a morsel of bread to the needy, but everywhere keeps the proletariat in chains with the sole aim of retaining its own power; or shall the working class of Europe and the most civilized countries in other parts of the world take into their own hands the shaken and ruined world economy and thus ensure its restoration on the basis of socialism?

"To bring to an end the prevailing crisis will only be possible with the help of proletarian dictatorship, which will not look back to the past nor show consideration for inherited privileges or rights of property, but will bear in mind the necessity of saving starving multitudes, and will mobilize all their forces for that purpose; will introduce a general obligation to work and a régime of discipline in work, and will in this manner, in the space of a few years, not only heal the gaping wounds caused by the war, but succeed in raising mankind to heights hitherto undreamed of.”

The Rights of Small Nationalities.— The manifesto contended that the salvation of small states, despite the alleged solicitude of the great powers for the rights of small nationalities, was

"a proletarian revolution, which releases all the productive forces in every country from the grip of national states, unites the nations in the close economic coöperation based on a joint social economic plan, and grants to the smallest and weakest nation the possibility of developing the national culture independently and freely without detriment to the united and centralized economy of Europe and of the whole world. . . . Socialist Europe would also come to the aid of the liberated colonies with its technique, its organizations, and its spiritual influence, to facilitate their transition to a methodically organized socialist establishment."

Parliamentary Democracy vs. the Soviet. Next was discussed the attitude of the communist toward parliamentary democracy.

"All important questions concerning the fate of nations are decided by the financial oligarchy behind the back of the parliamentary democracy. . . . When the financial oligarchy consider it advisable to conceal their acts of violence at parliamentary elections, they have the bourgeois state at their disposal, with all the varied means inherited from previous centuries, and developed by the marvels of capitalistic technique: lies, demagogism, provocation, contempt, bribery, and terrorism.

"To expect that the proletariat in the final settlement with capitalism, when it is a question of life and death, should meekly as a lamb agree to the demands of the bourgeois democracy, would be the same as to expect a man, defending his life and existence against thieves, to follow the arbitrary rules of French wrestling, laid down, but not adhered to, by his enemies.

...

a new

"The proletariat must create his own apparatus. . . . The workmen's councils constitute this apparatus form of apparatus comprising the entire working class, irrespective of their being ripe in an expert and political sense — an apparatus so elastic that it can always be renewed, always be extended, always attract fresh groups within its area, and open wide the doors for the group of workers in town and country who are in close touch with the proletariat. This invaluable organization for the self-administration of the working classes in their fight for, and in future also, in their conquest of, state power, has been tested by experience in several countries, and is the greatest conquest and the most powerful weapon for the proletariat of our day."

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Bourgeois Democracy."— The statement called on the workers of various countries to organize workmen's councils, declared that international warfare was followed by civil warfare, argued that it was the duty of the proletariat to shorten the duration of the civil war against them and to keep down the number of victims and to that end to arm the workers and disarm the bourgeoisie and de

scribed the outcry of the bourgeoisie against civil war and the Red Terror as "the most abominable hypocrisy ever noted in the history of political fighting."

Weakness of Second International. The manifesto continued by criticizing the socialist parties of Europe for their "opportunism, vacillation, mendacity and superficiality." It alleged that the "war had killed the second International by proving that, dominating the fraternal masses of the workmen, stood parties transformed into the cringing organs of the bourgeois state." It concluded:

Even though the first International foresaw the coming development and inserted a wedge, and though the second International collected and organized millions of proletarians, still it is the third International that stands for the open action of the masses and for revolutionary operations.

"Socialist criticism has thoroughly stamped the bourgeois world-order. It is the duty of the International Communist Party to overthrow that order, and to establish instead the system of socialist order. .

Proletarians of all lands! Unite to fight against imperialist barbarity, against monarchy, against the privileged classes, against the bourgeois state and bourgeois property, against all kinds and forms of social and national oppression.

"Join us, proletarians in every country-flock to the banner of the workmen's councils, and fight the revolutionary fight for the power and dictatorship of the proletariat.” ®

Conclusion. What will be the future relation between the second International and the third or communist International it is impossible at this date to state. In June Messrs. Macdonald and Buxton of the Independent Labor Party visited the Italian and Swiss socialists, who had indorsed the Lenin group, urging them to join with the In• For complete text, see The Nation, May 31, 1919.

ternational represented at Berne. The Independent Labor Party and the majority of the French Socialist Party gave their adherence again to the older group in the Spring of 1919. The Socialist Party of Switzerland in the early fall of 1919, while denouncing the Berne Conference, refused to join the Moscow group, and called for the thorough reconstitution of the International. The Communist and Communist Labor parties of the United States indorsed the third International, while the Socialist Party submitted the question again to referendum vote. Within every party in Europe discussion regarding the relative merits of each International is at present writing running high.

CHAPTER XI

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

THROUGH THE MARCH REVOLUTION

Causes of Discontent. Every move made in Russia following the outbreak of the war seemed calculated to lead the country ever nearer the maelstrom of revolution. The continued persecution of the liberal and socialist forces in the country; the imperialistic aims of the government; the inefficiency, corruption, conservatism and pro-German character of many of the officials high in military and governmental circles; the conduct of the Czar's family, and, most important of all, the breakdown of the economic system, due to Russia's inability to obtain railway, farm and industrial equipment, to the departure of German industrial managers to the "Fatherland," and to the mobilization order which stripped the factories, railroads, mines and fields of most of their labor power all whetted the flames of discontent among the various strata of the Russian people.

As early as August 22, 1915, the liberal groups in the Duma, excluding the socialists, formed a coalition for the purpose of demanding a responsible government. This attempt at organization was followed within two weeks by an indefinite suspension of the Duma. On the reopening of that body on November 14, 1916, landholders, capitalists, the military, professional classes and peasants alike voiced bitter opposition to the government for its