinite damage to us1 especially
 in ,asia1 but cannot hope1 for many    
years1 to achieve any degree of internal
 prosperity4 ,the situation1 therefore1 
is one in which1 even from the narrowest
 point of view1 peace is to the interest
 of both parties4  ,it is difficult for 
an outsider with only superficial       
knowledge to judge of the efforts which 
have been made to reorganize industry   
without outside help4 ,these efforts    
have chiefly taken the form of          
industrial conscription4 ,workers in    
towns seek to escape to the country1 in 
order to have enough to eat2 but this is
 illegal and severely punished4 ,the    
same ,communist ,report from which ,i   
have already quoted speaks on this      
subject as follows3      ,labour        
,desertion4--,owing to the fact that a  
considerable     part of the workers    
either in search of better food         
conditions     or often for the purposes
 of speculation1 voluntarily leave      
their places of employment or change    

from place to place1     which          
inevitably harms production and         
deteriorates the general     position of
 the working class1 the ,congress       
considers one of     the most urgent    
problems of ,soviet ,government and of  
the ,trade     ,union organization to be
 established as the firm1 systematic    
and insistent struggle with labour      
desertion1 ,the way to fight     this is
 to publish a list of desertion fines1  
the creation of     a labour ,detachment
 of ,deserters under fine1 and1 finally1
     internment in concentration camps4 
,it is hoped to extend the system to the
 peasantry3      ,the defeat of the     
,white ,armies and the problems of      
peaceful     construction in connection 
with the incredible catastrophes of     
public economy demand an extraordinary  
effort of all the     powers of the     
proletariat and the drafting into the   
process of     public labour of the wide
 masses of the peasantry4  ,on the vital
 subject of transport1 in a passage of  

which ,i have already quoted a fragment1
 the ,communist ,party declares3        
,for the most immediate future transport
 remains the centre of     the attention
 and the efforts of the ,soviet         
,government4 ,the     improvement of    
transport is the indispensable basis    
upon which     even the most moderate   
success in all other spheres of         
production and first of all in the      
provision question can be     gained4   
,the chief difficulty with regard to the
 improvement of     transport is the    
weakness of the ,transport ,trade       
,union1 which     is due in the first   
case to the heterogeneity of the        
personnel     of the railways1 amongst  
whom there are still a number of        
those who belong to the period of       
disorganization1 and1     secondly1 to  
the fact that the most class-conscious  
and best     elements of the railway    
proletariat were at the various fronts  
of the civil war4      ,considering wide
 ,trade ,union assistance to the railway

 workers     to be one of the principal 
tasks of the ,party1 and as the only    
condition under which transport can be  
raised to its height1     the ,congress 
at the same time recognizes the         
inflexible     necessity of employing   
exclusive and extraordinary measures    
7martial law1 and so forth74 ,such      
necessity is the result of     the      
terrible collapse of the transport and  
the railroad system     and is to       
introduce measures which cannot be      
delayed and which     are to obviate the
 complete paralysis of the railway      
system     and1 together with this1 the 
ruin of the ,soviet ,republic4  ,the    
general attitude to the militarization  
of labour is stated in the ,resolution  
with which this section of the          
,proceedings begins3      ,the ninth    
,congress approves of the decision of   
the ,central     ,committee of the      
,russian ,communist ,party on the       
mobilization     of the industrial      
proletariat1 compulsory labour service1 

militarization of production and the    
application of military     detachments 
to economic needs4      ,in connection  
with the above1 the ,congress decrees   
that the     ,party organization should 
in every way assist the ,trade ,unions  
and the ,labour ,sections in registering
 all skilled workers     with a view of 
employing them in the various branches  
of     production with the same         
consistency and strictness as was       
done1 and is being carried out at the   
present time1 in     relation to the    
commanding staff for army needs4        
,every skilled worker is to return to   
his particular trade     ,exceptions1   
i4e4 the retention of the skilled worker
 in any     other branch of ,soviet     
service1 is allowed only with the       
sanction of the corresponding central   
and local authorities4  ,it is1 of      
course1 evident that in these measures  
the ,bolsheviks have been compelled to  
travel a long way from the ideals which 
originally inspired the revolution4 ,but

 the situation is so desperate that they
 could not be blamed if their measures  
were successful4 ,in a shipwreck all    
hands must turn to1 and it would be     
ridiculous to prate of individual       
liberty4 ,the most distressing feature  
of the situation is that these stern    
laws seem to have produced so little    
effect4 ,perhaps in the course of years 
,russia might become self-supporting    
without help from the outside world1 but
 the suffering meantime would be        
terrible4 ,the early hopes of the       
revolution would fade more and more4    
,every failure of industry1 every       
tyrannous regulation brought about by   
the desperate situation1 is used by the 
,entente as a justification of its      
policy4 ,if a man is deprived of food   
and drink1 he will grow weak1 lose his  
reason1 and finally die4 ,this is not   
usually considered a good reason for    
inflicting death by starvation4 ,but    
where nations are concerned1 the        
weakness and struggles are regarded as  

morally culpable1 and are held to       
justify further punishment4 ,so at least
 it has been in the case of ,russia4    
,nothing produced a doubt in our        
governing minds as to the rightness of  
our policy except the strength of the   
,red ,army and the fear of revolution in
 ,asia4 ,is it surprising that          
professions of humanitarian feeling on  
the part of ,english people are somewhat
 coldly received in ,soviet ,russia8    
,,vii  ,,daily ,,life ,,in ,,moscow     
,daily life in ,moscow1 so far as ,i    
could discover1 has neither the horrors 
depicted by the ,northcliffe ,press nor 
the delights imagined by the more ardent
 of our younger ,socialists4  ,on the   
one hand1 there is no disorder1 very    
little crime1 not much insecurity for   
those who keep clear of politics4       
,everybody works hard2 the educated     
people have1 by this time1 mostly found 
their way into ,government offices or   
teaching or some other administrative   
profession in which their education is  

useful4 ,the theatres1 the opera and the
 ballet continue as before1 and are     
quite admirable2 some of the seats are  
paid for1 others are given free to      
members of trade unions4 ,there is1 of  
course1 no drunkenness1 or at any rate  
so little that none of us ever saw a    
sign of it4 ,there is very little       
prostitution1 infinitely less than in   
any other capital4 ,women are safer from
 molestation than anywhere else in the  
world4 ,the whole impression is one of  
virtuous1 well-ordered activity4  ,on   
the other hand1 life is very hard for   
all except men in good posts4 ,it is    
hard1 first of all1 owing to the food   
shortage4 ,this is familiar to all who  
have interested themselves in ,russia1  
and it is unnecessary to dwell upon it4 
,what is less realized is that most     
people work much longer hours than in   
this country4 ,the eight-hour day was   
introduced with a flourish of trumpets2 
then1 owing to the pressure of the war1 
it was extended to ten hours in certain 

trades4 ,but no provision exists against
 extra work at other jobs1 and very many
 people do extra work1 because the      
official rates do not afford a living   
wage4 ,this is not the fault of the     
,government1 at any rate as regards the 
major part2 it is due chiefly to war and
 blockade4 ,when the day's work is over1
 a great deal of time has to be spent in
 fetching food and water and other      
necessaries of life4 ,the sight of the  
workers going to and fro1 shabbily clad1
 with the inevitable bundle in one hand 
and tin can in the other1 through       
streets almost entirely empty of        
traffic1 produces the effect of life in 
some vast village1 rather than in an    
important capital city4  ,holidays1 such
 as are common throughout all but the   
very poorest class in this country1 are 
very difficult in ,russia4 ,a train     
journey requires a permit1 which is only
 granted on good reasons being shown2   
with the present shortage of transport1 
this regulation is quite unavoidable4   

,railway queues are a common feature in 
,moscow2 it often takes several days to 
get a permit4 ,then1 when it has been   
obtained1 it may take several more days 
to get a seat in a train4 ,the ordinary 
trains are inconceivably crowded1 far   
more so1 though that seems impossible1  
than ,london trains at the busiest hour4
 ,on the shorter journeys1 passengers   
are even known to ride on the roof and  
buffers1 or cling like flies to the     
sides of the waggons4 ,people in ,moscow
 travel to the country whenever they can
 afford the time and get a permit1      
because in the country there is enough  
to eat4 ,they go to stay with           
relations--most people in ,moscow1 in   
all classes1 but especially among manual
 workers1 have relations in the country4
 ,one cannot1 of course1 go to an hotel 
as one would in other countries4 ,hotels
 have been taken over by the ,state1 and
 the rooms in them 7when they are still 
used7 are allocated by the police to    
people whose business is recognized as  

important by the authorities4 ,casual   
travel is therefore impossible even on a
 holiday4  ,journeys have vexations in  
addition to the slowness and            
overcrowding of the trains4 ,police     
search the travellers for evidences of  
speculation1 especially for food4 ,the  
police play1 altogether1 a much greater 
part in daily life than they do in other
 countries--much greater than they did1 
for example1 in ,prussia twenty-five    
years ago1 when there was a vigorous    
campaign against ,socialism4 ,everybody 
breaks the law almost daily1 and no one 
knows which among his acquaintances is a
 spy of the ,extraordinary ,commission4 
,even in the prisons1 among prisoners1  
there are spies1 who are allowed certain
 privileges but not their liberty4      
,newspapers are not taken in1 except by 
very few people1 but they are stuck up  
in public places1 where passers-by      
occasionally glance at them4#e ,there is
 very little to read2 owing to paper    
shortage1 books are rare1 and money to  

buy them is still rarer4 ,one does not  
see people reading1 as one does here in 
the ,underground for example4 ,there is 
practically no social life1 partly      
because of the food shortage1 partly    
because1 when anybody is arrested1 the  
police are apt to arrest everybody whom 
they find in his company1 or who comes  
to visit him4 ,and once arrested1 a man 
or woman1 however innocent1 may remain  
for months in prison without trial4     
,while we were in ,moscow1 forty social 
revolutionaries and ,anarchists were    
hunger-striking to enforce their demand 
to be tried and to be allowed visits4 ,i
 was told that on the eighth day of the 
strike the ,government consented to try 
them1 and that few could be proved      
guilty of any crime2 but ,i had no means
 of verifying this4  ,industrial        
conscription is1 of course1 rigidly     
enforced4 ,every man and woman has to   
work1 and slacking is severely punished1
 by prison or a penal settlement4       
,strikes are illegal1 though they       

sometimes occur4 ,by proclaiming itself 
the friend of the proletarian1 the      
,government has been enabled to         
establish an iron discipline1 beyond the
 wildest dreams of the most autocratic  
,american magnate4 ,and by the same     
professions the ,government has led     
,socialists from other countries to     
abstain from reporting unpleasant       
features in what they have seen4  ,the  
,tolstoyans1 of whom ,i saw the leaders1
 are obliged by their creed to resist   
every form of conscription1 though some 
have found ways of compromising4 ,the   
law concerning conscientious objectors  
to military service is practically the  
same as ours1 and its working depends   
upon the temper of the tribunal before  
which a man comes4 ,some conscientious  
objectors have been shot2 on the other  
hand1 some have obtained absolute       
exemption4  ,life in ,moscow1 as        
compared to life in ,london1 is drab1   
monotonous1 and depressed4 ,i am not1 of
 course1 comparing life there with that 

of the rich here1 but with that of the  
average working-class family4 ,when it  
is realized that the highest wages are  
about fifteen shillings a month1 this is
 not surprising4 ,i do not think that   
life could1 under any system1 be very   
cheerful in a country so exhausted by   
war as ,russia1 so ,i am not saying this
 as a criticism of the ,bolsheviks4 ,but
 ,i do think there might be less police 
interference1 less vexatious regulation1
 and more freedom for spontaneous       
impulses towards harmless enjoyments4   
,religion is still very strong4 ,i went 
into many churches1 where ,i saw        
obviously famished priests in gorgeous  
vestments1 and a congregation enormously
 devout4 ,generally more than half the  
congregation were men1 and among the men
 many were soldiers4 ,this applies to   
the towns as well as to the country4 ,in
 ,moscow ,i constantly saw people in the
 streets crossing themselves4  ,there is
 a theory that the ,moscow working man  
feels himself free from capitalist      

domination1 and therefore bears         
hardships gladly4 ,this is no doubt true
 of the minority who are active         
,communists1 but ,i do not think it has 
any truth for the others4 ,the average  
working man1 to judge by a rather hasty 
impression1 feels himself the slave of  
the ,government1 and has no sense       
whatever of having been liberated from a
 tyranny4  ,i recognize to the full the 
reasons for the bad state of affairs1 in
 the past history of ,russia and the    
recent policy of the ,entente4 ,but ,i  
have thought it better to record        
impressions frankly1 trusting the       
readers to remember that the ,bolsheviks
 have only a very limited share of      
responsibility for the evils from which 
,russia is suffering4  ,,footnotes3  #e 
,the ninth ,communist ,congress         
7,march-,april1 #aibj7 says on this     
subject3 ,in view of the fact that the  
first condition of the success of the   
,soviet ,republic in all departments1   
including the economic1 is chiefly      

systematic printed agitation1 the       
,congress draws the attention of the    
,soviet ,government to the deplorable   
state in which our paper and printing   
industries find themselves4 ,the ever   
decreasing number of newspapers fail to 
reach not only the peasants but even the
 workers1 in addition to which our poor 
technical means render the papers hardly
 readable4 ,the ,congress strongly      
appeals to the ,supreme ,council of     
,public ,economy1 to the corresponding  
,trade ,unions and other interested     
institutions1 to apply all efforts to   
raise the quantity1 to introduce general
 system and order in the printing       
business1 and so secure for the worker  
and peasant in ,russia a supply of      
,socialist printed matter4     ,,viii   
,,town ,,and ,,country   ,the problem of
 inducing the peasants to feed the towns
 is one which ,russia shares with       
,central ,europe1 and from what one     
hears ,russia has been less unsuccessful
 than some other countries in dealing   

with this problem4 ,for the ,soviet     
,government1 the problem is mainly      
concentrated in ,moscow and ,petrograd2 
the other towns are not very large1 and 
are mostly in the centre of rich        
agricultural districts4 ,it is true that
 in the ,north even the rural population
 normally depends upon food from more   
southerly districts2 but the northern   
population is small4 ,it is commonly    
said that the problem of feeding ,moscow
 and ,petrograd is a transport problem1 
but ,i think this is only partially     
true4 ,there is1 of course1 a grave     
deficiency of rolling-stock1 especially 
of locomotives in good repair4 ,but     
,moscow is surrounded by very good land4
 ,in the course of a day's motoring in  
the neighbourhood1 ,i saw enough cows to
 supply milk to the whole child         
population of ,moscow1 although what ,i 
had come to see was children's          
sanatoria1 not farms4 ,all kinds of food
 can be bought in the market at high    
prices4 ,i travelled over a considerable

 extent of ,russian railways1 and saw a 
fair number of goods trains4 ,for all   
these reasons1 ,i feel convinced that   
the share of the transport problem in   
the food difficulties has been          
exaggerated4 ,of course transport plays 
a larger part in the shortage in        
,petrograd than in ,moscow1 because food
 comes mainly from south of ,moscow4 ,in
 ,petrograd1 most of the people one sees
 in the streets show obvious signs of   
under-feeding4 ,in ,moscow1 the visible 
signs are much less frequent1 but there 
is no doubt that under-feeding1 though  
not actual starvation1 is nearly        
universal4  ,the ,government supplies   
rations to every one who works in the   
towns at a very low fixed price4 ,the   
official theory is that the ,government 
has a monopoly of the food and that the 
rations are sufficient to sustain life4 
,the fact is that the rations are not   
sufficient1 and that they are only a    
portion of the food supply of ,moscow4  
,moreover1 people complain1 ,i do not   

know how truly1 that the rations are    
delivered irregularly2 some say1 about  
every other day4 ,under these           
circumstances1 almost everybody1 rich or
 poor1 buys food in the market1 where it
 costs about fifty times the fixed      
,government price4 ,a pound of butter   
costs about a month's wages4 ,in order  
to be able to afford extra food1 people 
adopt various expedients4 ,some do      
additional work1 at extra rates1 after  
their official day's work is over4 ,for1
 though there is supposed to be by law  
an eight-hours day1 extended to ten in  
certain vital industries1 the wage paid 
for it is not a living wage1 and there  
is nothing to prevent a man from        
undertaking other work in his spare     
time4 ,but the usual resource is what is
 called speculation1 i4e41 buying and   
selling4 ,some person formerly rich     
sells clothes or furniture or jewellery 
in return for food2 the buyer sells     
again at an enhanced price1 and so on   
through perhaps twenty hands1 until a   

final purchaser is found in some        
well-to-do peasant or nouveau riche     
speculator4 ,again1 most people have    
relations in the country1 whom they     
visit from time to time1 bringing back  
with them great bags of flour4 ,it is   
illegal for private persons to bring    
food into ,moscow1 and the trains are   
searched2 but1 by corruption or cunning1
 experienced people can elude the       
search4 ,the food market is illegal1 and
 is raided occasionally2 but as a rule  
it is winked at4 ,thus the attempt to   
suppress private commerce has resulted  
in an amount of unprofessional buying   
and selling which far exceeds what      
happens in capitalist countries4 ,it    
takes up a great deal of time that might
 be more profitably employed2 and1 being
 illegal1 it places practically the     
whole population of ,moscow at the mercy
 of the police4 ,moreover1 it depends   
largely upon the stores of goods        
belonging to those who were formerly    
rich1 and when these are expended the   

whole system must collapse1 unless      
industry has meanwhile been             
re-established on a sound basis4  ,it is
 clear that the state of affairs is     
unsatisfactory1 but1 from the           
,government's point of view1 it is not  
easy to see what ought to be done4 ,the 
urban and industrial population is      
mainly concerned in carrying on the work
 of government and supplying munitions  
to the army4 ,these are very necessary  
tasks1 the cost of which ought to be    
defrayed out of taxation4 ,a moderate   
tax in kind on the peasants would easily
 feed ,moscow and ,petrograd4 ,but the  
peasants take no interest in war or     
government4 ,russia is so vast that     
invasion of one part does not touch     
another part2 and the peasants are too  
ignorant to have any national           
consciousness1 such as one takes for    
granted in ,england or ,france or       
,germany4 ,the peasants will not        
willingly part with a portion of their  
produce merely for purposes of national 

defence1 but only for the goods they    
need--clothes1 agricultural implements1 
c4--which the ,government1 owing to the 
war and the blockade1 is not in a       
position to supply4  ,when the food     
shortage was at its worst1 the          
,government antagonized the peasants by 
forced requisitions1 carried out with   
great harshness by the ,red ,army4 ,this
 method has been modified1 but the      
peasants still part unwillingly with    
their food1 as is natural in view of the
 uselessness of paper and the enormously
 higher prices offered by private       
buyers4  ,the food problem is the main  
cause of popular opposition to the      
,bolsheviks1 yet ,i cannot see how any  
popular policy could have been adopted4 
,the ,bolsheviks are disliked by the    
peasants because they take so much food2
 they are disliked in the towns because 
they take so little4 ,what the peasants 
want is what is called free trade1 i4e41
 de-control of agricultural produce4 ,if
 this policy were adopted1 the towns    

would be faced by utter starvation1 not 
merely by hunger and hardship4 ,it is an
 entire misconception to suppose that   
the peasants cherish any hostility to   
the ,entente4 ,the ,daily ,news of ,july
 #acth1 in an otherwise excellent       
leading article1 speaks of the growing  
hatred of the ,russian peasant1 who is  
neither a ,communist nor a ,bolshevik1  
for the ,allies generally and this      
country in particular4 ,the typical     
,russian peasant has never heard of the 
,allies or of this country2 he does not 
know that there is a blockade2 all he   
knows is that he used to have six cows  
but the ,government reduced him to one  
for the sake of poorer peasants1 and    
that it takes his corn 7except what is  
needed for his own family7 at a very low
 price4 ,the reasons for these actions  
do not interest him1 since his horizon  
is bounded by his own village4 ,to a    
remarkable extent1 each village is an   
independent unit4 ,so long as the       
,government obtains the food and        

soldiers that it requires1 it does not  
interfere1 and leaves untouched the old 
village communism1 which is             
extraordinarily unlike ,bolshevism and  
entirely dependent upon a very primitive
 stage of culture4  ,the ,government    
represents the interests of the urban   
and industrial population1 and is1 as it
 were1 encamped amid a peasant nation1  
with whom its relations are rather      
diplomatic and military than            
governmental in the ordinary sense4 ,the
 economic situation1 as in ,central     
,europe1 is favourable to the country   
and unfavourable to the towns4 ,if      
,russia were governed democratically1   
according to the will of the majority1  
the inhabitants of ,moscow and          
,petrograd would die of starvation4 ,as 
it is1 ,moscow and ,petrograd just      
manage to live1 by having the whole     
civil and military power of the ,state  
devoted to their needs4 ,russia affords 
the curious spectacle of a vast and     
powerful ,empire1 prosperous at the     

periphery1 but faced with dire want at  
the centre4 ,those who have least       
prosperity have most power2 and it is   
only through their excess of power that 
they are enabled to live at all4 ,the   
situation is due at bottom to two facts3
 that almost the whole industrial       
energies of the population have had to  
be devoted to war1 and that the peasants
 do not appreciate the importance of the
 war or the fact of the blockade4  ,it  
is futile to blame the ,bolsheviks for  
an unpleasant and difficult situation   
which it has been impossible for them to
 avoid4 ,their problem is only soluble  
in one of two ways3 by the cessation of 
the war and the blockade1 which would   
enable them to supply the peasants with 
the goods they need in exchange for     
food2 or by the gradual development of  
an independent ,russian industry4 ,this 
latter method would be slow1 and would  
involve terrible hardships1 but some of 
the ablest men in the ,government       
believe it to be possible if peace      

cannot be achieved4 ,if we force this   
method upon ,russia by the refusal of   
peace and trade1 we shall forfeit the   
only inducement we can hold out for     
friendly relations2 we shall render the 
,soviet ,state unassailable and         
completely free to pursue the policy of 
promoting revolution everywhere4 ,but   
the industrial problem is a large       
subject1 which has been already         
discussed in ,chapter ,,vi4     ,,ix    
,,international ,,policy   ,in the      
course of these chapters1 ,i have had   
occasion to mention disagreeable        
features of the ,bolshevik rgime4 ,but  
it must always be remembered that these 
are chiefly due to the fact that the    
industrial life of ,russia has been     
paralysed except as ministering to the  
wants of the ,army1 and that the        
,government has had to wage a bitter and
 doubtful civil and external war1       
involving the constant menace of        
domestic enemies4 ,harshness1 espionage1
 and a curtailment of liberty result    

unavoidably from these difficulties4 ,i 
have no doubt whatever that the sole    
cure for the evils from which ,russia is
 suffering is peace and trade4 ,peace   
and trade would put an end to the       
hostility of the peasants1 and would at 
once enable the ,government to depend   
upon popularity rather than force4 ,the 
character of the ,government would alter
 rapidly under such conditions4         
,industrial conscription1 which is now  
rigidly enforced1 would become          
unnecessary4 ,those who desire a more   
liberal spirit would be able to make    
their voices heard without the feeling  
that they were assisting reaction and   
the national enemies4 ,the food         
difficulties would cease1 and with them 
the need for an autocratic system in the
 towns4  ,it must not be assumed1 as is 
common with opponents of ,bolshevism1   
that any other ,government could easily 
be established in ,russia4 ,i think     
every one who has been in ,russia       
recently is convinced that the existing 

,government is stable4 ,it may undergo  
internal developments1 and might easily1
 but for ,lenin1 become a ,bonapartist  
military autocracy4 ,but this would be a
 change from within--not perhaps a very 
great change--and would probably do     
little to alter the economic system4    
,from what ,i saw of the ,russian       
character and of the opposition parties1
 ,i became persuaded that ,russia is not
 ready for any form of democracy1 and   
needs a strong ,government4 ,the        
,bolsheviks represent themselves as the 
,allies of ,western advanced ,socialism1
 and from this point of view they are   
open to grave criticism4 ,for their     
international programme there is1 to my 
mind1 nothing to be said4 ,but as a     
national ,government1 stripped of their 
camouflage1 regarded as the successors  
of ,peter the ,great1 they are          
performing a necessary though unamiable 
task4 ,they are introducing1 as far as  
they can1 ,american efficiency among a  
lazy and undisciplined population4 ,they

 are preparing to develop the natural   
resources of their country by the       
methods of ,state ,socialism1 for which1
 in ,russia1 there is much to be said4  
,in the ,army they are abolishing       
illiteracy1 and if they had peace they  
would do great things for education     
everywhere4  ,but if we continue to     
refuse peace and trade1 ,i do not think 
the ,bolsheviks will go under4 ,russia  
will endure great hardships1 in the     
years to come as before4 ,but the       
,russians are inured to misery as no    
,western nation is2 they can live and   
work under conditions which we should   
find intolerable4 ,the ,government will 
be driven more and more1 from mere      
self-preservation1 into a policy of     
imperialism4 ,the ,entente has been     
doing everything to expose ,germany to a
 ,russian invasion of arms and leaflets1
 by allowing ,poland to engage in war   
and compelling ,germany to disarm4 ,all 
,asia lies open to ,bolshevik ambitions4
 ,almost the whole of the former        

,russian ,empire in ,asia is quite      
firmly in their grasp4 ,trains are      
running at a reasonable speed to        
,turkestan1 and ,i saw cotton from there
 being loaded on to ,volga steamers4 ,in
 ,persia and ,turkey1 revolts are taking
 place1 with ,bolshevik support4 ,it is 
only a question of a few years before   
,india will be in touch with the ,red   
,army4 ,if we continue to antagonize the
 ,bolsheviks1 ,i do not see what force  
exists that can prevent them from       
acquiring the whole of ,asia within ten 
years4  ,the ,russian ,government is not
 yet definitely imperialistic in spirit1
 and would still prefer peace to        
conquest4 ,the country is weary of war  
and denuded of goods4 ,but if the       
,western ,powers insist upon war1       
another spirit1 which is already        
beginning to show itself1 will become   
dominant4 ,conquest will be the only    
alternative to submission4 ,asiatic     
conquest will not be difficult4 ,but for
 us1 from the imperialist standpoint1 it

 will mean utter ruin4 ,and for the     
,continent it will mean revolutions1    
civil wars1 economic cataclysms4 ,the   
policy of crushing ,bolshevism by force 
was always foolish and criminal2 it has 
now become impossible and fraught with  
disaster4 ,our own ,government1 it would
 seem1 have begun to realize the        
dangers1 but apparently they do not     
realize them sufficiently to enforce    
their view against opposition4  ,in the 
,theses presented to the ,second        
,congress of the ,third ,international  
7,july #aibj71 there is a very          
interesting article by ,lenin called    
,first ,sketch of the ,theses on        
,national and ,colonial ,questions      
7,theses1 pp4 #dj-dg74 ,the following   
passages seemed to me particularly      
illuminating3--      ,the present       
world-situation in politics places on   
the order of     the day the            
dictatorship of the proletariat2 and all
 the     events of world politics are   
inevitably concentrated round one       

centre of gravity3 the struggle of the  
international     bourgeoisie against   
the ,soviet ,republic1 which inevitably 
groups round it1 on the one hand the    
,sovietist movements of     the advanced
 working men of all countries1 on the   
other hand     all the national         
movements of emancipation of colonies   
and     oppressed nations which have    
been convinced by a bitter              
experience that there is no salvation   
for them except in the     victory of   
the ,soviet ,government over            
world-imperialism4      ,we cannot      
therefore any longer confine ourselves  
to     recognizing and proclaiming the  
union of the workers of all             
countries4 ,it is henceforth necessary  
to pursue the     realization of the    
strictest union of all the national and 
colonial movements of emancipation with 
,soviet ,russia1 by     giving to this  
union forms corresponding to the degree 
of     evolution of the proletarian     
movement among the proletariat of       

each country1 or of the                 
democratic-bourgeois movement of        
emancipation among the workers and      
peasants of backward     countries or   
backward nationalities4      ,the       
federal principle appears to us as a    
transitory form     towards the complete
 unity of the workers of all countries4 
,this is the formula for co-operation   
with ,sinn ,fein or with ,egyptian and  
,indian nationalism4 ,it is further     
defined later4 ,in regard to backward   
countries1 ,lenin says1 we must have in 
view3--      ,the necessity of the      
co-operation of all ,communists in the  
democratic-bourgeois movement of        
emancipation in those     countries4    
,again3      ,the ,communist            
,international must conclude temporary  
alliances     with the bourgeois        
democracy of backward countries1 but    
must     never fuse with it4 ,the       
class-conscious proletariat must        
show itself particularly circumspect    
towards the survivals of     national   

sentiment in countries long oppressed1  
and must     consent to certain useful  
concessions4  ,the ,asiatic policy of   
the ,russian ,government was adopted as 
a move against the ,british ,empire1 and
 as a method of inducing the ,british   
,government to make peace4 ,it plays a  
larger part in the schemes of the       
leading ,bolsheviks than is realized by 
the ,labour ,party in this country4 ,its
 method is not1 for the present1 to     
preach ,communism1 since the ,persians  
and ,hindoos are considered scarcely    
ripe for the doctrines of ,marx4 ,it is 
nationalist movements that are supported
 by money and agitators from ,moscow4   
,the method of quasi-independent states 
under ,bolshevik protection is well     
understood4 ,it is obvious that this    
policy affords opportunities for        
imperialism1 under the cover of         
propaganda1 and there is no doubt that  
some among the ,bolsheviks are          
fascinated by its imperialist aspect4   
,the importance officially attached to  

the ,eastern policy is illustrated by   
the fact that it was the subject of the 
concluding portion of ,lenin's speech to
 the recent ,congress of the ,third     
,international 7,july #aibj74           
,bolshevism1 like everything ,russian1  
is partly ,asiatic in character4 ,one   
may distinguish two distinct trends1    
developing into two distinct policies4  
,on the one side are the practical men1 
who wish to develop ,russia             
industrially1 to secure the gains of the
 ,revolution nationally1 to trade with  
the ,west1 and gradually settle down    
into a more or less ordinary ,state4    
,these men have on their side the fact  
of the economic exhaustion of ,russia1  
the danger of ultimate revolt against   
,bolshevism if life continues to be as  
painful as it is at present1 and the    
natural sentiment of humanity that      
wishes to relieve the sufferings of the 
people2 also the fact that1 if          
revolutions elsewhere produce a similar 
collapse of industry1 they will make it 

impossible for ,russia to receive the   
outside help which is urgently needed4  
,in the early days1 when the ,government
 was weak1 they had unchallenged control
 of policy1 but success has made their  
position less secure4  ,on the other    
side there is a blend of two quite      
different aims3 first1 the desire to    
promote revolution in the ,western      
nations1 which is in line with          
,communist theory1 and is also thought  
to be the only way of obtaining a really
 secure peace2 secondly1 the desire for 
,asiatic dominion1 which is probably    
accompanied in the minds of some with   
dreams of sapphires and rubies and      
golden thrones and all the glories of   
their forefather ,solomon4 ,this desire 
produces an unwillingness to abandon the
 ,eastern policy1 although it is        
realized that1 until it is abandoned1   
peace with capitalist ,england is       
impossible4 ,i do not know whether there
 are some to whom the thought occurs    
that if ,england were to embark on      

revolution we should become willing to  
abandon ,india to the ,russians4 ,but ,i
 am certain that the converse thought   
occurs1 namely that1 if ,india could be 
taken from us1 the blow to imperialist  
feeling might lead us to revolution4 ,in
 either case1 the two policies1 of      
revolution in the ,west and conquest    
7disguised as liberation of oppressed   
peoples7 in the ,east1 work in together1
 and dovetail into a strongly coherent  
whole4  ,bolshevism as a social         
phenomenon is to be reckoned as a       
religion1 not as an ordinary political  
movement4 ,the important and effective  
mental attitudes to the world may be    
broadly divided into the religious and  
the scientific4 ,the scientific attitude
 is tentative and piecemeal1 believing  
what it finds evidence for1 and no more4
 ,since ,galileo1 the scientific        
attitude has proved itself increasingly 
capable of ascertaining important facts 
and laws1 which are acknowledged by all 
competent people regardless of          

temperament or self-interest or         
political pressure4 ,almost all the     
progress in the world from the earliest 
times is attributable to science and the
 scientific temper2 almost all the major
 ills are attributable to religion4  ,by
 a religion ,i mean a set of beliefs    
held as dogmas1 dominating the conduct  
of life1 going beyond or contrary to    
evidence1 and inculcated by methods     
which are emotional or authoritarian1   
not intellectual4 ,by this definition1  
,bolshevism is a religion3 that its     
dogmas go beyond or contrary to         
evidence1 ,i shall try to prove in what 
follows4 ,those who accept ,bolshevism  
become impervious to scientific         
evidence1 and commit intellectual       
suicide4 ,even if all the doctrines of  
,bolshevism were true1 this would still 
be the case1 since no unbiased          
examination of them is tolerated4 ,one  
who believes1 as ,i do1 that the free   
intellect is the chief engine of human  
progress1 cannot but be fundamentally   

opposed to ,bolshevism1 as much as to   
the ,church of ,rome4  ,among religions1
 ,bolshevism is to be reckoned with     
,mohammedanism rather than with         
,christianity and ,buddhism4            
,christianity and ,buddhism are         
primarily personal religions1 with      
mystical doctrines and a love of        
contemplation4 ,mohammedanism and       
,bolshevism are practical1 social1      
unspiritual1 concerned to win the empire
 of this world4 ,their founders would   
not have resisted the third of the      
temptations in the wilderness4 ,what    
,mohammedanism did for the ,arabs1      
,bolshevism may do for the ,russians4   
,as ,ali went down before the           
politicians who only rallied to the     
,prophet after his success1 so the      
genuine ,communists may go down before  
those who are now rallying to the ranks 
of the ,bolsheviks4 ,if so1 ,asiatic    
empire with all its pomps and splendours
 may well be the next stage of          
development1 and ,communism may seem1 in

 historical retrospect1 as small a part 
of ,bolshevism as abstinence from       
alcohol is of ,mohammedanism4 ,it is    
true that1 as a world force1 whether for
 revolution or for empire1 ,bolshevism  
must sooner or later be brought by      
success into a desperate conflict with  
,america2 and ,america is more solid and
 strong1 as yet1 than anything that     
,mohammed's followers had to face4 ,but 
the doctrines of ,communism are almost  
certain1 in the long run1 to make       
progress among ,american wage-earners1  
and the opposition of ,america is       
therefore not likely to be eternal4     
,bolshevism may go under in ,russia1 but
 even if it does it will spring up again
 elsewhere1 since it is ideally suited  
to an industrial population in distress4
 ,what is evil in it is mainly due to   
the fact that it has its origin in      
distress2 the problem is to disentangle 
the good from the evil1 and induce the  
adoption of the good in countries not   
goaded into ferocity by despair4        

,russia is a backward country1 not yet  
ready for the methods of equal          
co-operation which the ,west is seeking 
to substitute for arbitrary power in    
politics and industry4 ,in ,russia1 the 
methods of the ,bolsheviks are probably 
more or less unavoidable2 at any rate1  
,i am not prepared to criticize them in 
their broad lines4 ,but they are not the
 methods appropriate to more advanced   
countries1 and our ,socialists will be  
unnecessarily retrograde if they allow  
the prestige of the ,bolsheviks to lead 
them into slavish imitation4 ,it will be
 a far less excusable error in our      
reactionaries if1 by their              
unteachableness1 they compel the        
adoption of violent methods4 ,we have a 
heritage of civilization and mutual     
tolerance which is important to         
ourselves and to the world4 ,life in    
,russia has always been fierce and      
cruel1 to a far greater degree than with
 us1 and out of the war has come a      
danger that this fierceness and cruelty 

may become universal4 ,i have hopes that
 in ,england this may be avoided through
 the moderation of both sides4 ,but it  
is essential to a happy issue that      
melodrama should no longer determine our
 views of the ,bolsheviks3 they are     
neither angels to be worshipped nor     
devils to be exterminated1 but merely   
bold and able men attempting with great 
skill an almost impossible task4        
,,part ,,ii  ,,bolshevik ,,theory     ,i
  ,,the ,,materialistic ,,theory ,,of   
,,history   ,the materialistic          
conception of history1 as it is called1 
is due to ,marx1 and underlies the whole
 ,communist philosophy4 ,i do not mean1 
of course1 that a man could not be a    
,communist without accepting it1 but    
that in fact it is accepted by the      
,communist ,party1 and that it          
profoundly influences their views as to 
politics and tactics4 ,the name does not
 convey at all accurately what is meant 
by the theory4 ,it means that all the   
mass-phenomena of history are determined

 by economic motives4 ,this view has no 
essential connection with materialism in
 the philosophic sense4 ,materialism in 
the philosophic sense may be defined as 
the theory that all apparently mental   
occurrences either are really physical1 
or at any rate have purely physical     
causes4 ,materialism in this sense also 
was preached by ,marx1 and is accepted  
by all orthodox ,marxians4 ,the         
arguments for and against it are long   
and complicated1 and need not concern   
us1 since1 in fact1 its truth or        
falsehood has little or no bearing on   
politics4  ,in particular1 philosophic  
materialism does not prove that economic
 causes are fundamental in politics4    
,the view of ,buckle1 for example1      
according to which climate is one of the
 decisive factors1 is equally compatible
 with materialism4 ,so is the ,freudian 
view1 which traces everything to sex4   
,there are innumerable ways of viewing  
history which are materialistic in the  
philosophic sense without being economic

 or falling within the ,marxian formula4
 ,thus the materialistic conception of  
history may be false even if materialism
 in the philosophic sense should be     
true4  ,on the other hand1 economic     
causes might be at the bottom of all    
political events even if philosophic    
materialism were false4 ,economic causes
 operate through men's desire for       
possessions1 and would be supreme if    
this desire were supreme1 even if desire
 could not1 from a philosophic point of 
view1 be explained in materialistic     
terms4  ,there is1 therefore1 no logical
 connection either way between          
philosophic materialism and what is     
called the materialistic conception of  
history4  ,it is of some moment to      
realize such facts as this1 because     
otherwise political theories are both   
supported and opposed for quite         
irrelevant reasons1 and arguments of    
theoretical philosophy are employed to  
determine questions which depend upon   
concrete facts of human nature4 ,this   

mixture damages both philosophy and     
politics1 and is therefore important to 
avoid4  ,for another reason1 also1 the  
attempt to base a political theory upon 
a philosophical doctrine is undesirable4
 ,the philosophical doctrine of         
materialism1 if true at all1 is true    
everywhere and always2 we cannot expect 
exceptions to it1 say1 in ,buddhism or  
in the ,hussite movement4 ,and so it    
comes about that people whose politics  
are supposed to be a consequence of     
their metaphysics grow absolute and     
sweeping1 unable to admit that a general
 theory of history is likely1 at best1  
to be only true on the whole and in the 
main4 ,the dogmatic character of        
,marxian ,communism finds support in the
 supposed philosophic basis of the      
doctrine2 it has the fixed certainty of 
,catholic theology1 not the changing    
fluidity and sceptical practicality of  
modern science4  ,treated as a practical
 approximation1 not as an exact         
metaphysical law1 the materialistic     

conception of history has a very large  
measure of truth4 ,take1 as an instance 
of its truth1 the influence of          
industrialism upon ideas4 ,it is        
industrialism1 rather than the arguments
 of ,darwinians and ,biblical critics1  
that has led to the decay of religious  
belief in the urban working class4 ,at  
the same time1 industrialism has revived
 religious belief among the rich4 ,in   
the eighteenth century ,french          
aristocrats mostly became free-thinkers2
 now their descendants are mostly       
,catholics1 because it has become       
necessary for all the forces of reaction
 to unite against the revolutionary     
proletariat4 ,take1 again1 the          
emancipation of women4 ,plato1 ,mary    
,wolstonecraft1 and ,john ,stuart ,mill 
produced admirable arguments1 but       
influenced only a few impotent          
idealists4 ,the war came1 leading to the
 employment of women in industry on a   
large scale1 and instantly the arguments
 in favour of votes for women were seen 

to be irresistible4 ,more than that1    
traditional sexual morality collapsed1  
because its whole basis was the economic
 dependence of women upon their fathers 
and husbands4 ,changes in such a matter 
as sexual morality bring with them      
profound alterations in the thoughts and
 feelings of ordinary men and women2    
they modify law1 literature1 art1 and   
all kinds of institutions that seem     
remote from economics4  ,such facts as  
these justify ,marxians in speaking1 as 
they do1 of bourgeois ideology1 meaning 
that kind of morality which has been    
imposed upon the world by the possessors
 of capital4 ,contentment with one's lot
 may be taken as typical of the virtues 
preached by the rich to the poor4 ,they 
honestly believe it is a virtue--at any 
rate they did formerly4 ,the more       
religious among the poor also believed  
it1 partly from the influence of        
authority1 partly from an impulse to    
submission1 what ,mac,dougall calls     
negative self-feeling1 which is commoner

 than some people think4 ,similarly men 
preached the virtue of female chastity1 
and women usually accepted their        
teaching2 both really believed the      
doctrine1 but its persistence was only  
possible through the economic power of  
men4 ,this led erring women to          
punishment here on earth1 which made    
further punishment hereafter seem       
probable4 ,when the economic penalty    
ceased1 the conviction of sinfulness    
gradually decayed4 ,in such changes we  
see the collapse of bourgeois ideology4 
,but in spite of the fundamental        
importance of economic facts in         
determining the politics and beliefs of 
an age or nation1 ,i do not think that  
non-economic factors can be neglected   
without risks of errors which may be    
fatal in practice4  ,the most obvious   
non-economic factor1 and the one the    
neglect of which has led ,socialists    
most astray1 is nationalism4 ,of course 
a nation1 once formed1 has economic     
interests which largely determine its   

politics2 but it is not1 as a rule1     
economic motives that decide what group 
of human beings shall form a nation4    
,trieste1 before the war1 considered    
itself ,italian1 although its whole     
prosperity as a port depended upon its  
belonging to ,austria4 ,no economic     
motive can account for the opposition   
between ,ulster and the rest of         
,ireland4 ,in ,eastern ,europe1 the     
,balkanization produced by              
self-determination has been obviously   
disastrous from an economic point of    
view1 and was demanded for reasons which
 were in essence sentimental4           
,throughout the war wage-earners1 with  
only a few exceptions1 allowed          
themselves to be governed by nationalist
 feeling1 and ignored the traditional   
,communist exhortation3 ,workers of the 
world1 unite4 ,according to ,marxian    
orthodoxy1 they were misled by cunning  
capitalists1 who made their profit out  
of the slaughter4 ,but to any one       
capable of observing psychological      

facts1 it is obvious that this is       
largely a myth4 ,immense numbers of     
capitalists were ruined by the war2     
those who were young were just as liable
 to be killed as the proletarians were4 
,no doubt commercial rivalry between    
,england and ,germany had a great deal  
to do with causing the war2 but rivalry 
is a different thing from               
profit-seeking4 ,probably by combination
 ,english and ,german capitalists could 
have made more than they did out of     
rivalry1 but the rivalry was            
instinctive1 and its economic form was  
accidental4 ,the capitalists were in the
 grip of nationalist instinct as much as
 their proletarian dupes4 ,in both      
classes some have gained by the war2 but
 the universal will to war was not      
produced by the hope of gain4 ,it was   
produced by a different set of          
instincts1 and one which ,marxian       
psychology fails to recognize           
adequately4  ,the ,marxian assumes that 
a man's herd1 from the point of view of 

herd-instinct1 is his class1 and that he
 will combine with those whose economic 
class-interest is the same as his4 ,this
 is only very partially true in fact4   
,religion has been the most decisive    
factor in determining a man's herd      
throughout long periods of the world's  
history4 ,even now a ,catholic working  
man will vote for a ,catholic capitalist
 rather than for an unbelieving         
,socialist4 ,in ,america the divisions  
in local elections are mainly on        
religious lines4 ,this is no doubt      
convenient for the capitalists1 and     
tends to make them religious men2 but   
the capitalists alone could not produce 
the result4 ,the result is produced by  
the fact that many working men prefer   
the advancement of their creed to the   
improvement of their livelihood4        
,however deplorable such a state of mind
 may be1 it is not necessarily due to   
capitalist lies4  ,all politics are     
governed by human desires4 ,the         
materialist theory of history1 in the   

last analysis1 requires the assumption  
that every politically conscious person 
is governed by one single desire--the   
desire to increase his own share of     
commodities2 and1 further1 that his     
method of achieving this desire will    
usually be to seek to increase the share
 of his class1 not only his own         
individual share4 ,but this assumption  
is very far from the truth4 ,men desire 
power1 they desire satisfactions for    
their pride and their self-respect4     
,they desire victory over rivals so     
profoundly that they will invent a      
rivalry for the unconscious purpose of  
making a victory possible4 ,all these   
motives cut across the pure economic    
motive in ways that are practically     
important4  ,there is need of a         
treatment of political motives by the   
methods of psycho-analysis4 ,in         
politics1 as in private life1 men invent
 myths to rationalize their conduct4 ,if
 a man thinks that the only reasonable  
motive in politics is economic          

self-advancement1 he will persuade      
himself that the things he wishes to do 
will make him rich4 ,when he wants to   
fight the ,germans1 he tells himself    
that their competition is ruining his   
trade4 ,if1 on the other hand1 he is an 
idealist1 who holds that his politics   
should aim at the advancement of the    
human race1 he will tell himself that   
the crimes of the ,germans demand their 
humiliation4 ,the ,marxian sees through 
this latter camouflage1 but not through 
the former4 ,to desire one's own        
economic advancement is comparatively   
reasonable2 to ,marx1 who inherited     
eighteenth-century rationalist          
psychology from the ,british orthodox   
economists1 self-enrichment seemed the  
natural aim of a man's political        
actions4 ,but modern psychology has     
dived much deeper into the ocean of     
insanity upon which the little barque of
 human reason insecurely floats4 ,the   
intellectual optimism of a bygone age is
 no longer possible to the modern       

student of human nature4 ,yet it lingers
 in ,marxism1 making ,marxians rigid and
 ,procrustean in their treatment of the 
life of instinct4 ,of this rigidity the 
materialistic conception of history is a
 prominent instance4  ,in the next      
chapter ,i shall attempt to outline a   
political psychology which seems to me  
more nearly true than that of ,marx4    
,,ii  ,,deciding ,,forces ,,in          
,,politics   ,the larger events in the  
political life of the world are         
determined by the interaction of        
material conditions and human passions4 
,the operation of the passions on the   
material conditions is modified by      
intelligence4 ,the passions themselves  
may be modified by alien intelligence   
guided by alien passions4 ,so far1 such 
modification has been wholly            
unscientific1 but it may in time become 
as precise as engineering4  ,the        
classification of the passions which is 
most convenient in political theory is  
somewhat different from that which would

 be adopted in psychology4  ,we may     
begin with desires for the necessaries  
of life3 food1 drink1 sex1 and 7in cold 
climates7 clothing and housing4 ,when   
these are threatened1 there is no limit 
to the activity and violence that men   
will display4  ,planted upon these      
primitive desires are a number of       
secondary desires4 ,love of property1 of
 which the fundamental political        
importance is obvious1 may be derived   
historically and psychologically from   
the hoarding instinct4 ,love of the good
 opinion of others 7which we may call   
vanity7 is a desire which man shares    
with many animals2 it is perhaps        
derivable from courtship1 but has great 
survival value1 among gregarious        
animals1 in regard to others besides    
possible mates4 ,rivalry and love of    
power are perhaps developments of       
jealousy2 they are akin1 but not        
identical4  ,these four                 
passions--acquisitiveness1 vanity1      
rivalry1 and love of power--are1 after  

the basic instincts1 the prime movers of
 almost all that happens in politics4   
,their operation is intensified and     
regularized by herd instinct4 ,but herd 
instinct1 by its very nature1 cannot be 
a prime mover1 since it merely causes   
the herd to act in unison1 without      
determining what the united action is to
 be4 ,among men1 as among other         
gregarious animals1 the united action1  
in any given circumstances1 is          
determined partly by the common passions
 of the herd1 partly by imitation of    
leaders4 ,the art of politics consists  
in causing the latter to prevail over   
the former4  ,of the four passions we   
have enumerated1 only one1 namely       
acquisitiveness1 is concerned at all    
directly with men's relations to their  
material conditions4 ,the other         
three--vanity1 rivalry1 and love of     
power--are concerned with social        
relations4 ,i think this is the source  
of what is erroneous in the ,marxian    
interpretation of history1 which tacitly

 assumes that acquisitiveness is the    
source of all political actions4 ,it is 
clear that many men willingly forego    
wealth for the sake of power and glory1 
and that nations habitually sacrifice   
riches to rivalry with other nations4   
,the desire for some form of superiority
 is common to almost all energetic men4 
,no social system which attempts to     
thwart it can be stable1 since the lazy 
majority will never be a match for the  
energetic minority4  ,what is called    
virtue is an offshoot of vanity3 it is  
the habit of acting in a manner which   
others praise4  ,the operation of       
material conditions may be illustrated  
by the statement 7,myers's ,dawn of     
,history7 that four of the greatest     
movements of conquest have been due to  
drought in ,arabia1 causing the nomads  
of that country to migrate into regions 
already inhabited4 ,the last of these   
four movements was the rise of ,islam4  
,in these four cases1 the primal need of
 food and drink was enough to set events

 in motion2 but as this need could only 
be satisfied by conquest1 the four      
secondary passions must have very soon  
come into play4 ,in the conquests of    
modern industrialism1 the secondary     
passions have been almost wholly        
dominant1 since those who directed them 
had no need to fear hunger or thirst4   
,it is the potency of vanity and love of
 power that gives hope for the          
industrial future of ,soviet ,russia1   
since it enables the ,communist ,state  
to enlist in its service men whose      
abilities might give them vast wealth in
 a capitalistic society4  ,intelligence 
modifies profoundly the operation of    
material conditions4 ,when ,america was 
first discovered1 men only desired gold 
and silver2 consequently the portions   
first settled were not those that are   
now most profitable4 ,the ,bessemer     
process created the ,german iron and    
steel industry2 inventions requiring oil
 have created a demand for that         
commodity which is one of the chief     

influences in international politics4   
,the intelligence which has this        
profound effect on politics is not      
political1 but scientific and technical3
 it is the kind of intelligence which   
discovers how to make nature minister to
 human passions4 ,tungsten had no value 
until it was found to be useful in the  
manufacture of shells and electric      
light1 but now people will1 if          
necessary1 kill each other in order to  
acquire tungsten4 ,scientific           
intelligence is the cause of this       
change4  ,the progress or retrogression 
of the world depends1 broadly speaking1 
upon the balance between acquisitiveness
 and rivalry4 ,the former makes for     
progress1 the latter for retrogression4 
,when intelligence provides improved    
methods of production1 these may be     
employed to increase the general share  
of goods1 or to set apart more of the   
labour power of the community for the   
business of killing its rivals4 ,until  
#aiad1 acquisitiveness had prevailed1 on

 the whole1 since the fall of ,napoleon2
 the past six years have seen a         
prevalence of the instinct of rivalry4  
,scientific intelligence makes it       
possible to indulge this instinct more  
fully than is possible for primitive    
peoples1 since it sets free more men    
from the labour of producing            
necessaries4 ,it is possible that       
scientific intelligence may1 in time1   
reach the point when it will enable     
rivalry to exterminate the human race4  
,this is the most hopeful method of     
bringing about an end of war4  ,for     
those who do not like this method1 there
 is another3 the study of scientific    
psychology and physiology4 ,the         
physiological causes of emotions have   
begun to be known1 through the studies  
of such men as ,cannon 7,bodily ,changes
 in ,pain1 ,hunger1 ,fear and ,rage74   
,in time1 it may become possible1 by    
physiological means1 to alter the whole 
emotional nature of a population4 ,it   
will then depend upon the passions of   

the rulers how this power is used4      
,success will come to the ,state which  
discovers how to promote pugnacity to   
the extent required for external war1   
but not to the extent which would lead  
to domestic dissensions4 ,there is no   
method by which it can be insured that  
rulers shall desire the good of mankind1
 and therefore there is no reason to    
suppose that the power to modify men's  
emotional nature would cause progress4  
,if men desired to diminish rivalry1    
there is an obvious method4 ,habits of  
power intensify the passion of rivalry2 
therefore a ,state in which power is    
concentrated will1 other things being   
equal1 be more bellicose than one in    
which power is diffused4 ,for those who 
dislike wars1 this is an additional     
argument against all forms of           
dictatorship4 ,but dislike of war is far
 less common than we used to suppose2   
and those who like war can use the same 
argument to support dictatorship4       
,,iii  ,,bolshevik ,,criticism ,,of     

,,democracy   ,the ,bolshevik argument  
against ,parliamentary democracy as a   
method of achieving ,socialism is a     
powerful one4 ,my answer to it lies     
rather in pointing out what ,i believe  
to be fallacies in the ,bolshevik       
method1 from which ,i conclude that no  
swift method exists of establishing any 
desirable form of ,socialism4 ,but let  
us first see what the ,bolshevik        
argument is4  ,in the first place1 it   
assumes that those to whom it is        
addressed are absolutely certain that   
,communism is desirable1 so certain that
 they are willing1 if necessary1 to     
force it upon an unwilling population at
 the point of the bayonet4 ,it then     
proceeds to argue that1 while capitalism
 retains its hold over propaganda and   
its means of corruption1 ,parliamentary 
methods are very unlikely to give a     
majority for ,communism in the ,house of
 ,commons1 or to lead to effective      
action by such a majority even if it    
existed4 ,communists point out how the  

people are deceived1 and how their      
chosen leaders have again and again     
betrayed them4 ,from this they argue    
that the destruction of capitalism must 
be sudden and catastrophic2 that it must
 be the work of a minority2 and that it 
cannot be effected constitutionally or  
without violence4 ,it is therefore1 in  
their view1 the duty of the ,communist  
party in a capitalist country to prepare
 for armed conflict1 and to take all    
possible measure for disarming the      
bourgeoisie and arming that part of the 
proletariat which is willing to support 
the ,communists4  ,there is an air of   
realism and disillusionment about this  
position1 which makes it attractive to  
those idealists who wish to think       
themselves cynics4 ,but ,i think there  
are various points in which it fails to 
be as realistic as it pretends4  ,in the
 first place1 it makes much of the      
treachery of ,labour leaders in         
constitutional movements1 but does not  
consider the possibility of the         

treachery of ,communist leaders in a    
revolution4 ,to this the ,marxian would 
reply that in constitutional movements  
men are bought1 directly or indirectly1 
by the money of the capitalists1 but    
that revolutionary ,communism would     
leave the capitalists no money with     
which to attempt corruption4 ,this has  
been achieved in ,russia1 and could be  
achieved elsewhere4 ,but selling oneself
 to the capitalists is not the only     
possible form of treachery4 ,it is also 
possible1 having acquired power1 to use 
it for one's own ends instead of for the
 people4 ,this is what ,i believe to be 
likely to happen in ,russia3 the        
establishment of a bureaucratic         
aristocracy1 concentrating authority in 
its own hands1 and creating a rgime just
 as oppressive and cruel as that of     
capitalism4 ,marxians never sufficiently
 recognize that love of power is quite  
as strong a motive1 and quite as great a
 source of injustice1 as love of money2 
yet this must be obvious to any unbiased

 student of politics4 ,it is also       
obvious that the method of violent      
revolution leading to a minority        
dictatorship is one peculiarly          
calculated to create habits of despotism
 which would survive the crisis by which
 they were generated4 ,communist        
politicians are likely to become just   
like the politicians of other parties3 a
 few will be honest1 but the great      
majority will merely cultivate the art  
of telling a plausible tale with a view 
to tricking the people into entrusting  
them with power4 ,the only possible way 
by which politicians as a class can be  
improved is the political and           
psychological education of the people1  
so that they may learn to detect a      
humbug4 ,in ,england men have reached   
the point of suspecting a good speaker1 
but if a man speaks badly they think he 
must be honest4 ,unfortunately1 virtue  
is not so widely diffused as this theory
 would imply4  ,in the second place1 it 
is assumed by the ,communist argument   

that1 although capitalist propaganda can
 prevent the majority from becoming     
,communists1 yet capitalist laws and    
police forces cannot prevent the        
,communists1 while still a minority1    
from acquiring a supremacy of military  
power4 ,it is thought that secret       
propaganda can undermine the army and   
navy1 although it is admittedly         
impossible to get the majority to vote  
at elections for the programme of the   
,bolsheviks4 ,this view is based upon   
,russian experience1 where the army and 
navy had suffered defeat and had been   
brutally ill used by incompetent        
,tsarist authorities4 ,the argument has 
no application to more efficient and    
successful ,states4 ,among the ,germans1
 even in defeat1 it was the civilian    
population that began the revolution4   
,there is a further assumption in the   
,bolshevik argument which seems to me   
quite unwarrantable4 ,it is assumed that
 the capitalist governments will have   
learned nothing from the experience of  

,russia4 ,before the ,russian           
,revolution1 governments had not studied
 ,bolshevik theory4 ,and defeat in war  
created a revolutionary mood throughout 
,central and ,eastern ,europe4 ,but now 
the holders of power are on their guard4
 ,there seems no reason whatever to     
suppose that they will supinely permit a
 preponderance of armed force to pass   
into the hands of those who wish to     
overthrow them1 while1 according to the 
,bolshevik theory1 they are still       
sufficiently popular to be supported by 
a majority at the polls4 ,is it not as  
clear as noonday that in a democratic   
country it is more difficult for the    
proletariat to destroy the ,government  
by arms than to defeat it in a general  
election8 ,seeing the immense advantages
 of a ,government in dealing with       
rebels1 it seems clear that rebellion   
could have little hope of success unless
 a very large majority supported it4 ,of
 course1 if the army and navy were      
specially revolutionary1 they might     

effect an unpopular revolution2 but this
 situation1 though something like it    
occurred in ,russia1 is hardly to be    
expected in the ,western nations4 ,this 
whole ,bolshevik theory of revolution by
 a minority is one which might just     
conceivably have succeeded as a secret  
plot1 but becomes impossible as soon as 
it is openly avowed and advocated4  ,but
 perhaps it will be said that ,i am     
caricaturing the ,bolshevik doctrine of 
revolution4 ,it is urged by advocates of
 this doctrine1 quite truly1 that all   
political events are brought about by   
minorities1 since the majority are      
indifferent to politics4 ,but there is a
 difference between a minority in which 
the indifferent acquiesce1 and a        
minority so hated as to startle the     
indifferent into belated action4 ,to    
make the ,bolshevik doctrine reasonable1
 it is necessary to suppose that they   
believe the majority can be induced to  
acquiesce1 at least temporarily1 in the 
revolution made by the class-conscious  

minority4 ,this1 again1 is based upon   
,russian experience3 desire for peace   
and land led to a widespread support of 
the ,bolsheviks in ,november #aiag on   
the part of people who have subsequently
 shown no love for ,communism4  ,i think
 we come here to an essential part of   
,bolshevik philosophy4 ,in the moment of
 revolution1 ,communists are to have    
some popular cry by which they win more 
support than mere ,communism could win4 
,having thus acquired the ,state        
machine1 they are to use it for their   
own ends4 ,but this1 again1 is a method 
which can only be practised successfully
 so long as it is not avowed4 ,it is to 
some extent habitual in politics4 ,the  
,unionists in #aijj won a majority on   
the ,boer ,war1 and used it to endow    
brewers and ,church schools4 ,the       
,liberals in #aijf won a majority on    
,chinese labour1 and used it to cement  
the secret alliance with ,france and to 
make an alliance with ,tsarist ,russia4 
,president ,wilson1 in #aiaf1 won his   

majority on neutrality1 and used it to  
come into the war4 ,this method is part 
of the stock-in-trade of democracy4 ,but
 its success depends upon repudiating it
 until the moment comes to practise it4 
,those who1 like the ,bolsheviks1 have  
the honesty to proclaim in advance their
 intention of using power for other ends
 than those for which it was given them1
 are not likely to have a chance of     
carrying out their designs4  ,what seems
 to me to emerge from these             
considerations is this3 ,that in a      
democratic and politically educated     
country1 armed revolution in favour of  
,communism would have no chance of      
succeeding unless it were supported by a
 larger majority than would be required 
for the election of a ,communist        
,government by constitutional methods4  
,it is possible that1 if such a         
,government came into existence1 and    
proceeded to carry out its programme1 it
 would be met by armed resistance on the
 part of capital1 including a large     

proportion of the officers in the army  
and navy4 ,but in subduing this         
resistance it would have the support of 
that great body of opinion which        
believes in legality and upholds the    
constitution4 ,moreover1 having1 by     
hypothesis1 converted a majority of the 
nation1 a ,communist ,government could  
be sure of loyal help from immense      
numbers of workers1 and would not be    
forced1 as the ,bolsheviks are in       
,russia1 to suspect treachery           
everywhere4 ,under these circumstances1 
,i believe that the resistance of the   
capitalists could be quelled without    
much difficulty1 and would receive      
little support from moderate people4    
,whereas1 in a minority revolt of       
,communists against a capitalist        
,government1 all moderate opinion would 
be on the side of capitalism4  ,the     
contention that capitalist propaganda is
 what prevents the adoption of          
,communism by wage-earners is only very 
partially true4 ,capitalist propaganda  

has never been able to prevent the      
,irish from voting against the ,english1
 though it has been applied to this     
object with great vigour4 ,it has proved
 itself powerless1 over and over again1 
in opposing nationalist movements which 
had almost no moneyed support4 ,it has  
been unable to cope with religious      
feeling4 ,and those industrial          
populations which would most obviously  
benefit by ,socialism have1 in the main1
 adopted it1 in spite of the opposition 
of employers4 ,the plain truth is that  
,socialism does not arouse the same     
passionate interest in the average      
citizen as is roused by nationality and 
used to be roused by religion4 ,it is   
not unlikely that things may change in  
this respect3 we may be approaching a   
period of economic civil wars comparable
 to that of the religious civil wars    
that followed the ,reformation4 ,in such
 a period1 nationalism is submerged by  
party3 ,british and ,german ,socialists1
 or ,british and ,german capitalists1   

will feel more kinship with each other  
than with compatriots of the opposite   
political camp4 ,but when that day      
comes1 there will be no difficulty1 in  
highly industrial countries1 in securing
 ,socialist majorities2 if ,socialism is
 not then carried without bloodshed1 it 
will be due to the unconstitutional     
action of the rich1 not to the need of  
revolutionary violence on the part of   
the advocates of the proletariat4       
,whether such a state of opinion grows  
up or not depends mainly upon the       
stubbornness or conciliatoriness of the 
possessing classes1 and1 conversely1    
upon the moderation or violence of those
 who desire fundamental economic change4
 ,the majority which ,bolsheviks regard 
as unattainable is chiefly prevented by 
the ruthlessness of their own tactics4  
,apart from all arguments of detail1    
there are two broad objections to       
violent revolution in a democratic      
community4 ,the first is that1 when once
 the principle of respecting majorities 

as expressed at the ballot-box is       
abandoned1 there is no reason to suppose
 that victory will be secured by the    
particular minority to which one happens
 to belong4 ,there are many minorities  
besides ,communists3 religious          
minorities1 teetotal minorities1        
militarist minorities1 capitalist       
minorities4 ,any one of these could     
adopt the method of obtaining power     
advocated by the ,bolsheviks1 and any   
one would be just as likely to succeed  
as they are4 ,what restrains these      
minorities1 more or less1 at present1 is
 respect for the law and the            
constitution4 ,bolsheviks tacitly assume
 that every other party will preserve   
this respect while they themselves1     
unhindered1 prepare the revolution4 ,but
 if their philosophy of violence becomes
 popular1 there is not the slightest    
reason to suppose that they will be its 
beneficiaries4 ,they believe that       
,communism is for the good of the       
majority2 they ought to believe that    

they can persuade the majority on this  
question1 and to have the patience to   
set about the task of winning by        
propaganda4  ,the second argument of    
principle against the method of minority
 violence is that abandonment of law1   
when it becomes widespread1 lets loose  
the wild beast1 and gives a free rein to
 the primitive lusts and egoisms which  
civilization in some degree curbs4      
,every student of medival thought must  
have been struck by the extraordinarily 
high value placed upon law in that      
period4 ,the reason was that1 in        
countries infested by robber barons1 law
 was the first requisite of progress4   
,we1 in the modern world1 take it for   
granted that most people will be        
law-abiding1 and we hardly realize what 
centuries of effort have gone to making 
such an assumption possible4 ,we forget 
how many of the good things that we     
unquestionably expect would disappear   
out of life if murder1 rape1 and robbery
 with violence became common4 ,and we   

forget even more how very easily this   
might happen4 ,the universal class-war  
foreshadowed by the ,third              
,international1 following upon the      
loosening of restraints produced by the 
late war1 and combined with a deliberate
 inculcation of disrespect for law and  
constitutional government1 might1 and ,i
 believe would1 produce a state of      
affairs in which it would be habitual to
 murder men for a crust of bread1 and in
 which women would only be safe while   
armed men protected them4 ,the civilized
 nations have accepted democratic       
government as a method of settling      
internal disputes without violence4     
,democratic government may have all the 
faults attributed to it1 but it has the 
one great merit that people are1 on the 
whole1 willing to accept it as a        
substitute for civil war in political   
disputes4 ,whoever sets to work to      
weaken this acceptance1 whether in      
,ulster or in ,moscow1 is taking a      
fearful responsibility4 ,civilization is

 not so stable that it cannot be broken 
up2 and a condition of lawless violence 
is not one out of which any good thing  
is likely to emerge4 ,for this reason1  
if for no other1 revolutionary violence 
in a democracy is infinitely dangerous4 
,,iv  ,,revolution ,,and ,,dictatorship 
,the ,bolsheviks have a very definite   
programme for achieving ,communism--a   
programme which has been set forth by   
,lenin repeatedly1 and quite recently in
 the reply of the ,third ,international 
to the questionnaire submitted by the   
,independent ,labour ,party4            
,capitalists1 we are assured1 will stick
 at nothing in defence of their         
privileges4 ,it is the nature of man1 in
 so far as he is politically conscious1 
to fight for the interests of his class 
so long as classes exist4 ,when the     
conflict is not pushed to extremes1     
methods of conciliation and political   
deception may be preferable to actual   
physical warfare2 but as soon as the    
proletariat make a really vital attack  

upon the capitalists1 they will be met  
by guns and bayonets4 ,this being       
certain and inevitable1 it is as well to
 be prepared for it1 and to conduct     
propaganda accordingly4 ,those who      
pretend that pacific methods can lead to
 the realization of ,communism are false
 friends to the wage-earners2           
intentionally or unintentionally1 they  
are covert allies of the bourgeoisie4   
,there must1 then1 according to         
,bolshevik theory1 be armed conflict    
sooner or later1 if the injustices of   
the present economic system are ever to 
be remedied4 ,not only do they assume   
armed conflict3 they have a fairly      
definite conception of the way in which 
it is to be conducted4 ,this conception 
has been carried out in ,russia1 and is 
to be carried out1 before very long1 in 
every civilized country4 ,the           
,communists1 who represent the          
class-conscious wage-earners1 wait for  
some propitious moment when events have 
caused a mood of revolutionary          

discontent with the existing            
,government4 ,they then put themselves  
at the head of the discontent1 carry    
through a successful revolution1 and in 
so doing acquire the arms1 the railways1
 the ,state treasure1 and all the other 
resources upon which the power of modern
 ,governments is built4 ,they then      
confine political power to ,communists1 
however small a minority they may be of 
the whole nation4 ,they set to work to  
increase their number by propaganda and 
the control of education4 ,and          
meanwhile1 they introduce ,communism    
into every department of economic life  
as quickly as possible4  ,ultimately1   
after a longer or shorter period1       
according to circumstances1 the nation  
will be converted to ,communism1 the    
relics of capitalist institutions will  
have been obliterated1 and it will be   
possible to restore freedom4 ,but the   
political conflicts to which we are     
accustomed will not reappear4 ,all the  
burning political questions of our time1

 according to the ,communists1 are      
questions of class conflict1 and will   
disappear when the division of classes  
disappears4 ,accordingly the ,state will
 no longer be required1 since the ,state
 is essentially an engine of power      
designed to give the victory to one side
 in the class conflict4 ,ordinary       
,states are designed to give the victory
 to the capitalists2 the proletarian    
,state 7,soviet ,russia7 is designed to 
give the victory to the wage-earners4   
,as soon as the community contains only 
wage-earners1 the ,state will cease to  
have any functions4 ,and so1 through a  
period of dictatorship1 we shall finally
 arrive at a condition very similar to  
that aimed at by ,anarchist ,communism4 
,three questions arise in regard to this
 method of reaching ,utopia4 ,first1    
would the ultimate state foreshadowed by
 the ,bolsheviks be desirable in itself8
 ,secondly1 would the conflict involved 
in achieving it by the ,bolshevik method
 be so bitter and prolonged that its    

evils would outweigh the ultimate good8 
,thirdly1 is this method likely to lead1
 in the end1 to the state which the     
,bolsheviks desire1 or will it fail at  
some point and arrive at a quite        
different result8 ,if we are to be      
,bolsheviks1 we must answer all these   
questions in a sense favourable to their
 programme4  ,as regards the first      
question1 ,i have no hesitation in      
answering it in a manner favourable to  
,communism4 ,it is clear that the       
present inequalities of wealth are      
unjust4 ,in part1 they may be defended  
as affording an incentive to useful     
industry1 but ,i do not think this      
defence will carry us very far4         
,however1 ,i have argued this question  
before in my book on ,roads to ,freedom1
 and ,i will not spend time upon it now4
 ,on this matter1 ,i concede the        
,bolshevik case4 ,it is the other two   
questions that ,i wish to discuss4  ,our
 second question was3 ,is the ultimate  
good aimed at by the ,bolsheviks        

sufficiently great to be worth the price
 that1 according to their own theory1   
will have to be paid for achieving it8  
,if anything human were absolutely      
certain1 we might answer this question  
affirmatively with some confidence4 ,the
 benefits of ,communism1 if it were once
 achieved1 might be expected to be      
lasting2 we might legitimately hope that
 further change would be towards        
something still better1 not towards a   
revival of ancient evils4 ,but if we    
admit1 as we must do1 that the outcome  
of the ,communist revolution is in some 
degree uncertain1 it becomes necessary  
to count the cost2 for a great part of  
the cost is all but certain4  ,since the
 revolution of ,october1 #aiag1 the     
,soviet ,government has been at war with
 almost all the world1 and has had at   
the same time to face civil war at home4
 ,this is not to be regarded as         
accidental1 or as a misfortune which    
could not be foreseen4 ,according to    
,marxian theory1 what has happened was  

bound to happen4 ,indeed1 ,russia has   
been wonderfully fortunate in not having
 to face an even more desperate         
situation4 ,first and foremost1 the     
world was exhausted by the war1 and in  
no mood for military adventures4 ,next1 
the ,tsarist rgime was the worst in     
,europe1 and therefore rallied less     
support than would be secured by any    
other capitalist ,government4 ,again1   
,russia is vast and agricultural1 making
 it capable of resisting both invasion  
and blockade better than ,great ,britain
 or ,france or ,germany4 ,the only other
 country that could have resisted with  
equal success is the ,united ,states1   
which is at present very far removed    
from a proletarian revolution1 and      
likely long to remain the chief bulwark 
of the capitalist system4 ,it is evident
 that ,great ,britain1 attempting a     
similar revolution1 would be forced by  
starvation to yield within a few months1
 provided ,america led a policy of      
blockade4 ,the same is true1 though in a

 less degree1 of continental countries4 
,therefore1 unless and until an         
international ,communist revolution     
becomes possible1 we must expect that   
any other nation following ,russia's    
example will have to pay an even higher 
price than ,russia has had to pay4  ,now
 the price that ,russia is having to pay
 is very great4 ,the almost universal   
poverty might be thought to be a small  
evil in comparison with the ultimate    
gain1 but it brings with it other evils 
of which the magnitude would be         
acknowledged even by those who have     
never known poverty and therefore make  
light of it4 ,hunger brings an          
absorption in the question of food1     
which1 to most people1 makes life almost
 purely animal4 ,the general shortage   
makes people fierce1 and reacts upon the
 political atmosphere4 ,the necessity of
 inculcating ,communism produces a      
hot-house condition1 where every breath 
of fresh air must be excluded3 people   
are to be taught to think in a certain  

way1 and all free intelligence becomes  
taboo4 ,the country comes to resemble an
 immensely magnified ,jesuit ,college4  
,every kind of liberty is banned as     
being bourgeois2 but it remains a fact  
that intelligence languishes where      
thought is not free4  ,all this1        
however1 according to the leaders of the
 ,third ,international1 is only a small 
beginning of the struggle1 which must   
become world-wide before it achieves    
victory4 ,in their reply to the         
,independent ,labour ,party they say3   
,it is probable that upon the throwing  
off of the chains of the     capitalist 
,governments1 the revolutionary         
proletariat of     ,europe will meet the
 resistance of ,anglo-,saxon capital in 
the     persons of ,british and         
,american capitalists who will attempt  
to blockade it4 ,it is then possible    
that the revolutionary     proletariat  
of ,europe will rise in union with the  
peoples of     the ,east and commence a 
revolutionary struggle1 the scene of    

which will be the entire world1 to deal 
a final blow to     ,british and        
,american capitalism 7,the ,times1 ,july
 #cj1 #aibj74  ,the war here prophesied1
 if it ever takes place1 will be one    
compared to which the late war will come
 to seem a mere affair of outposts4     
,those who realize the destructiveness  
of the late war1 the devastation and    
impoverishment1 the lowering of the     
level of civilization throughout vast   
areas1 the general increase of hatred   
and savagery1 the letting loose of      
bestial instincts which had been curbed 
during peace--those who realize all this
 will hesitate to incur inconceivably   
greater horrors1 even if they believe   
firmly that ,communism in itself is much
 to be desired4 ,an economic system     
cannot be considered apart from the     
population which is to carry it out2 and
 the population resulting from such a   
world-war as ,moscow calmly contemplates
 would be savage1 bloodthirsty and      
ruthless to an extent that must make any

 system a mere engine of oppression and 
cruelty4  ,this brings us to our third  
question3 ,is the system which          
,communists regard as their goal likely 
to result from the adoption of their    
methods8 ,this is really the most vital 
question of the three4  ,advocacy of    
,communism by those who believe in      
,bolshevik methods rests upon the       
assumption that there is no slavery     
except economic slavery1 and that when  
all goods are held in common there must 
be perfect liberty4 ,i fear this is a   
delusion4  ,there must be               
administration1 there must be officials 
who control distribution4 ,these men1 in
 a ,communist ,state1 are the           
repositories of power4 ,so long as they 
control the army1 they are able1 as in  
,russia at this moment1 to wield        
despotic power even if they are a small 
minority4 ,the fact that there is       
,communism--to a certain extent--does   
not mean that there is liberty4 ,if the 
,communism were more complete1 it would 

not necessarily mean more freedom2 there
 would still be certain officials in    
control of the food supply1 and these   
officials could govern as they pleased  
so long as they retained the support of 
the soldiers4 ,this is not mere theory3 
it is the patent lesson of the present  
condition of ,russia4 ,the ,bolshevik   
theory is that a small minority are to  
seize power1 and are to hold it until   
,communism is accepted practically      
universally1 which1 they admit1 may take
 a long time4 ,but power is sweet1 and  
few men surrender it voluntarily4 ,it is
 especially sweet to those who have the 
habit of it1 and the habit becomes most 
ingrained in those who have governed by 
bayonets1 without popular support4 ,is  
it not almost inevitable that men placed
 as the ,bolsheviks are placed in       
,russia1 and as they maintain that the  
,communists must place themselves       
wherever the social revolution succeeds1
 will be loath to relinquish their      
monopoly of power1 and will find reasons

 for remaining until some new revolution
 ousts them8 ,would it not be fatally   
easy for them1 without altering economic
 structure1 to decree large salaries for
 high ,government officials1 and so     
reintroduce the old inequalities of     
wealth8 ,what motive would they have for
 not doing so8 ,what motive is possible 
except idealism1 love of mankind1       
non-economic motives of the sort that   
,bolsheviks decry8 ,the system created  
by violence and the forcible rule of a  
minority must necessarily allow of      
tyranny and exploitation2 and if human  
nature is what ,marxians assert it to   
be1 why should the rulers neglect such  
opportunities of selfish advantage8  ,it
 is sheer nonsense to pretend that the  
rulers of a great empire such as ,soviet
 ,russia1 when they have become         
accustomed to power1 retain the         
proletarian psychology1 and feel that   
their class-interest is the same as that
 of the ordinary working man4 ,this is  
not the case in fact in ,russia now1    

however the truth may be concealed by   
fine phrases4 ,the ,government has a    
class-consciousness and a class-interest
 quite distinct from those of the       
genuine proletarian1 who is not to be   
confounded with the paper proletarian of
 the ,marxian schema4 ,in a capitalist  
state1 the ,government and the          
capitalists on the whole hang together1 
and form one class2 in ,soviet ,russia1 
the ,government has absorbed the        
capitalist mentality together with the  
governmental1 and the fusion has given  
increased strength to the upper class4  
,but ,i see no reason whatever to expect
 equality or freedom to result from such
 a system1 except reasons derived from a
 false psychology and a mistaken        
analysis of the sources of political    
power4  ,i am compelled to reject       
,bolshevism for two reasons3 ,first1    
because the price mankind must pay to   
achieve ,communism by ,bolshevik methods
 is too terrible2 and secondly because1 
even after paying the price1 ,i do not  

believe the result would be what the    
,bolsheviks profess to desire4  ,but if 
their methods are rejected1 how are we  
ever to arrive at a better economic     
system8 ,this is not an easy question1  
and ,i shall treat it in a separate     
chapter4     ,v  ,,mechanism ,,and ,,the
 ,,individual   ,is it possible to      
effect a fundamental reform of the      
existing economic system by any other   
method than that of ,bolshevism8 ,the   
difficulty of answering this question is
 what chiefly attracts idealists to the 
dictatorship of the proletariat4 ,if1 as
 ,i have argued1 the method of violent  
revolution and ,communist rule is not   
likely to have the results which        
idealists desire1 we are reduced to     
despair unless we can see hope in other 
methods4 ,the ,bolshevik arguments      
against all other methods are powerful4 
,i confess that1 when the spectacle of  
present-day ,russia forced me to        
disbelieve in ,bolshevik methods1 ,i was
 at first unable to see any way of      

curing the essential evils of           
capitalism4 ,my first impulse was to    
abandon political thinking as a bad job1
 and to conclude that the strong and    
ruthless must always exploit the weaker 
and kindlier sections of the population4
 ,but this is not an attitude that can  
be long maintained by any vigorous and  
temperamentally hopeful person4 ,of     
course1 if it were the truth1 one would 
have to acquiesce4 ,some people believe 
that by living on sour milk one can     
achieve immortality4 ,such optimists are
 answered by a mere refutation2 it is   
not necessary to go on and point out    
some other way of escaping death4       
,similarly an argument that ,bolshevism 
will not lead to the millennium would   
remain valid even if it could be shown  
that the millennium cannot be reached by
 any other road4 ,but the truth in      
social questions is not quite like truth
 in physiology or physics1 since it     
depends upon men's beliefs4 ,optimism   
tends to verify itself by making people 

impatient of avoidable evils2 while     
despair1 on the other hand1 makes the   
world as bad as it believes it to be4   
,it is therefore imperative for those   
who do not believe in ,bolshevism to put
 some other hope in its place4  ,i think
 there are two things that must be      
admitted3 first1 that many of the worst 
evils of capitalism might survive under 
,communism2 secondly1 that the cure for 
these evils cannot be sudden1 since it  
requires changes in the average         
mentality4  ,what are the chief evils of
 the present system8 ,i do not think    
that mere inequality of wealth1 in      
itself1 is a very grave evil4 ,if       
everybody had enough1 the fact that some
 have more than enough would be         
unimportant4 ,with a very moderate      
improvement in methods of production1 it
 would be easy to ensure that everybody 
should have enough1 even under          
capitalism1 if wars and preparations for
 wars were abolished4 ,the problem of   
poverty is by no means insoluble within 

the existing system1 except when account
 is taken of psychological factors and  
the uneven distribution of power4  ,the 
graver evils of the capitalist system   
all arise from its uneven distribution  
of power4 ,the possessors of capital    
wield an influence quite out of         
proportion to their numbers or their    
services to the community4 ,they control
 almost the whole of education and the  
press2 they decide what the average man 
shall know or not know2 the cinema has  
given them a new method of propaganda1  
by which they enlist the support of     
those who are too frivolous even for    
illustrated papers4 ,very little of the 
intelligence of the world is really     
free3 most of it is1 directly or        
indirectly1 in the pay of business      
enterprises or wealthy philanthropists4 
,to satisfy capitalist interests1 men   
are compelled to work much harder and   
more monotonously than they ought to    
work1 and their education is scamped4   
,wherever1 as in barbarous or           

semi-civilized countries1 labour is too 
weak or too disorganized to protect     
itself1 appalling cruelties are         
practised for private profit4 ,economic 
and political organizations become more 
and more vast1 leaving less and less    
room for individual development and     
initiative4 ,it is this sacrifice of the
 individual to the machine that is the  
fundamental evil of the modern world4   
,to cure this evil is not easy1 because 
efficiency is promoted1 at any given    
moment1 though not in the long run1 by  
sacrificing the individual to the smooth
 working of a vast organization1 whether
 military or industrial4 ,in war and in 
commercial competition1 it is necessary 
to control individual impulses1 to treat
 men as so many bayonets or sabres or   
hands1 not as a society of separate     
people with separate tastes and         
capacities4 ,some sacrifice of          
individual impulses is1 of course1      
essential to the existence of an ordered
 community1 and this degree of sacrifice

 is1 as a rule1 not regretable even from
 the individual's point of view4 ,but   
what is demanded in a highly militarized
 or industrialized nation goes far      
beyond this very moderate degree4 ,a    
society which is to allow much freedom  
to the individual must be strong enough 
to be not anxious about home defence1   
moderate enough to refrain from         
difficult external conquests1 and rich  
enough to value leisure and a civilized 
existence more than an increase of      
consumable commodities4  ,but where the 
material conditions for such a state of 
affairs exist1 the psychological        
conditions are not likely to exist      
unless power is very widely diffused    
throughout the community4 ,where power  
is concentrated in a few1 it will       
happen1 unless those few are very       
exceptional people1 that they will value
 tangible achievements in the way of    
increase in trade or empire more than   
the slow and less obvious improvements  
that would result from better education 

combined with more leisure4 ,the joys of
 victory are especially great to the    
holders of power1 while the evils of a  
mechanical organization fall almost     
exclusively upon the less influential4  
,for these reasons1 ,i do not believe   
that any community in which power is    
much concentrated will long refrain from
 conflicts of the kind involving a      
sacrifice of what is most valuable in   
the individual4 ,in ,russia at this     
moment1 the sacrifice of the individual 
is largely inevitable1 because of the   
severity of the economic and military   
struggle4 ,but ,i did not feel1 in the  
,bolsheviks1 any consciousness of the   
magnitude of this misfortune1 or any    
realization of the importance of the    
individual as against the ,state4 ,nor  
do ,i believe that men who do realize   
this are likely to succeed1 or to come  
to the top1 in times when everything has
 to be done against personal liberty4   
,the ,bolshevik theory requires that    
every country1 sooner or later1 should  

go through what ,russia is going through
 now4 ,and in every country in such a   
condition we may expect to find the     
government falling into the hands of    
ruthless men1 who have not by nature any
 love for freedom1 and who will see     
little importance in hastening the      
transition from dictatorship to freedom4
 ,it is far more likely that such men   
will be tempted to embark upon new      
enterprises1 requiring further          
concentration of forces1 and postponing 
indefinitely the liberation of the      
populations which they use as their     
material4  ,for these reasons1          
equalization of wealth without          
equalization of power seems to me a     
rather small and unstable achievement4  
,but equalization of power is not a     
thing that can be achieved in a day4 ,it
 requires a considerable level of moral1
 intellectual1 and technical education4 
,it requires a long period without      
extreme crises1 in order that habits of 
tolerance and good nature may become    

common4 ,it requires vigour on the part 
of those who are acquiring power1       
without a too desperate resistance on   
the part of those whose share is        
diminishing4 ,this is only possible if  
those who are acquiring power are not   
very fierce1 and do not terrify their   
opponents by threats of ruin and death4 
,it cannot be done quickly1 because     
quick methods require that very         
mechanism and subordination of the      
individual which we should struggle to  
prevent4  ,but even equalization of     
power is not the whole of what is needed
 politically4 ,the right grouping of men
 for different purposes is also         
essential4 ,self-government in industry1
 for example1 is an indispensable       
condition of a good society4 ,those acts
 of an individual or a group which have 
no very great importance for outsiders  
ought to be freely decided by that      
individual or group4 ,this is recognized
 as regards religion1 but ought to be   
recognized over a much wider field4     

,bolshevik theory seems to me to err by 
concentrating its attention upon one    
evil1 namely inequality of wealth1 which
 it believes to be at the bottom of all 
others4 ,i do not believe any one evil  
can be thus isolated1 but if ,i had to  
select one as the greatest of political 
evils1 ,i should select inequality of   
power4 ,and ,i should deny that this is 
likely to be cured by the class-war and 
the dictatorship of the ,communist      
party4 ,only peace and a long period of 
gradual improvement can bring it about4 
,good relations between individuals1    
freedom from hatred and violence and    
oppression1 general diffusion of        
education1 leisure rationally employed1 
the progress of art and science--these  
seem to me among the most important ends
 that a political theory ought to have  
in view4 ,i do not believe that they can
 be furthered1 except very rarely1 by   
revolution and war2 and ,i am convinced 
that at the present moment they can only
 be promoted by a diminution in the     

spirit of ruthlessness generated by the 
war4 ,for these reasons1 while admitting
 the necessity and even utility of      
,bolshevism in ,russia1 ,i do not wish  
to see it spread1 or to encourage the   
adoption of its philosophy by advanced  
parties in the ,western nations4        
,,vi  ,,why ,,russian ,,communism ,,has 
,,failed   ,the civilized world seems   
almost certain1 sooner or later1 to     
follow the example of ,russia in        
attempting a ,communist organization of 
society4 ,i believe that the attempt is 
essential to the progress and happiness 
of mankind during the next few          
centuries1 but ,i believe also that the 
transition has appalling dangers4 ,i    
believe that1 if the ,bolshevik theory  
as to the method of transition is       
adopted by ,communists in ,western      
nations1 the result will be a prolonged 
chaos1 leading neither to ,communism nor
 to any other civilized system1 but to a
 relapse into the barbarism of the ,dark
 ,ages4 ,in the interests of ,communism1

 no less than in the interests of       
civilization1 ,i think it imperative    
that the ,russian failure should be     
admitted and analysed4 ,for this reason1
 if for no other1 ,i cannot enter into  
the conspiracy of concealment which many
 ,western ,socialists who have visited  
,russia consider necessary4  ,i shall   
try first to recapitulate the facts     
which make me regard the ,russian       
experiment as a failure1 and then to    
seek out the causes of failure4  ,the   
most elementary failure in ,russia is in
 regard to food4 ,in a country which    
formerly produced a vast exportable     
surplus of cereals and other            
agricultural produce1 and in which the  
non-agricultural population is only #ae 
per cent4 of the total1 it ought to be  
possible1 without great difficulty1 to  
provide enough food for the towns4 ,yet 
the ,government has failed badly in this
 respect4 ,the rations are inadequate   
and irregular1 so that it is impossible 
to preserve health and vigour without   

the help of food purchased illicitly in 
the markets at speculative prices4 ,i   
have given reasons for thinking that the
 breakdown of transport1 though a       
contributory cause1 is not the main     
reason for the shortage4 ,the main      
reason is the hostility of the peasants1
 which1 in turn1 is due to the collapse 
of industry and to the policy of forced 
requisitions4 ,in regard to corn and    
flour1 the ,government requisitions all 
that the peasant produces above a       
certain minimum required for himself and
 his family4 ,if1 instead1 it exacted a 
fixed amount as rent1 it would not      
destroy his incentive to production1 and
 would not provide nearly such a strong 
motive for concealment4 ,but this plan  
would have enabled the peasants to grow 
rich1 and would have involved a         
confessed abandonment of ,communist     
theory4 ,it has therefore been thought  
better to employ forcible methods1 which
 led to disaster1 as they were bound to 
do4  ,the collapse of industry was the  

chief cause of the food difficulties1   
and has in turn been aggravated by them4
 ,owing to the fact that there is       
abundant food in the country1 industrial
 and urban workers are perpetually      
attempting to abandon their employment  
for agriculture4 ,this is illegal1 and  
is severely punished1 by imprisonment or
 convict labour4 ,nevertheless it       
continues1 and in so vast a country as  
,russia it is not possible to prevent   
it4 ,thus the ranks of industry become  
still further depleted4  ,except as     
regards munitions of war1 the collapse  
of industry in ,russia is               
extraordinarily complete4 ,the          
resolutions passed by the ,ninth        
,congress of the ,communist ,party      
7,april1 #aibj7 speak of the incredible 
catastrophes of public economy4 ,this   
language is not too strong1 though the  
recovery of the ,baku oil has done      
something to produce a revival along the
 ,volga basin4  ,the failure of the     
whole industrial side of the national   

economy1 including transport1 is at the 
bottom of the other failures of the     
,soviet ,government4 ,it is1 to begin   
with1 the main cause of the unpopularity
 of the ,communists both in town and    
country3 in town1 because the people are
 hungry2 in the country1 because food is
 taken with no return except paper4 ,if 
industry had been prosperous1 the       
peasants could have had clothes and     
agricultural machinery1 for which they  
would have willingly parted with enough 
food for the needs of the towns4 ,the   
town population could then have         
subsisted in tolerable comfort2 disease 
could have been coped with1 and the     
general lowering of vitality averted4   
,it would not have been necessary1 as it
 has been in many cases1 for men of     
scientific or artistic capacity to      
abandon the pursuits in which they were 
skilled for unskilled manual labour4    
,the ,communist ,republic might have    
been agreeable to live in--at least for 
those who had been very poor before4    

,the unpopularity of the ,bolsheviks1   
which is primarily due to the collapse  
of industry1 has in turn been           
accentuated by the measures which it has
 driven the ,government to adopt4 ,in   
view of the fact that it was impossible 
to give adequate food to the ordinary   
population of ,petrograd and ,moscow1   
the ,government decided that at any rate
 the men employed on important public   
work should be sufficiently nourished to
 preserve their efficiency4 ,it is a    
gross libel to say that the ,communists1
 or even the leading ,people's          
,commissaries1 live luxurious lives     
according to our standards2 but it is a 
fact that they are not exposed1 like    
their subjects1 to acute hunger and the 
weakening of energy that accompanies it4
 ,no tone can blame them for this1 since
 the work of government must be carried 
on2 but it is one of the ways in which  
class distinctions have reappeared where
 it was intended that they should be    
banished4 ,i talked to an obviously     

hungry working man in ,moscow1 who      
pointed to the ,kremlin and remarked3   
,in there they have enough to eat4 ,he  
was expressing a widespread feeling     
which is fatal to the idealistic appeal 
that ,communism attempts to make4       
,owing to unpopularity1 the ,bolsheviks 
have had to rely upon the army and the  
,extraordinary ,commission1 and have    
been compelled to reduce the ,soviet    
system to an empty form4 ,more and more 
the pretence of representing the        
proletariat has grown threadbare4 ,amid 
official demonstrations and processions 
and meetings the genuine proletarian    
looks on1 apathetic and disillusioned1  
unless he is possessed of unusual energy
 and fire1 in which case he looks to the
 ideas of syndicalism or the ,i4,w4,w4  
to liberate him from a slavery far more 
complete than that of capitalism4 ,a    
sweated wage1 long hours1 industrial    
conscription1 prohibition of strikes1   
prison for slackers1 diminution of the  
already insufficient rations in         

factories where the production falls    
below what the authorities expect1 an   
army of spies ready to report any       
tendency to political disaffection and  
to procure imprisonment for its         
promoters--this is the reality of a     
system which still professes to govern  
in the name of the proletariat4  ,at the
 same time the internal and external    
peril has necessitated the creation of a
 vast army recruited by conscription1   
except as regards a ,communist nucleus1 
from among a population utterly weary of
 war1 who put the ,bolsheviks in power  
because they alone promised peace4      
,militarism has produced its inevitable 
result in the way of a harsh and        
dictatorial spirit3 the men in power go 
through their day's work with the       
consciousness that they command three   
million armed men1 and that civilian    
opposition to their will can be easily  
crushed4  ,out of all this has grown a  
system painfully like the old government
 of the ,tsar--a system which is        

,asiatic in its centralized bureaucracy1
 its secret service1 its atmosphere of  
governmental mystery and submissive     
terror4 ,in many ways it resembles our  
,government of ,india4 ,like that       
,government1 it stands for civilization1
 for education1 sanitation1 and ,western
 ideas of progress2 it is composed in   
the main of honest and hard-working men1
 who despise those whom they govern1 but
 believe themselves possessed of        
something valuable which they must      
communicate to the population1 however  
little it may be desired4 ,like our     
,government in ,india1 they live in     
terror of popular risings1 and are      
compelled to resort to cruel repressions
 in order to preserve their power4 ,like
 it1 they represent an alien philosophy 
of life1 which cannot be forced upon the
 people without a change of instinct1   
habit1 and tradition so profound as to  
dry up the vital springs of action1     
producing listlessness and despair among
 the ignorant victims of militant       

enlightenment4 ,it may be that ,russia  
needs sternness and discipline more than
 anything else2 it may be that a revival
 of ,peter the ,great's methods is      
essential to progress4 ,from this point 
of view1 much of what it is natural to  
criticize in the ,bolsheviks becomes    
defensible2 but this point of view has  
little affinity to ,communism4          
,bolshevism may be defended1 possibly1  
as a dire discipline through which a    
backward nation is to be rapidly        
industrialized2 but as an experiment in 
,communism it has failed4  ,there are   
two things that a defender of the       
,bolsheviks may say against the argument
 that they have failed because the      
present state of ,russia is bad4 ,it may
 be said that it is too soon to judge1  
and it may be urged that whatever       
failure there has been is attributable  
to the hostility of the outside world4  
,as to the contention that it is too    
soon to judge1 that is of course        
undeniable in a sense4 ,but in a sense  

it is always too soon to judge of any   
historical movement1 because its effects
 and developments go on for ever4       
,bolshevism has1 no doubt1 great changes
 ahead of it4 ,but the last three years 
have afforded material for some         
judgments1 though more definitive       
judgments will be possible later4 ,and1 
for reasons which ,i have given in      
earlier chapters1 ,i find it impossible 
to believe that later developments will 
realize more fully the ,communist ideal4
 ,if trade is opened with the outer     
world1 there will be an almost          
irresistible tendency to resumption of  
private enterprise4 ,if trade is not    
re-opened1 the plans of ,asiatic        
conquest will mature1 leading to a      
revival of ,yenghis ,khan and ,timur4   
,in neither case is the purity of the   
,communist faith likely to survive4  ,as
 for the hostility of the ,entente1 it  
is of course true that ,bolshevism might
 have developed very differently if it  
had been treated in a friendly spirit4  

,but in view of its desire to promote   
world-revolution1 no one could          
expect--and the ,bolsheviks certainly   
did not expect--that capitalist         
,governments would be friendly4 ,if     
,germany had won the war1 ,germany would
 have shown a hostility more effective  
than that of the ,entente4 ,however we  
may blame ,western ,governments for     
their policy1 we must realize that1     
according to the deterministic economic 
theory of the ,bolsheviks1 no other     
policy was to be expected from them4    
,other men might have been excused for  
not foreseeing the attitude of          
,churchill1 ,clemenceau and ,millerand2 
but ,marxians could not be excused1     
since this attitude was in exact accord 
with their own formula4  ,we have seen  
the symptoms of ,bolshevik failure2 ,i  
come now to the question of its         
profounder causes4  ,everything that is 
worst in ,russia we found traceable to  
the collapse of industry4 ,why has      
industry collapsed so utterly8 ,and     

would it collapse equally if a          
,communist revolution were to occur in a
 ,western country8  ,russian industry   
was never highly developed1 and depended
 always upon outside aid for much of its
 plant4 ,the hostility of the world1 as 
embodied in the blockade1 left ,russia  
powerless to replace the machinery and  
locomotives worn out during the war4    
,the need of self-defence compelled the 
,bolsheviks to send their best workmen  
to the front1 because they were the most
 reliable ,communists1 and the loss of  
them rendered their factories even more 
inefficient than they were under        
,kerensky4 ,in this respect1 and in the 
laziness and incapacity of the ,russian 
workman1 the ,bolsheviks have had to    
face special difficulties which would be
 less in other countries4 ,on the other 
hand1 they have had special advantages  
in the fact that ,russia is             
self-supporting in the matter of food2  
no other country could have endured the 
collapse of industry so long1 and no    

other ,great ,power except the ,united  
,states could have survived years of    
blockade4  ,the hostility of the world  
was in no way a surprise to those who   
made the ,october revolution2 it was in 
accordance with their general theory1   
and its consequences should have been   
taken into account in making the        
revolution4  ,other hostilities besides 
those of the outside world have been    
incurred by the ,bolsheviks with open   
eyes1 notably the hostility of the      
peasants and that of a great part of the
 industrial population4 ,they have      
attempted1 in accordance with their     
usual contempt for conciliatory methods1
 to substitute terror for reward as the 
incentive to work4 ,some amiable        
,socialists have imagined that1 when the
 private capitalist had been eliminated1
 men would work from a sense of         
obligation to the community4 ,the       
,bolsheviks will have none of such      
sentimentalism4 ,in one of the          
resolutions of the ninth ,communist     

,congress they say3      ,every social  
system1 whether based on slavery1       
feudalism1 or     capitalism1 had its   
ways and means of labour compulsion and 
labour education in the interests of the
 exploiters4      ,the ,soviet system is
 faced with the task of developing its  
own methods of labour compulsion to     
attain an increase of the     intensity 
and wholesomeness of labour2 this method
 is to be     based on the socialization
 of public economy in the interests     
of the whole nation4      ,in addition  
to the propaganda by which the people   
are to be     influenced and the        
repressions which are to be applied to  
all     idlers1 parasites and           
disorganizers who strive to undermine   
public zeal--the principal method for   
the increase of     production will     
become the introduction of the system of
     compulsory labour4      ,in        
capitalist society rivalry assumed the  
character of     competition and led to 
the exploitation of man by man4 ,in a   

society where the means of production   
are nationalized1 labour     rivalry is 
to increase the products of labour      
without     infringing its solidarity4  
,rivalry between factories1 regions1    
guilds1 workshops1 and     individual   
workers should become the subject of    
careful     organization and of close   
study on the side of the ,trade         
,unions and the economic organs4        
,the system of premiums which is to be  
introduced should become     one of the 
most powerful means of exciting rivalry4
 ,the system     of rationing of food   
supply is to get into line with it2 so  
long as ,soviet ,russia suffers from    
insufficiency of     provisions1 it is  
only just that the industrious and      
conscientious worker receives more than 
the careless worker4  ,it must be       
remembered that even the industrious and
 conscientious worker receives less food
 than is required to maintain           
efficiency4  ,over the whole development
 of ,russia and of ,bolshevism since the

 ,october revolution there broods a     
tragic fatality4 ,in spite of outward   
success the inner failure has proceeded 
by inevitable stages--stages which      
could1 by sufficient acumen1 have been  
foreseen from the first4 ,by provoking  
the hostility of the outside world the  
,bolsheviks were forced to provoke the  
hostility of the peasants1 and finally  
the hostility or utter apathy of the    
urban and industrial population4 ,these 
various hostilities brought material    
disaster1 and material disaster brought 
spiritual collapse4 ,the ultimate source
 of the whole train of evils lies in the
 ,bolshevik outlook on life3 in its     
dogmatism of hatred and its belief that 
human nature can be completely          
transformed by force4 ,to injure        
capitalists is not the ultimate goal of 
,communism1 though among men dominated  
by hatred it is the part that gives zest
 to their activities4 ,to face the      
hostility of the world may show heroism1
 but it is a heroism for which the      

country1 not its rulers1 has to pay the 
price4 ,in the principles of ,bolshevism
 there is more desire to destroy ancient
 evils than to build up new goods2 it is
 for this reason that success in        
destruction has been so much greater    
than in construction4 ,the desire to    
destroy is inspired by hatred1 which is 
not a constructive principle4 ,from this
 essential characteristic of ,bolshevik 
mentality has sprung the willingness to 
subject ,russia to its present          
martyrdom4 ,it is only out of a quite   
different mentality that a happier world
 can be created4  ,and from this follows
 a further conclusion4 ,the ,bolshevik  
outlook is the outcome of the cruelty of
 the ,tsarist rgime and the ferocity of 
the years of the ,great ,war1 operating 
upon a ruined and starving nation       
maddened into universal hatred4 ,if a   
different mentality is needed for the   
establishment of a successful           
,communism1 then a quite different      
conjuncture must see its inauguration2  

men must be persuaded to the attempt by 
hope1 not driven to it by despair4 ,to  
bring this about should be the aim of   
every ,communist who desires the        
happiness of mankind more than the      
punishment of capitalists and their     
governmental satellites4     ,,vii      
,,conditions ,,for ,,the ,,success ,,of 
,,communism   ,the fundamental ideas of 
,communism are by no means              
impracticable1 and would1 if realized1  
add immeasurably to the well-being of   
mankind4 ,the difficulties which have to
 be faced are not in regard to the      
fundamental ideas1 but in regard to the 
transition from capitalism4 ,it must be 
assumed that those who profit by the    
existing system will fight to preserve  
it1 and their fight may be sufficiently 
severe to destroy all that is best in   
,communism during the struggle1 as well 
as everything else that has value in    
modern civilization4 ,the seriousness of
 this problem of transition is          
illustrated by ,russia1 and cannot be   

met by the methods of the ,third        
,international4 ,the ,soviet            
,government1 at the present moment1 is  
anxious to obtain manufactured goods    
from capitalist countries1 but the      
,third ,international is meanwhile      
endeavouring to promote revolutions     
which1 if they occurred1 would paralyse 
the industries of the countries         
concerned1 and leave them incapable of  
supplying ,russian needs4  ,the supreme 
condition of success in a ,communist    
revolution is that it should not        
paralyse industry4 ,if industry is      
paralysed1 the evils which exist in     
modern ,russia1 or others just as great1
 seem practically unavoidable4 ,there   
will be the problem of town and country1
 there will be hunger1 there will be    
fierceness and revolts and military     
tyranny4 ,all these things follow in a  
fatal sequence2 and the end of them is  
almost certain to be something quite    
different from what genuine ,communists 
desire4  ,if industry is to survive     

throughout a ,communist revolution1 a   
number of conditions must be fulfilled  
which are not1 at present1 fulfilled    
anywhere4 ,consider1 for the sake of    
definiteness1 what would happen if a    
,communist revolution were to occur in  
,england to-morrow4 ,immediately        
,america would place an embargo on all  
trade with us4 ,the cotton industry     
would collapse1 leaving about five      
million of the most productive portion  
of the population idle4 ,the food supply
 would become inadequate1 and would fail
 disastrously if1 as is to be expected1 
the ,navy were hostile or disorganized  
by the sabotage of the officers4 ,the   
result would be that1 unless there were 
a counter-revolution1 about half the    
population would die within the first   
twelve months4 ,on such a basis it would
 evidently be impossible to erect a     
successful ,communist ,state4  ,what    
applies to ,england applies1 in one form
 or another1 to the remaining countries 
of ,europe4 ,italian and ,german        

,socialists are1 many of them1 in a     
revolutionary frame of mind and could1  
if they chose1 raise formidable revolts4
 ,they are urged by ,moscow to do so1   
but they realize that1 if they did1     
,england and ,america would starve them4
 ,france1 for many reasons1 dare not    
offend ,england and ,america beyond a   
point4 ,thus1 in every country except   
,america1 a successful ,communist       
revolution is impossible for            
economico-political reasons4 ,america1  
being self-contained and strong1 would  
be capable1 so far as material          
conditions go1 of achieving a successful
 revolution2 but in ,america the        
psychological conditions are as yet     
adverse4 ,there is no other civilized   
country where capitalism is so strong   
and revolutionary ,socialism so weak as 
in ,america4 ,at the present moment1    
therefore1 though it is by no means     
impossible that ,communist revolutions  
may occur all over the ,continent1 it is
 nearly certain that they cannot be     

successful in any real sense4 ,they will
 have to begin by a war against         
,america1 and possibly ,england1 by a   
paralysis of industry1 by starvation1   
militarism and the whole attendant train
 of evils with which ,russia has made us
 familiar4  ,that ,communism1 whenever  
and wherever it is adopted1 will have to
 begin by fighting the bourgeoisie1 is  
highly probable4 ,the important question
 is not whether there is to be fighting1
 but how long and severe it is to be4 ,a
 short war1 in which ,communism won a   
rapid and easy victory1 would do little 
harm4 ,it is long1 bitter and doubtful  
wars that must be avoided if anything of
 what makes ,communism desirable is to  
survive4  ,two practical consequences   
flow from this conclusion3 first1 that  
nothing can succeed until ,america is   
either converted to ,communism1 or at   
any rate willing to remain neutral2     
secondly1 that it is a mistake to       
attempt to inaugurate ,communism in a   
country where the majority are hostile1 

or rather1 where the active opponents   
are as strong as the active supporters1 
because in such a state of opinion a    
very severe civil war is likely to      
result4 ,it is necessary to have a great
 body of opinion favourable to          
,communism1 and a rather weak           
opposition1 before a really successful  
,communist state can be introduced      
either by revolution or by more or less 
constitutional methods4  ,it may be     
assumed that when ,communism is first   
introduced1 the higher technical and    
business staff will side with the       
capitalists and attempt sabotage unless 
they have no hopes of a                 
counter-revolution4 ,for this reason it 
is very necessary that among            
wage-earners there should be as wide a  
diffusion as possible of technical and  
business education1 so that they may be 
able immediately to take control of big 
complex industries4 ,in this respect    
,russia was very badly off1 whereas     
,england and ,america would be much more

 fortunate4  ,self-government in        
industry is1 ,i believe1 the road by    
which ,england can best approach        
,communism4 ,i do not doubt that the    
railways and the mines1 after a little  
practice1 could be run more efficiently 
by the workers1 from the point of view  
of production1 than they are at present 
by the capitalists4 ,the ,bolsheviks    
oppose self-government in industry every
 where1 because it has failed in        
,russia1 and their national self-esteem 
prevents them from admitting that this  
is due to the backwardness of ,russia4  
,this is one of the respects in which   
they are misled by the assumption that  
,russia must be in all ways a model to  
the rest of the world4 ,i would go so   
far as to say that the winning of       
self-government in such industries as   
railways and mining is an essential     
preliminary to complete ,communism4 ,in 
,england1 especially1 this is the case4 
,the ,unions can command whatever       
technical skill they may require2 they  

are politically powerful2 the demand for
 self-government is one for which there 
is widespread sympathy1 and could be    
much more with adequate propaganda2     
moreover 7what is important with the    
,british temperament7 self-government   
can be brought about gradually1 by      
stages in each trade1 and by extension  
from one trade to another4 ,capitalists 
value two things1 their power and their 
money2 many individuals among them value
 only the money4 ,it is wiser to        
concentrate first on the power1 as is   
done by seeking self-government in      
industry without confiscation of        
capitalist incomes4 ,by this means the  
capitalists are gradually turned into   
obvious drones1 their active functions  
in industry become nil1 and they can be 
ultimately dispossessed without         
dislocation and without the possibility 
of any successful struggle on their     
parts4  ,another advantage of proceeding
 by way of self-government is that it   
tends to prevent the ,communist rgime1  

when it comes1 from having that truly   
terrible degree of centralization which 
now exists in ,russia4 ,the ,russians   
have been forced to centralize1 partly  
by the problems of the war1 but more by 
the shortage of all kinds of skill4     
,this has compelled the few competent   
men to attempt each to do the work of   
ten men1 which has not proved           
satisfactory in spite of heroic efforts4
 ,the idea of democracy has become      
discredited as the result first of      
syndicalism1 and then of ,bolshevism4   
,but there are two different things that
 may be meant by democracy3 we may mean 
the system of ,parliamentary government1
 or we may mean the participation of the
 people in affairs4 ,the discredit of   
the former is largely deserved1 and ,i  
have no desire to uphold ,parliament as 
an ideal institution4 ,but it is a great
 misfortune if1 from a confusion of     
ideas1 men come to think that1 because  
,parliaments are imperfect1 there is no 
reason why there should be              

self-government4 ,the grounds for       
advocating self-government are very     
familiar3 first1 that no benevolent     
despot can be trusted to know or pursue 
the interests of his subjects2 second1  
that the practice of self-government is 
the only effective method of political  
education2 third1 that it tends to place
 the preponderance of force on the side 
of the constitution1 and thus to promote
 order and stable government4 ,other    
reasons could be found1 but ,i think    
these are the chief4 ,in ,russia        
self-government has disappeared1 except 
within the ,communist ,party4 ,if it is 
not to disappear elsewhere during a     
,communist revolution1 it is very       
desirable that there should exist       
already important industries competently
 administered by the workers themselves4
  ,the ,bolshevik philosophy is promoted
 very largely by despair of more gradual
 methods4 ,but this despair is a mark of
 impatience1 and is not really warranted
 by the facts4 ,it is by no means       

impossible1 in the near future1 to      
secure self-government in ,british      
railways and mines by constitutional    
means4 ,this is not the sort of measure 
which would bring into operation an     
,american blockade or a civil war or any
 of the other catastrophic dangers that 
are to be feared from a full-fledged    
,communist revolution in the present    
international situation4                
,self-government in industry is         
feasible1 and would be a great step     
towards ,communism4 ,it would both      
afford many of the advantages of        
,communism and also make the transition 
far easier without a technical          
break-down of production4  ,there is    
another defect in the methods advocated 
by the ,third ,international4 ,the sort 
of revolution which is recommended is   
never practically feasible except in a  
time of national misfortune2 in fact1   
defeat in war seems to be an            
indispensable condition4 ,consequently1 
by this method1 ,communism will only be 

inaugurated where the conditions of life
 are difficult1 where demoralization and
 disorganization make success almost    
impossible1 and where men are in a mood 
of fierce despair very inimical to      
industrial construction4 ,if ,communism 
is to have a fair chance1 it must be    
inaugurated in a prosperous country4    
,but a prosperous country will not be   
readily moved by the arguments of hatred
 and universal upheaval which are       
employed by the ,third ,international4  
,it is necessary1 in appealing to a     
prosperous country1 to lay stress on    
hope rather than despair1 and to show   
how the transition can be effected      
without a calamitous loss of prosperity4
 ,all this requires less violence and   
subversiveness1 more patience and       
constructive propaganda1 less appeal to 
the armed might of a determined         
minority4  ,the attitude of             
uncompromising heroism is attractive1   
and appeals especially to the dramatic  
instinct4 ,but the purpose of the       

serious revolutionary is not personal   
heroism1 nor martyrdom1 but the creation
 of a happier world4 ,those who have the
 happiness of the world at heart will   
shrink from attitudes and the facile    
hysteria of no parley with the enemy4   
,they will not embark upon enterprises1 
however arduous and austere1 which are  
likely to involve the martyrdom of their
 country and the discrediting of their  
ideals4 ,it is by slower and less showy 
methods that the new world must be      
built3 by industrial efforts after      
self-government1 by proletarian training
 in technique and business              
administration1 by careful study of the 
international situation1 by a prolonged 
and devoted propaganda of ideas rather  
than tactics1 especially among the      
wage-earners of the ,united ,states4 ,it
 is not true that no gradual approaches 
to ,communism are possible3             
self-government in industry is an       
important instance to the contrary4 ,it 
is not true that any isolated ,european 

country1 or even the whole of the       
,continent in unison1 can1 after the    
exhaustion produced by the war1         
introduce a successful form of          
,communism at the present moment1 owing 
to the hostility and economic supremacy 
of ,america4 ,to find fault with those  
who urge these considerations1 or to    
accuse them of faint-heartedness1 is    
mere sentimental self-indulgence1       
sacrificing the good we can do to the   
satisfaction of our own emotions4  ,even
 under present conditions in ,russia1 it
 is possible still to feel the          
inspiration of the essential spirit of  
,communism1 the spirit of creative hope1
 seeking to sweep away the incumbrances 
of injustice and tyranny and rapacity   
which obstruct the growth of the human  
spirit1 to replace individual           
competition by collective action1 the   
relation of master and slave by free    
co-operation4 ,this hope has helped the 
best of the ,communists to bear the     
harsh years through which ,russia has   

been passing1 and has become an         
inspiration to the world4 ,the hope is  
not chimerical1 but it can only be      
realized through a more patient labour1 
a more objective study of facts1 and    
above all a longer propaganda1 to make  
the necessity of the transition obvious 
to the great majority of wage-earners4  
,russian ,communism may fail and go     
under1 but ,communism itself will not   
die4 ,and if hope rather than hatred    
inspires its advocates1 it can be       
brought about without the universal     
cataclysm preached by ,moscow4 ,the war 
and its sequel have proved the          
destructiveness of capitalism2 let us   
see to it that the next epoch does not  
prove the still greater destructiveness 
of ,communism1 but rather its power to  
heal the wounds which the old evil      
system has inflicted upon the human     
spirit4       ,printed in ,great        
,britain by   ,,unwin ,,brothers1       
,,limited1 ,,the ,,gresham ,,press1     
,,woking ,,and ,,london     ,,errata    

,p4 #bj1 l4 #aa4 ,for teaching read     
reaching  ,p4 #bc1 between l4 #ah and l4
 #ai4 ,insert violence in the transition
 must be faced4 ,unfortunately1  ,p4    
#dc1 l4 #ab4 ,for dying read very ill   
,p4 #dd1 last sentence4 ,substitute ,but
 he recovered1 and ,i hope it will      
recover also4 7replacing3 ,i hope ,i was
 mistaken in both respects47  ,p4 #fj1  
l4 #f from below4 ,for waving triumphant
 hands and read expressing their delight
 by  ,p4 #fa1 l4 #ba4 ,for professional 
read professorial  ,p4 #he1 l4 #b4 ,for 
,this read ,thus  ,p4 #ia1 l4 #h4 ,for  
losses read hopes  ,p4 #ajd1 l4 #i4 ,for
 leave read leaves  ,p4 #aje1 last line4
 ,substitute which has been already     
discussed in ,chapter ,,vi 7replacing3  
which is better reserved for a separate 
chapter47  ,p4 #abj1 l4 #ai ,for desires
 read desire  ,p4 #acb1 l4 #e from      
below4 ,for ,caunon read ,cannon  ,p4   
#adh1 l4 #e from below4 ,for by read in 
,p4 #aee1 l4 #ac4 ,for scheme read      
schema  ,p4 #agb1 l4 #ae4 ,for ,zenghis 

read ,yenghis  ,p4 #ahg1 l4 #ae4 ,delete
 comma4     ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author  
,,roads ,,to ,,freedom  ,,principles    
,,of ,,social ,,reconstruction          
,,introduction ,,to ,,mathematical      
,,philosophy  ,,the ,,analysis ,,of     
,,mind          99       99       99    
99       99  ,typographical errors      
corrected in text3  page #ai3 happinesss
 changed to happiness page #afc3 genera 
to general          99       99       99
       99       99